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I have a MacBook Pro (mid 2009, 13", 2.26GH) running Mountain Lion. I started getting intermittent beach balls and lock ups and thought the hard drive was failing. I got a copy of Scannerz to test it figuring it would just fail it and I could replace the drive. Unfortunately it didn't fail the drive it looks like it's failing the system.
When I got Scannerz I did a test on it the internal drive and got about 56 irregularities and 12 errors scattered throughout the test. The manual says to retest them in cursory mode to verify the problems are repeatable. The manual says it allows 1-2 irregularities for every 10GB at the absolute max and no errors, so I'm way out of bounds since my drive is 160GB. I retest in cursory mode and all the irregularities and errors at the locations I originally found them in are gone, but now they're showing up in different locations.
I thought the test program wasn't working right so I contacted their tech support. They told me that the software detects faults and hardware faults won't correlate to the surface scan process. They told me to download this document:
http://www.scsc-online.com/Downloads_files/Troubleshooting%20With%20Scannerz.pdf
I went over it but quite honestly didn't understand it. They had me make a Phoenix Boot Volume which is like another emergency volume on a USB Flash drive. They then had me unmount the internal hard drive and test it, then attach my USB backup drive to each USB port and repeat the tests. The test results are the same: sporadic errors and irregularities on every test, never repeatable.
They told me that the following are possibilities:
- The logic board has problems
- The supply has problems
- RAM or some other cards like WiFi that plug into the logic board may not be seated properly.
They said if it was bad blocks on the drive, the problems would be repeatable, and if it was isolated to a specific path it was probably a cable or connector problem. Unfortunately it's all over the place so I need to be thinking of problems with the actual logic board.
I rechecked and reseated the RAM, no problems. The startup system check also reports no problems.
I'm hoping this is something no more complicated than maybe a WiFi card working it's way loose. I had a problem like this a long time ago on a 15" PowerBook.
How difficult is it to open one of these things up? I opened up some of my older Macs and even though I had to be careful, it was doable. I'd like to reseat everything and try it again.
If this fails, does anyone know how to check the supply? This problem happens on both battery power and even when the power supply is plugged in. Is there anything on the supply that's fixable?
If worst comes to worst, how much does a logic board cost here in the U.S. and where can I get one at a reasonable price?
Thanks.
I agree with Darth - try a known good OS. Sounds like you may have, with this Phoenix thing, but recognize that any downloaded tool may be corrupted by whatever is wrong with the system. It seems to me that Darth's decision to take it to Apple balanced time and money spent on diagnosis vs. on repair. Recently I made that same decision, and Apple really helped me out. JRTFan, you may have spent enough on research by now, and should maybe just get it fixed. – Charles Lindsay – 2013-07-12T16:05:43.343