Trying to post an uncomplicated response here...
I was getting the repeating 3 beeps. (The item 4 I keep referencing was listed under your description of that scenario.)
I wasn't suggesting that HDDs or SSDs can be fried, but
entire machines can be fried if you don't discharge before trying to work on them.
I've been careful over the years and never fried anything, and I'm confident that I didn't do it this time either.
Granted that 16 GB RAM rather than 8 GB and a SSD rather than a HDD would greatly enhance the MBP, but there's a limit to how much money I was willing to invest in a machine that's already two versions of macOS beyond its limit and is going to spend virtually the entirety of the rest of its life in a drawer.
If it had been a Gordian pretzel, Alexander could have chewed his way through it...maybe even dressed it with mustard and sauerkraut.
