Chosen Solution
Hi guys, I’ve got a MacBook Pro Retina late-2013 with the exact same issue. Only chime, no graphics. It doesn’t respond to any commands (except for Reset SMC…that, according to the light on the charger, it did work). But other than that, I think I tried everything. It loops on that chime even without the SSD inserted. The cause of this was actually software (bad OS installation, don’t ask, it was a stupid mistake) and when I realised it, I force shut down the machine, which made it worse. Ever since I did that, all reboots are going into boot loop like this. No graphics on the screen (the screen does light up normally though). Only startup sound. Update: this has been fixed in a repair shop by replacing the EFI chipset on the motherboard.
This sounds like it could be a logic board issue. If you press the option key while booting, does it load into the startup disk picker?
