HT201314: About OS X Recovery

Learn about About OS X Recovery
renemoreno

Q: Mac Pro Mid 2010 not starting after installing El Capitan

I installed El Capitan in my Mac Pro Mid 2010Processor  2 x 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon Memory  8 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC Graphics  ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB, and after that the computer went blank. Only a light gray background on the screen. Can't start in any of the regular modes, Verbose, Single User, Recovery, nothing seems to work!

Help!!!

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 5:00 PM

Close

Q: Mac Pro Mid 2010 not starting after installing El Capitan

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Carolyn Samit,Solvedanswer

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Oct 1, 2015 5:03 PM in response to renemoreno
    Level 10 (120,143 points)
    Apple Watch
    Oct 1, 2015 5:03 PM in response to renemoreno

    Did you try Safe Mode ??

    If you're using Mac OS X 10.2 or later, you can start up your computer in Safe Mode, which includes an automatic disk check and repair.  A Safe Boot, which starts up your computer into Safe Mode, might allow you to start up your computer successfully. To do this, follow these steps:

    1. Start up in Safe Mode.
    2. After the system has fully started up, restart your computer again normally.
  • by renemoreno,

    renemoreno renemoreno Oct 2, 2015 3:09 AM in response to Carolyn Samit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 3:09 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

    Thanks Carolyn! It worked.

  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Oct 2, 2015 5:26 AM in response to renemoreno
    Level 10 (120,143 points)
    Apple Watch
    Oct 2, 2015 5:26 AM in response to renemoreno

    You're welcome 

  • by PJ'sPal,

    PJ'sPal PJ'sPal Dec 10, 2015 4:23 AM in response to renemoreno
    Level 1 (59 points)
    iWork
    Dec 10, 2015 4:23 AM in response to renemoreno

    I had this problem as well.  However, I can't get my Mac Pro to boot up the 12/8/15 update to El Capitan using Safe Mode.

    El Capitan worked fine before hand but no longer.

     

    I have two older graphics cards and three monitors.

    I now suspect the graphic card driver fiasco is rearing its ugly head.

    I am having to change out graphics cards to Nvidia ATI Gt120s and load the software updates.

    Don't know why Apple couldn't have thought about contacting Nvidia to include the updated drivers so we would not have to.

  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Dec 10, 2015 4:49 AM in response to PJ'sPal
    Level 5 (6,933 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 10, 2015 4:49 AM in response to PJ'sPal

    Apple makes the drivers and for the most part regulates their release with OS X upgrades (with the exception of these, and the CUDA tools which are not drivers) , they have kept Nvidia out of the development so when something breaks we wait for Apple to fix it, meanwhile on my Windows box I get updates to a 6 year old GTS250 about 4 times a year from Nvidia.

  • by PJ'sPal,

    PJ'sPal PJ'sPal Dec 10, 2015 5:49 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT
    Level 1 (59 points)
    iWork
    Dec 10, 2015 5:49 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT

    I read more about how Apple does have their own drivers.  

    It seems that there was not a whole lot of testing of the latest release.

    I removed an old  ATI Radeon HD 2600 (256mb) card and replaced it with an NVIDIA GT120 (512mb) card. 

    My ATI Radeon HD 4870 seems to be doing OK with the GT120. 

     

    I also broke down and did a complete clean install of 10.11.2 on a separate HD, migrated applications and data (not settings) and it looks like it now works.

     

    I still don't know exactly why I could boot up past the Apple logo and the progress bar but then fail to boot into the login screen.

    Why would the login screen be so dependent upon a graphics card.

    I keep wanting to point my finger at an old piece of software I had lingering around that the system loaded but I can't do that yet. 

     

    I don't know if I will be able to figure out exactly what was wrong with my system.

    That upgrade  was very costly with respect to my lost hours and productivity at work.