[Solved] Need help with a MacBook Pro a1278

i bought it from a teenager and when I get home to turn it on I either get a folder with a folder with a question mark or a lock with a bar to enter pw. I’ve tried the key combo, and s, and r, and remove both sticks of ram and place one in the top and tried one on the bottom. No luck with anything. Please help.

the3rdknuckles said:

i bought it from a teenager and when I get home to turn it on I either get a folder with a folder with a question mark or a lock with a bar to enter pw. I’ve tried the key combo, and s, and r, and remove both sticks of ram and place one in the top and tried one on the bottom. No luck with anything. Please help.

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You have come to the wrong place, this is a site dedicated to installing Apple operating systems onto non-Apple hardware.
See https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204156

Folder with a question mark



If you see a folder with a question mark appear instead of the Apple logo, it means your Mac couldn't find a local or network-based startup disk. This can happen if the disk selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences isn't available. Wait a few seconds to see if your Mac is able to locate the startup disk you specified.

If you still see a question mark after waiting a few seconds, use Startup Manager to start up your Mac, then select your startup disk from System Preferences.

If a question mark appears after you install a software update, select your startup disk again using macOS Recovery.

Lock icon



If you set a firmware password on your Mac, you might see a lock icon at startup if you try to start your Mac from another volume like an external drive or macOS Recovery. Enter your firmware password to continue starting up.

Thread moved to MacBook Pro.

How do I get passed firmware password?

I seem to have tried the cntrl r thing already.

the3rdknuckles said:

How do I get passed firmware password?

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Take it back to the seller so that he can unlock it or give you your money back.

To anyone looking for a solution to this problem. It’s possible to get it fixed without hunting down the person who sold it to you and is dodging all your calls and msgs. Mine is up and running.