MBP will not see internal drive

[Holmz]

MBP had the HDD drive replaced last year with a OWC-SSD (128 GB).
Returned to a powered off computer (??), and upon reboot I found the blue screen with the folder icon in the middle.

Rebooted MBP in target mode and hooked it up via firewire to another Mac.
No drive could be seen on the other mac (...wtf??).

Removed the OWC-SSD and put it into the USB tray, and hooked it up to the other mac.. But I could not see the OWC-SSD attach...

Then put a spare Kingston-SSD (256) into the USB tray, and formatted it on the other machine with 4 partitions (OSX@140GB, Shared@~70GB, Windows@30GB, CentOS@20GB).

I put the Kingston into the MBP.
It wanted to put the OS onto CentOS, so I used Disk utility to remove all but the OSX partition.
Started to install the OS form DVD (Leopard).
About 20 minutes in it said it could not continue and offered a restart.
I said (via finger) yes.

No drive was visible upon reboot.

Took the Kingston drive out and when to second machine.
There was a partition there with 1/2 an install.
Installing the OS on the other mac from DVD as UBS attached.

Will see how the new drive works and if the MBP boots, but I am doubtful and it will take hours to move (Migrate the users over).

I will be calling OWC tech support when they get in.

Questions:
1) what hardware issue makes the internal drive disappear?
2) What should I be using for a SSD? (Samsung, Intel?)

regards... Holmz

[Holmz]

And in today's episode...

The new Kingston is in but the thing is freezing up or rebooting after ~10-20 minutes.

I cannot help but wonder if these are related issues.
Looking at hackin-top alternatives.

[Holmz]

It is snow leopard that I put back on it by the way. (Not Mountain Lion)

[Sumleilmus]

Do you have a backup?

Are there firmware updates for either SSD?

[Holmz]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sumleilmus Do you have a backup? Are there firmware updates for either SSD?

The machine is not stable enough to worry about restoring from a backup.

No firmware that I could find and the tech at OWC said the drive was likely hosed...

But I am also getting lock ups now every few minutes, so I am not sure if I have a memory or other issue going on (as well, in-addition to, or as root cause).

[DeltaMac]

Do you have your original OS X installer DVD?
You can boot to the Hardware test on that disk, by inserting that original DVD, and restarting while holding Command-D
Run both the standard and extended tests.

You said that it either locks up, or restarts every few minutes.
By "Restart" - do you mean that it shows a message telling you that you must restart (in multiple languages)? - or that it actually restarts spontaneously, without warning or any other message on the screen?

[Holmz]

Quote: Originally Posted by DeltaMac Do you have your original OS X installer DVD? You can boot to the Hardware test on that disk, by inserting that original DVD, and restarting while holding Command-D Run both the standard and extended tests. You said that it either locks up, or restarts every few minutes. By "Restart" - do you mean that it shows a message telling you that you must restart (in multiple languages)? - or that it actually restarts spontaneously, without warning or any other message on the screen?

Usually just hangs, and the mouse moves and I can usually get focus on the windows, but the cmd-opt-esc and activity monitor do not kill anything, and the red x and quit also do not work...
Other times the system hangs and I have no window focus but have mouse movement.

Thanks for the CMD-D tip - I put in the disk.
The 3 extended checks all passed as ok.

Went back to the snow leopard install disc and it got part way through then the Kingston SSD was not seen and disk utility could not see it.
Rebooted again and gets part way in and then the 12 spoke clocks spins and nothing happens.