MacBook won't boot - 4 days to go before leaving the country

Mijn probleem

My sister's MacBook stopped working right before she had to leave the country - it couldn't load the hard drive. She desperately needed it so I had to set up an external boot drive to test the hardware. Once that worked, I had to pop the thing open to get the hard drive out. After testing the hard drive and confirming it was working I determined it was the hard drive cable that had the issue.

Mijn oplossing

The repair was surprisingly easy! My only issue was that I didn't have the proper screwdrivers so I took the whole MacBook apart using one of those flathead screwdrivers for repairing glasses held at an angle...it worked, but never again. Also, I left the thing open as a result while I was waiting for it to arrive, just up on a shelf with all the screws in a plastic cup. Luckily iFixit's shipping was fast, but I was a little worried about possible disasters there.

Mijn advies

Get proper screwdrivers! Also, make sure you've fully tested the hard drive before you decide you need a new one (d'oh)!

Also, if you're replacing the hard drive cable, consider finding some way of gluing the cable back down again just to keep it neat and tidy.