Stephen Altobello1

Q: Power Mac won't boot up

Hi, Folks! I've had this Mac Pro 2.8GHz since 2008 and rarely had a problem. Last night, the clock was wrong (for the first time ever); it said it was a few hours later than it was. And I couldn't reset it in System Preferences. I re-booted and the cycle began:

 

-I get the grey screen, with the Apple and the spinning wheel. This lasts for about a minute

-The screen goes black, the CPU winds down and it starts up again.

-I get the grey screen, with the Apple and the spinning wheel. This lasts for about a minute

-The screen goes black, and so on...

 

It sounds like it's pushing a rock up a hill and instead of reaching the top, it suddenly falls off the side and has to be pushed up again--only to fall off again. The fans are working and I hear the usual start-up noises--but not much else.

 

I've booted from the Install Disk and run Disk Utility (it repaired some things, but to no avail). I've run a Hardware Test, which it passed. I've zapped the NVRAM. No luck.

 

I've run out of options. Any suggestions?

 

(BTW, I'm in Brooklyn and therefore got hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. However, we never lost power--and I actually had my computer and power strip off during the worst of it. What happened to me last night was a good two days after the storm had passed.)

 

Thanks!

Mac Pro 2.8GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Nov 1, 2012 5:51 AM

Close

Q: Power Mac won't boot up

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Previous Page 2
  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 5:27 PM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 5:27 PM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    Stephen, if it were me, I would just pull the internal drive and take it to TekServe since you have dealt with them in the past, why frustrate yourself further.  Get their read on it and if it is bad, get a new internal drive and ask if they can simply make a clean copy of the old drive on the new.  Then just use the external drive to boot and work from in the interim if it is going to take them a few days.  You know now that the computer is good, and probably the internal drive is failing.

     

    If you have a good TM backup already, use the Pondini Tip Page for help with Time Machine, and his reference to his web site which is the best source of TM info there is...even better than Apple's limited info.

     

    If you can, print this discussion, you have accomplished a great deal here and have a good source of info to help others on these Communities...always like to see fellow users jump in and share their knowledge, that is how we have all done it.

     

    Post the results of your venture into the Citty, sounds like TekServe may be a good reference to keep on file.

     

    Ralph

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 2, 2012 5:31 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 2, 2012 5:31 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Sage advice, Ralph. I'll keep you posted.

     

    The Pondini Tip Page is wonderful.

     

    BTW, when you mentioned the drives you got from OWC, it reminded me that my other internal drives are Seagate Barracuda XTs, which have never failed me. I could get another one of those and use that in my first hard drive slot? I guess I imagined that the computer's hard drive needs to be something special--in comparison to extra drive space one might get--but that's not really the case, right? (I've had good fortune with the Seagate Barracudas; is there a rival company that you'd recommend? I don't feel like skimping on something as crucial as the CPUs hard drive.)

     

    I'll def. print this when the whole saga is over!

     

    Stephen

  • by Ralph Landry1,Solvedanswer

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 2, 2012 6:48 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 2, 2012 6:48 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    Stephen,

     

    If the Seagates have been working well for you, by all means just drop another in the bay one slot.  All the machine wants to see is a bootable startup disk, brand does not matter.  The OWC drives I have been buying - have no idea of who actually manufactured the drives inside the enclosures.  They work great, are fully compatible, so I just keep going to that source.  Seagate, Wetern Digital, Misubishi, etc., if they work then go with what you like.  You can hear horror stories about every drive on the market if you listen to enough people

     

    The suggestion about asking TekServe if they can image your old drive on the new was just an idea to save you the time and effort of reinstalling software and data from the old drive...if it can be done at a reasonable price, just a thought.

     

    Ralph

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 2, 2012 9:31 PM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 2, 2012 9:31 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Here's an interesting development, Ralph.

     

    Since getting in and out of NYC is a tall order--and I had limited time to run errands today--I decided to simply go to B&H and buy a 1tb internal hard drive. The Best Case Scenario would be that I install it into the first slot and use Time Machine for my User Settings, etc.

     

    It's kind of worked out that way, to a point.

     

    (First, let me say that last night, with the external bootable drive hooked up [via FW800] I used the Migration Assistant to bring in all the user settings, files, etc, from my Time Machine. It took many hours and and during the stage when it was transferring files, it gave me the prompt: "There might be a problem with your network. The other Mac is not responding. Make sure that all of your network devices are connected and turned on. Also, make sure that your Ethernet cables are still connected properly to your computer and to the network, or if using AirPort, that the base station is in range and turned on." After clicking "Continue" got me nowhere, I clicked Cancel, and it was a very incomplete migration [no apps, no files]. I didn't sweat this since this external drive is a temporary solution anyway.)

     

    Tonight I came home with the new internal drive, installed it, installed Leopard, and began the Setup Assistant. I got the same prompt as last night. NOTE: This time with Setup Assistant; last night was with Migration Assistant.

     

    I notice from reviewing the boards that this Time Machine glitch seemed to happen a few years ago, in Leopard, and maybe hasn't happened since. But I've yet to find a solution.

     

    Clearly, Ralph, this whole situation could be/should be its own thread, which is exactly what I'm going to do, repeating most of what I've written here tonight. Once that's behind me, I'll update this thread, hopefully with happy closure.

     

    sma

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 4, 2012 8:14 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 4, 2012 8:14 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Hey, Ralph!

     

    It's been a long journey, but def. your assistance helped me. A lot.

     

    Replacing the hard drive did the trick. As for the strife with Time Machine, we'll I'll be updating that thread shortly. It was not a smooth sailing ship, but I'm back on track.

     

    I have something to add to the workflow, for those going down this road (of replacing a hard drive):

    -Install it

    -Boot up from the Install Disk (or external bootable drive, if that's what you're using)

    -Open Disk Utility

    -Format your new hard drive to Mac OS Journalled

    -Re-boot and install your OS

     

    Since most (all?) third-party hard drives aren't Mac formatted when they leave the factory, you'll need to do these steps first, before the Install Disks even recognize it as an option.

     

    Thanks!

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 4, 2012 8:19 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 4, 2012 8:19 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    "If you can, print this discussion, you have accomplished a great deal here and have a good source of info to help others on these Communities"

    BTW, Ralph, hat is the best way to share or archive this thread?

     

    Thx.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Nov 4, 2012 12:36 PM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 10 (123,496 points)
    Nov 4, 2012 12:36 PM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    To share, just post this link...

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4478158?tstart=0

     

    If you'd like to Archive it, use CMD+p or Print>PDF>Save as PDF, then you'll get a file like this...

     

    Power Mac won't boot up_ Apple Support Communities.pdf

  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 5, 2012 4:09 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 5, 2012 4:09 AM in response to BDAqua

    BD, saw you were helping Stephen in his related post, that one was going well so decided not to meddle.  Thanks for jumping on it.

     

    Stephen, good to see this finally worked out...BD has a lot of good experience and ideas.

     

    With all you learned here, stick around and help others.

     

    A side note - while many hard drives are not formatted for Mac HFS, if you buy from Mac specialists like OWC they do come Mac formatted...all of the external drives I have gotten from them have been formatted, but I reformatted since I wanted to partition the drives...that is another topic open to debate among some users on here but I like mine partitioned.

Previous Page 2