Dropping MacBook Pro can happen to anyone. It’s a portable machine, after all, and a laptop can end up in different situations, such as a hard floor. Hopefully in a closed state.

Mac can take a fall, but sometimes it can lead to a problem, such as the Question mark folder during startup.

Black screen with question mark folder Image source Apple.

Determine is a hardware problem. Disk Utility or memory reset won’t help if there’s a hardware problem. Unlucky Mac owner, when in a dare situation like this, still has options before making a repair appointment.

Opening Retina MacBook Pro (2014) is easier than most people would think. All that is required is an appropriate star-shaped screwdriver. Get out of jail free card can wait inside. In this case, pictured below, the SSD module positioned under a funny angle.

MacBook Pro 13 2014 model with back panel opened, showing SSD under funny angle

The concrete MacBook Pro survived the procedure popping it back in, with some side-effect like quite rattling noise during laptop shaking.1 The side-effect possibly can be fixed with a small amount of glue and has not been attempted yet by the relieved author of this post. Which got out of jail, this time.

  1. Rattling is happening because the SSD module screw doesn’t attach to the base any longer. The screw and its nest both attached to the SSD module, but lost connection with the base. ↩