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Q: My Mac Pro spontaneously restarts

Over the last couple weeks my computer has suddenly and repeatedly restarted itself without warning while I was using it. It's as if the power was flipped off for a fraction of a second. I checked the power cables, of course, and they're fine. My house has good electrical and no other appliance has behaved like this.

What possible trouble could this behavior indicate? I'm making sure I've got everything backed up in case it goes down for good.

Thanks

MacPro G5 (aluminum), Mac OS X (10.5.7), 2 x 3 GHz Quad Core

Posted on Jul 30, 2009 12:16 AM

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Q: My Mac Pro spontaneously restarts

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  • by xjcobx,

    xjcobx xjcobx Jan 7, 2011 5:54 AM in response to Naveen Singh
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    Jan 7, 2011 5:54 AM in response to Naveen Singh
    Hey guys,
    Got my mac pro back from the shop. They tested everything (power supply, processors, memory, etc..)
    It all got back to the logic board, they say it's the logic board, I need to change it. [bad news uh]

    Cheers,
  • by franzleojames,

    franzleojames franzleojames Jan 7, 2011 7:07 AM in response to xjcobx
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 7:07 AM in response to xjcobx
    Bad news mine is in the shop at the moment awaiting their diagnosis I hope that it is not the logic board or if it is and other early 2008 mac pros are having the same fault lets hope that apple chases the company responsible for these short lived units and perhaps pays for at least the replacement part .
    It is a difficult price to swallow for a repair since it represents almost a third of the new price and who knows whether in three years time if the same part will fail.

    Salud
  • by xjcobx,

    xjcobx xjcobx Jan 7, 2011 7:16 AM in response to franzleojames
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 7:16 AM in response to franzleojames
    ranzleojames---> Please let us know whether is the logic or other part/s, that way we know if it's only my mac or is in general.

    I'm still thinking what i'm going to do. new mac, repair this one. undecided

    Cheers,
  • by franzleojames,

    franzleojames franzleojames Jan 7, 2011 7:30 AM in response to xjcobx
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 7:30 AM in response to xjcobx
    Yes in light of what you have said I have looked at new options although I do not want to pay the price of a new mac pro with similar specs I am looking at the price of an iMac with the i7 and 8 GB ram and then some sort of storage bay for the 4 hard drives from the mac pro which would not be too expensive if the price of repair is too much I just hope that this is not an isolated problem and apple perhaps feel that the company making the logic board are responsible for the cost of the replacement part. Then comes the question how long to wait to see what if any action apple do before buying a replacement .
    I shall keep you up to date with the progress on my machine.

    Salud
  • by xjcobx,

    xjcobx xjcobx Jan 7, 2011 7:50 AM in response to franzleojames
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 7:50 AM in response to franzleojames
    I too thought of an 4 cores Imac.
    You know what i find, interesting and weird. The code part for my logic board is 630-7997 (i see that that one came with the 3.2ghz models, not with the 2.8ghz, I have the 2.8ghz). In the web I can't find that same model # logic board for replacement, there is the 661-4449 that is seems to be the one compatible if my mac.

    I don't know if it's just me going a bit crazy with all this stuff..

    Cheers
  • by Philip R.,

    Philip R. Philip R. Jan 7, 2011 8:03 AM in response to xjcobx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 8:03 AM in response to xjcobx
    xjcobx,

    When you took your machine into the shop, were they able to pinpoint something specifically wrong with the logic board, like a particular manufacturing defect? That would be very helpful.

    Or was it more like, "well, we can't find anything else wrong, so it must be the logic board"

    (Knock on wood I've had uptime for nearly two weeks because I haven't restarted the computer.)
  • by franzleojames,

    franzleojames franzleojames Jan 7, 2011 8:07 AM in response to xjcobx
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 8:07 AM in response to xjcobx
    Logic Board Intel Xeon Mac Pro 2.8GHz/3GHz (Early 2008)
    Description : This is a Logic Board Intel Xeon for the Mac Pro One 2.8GHz, Two 2.8GHz, Two 3.0GHz or Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 Series price 658.43€
    http://www.shopwiki.com/MacPro+Logic+Board+Xeon630-7997?sb=1

    Here is what I found
  • by xjcobx,

    xjcobx xjcobx Jan 7, 2011 8:14 AM in response to Philip R.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 8:14 AM in response to Philip R.
    Philip R,

    They tried new processors, new PSU, new RAM, new everything but not the logic because they didn't have any in stock. So they basically told me that is the logic that has the problem.
    They didn't pinpoint anything specific, it does not have any particular (physical sign of damage), so they "assumed" that it is the logic board.
  • by franzleojames,

    franzleojames franzleojames Jan 7, 2011 8:15 AM in response to Philip R.
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 8:15 AM in response to Philip R.
    The shop mailed me to say there was nothing wrong with the computer they managed to start it but they did not log in: I have given them my password and as yet they have not got back to me although here in Mallorca we have just had another fiesta on the 6th so I shall possible not hear from them until Monday since they may well have kept the workshop closed until Monday so I shall post the results as soon as I know the diagnosis.
  • by franzleojames,

    franzleojames franzleojames Jan 7, 2011 8:17 AM in response to xjcobx
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 8:17 AM in response to xjcobx
    Maybe a second opinion would be in order although perhaps hang on until I have an answer on mine !!
  • by xjcobx,

    xjcobx xjcobx Jan 7, 2011 8:22 AM in response to franzleojames
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 8:22 AM in response to franzleojames
    franzleojames,

    I found that too. So I told you, maybe it's me going a bit crazy (over researching things). In conclusion I think it's 661-4449.

    As a matter of fact right now I'm calling other shop, to see if i can get a second opinion.
  • by zoomyzoomy,

    zoomyzoomy zoomyzoomy Jan 7, 2011 9:36 AM in response to Philip R.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 9:36 AM in response to Philip R.
    @Philip R (and thanks to you others for keeping this thread alive .. keep it up!)

    I've had my Mac Pro back from repairs now for 9 days.

    As I mentioned before, they couldn't pinpoint the problem, but thought it was likely to be the logic board at fault, rather than the PSU (due to the fans spinning madly during some of the restarts) - so they replaced it.

    It's working ok so far ... but that doesn't really prove anything. Before the repair, I had gaps of up to 2 months when the fault didn't happen .. and my extended warranty expires in 2 months ...

    Philip - you pose a very important question, i.e. without pinpointing the precise fault we are never going to get to the bottom of this.

    As a footnote: my Mac was returned with the front headphone audio output not working. (Coincidence?). Rather than pinpointing the cause, they have ordered a whole new front panel to replace my current one. Maybe this (as with the logic board replacement) is a quicker way of working .. but really doesn't help us the customer understand what is causing the fault and then taking the right action .. particularly for those not still in warranty!
  • by xjcobx,

    xjcobx xjcobx Jan 7, 2011 11:22 AM in response to zoomyzoomy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 11:22 AM in response to zoomyzoomy
    @zoomyzoomy,
    @Philip R,

    I correct what I said before, I don't think they tried changing the fans, so i don't know if that will fix it. As far as I know what they tried were the processors, ram, ram card, psu, hard drive.

    zoomyzoomy--> as you say, you had "gaps of up to 2 months". Mine was like that, until a day that the mac pro even restart itself on the first white screen, after that the mac pro does not pass 1-5-20-30 minutes without restart. Please keep us update, if the problem is solve only by changing the fans, it would be much more pleasant than the logic board.

    Cheers,
  • by zoomyzoomy,

    zoomyzoomy zoomyzoomy Jan 7, 2011 1:43 PM in response to xjcobx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 1:43 PM in response to xjcobx
    Hi xjcobx

    Sorry, perhaps I should have been clearer? They did not replace the fans for me. They only replaced the logic board. My point was that they thought the problem was with either the PSU or the logic board, but when I told them about the fans spinning very fast during some (not all) of the random restarts, that made them think that the problem was more likely to be with the logic board.
  • by xjcobx,

    xjcobx xjcobx Jan 7, 2011 2:04 PM in response to zoomyzoomy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2011 2:04 PM in response to zoomyzoomy
    zoomyzoomy,

    :s
    I understood the other way around. Thanks anyway.

    Cheers,
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