Followed online instructions to create a bootable USB disk with El Capitan. Tried to boot up with Boot Options (held down D key after power key).Ĩ. Was met with the same flashing question mark.ħ. Reset PRAM (held down option+command+p+r after power button) and SMC (disconnected the internal battery and reconnected). Was met with the same flashing question mark.Ħ. Acquired an external SATA hard drive to USB cable so I could remove the hard drive and connect it externally to the USB port and bypass the internal hard drive cable. Suspected my installation of the hard drive cable was poor. Was met with the same flashing question mark.ĥ. Ordered a hard drive cable from Ebay (new) and installed. Suspected a malfunctioning hard drive cable. Got the hard drive back from Samsung and they said they 'updated the firmware and the unit tested fine.' Installed 'repaired hard drive' and was met with the same flashing question mark.Ĥ. Removed SSD hard drive sent back to Samsung to test and repair under warranty. Tried to boot in Safe Mode (holding down Shift key after power key). Tried to boot in Recovery Mode (Cntrl and R while holding down power key).

The computer has been generally fine until now.ġ. (the usb mouse solved the problem immediately) added a USB mouse because the trackpad cursor was jumping all over. upgraded to Samsung Evo SSD hard drive in 2017 purchased mid 2009 Macbook Pro (used) in 2013 I've spent hours and days following tutorials on the internet and am now ready to post in a forum after exhausting the potential solutions I’ve found. I have a mid-2009 Macbook Pro with the gray screen and blinking question mark/folder.

Question mark mac boot