Macbook Pro 13, 2017, no touchbar lose connection with a drive (flashing question mark)

jakub1k wrote:

Macbook Pro 13, 2017, no touchbar



Recently I've been experiencing flashing directory with question mark on it. It stareted doing so only when macbook was charging or connected with external monitor (usb-c) and the lid was closed. Now it is getting more and more frustrating because it shutdowns and show question mark when everything is unplugged and the lid is closed. Today i saw that when i shut it down manually I had a problem with starting it, nothing was loading. It started working after ten minutes when i entered cmd+r and entered recovery mode (in fact it was not recovery mode from Monterey but from previous OS and in Disk Utility there were no drive). After reboting from recovery it started working but after closing the lid for a liitle bit it stopped again. Im observing that it cannot find disk for a couple of days. I tried resetting SMC, PRAM/NVRAM, I've also wiped disk and reinstalled macOS but the problem still comes back. Diskdrill S.M.A.R.T scan shows that everything is OK. Anyone has any idea what can be the problem - My guess it's that it's a motherboard issue

Thanks in advance for replies

If your Mac starts up to a question mark

If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support

In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment for a "hardware issue"

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Outside the USA

https://locate.apple.com/country

Check your coverage

My Support - Official Apple Support

*See if you qualify: 13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) Solid-State Drive Service Program - Apple Support

Your SSD is most likely failing. The SSD's in the 2016-2017 non-Touchbar model tends to have issues and higher rates of failure. Have Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider examine the laptop to provide you with a repair estimate. Apple has a free SSD repair program for the SSD for some of the 2017 non-Touchbar models, but I have seen SSDs fail on the 2017 model which were not covered by the free SSD repair program.

13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) Solid-State Drive Service Program - Apple Support

Also, this model has a free battery repair program as well (only Apple or an AASP can confirm if your laptop qualifies):

13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) Battery Replacement Program - Apple Support

If the SSD is failing and it is not covered by the Apple free SSD repair program, then you can install a third party OWC SSD into this laptop instead of paying for Apple's overpriced SSD with known issues.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro-13-inch-non-touch-bar/2016-2017

FYI, here is the current list of the publicly acknowledged free repair programs for various Apple products (some products such as your laptop may have multiple programs):

Apple Service Programs - Apple Support

If the Mac boots, you can check to see if there are any Kernel Panic logs located in "/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports" which reference "nvme" at the beginning of the panic log. The Kernel Panic log files have names beginning with "kernel" and ending in ".panic". If a Kernel Panic has this reference near the beginning of the log file, then it confirms you have an SSD failure. The other way of confirming an SSD failure is by booting to external media (external macOS boot drive is best, but Internet Recovery Mode, or a bootable macOS USB installer can work as well) to see if the physical SSD is seen in Disk Utility. However, within Disk Utility you will need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. If there is no physical drive listed under "Internal", then the SSD is most likely bad. Keep in mind that sometimes an SSD failure may be intermittent at first so even a failing SSD may show up in Disk Utility until the failure becomes permanent. As you have discovered an SSD failure can sometimes be triggered by sleeping & waking the laptop, or powering on the laptop.

Make sure to back up your data if you haven't done so yet, as it is only a matter of time before the SSD fails and you lose the data on it.

You should always have frequent and regular backups for the computer and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data.