Prohibitory Sign, Won't Reboot OS X - NOTHING works

[Golden.delicious]

It's a recently refurbished MacBook Pro 15" from late 2011

I tried resetting the pram with shift+commmand+p+r while powering on. Same prohibitory sign. I tried command+r. Same. I tried command+shift+r for the online recovery. Nothing. I tried holding down shift while powering on to run safe mode. Same sign. I tried holding option while powering on. I didn't have the recovery partition because I had recently swapped out my original SSD for a 1TB HDD. I later found out this HDD had no recovery partition. And sometimes I don't even get the sign, just a black screen (as if in sleep mode).


I took out the HDD and opened it from another iMac by USB, reformatted it, erased everyrhing and then replaced it to my MacBook. Repeated the above commands and nothing.


I then opened the HDD on the other iMac, and installed OS X El Capitan. It opened and everything. We set it up. We put the hard drive in the MacBook and after turning it off and on 2 or 3 times it booted! For the first time in five hours! Asked if I wanted to reopen windows since the computer restarted for an error. I pressed cancel. And it shut off. Tried the aforementioned commands, same negative result. The internet recovery begins to work for a half a second but then cannot connect.


I then try installing OS X Tiger from a DVD, the only OS we have on a disk. This does not work.


Then we replace the HDD harddrive entirey with the original SSD one. We open it on the iMac, download and update El Capitan. We place it into the MacBook and the apple logo stays longer. It boots halfway sometimes but then we get black and white letters about kernel panic. This happened with the other hard drive too after installing OS from the iMac. We also try the recovery partition which is on this SSD hard drive but that doesn't work. The boot seems more promising but still doesn't completely work. It's yet to start up again.


In a final attempt, we connect another hard drive that serves as a backup for the iMac by USB to the MacBook. Holding option while powering on, we manage to run it and that one does not boot. Same prohibitory sign from an entirely different functioning drive. We try again with ithe recovery partiton of that backup hard drive. That one doesn't boot either. At first I wasn't frustrated but literally NOTHING works.

What do I do next?
I've tried two hard drives already. What's wrong with it?

 

[dan1eln1el5en]

computer and os ?

but it sounds like a crashed disc.
Solution: new disc, OS X on USB and reinstall. old drive is dead and most likely unrecoverable.

 

[Dave Braine]

I took out the hard drive and opened it from another iMac by USB, reformatted it, erased everyrhing and then replaced it to my MacBook. Repeated the above commands and nothing.

That's because you erased everything. You don't mention installing an OS.

I then try installing OS X Tiger from a DVD, the only OS we have on a disk. This does not work.

Your Mac is probably not old enough to run Tiger.

Post more details of your Mac; ie, model, year, original version of OS X. It will help others who read this.

 

[Golden.delicious]

computer and os ?

but it sounds like a crashed disc.
Solution: new disc, OS X on USB and reinstall. old drive is dead and most likely unrecoverable.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the lack of clarity I'm not really sure abou the terms.

Is the disc the same as the hard drive? Because when I got the MacBook (it's a late 2011 model that was refurbished), it came with an SSD that ran OS X Mountain Lion. I switched it out for an HDD with more space that I bought. The error occurred with that hard drive. We tried reinstalling on the original SSD and even using the recovery partition on that one and still get the sign. Both hard drives give me the same result. The SSD has the apple logo stick around longer but it still won't completely boot.

If the issue was the hard drive, shouldn't have switching it out worked? What other issue could there be?
[doublepost=1452002469,1452002185][/doublepost]

That's because you erased everything. You don't mention installing an OS.


Your Mac is probably not old enough to run Tiger.

Post more details of your Mac; ie, model, year, original version of OS X. It will help others who read this.

Sorry for the confusion and thank you for your reply. It's a late 2011 MacBook Pro 15". It came with OS X Mountain Lion. I got it on eBay. The seller verified that it was recently refurbished by the Apple Store.

After earasing that drive we tried reinstalling OS X El Capitan by USB from another iMac. It was functional in the other computer so it was definitely installed.

But when we put the hard drive back in the MBP, it still could not boot.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

If I'm not mistaken, the 2011 15" MacBook Pro is subject to a special program by Apple in which they will replace defective motherboards until April 2016 (this is referred to as "RadeonGate" and has to do with a defective GPU on some motherboards). You DO NOT have to be the original owner for this replacement.

This replacement program probably has nothing to do with your problems.

BUT -- if you bring it to a brick-and-mortar Apple Store, the techs may help you by installing a working copy of the OS onto the MacBook (or may tell you that something else is wrong with it).

I'd suggest you take it to an Apple Store and let them have a look at it.
The issue with RadeonGate should get you into the door...

 

[chown33]

... What other issue could there be? ...

A defective cable could cause all the symptoms described.

 

[Golden.delicious]

OP:

If I'm not mistaken, the 2011 15" MacBook Pro is subject to a special program by Apple in which they will replace defective motherboards until April 2016 (this is referred to as "RadeonGate" and has to do with a defective GPU on some motherboards). You DO NOT have to be the original owner for this replacement.

This replacement program probably has nothing to do with your problems.

BUT -- if you bring it to a brick-and-mortar Apple Store, the techs may help you by installing a working copy of the OS onto the MacBook (or may tell you that something else is wrong with it).

I'd suggest you take it to an Apple Store and let them have a look at it.
The issue with RadeonGate should get you into the door...

Thank you so much for this! I will be sure to mention this. I'm visiting the Apple Store on Thursday for an appointment I scheduled. I think seeing an apple technician is my best bet. Thanks for the advice. The computer was also refurbished just within the last month. This might grant me some sort of warranty right?
[doublepost=1452020999,1452020777][/doublepost]

A defective cable could cause all the symptoms described.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure how to test cables myself but I will mention it when I bring it into the Apple Store. Would they charge me for these new wires, if this is the problem?

 

[Golden.delicious]

Are recently refurbished macbooks subject to some type of warranty??

 

[Dave Braine]

If you get them from the Apple Refurbished Store, they come with a full warranty.

 

[Golden.delicious]

Thanks

 

[Golden.delicious]

I brought it to the Apple Store and it turned out to be a faulty stick of RAM. After pulling it out, the iOS X El Capitan we had installed by USB drive booted perfectly. It also explains why the game I had open had triggered the crash. Thanks again to everyone that helped.