troubleshooting new SSD installation in MBP

[EMRR]

Quick check for a second opinion.

New OWC SSD not seen with MBP '08 (4,1) booted from original drive in external chassis.
Could see and format from another MBP connected target disk mode.
Booting from original drive in external after said format, sees as ‘read only’, can’t format, also not visible for OS install

next day, next pass:
Boot to recovery, disk utility this time allowed erase/format of SSD
Boot to original/external, SSD not seen in disk utility or 'about'.
Boot to recovery again, try re-install OSX, SSD not seen.
Boot to recover again, disk utility doesn’t see it.

SSD visibility appears to be intermittent, the 'read only' result is most curious.

Check internal drive connector at both ends? Is there another short list to check? Suppose I'll call tech support once they come online tomorrow.

[frankf]

I had this happen to me once. It was a bad connection. Also check the motherboard at the connection point in case there was a problem there. And of course make sure the ribbon cable is not pinched.


Frank Ferrucci

[EMRR]

OK, thanks, I'll check that.

[HCMarkus]

Shot in the dark: if drive is in optical bay, consider there have been issues reported with certain MBPs using SATA3 drives in optical bay; ok in HD bay.

[EMRR]

Thanks, SSD was in standard drive bay.
Not sure what pointer I'm missing, but it appears I've been successful.

I tried reconnecting internal drive cables several times, varying results, best was still ‘read only’.
Swapped drives back, original working fine in MBP, SSD fine in external.
3rd try to load OSX onto SSD in the external caddy worked, failed to extract something the first 2 times. I can see that being good ole USB2.
Swap drives again, back to SSD in MBP08, works now that OS X is preloaded.
Starting to migrate....seems snappier!

[mikehalloran]

The issue is in setting up the HD or SSD with Disk Utility. With some of the early Core 2 Duos, it has to be done in a certain way from the target machine or you get Read Only. I won't go into details or if chicken bones are involved but it can be a real PIA as you discovered.

Installing the current OS offline as you did and then installing the drive is my normal MO for these. The only issues I have is that sometimes I have to log into Time Machine and iTunes and re-set so that both know the correct user ID. If I do Migration Assistant or TM Restore from the correct Mac, this is not an issue.

Because I have eSATA and the Mac is question has USB, it's often a lot faster to use Migration Asst on my machine then log into Time Machine and iTunes after I have installed the drive. I have about 30 old Core2 Duos that I am upgrading to SSDs for schools by mid-August. No way I'm installing the drives first then porting the data over.

[EMRR]

Thanks Mike, good to hear from you on this. Everything I read suggested doing the OS install with the drive in place, and it just wasn't working. Glad to know I wasn't going crazy. Everything seems in place and fine using Migration Assistant from the original HD in an external chassis. It's noticeably faster than it was, usable in fact, and I could open a lot of apps and video files (stopped around 10, all in play loop) before there was any sign of stress. Previously opening anything at all was an exercise in patience. I haven't taken a spin with any DP projects yet, interested to see how that feels now. Lots of projects were too big to even open and play at all on this machine with the 7200RPM HD.

[EMRR]

Next problem: seems like once it sleeps it's destined to crash with grey screen and flashing folder with question mark, fans revved high. Reboot, error report is always a kernel panic. I've tried NVRAM reset along with disk repair. So long as I am using it, I've not seen it crash. Is this an issue with sleep and SSD, or ? More research to do. Thanks for any ideas.

Other interesting note. Battery indication has changed from 'service battery' to appearing healthy. Obviously not, it'll still run down in an hour.

[mikehalloran]

Try resetting the SMC.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

[EMRR]

Not a lot of time with it, but I did reset SMC and turned off HD sleep, instead enabling a screen saver to trigger the screen locking time. No problems so far. Thanks again.

[EMRR]

It had a few more of the same style crash. One with the screen shut yet fully lit, fans screaming away. None in weeks since.