Macbook Pro Beeps 3 Times

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My mid 2012 macbook pro got the 3 beeps of death about a year ago, but it was under warranty still and Apple fixed it up. The 3 beeps are coming back now, but usually if I leave it charging for a while and give it a few days it starts working again.

Mac keeps restarting over and over? Mac keeps restarting on its own? MacBook Pro keeps restarting at boot? No worry. After reading this article, you can not only know why your Mac keeps restarting (Part 1), how to fix the “Mac keeps restarting” issue (Part 2) but also how to avoid spontaneous restarts on your Mac (Part 3). If you have encountered the similar problem on your iPhone X, iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus in iOS 11, go to the article about how to fix iPhone X/8/8 Plus keeps restarting to learn how to solve the problem.

MacBook Pro beeping 3 times, black screen. How do I fix it? This started happening after the computer suffered a small drop from futon to the floor. I researched and saw that signal means there is a problem with the RAM, could the Ram be loose? If so how do I fix thisIn non-Retina models, you need to remove t. I just upgraded the RAM in my MacBook Pro (15' 2 GHz Intel Core i7 - early 2011 model) from two 2gb modules to two 4gb modules. Started up just fine and ran great for about 10 minutes. Then the screen froze and the computer started beeping. After some google searches I found that it is caused by either a) bad RAM or b) the RAM is inserted. So I was on my MacBook and all of a sudden the screen gets some weird lines on it and then freezes. I turn it off and turn it back on and I get a black screen and 3 short beeps and it keeps going. Well I called apple and they said it is a hardware issue. I goggled it and found it is a memory.

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Part 1: Why Mac keeps restarting

In most of the cases, the main contributor to the 'Mac/MacBook Pro keeps restarting' issue is 'kernel panic'. The 'kernel' refers to the operating system of your Mac. Why does kernel panic lead to abnormal restarts? That's because the operating system has detected an issue on your Mac and the restart must be performed to fix the issue, which is usually caused by the faulty software or a problematic hardware. How to decide whether kernel panic is occurring? Generally, a message will pop up on your Mac screen showing you 'Your Computer restarted because of a problem'. If you are in the very situation, don't hesitate to get possible solutions in Part 2.

Beep

Part 2: How to fix Mac/MacBook Pro Keeps Restarting

If your Mac or MacBook Pro keeps restarting over and over, you first need to know where the problem is. Is the software installed on your Mac the cause of the issue or the hardware on your Mac to connected to your Mac the cause of the issue? If the kernel panic is related to hardware, follow the first two tips to learn what to do. While if the problem is related to software installed on your Mac, follow the last two tips instead. (Other solutions to common Mac/iDevice problems are also covered, go to iOS & Mac Topics to find what you need if you want.)

For hardware related kernel panic:

The kernel panic could be caused by a peripheral device or a combination of peripheral devices that has been connected to your Mac or the internal RAM or third-party hardware. Thus hardware troubleshooting is inevitable to solve the 'Mac keeps restarting' issue.

Tip 1: Check the peripheral devices connected to your Mac

Step 1: Shut down your Mac and disconnect all the peripheral devices. (Keep the display, keyboard, and mouse that are from App connected only. )

Step 2: Start your Mac and use it as usual.

Step 3: Troubleshoot hardware.

  • If your Mac works properly after you use it for a period of time and no kernel panic occurs, you must know that there is something wrong with the peripheral device that previously connected to your Mac. To check which peripheral device is the 'culprit', connect one peripheral device to your Mac at a time and test. If a single peripheral device doesn't cause the 'Mac keeps restarting' issue, you can try to connect two or more peripheral devices to your Mac and test.
  • While if a kernel panic occurs later, it must be something wrong with the internal RAM or third-party hardware. If so, follow tip 2 to check the hardware.

Tip 2: Check the internal RAM and third-party hardware on your Mac

Macbook Three Beeps

Step 1: Shut down your Mac.

Step 2: Remove the third-party RAM and internal hardware from your Mac. Reseat your Apple RAM if you get one. If not, reseat the RAM you have instead.

Step 3: Start your Mac and use it as usual.

Step 4: Do troubleshooting.

  • If the 'Mac keeps restarting' problem doesn't happen after you use your Mac for a period of time, you know that the third-party RAM or third-party internal hardware should to replaced to avoid the kernel panic.
  • If your Mac keeps restarting again, you need to go to the Apple Store nearby with your Mac to seek help from Apple.

For software related kernel panic:

Tip 3: Reinstall operating system on your Mac

Step 1: Use macOS Recovery to reinstall macOS.

  • Hold and press the key combination (Command + R) on your Mac keyboard immediately after you press the power button to turn on your Mac until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe.
  • Choose Reinstall macOS in the window and click Continue.

Step 2: If you have reinstalled macOS successfully, go to App Store >Updates to install all the updates on your Mac.

Step 3: Before you reinstall the third-party software, download and install all the third-party software updates.

Step 4: Do troubleshooting.

  • If the kernel panic doesn't occur, you have solved the issue successfully.
  • While if your Mac keeps restarting again, follow tip 4 introduced below.

Tip 4: Fix 'Mac keeps restarting' issue related to software

Step 1: Use macOS Recovery to start your Mac. (Refer to step 1 in Tip 3.)

Macbook Pro Three Beeps

Step 2: Use Disk Utility to back up your disk image to an external drive with enough free space.

Step 3: Wipe the internal drive via Disk Utility.

Step 4: Install OS X and start your Mac from the internal drive.

Macbook Pro Three Beeps Solution

Step 5: Go to App Store >Updates to install all updates on your Mac.

Step 6: Reinstall the third-party Apps on your Mac and copy the user data from the backup you have just created.

Part 3: How to prevent Mac from restarting

Unexpected restarts of Mac could be quite annoying, Thus it's necessary to learn how to prevent the problem from happening. The most effective way to avoid kernel panic is to always update your software to the latest version. You just need to go to App Store >Updates to make it. Easy, right? Hope you won't meet the 'Mac keeps restarting' issue again. For other problems like Mac running slow, Mac stuck on the login screen, Mac won't turn on and more, you can also find the fixes in the related article.

Macbook Pro 13 Beeping 3 Times



Macbook Pro Beeps 3 Times And Won't Turn On


I ran into an issue with my wife's MacBook Pro (Early 2011, 2.0 i7) where anytime it would go into safe sleep (i.e. the battery went completely dead while the computer was asleep, causing it to resume from the sleep image file when power was plugged in) when I would bring it out of safe sleep it would make it 50% through the resume process and then I would get 3 tones/beeps separated by about 5 seconds and then repeating the same sequence. During that time the front LED would flash at the same pattern.


Because I had replaced the RAM (came with 4, wanted 8, but didn't want to pay the Apple price, so instead I bought from Crucial.com - they are amazing) I had suspected that maybe the RAM was bad or that it wasn't seated properly. I proceeded to re-seat the RAM and run a RAM diagnostics test ('rember' from Kelley Computing, http://kelleycomputing.net/rember/), the test passed. I called Apple to schedule a visit with my local Apple authorized technician, jett.net in Redding, CA). The technician booted up the laptop using the special Apple network diagnostics and all of the hardware 'checked out' as just fine.


I decided that instead of calling Apple back, I would try fixing this myself since it appeared to be a software issue not a hardware issue. Because of the unique situation where the computer would start to resume just fine and then get the 3 tones, it seemed related to the safe sleep file (/private/var/vm/sleepimage). I had read that any time you put your mac to sleep the sleepimage file will get created, if it doesn't exist already. I decided to delete the file so that it would get re-created the next time the Mac was put to sleep. Now, I needed the Mac to go into 'safe sleep' which is challenging, because normally this would only happen if the battery was completely depleated. I learned a new terminal command to force the computer to always go into safe sleep.


'sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 1'


Where, setting hibernatemode to 1 tells your mac to always go into safe sleep. By doing this I was able to force safe sleep to happen without waiting for the battery to be drained. After putting it to sleep and making sure the LED in the front of the computer was NOT pulsing (i.e. the power is truly off) I turned the computer on and it started to resume from safe sleep and it was able to finish booting as it should, no beeping occurred and all was well.


So, in summary


1) when resuming from safe sleep, computer would beep three times every five seconds
2) I used 'sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage' to delete the sleepimage file
3) I used 'sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 1' to force safe sleep when I close the lid and/or choose sleep from the apple menu
4) Booted from safe sleep and confirmed it was working as expected.
5) To go back to regular safe sleep mode (i.e. do not engage safe sleep unless the battery goes dead) using 'sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3'


Here is a link to the pmset commands that I used.
http://www.macworld.com/article/53471/2006/10/sleepmode.html


Computer information:
MacBook Pro 15', Early 2011, i7 2.0Ghz, 8GB RAM
OS X 10.7.2 Lion


I hope this can help someone out there.