2

I was using my MacBook normally (just Firefox open). Suddenly the screen froze and it started to beep three times. I switched it off. Now, when I attempt to boot (including in recovery of single-user mode), it doesn't but it reproduces three beeps. Is it gone for good?

Does it make sense that I attempt to substitute the RAM as suggested here:

My MacBook Pro makes 3 successive tones, a 5 second pause (repeating)

?

I substituted the HDD with an SSD and added 8GB RAM in 2015. I also used the trick by user langlangc (GPU problem - Boot Hangs on Grey Screen) since 2019 or so.

Some more details on hardware:

  • MacBook Pro 8.2 (15 inches, early 2011)
  • Intel Core i7
  • 8+8 GB ram (samsung)

OS:

  • Sierra

What I tried (new):

  • Remove 1 piece of RAM, and place the remaining piece in either slot

Findings:

  • The MacBook works, with either piece of RAM, provided they are placed in the "external" slot (the one farther from the keyboard)
  • Running the diagnostics (D press while booting then starting the test) does not detect any problem

Interpretation:

  • Both pieces of RAM are working
  • One RAM slot is not working

Remaining question:

  • Should I just live with 8GB RAM or is there a cheap/easy solution?
  • Apparently not (RAM slot MacBook Pro 2012 issue), but if someone disagrees please speak out!

Thanks to @tetsujin for encouraging me to do the RAM test, with the right screwdriver it takes 5 minutes or less and no special skill.

agarza
  • 2,274
fabiob
  • 121
  • 1
    This doesn't give much context about why this has happened. Try to be more specific, start by giving you MacBook model and software version. Please try to provide more detail, did this happen when you were running many apps at the same time? Maybe the Mac just crashed? – Thinkr Sep 20 '23 at 16:07
  • 3
    Why don't you try pulling the RAM - test one stick at a time, then tell us what happens. At least then we'd have something to work with… or you'd find the bad stick & not need to ask;) – Tetsujin Sep 20 '23 at 16:49
  • exactly, now it boots. but please see above for a remaining question. needless to say, with just 8GB RAM, no GPU, my macbook is not the beast it used to be when I first unpacked it in 2011 but it can still let me browse internet ;-) – fabiob Sep 21 '23 at 12:07
  • 1
    The 2011 MBPs were not Apple's finest hour: and now they are 12 years old. You may not be able to browse the internet for much longer, given new requirements of web coding and security protocols. There's not a cheap solution, but there is an expensive one.... – benwiggy Sep 21 '23 at 13:32

0 Answers0