MacBook Pro 2012 hard drive cable issue?

posted in: Hardware problems, Laptop, Repair | 24

Just in the past two weeks I had to replace three failed hard drive cables in three different MacBook Pro (13″ Mid 2012) laptops. I’m not sure if there is a known issue with these cables but the failure rate seems to be unusually high.

 

The cable failure might have one of the following symptoms that look like a “regular” hard drive failure or OS corruption:

– The laptop boots to a flashing folder with a question mark.

– The Apple logo appears on the screen but the OS doesn’t boot any further.

– It gets stuck at a white screen and doesn’t boot any further.

 

In order to troubleshoot this problem you will have to go thought the following steps.

1. Remove the hard drive and test it on a PC with HDTune utility. The free version should be enough to run the Error Scan test on the drive and make sure it’s not failing.

Alternatively, you can test the drive on another working Mac with the Drive Genius utility. Again, the demo version should be enough to scan the drive for bad blocks.

You can connect the hard drive to another PC or Mac using an external USB enclosure or SATA to USB cable.

2. Test your MacBook Pro with another known good hard drive and try reinstalling the operating system.

If the laptop fails the same way with another hard drive, most likely you have a failed cable and it has to be replaced.



 

Instructions for replacing the hard drive cable.

Remove two screws securing the rear mounting bracket. Remove the bracket.

Remove hard drive bracket

Lift up the hard drive from the case and disconnect the SATA cable.

Disconnect hard drive cable

Remove two screws securing the cable.

Remove two screws securing the front mounting bracket.

Unplug the cable from the logic board.

Remove hard drive cable

Peel the cable off of the case and remove it.

Install new hard drive cable

You can search for a replacement cable using the part number printed on the original cable: 821-1480-A.

UPDATE: The newer cable part number is 821-2049-A or 923-0741. If you are replacing it, find the newer one.

HDD cable part number

There’s the tricky part. The new cable has the IR sensor attached to it but the sleep LED is located on the front mounting bracket.

HDD cable IR sensor

It will be necessary to disconnect the failed cable from the sleep LED and here’s how you do it.

Work carefully, the cable connector is very small. Lift up the right side of the cable retainer until it opens up at a 90 degree angle.

Unlock sleep LED cable

Pull the sleep LED cable out of the connector.

Remove cable from connector

Start separating the IR sensor from the mounting bracket. It’s glued with double sticky tape.

Separate IR sensor from bracket

Peel the IR sensor off.

Remove IR sensor

Now you can glue the new IR sensor to the bracket, install the sleep LED cable into the connector and lock it.

Make sure the cable seated properly, all the way down into the connector.

Connect sleep LED cable

 

Finally, install the new cable into the laptop and connect the hard drive.

Do you have the same problem with your MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 laptop?

24 Responses

  1. i’m having the same problem with macbook pro 13′ mid 2010.

  2. Danny Dullin

    I’ve seen many failed cables on MBP 2009-2011 models. In Mid 2012 the cable is a little bit different, it’s wider. I though they fixed the problem by changing the cable design. Apparently not.

  3. Marty Tennant

    There is a comment here from Lucas Godfrey:

    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1756227

    that indicates Apple came out with a new cable to replace the obviously defective older one.

    The original cable is 821-1480-A or 923-0104 and the newer one is 821-2049-A or 923-0741.

    I’m already on a second cable that has failed, and now I’m trying to find the newer version that will hopefully WORK!!

  4. Danny Dullin

    @ Marty Tennant,
    Thanks for the newer cable part number. I edited the post and mentioned the cable number in there.
    I found the newer cable available on PBParts site (Mac parts supplier) for $34+shipping.

  5. Marty Tennant

    Yes, I saw that cable on their eBay store, but the photo of the cable they included shows the old part number. I have a question into them now that has not been answered to clear up the confusion about the availability of the newest version of the cable.

  6. Danny Dullin

    @ Marty Tennant,
    PBParts is a good reputable store. I buy lots of parts from them. If you order 923-0741 cable though the store, most likely you’ll get it.
    If in doubt just call them and verify.

  7. Zakaria

    Thanks for this good job.
    Can you explain to me, please, the difference between 821-2049-A and 923-0741 ?

  8. Good piece on replacing the HD cable, cheers. I would like to add: put some insulating tape on the metal parts (directly under where the cable goes) & also over the stepped part where the cable is secured (the two screw holes under where the mounting bracket goes). I have read that the rough texture of the metal casing & the cable chafing against it might have been the cause for it shorting.

    I was able to boot my HD when I couldn’t before. Although, my cable is damaged & spinning wheel of doom appears again (HD works fine on USB). YMMV of course, depending on how bad your cable is. It is certainly a good idea to insulate the area underneath the HD cable when buying a new one to [hopefully] prevent the problem appearing again.

    I think new cables are sold with the sensor / sleep LED attached? That makes it even easier to replace.

  9. Charlie

    I carried out these steps and it all worked fine except the sleep LED is not working. Do you recommend re-connecting the LED cable further inside the connector?

  10. Hi, I had the same problem in macbook 13 2012. I’ve replaced with the one I bought on amazon for 20€. It worked for just one month and the problem is here again. So I placed my ssd into the CD bay. And thinking if I should buy another cable or spent 100€ in the official  service. Macbook is just 1,5yrs old…:/

  11. Now I know why my son’s new Macbook Pro was so unstable over the past 2 years.
    The information is very useful, thank you so much.

  12. Marc Francis

    Thanks for this. I have had the very same problem. I removed my hard drive and have been running my laptop via USB for a few weeks. My problem was finding a new cable opposed to putting in another faulty original. This has put me back on track. Cheers!

  13. I just ordered the new p/n from PBP. Hopefully this solves my issue! Thanks for posting this on your blog! :)

  14. Wow, thank you so much for the instruction, my friends macbook a1287 mid 2012 suddenly wont boot and stuck on folder icon, he start buying new hdd as he thought the hdd was the issue.
    After reading this, i order the cable and change my friend cable. and now it running well again

    so thank you very much

  15. David Hayes

    I just came across your site trying to find a way to possibly repair a broken cable versus buying a new one. It couldn’t happen at at worse time, since I’m unemployed I’ve been unemployed and trying to save every penny. I also own a 2012 MacBook Pro 13″ laptop. My system also gets extremely hot. There has been times registers 90 degrees on the Activity Monitor.

  16. Ian Davis

    Great article and the photos were extremely helpful. For as long as I can remember my MacBook Pro was slow loading some applications. Coincidently, given the relatively low price of RAM I decided to upgrade from 8 GB to 16 GB. Then a really odd thing happened after the RAM upgrade everything started loading quite fast.

    A couple of weeks later the HDD appeared to have failed so I put in a new SSD, which worked for a while but also stopped. Of course the problem was the disc cable. I think removing the cover to install the RAM must have moved the disc cable, which then temporarily made better contact. I checked the continuity of the old cable and found a break on the right angle bend.

    The only cable I could get quickly was the old style and I had a real problem getting the LED cable to fully insert. I think this is probably the problem Charlie is having with his LED not working.

    Just in case, I have also ordered the new cable type for next time.

  17. Edmundo Munguia

    Get the instructions from iFixit for the LED cable re-insertion (it’s a little bit tricky since it’s a very tiny piece of hardware).

    Also some other good videos on Youtube for better zoom-in on the cable re-attachment.

    BTW Thank you for the article, I am now in my 3rd cable. Will definitely give a try to the PBParts one

  18. Thanks for this post Danny. Very helpful. I just implemented this fix with a cable ordered from PBParts. It was the new part number.

    I can confirm that the cable came with both, the sleep LED and IR sensor installed in the bracket. So it was a very easy replacement.

  19. Riasat Abir

    I took my macbook pro to apple store and they told me the hdd is faulty.
    So I bought a SSD and plugged it to the macbook and it was not working as well.
    I went to apple store again and they said the SSD might not be supported or possibly it’s corrupted too.
    Then I did some searching and found that the problem might be with the cable.
    Then I went to a different apple store and asked them to replace the sata cable and now everything works!

    I am surprised with the lack of knowledge from the apple store technicians who costed me buying another storage drive :(

  20. I’m not sure the xx-2049 cables are much better. Our office has already replaced several 2049 cables that were ordered as replacements for previously failing 1480s. In some cases, it was months. This issue is so ubiquitous with multiple models and types of these MBP SATA cables that I do not believe the issue has ever been truly fixed. I have begun to place electrical tape under the cabling on any replacement and when we replace cables on machines, we must routinely warn users that the part will likely need future replacement.

  21. Adrian

    many thanks for this post Danny – it just never occurred to me it could be a hardware issue – anyhow the inside of my Macbook Pro was real dirty and dusty after 4 years, I gave it a good clean, then isolated the ribbon cable with electrical tape, put it back together and it booted up just fine – thank you so much!!!

  22. How do you do this?
    Lift up the right side of the cable retainer until it opens up at a 90 degree angle.

  23. Cristian

    Just wanted to say thanks Danny! My Macbook Pro showed a circle with a line/slash across it (prohibited symbol), and so I initially thought it was my SSD. I ordered a new wire and my issue was totally fixed 😀

  24. HEY GUYS,
    I have run into this problem ever since i replaced my original hdd for a samsung pro 850 ssd, i’m on my third cable now in three years, it seems that the flat cable fails more often wit this particular ssd according to the store where I replaced my flat cable the last time. anyone else here using this drive? or any other drives? I’m wondering if this is really true or just a way to try and sell me a new different brand of ssd drive?

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