MacPro 2008 Video Card Problem

Hi,

Check to make sure that the video card is securely in place. A loose or rocked video card can cause all sorts of problems. If its not that, then remove the video card and re-insert it. Then turn the computer back on and see if that resolves the problem. Also, another video card would help to see if its a hardware related issue.

If you don't have another video card handy, my next step would be to check for corrupt preference files (.plist). If the problem still lingers, then the next step would be to do an archive and install of the OS, as something in the OS might be corrupt when putting your computer to sleep.

A very weird problem indeed, since it worked fine until yesterday. I suspect either a loose connection with the video card, or if not that, a corrupt preference file.

Hey man, whats up?

Ok, so you checked everything and all is working, but still the computer gives you a problem when in sleep mode? Hmm... sounds like possibly your sleep preferences are corrupt or shot. Go into spotlight and do a search for "sleep" anything like.. com.apple.sleep.plist or somefin' like that.

Delete it and restart the computer. Try putting it to sleep again and if it doesn't do the same thing, then it was a bad preference file.

Report back when you have completed that.

peace

have the same problem with the same machine

I had this problem with my 2008 Mac Pro as well, last fall.

I contacted AppleCare. They sent me a new video card. This one worked until early May of this year. I contacted AppleCare - we did a few tests, like the hardware test on the install DVDs, and found nothing wrong. They sent me a new card.

Before I started having the not waking up from sleep problem, I would occasionally get graphics corruption. I'd also occasionally experience system lock ups on the iTunes Store when scrolling through pages with lots of images. The new card fixed this until it too started flaking out.

I just gave up on the ATIs and bought an Nvidia GeForce FX 120. My advice would be to contact AppleCare and explain the situation and see if they're get you a new card. Also, if you have another machine networked with this one you might want to try pinging it to see if the machine is responsive and it's just the video card that's hosed or something else.

I have the same problem and I'm afraid to let it sleep or shut down. I'm scheduled to go to Apple tomorrow for a diagnosis. What's up with these cards? I've never had a hardware problem with a Mac.

Dear All,
This is a display card problem. Symptoms like system starts with no display, not wakeup from sleep, bcas of this. Contact Apple, they will replace this card 661-4723, Video card ATI Rd 2600XT.

We are AASP, so far we replaced this for 10 customer in last 4 months.

They wouldn't do it for free

James Borzak wrote:
They wouldn't do it for free

Did you get the AppleCare extended warranty? I ask because if it's not covered even with AppleCare, I would be very surprised.

I have been a loyal Apple customer since the 1980's and never had problems with the equipment. Hard drive errors of course but that would be considered normal. I purchased a Mac Pro in Feb. of 2008 and expected this computer to last me at least as long as G4 tower Mac which was 9 years with a few hardware upgrades. My G4 purchased in 1999, my iMac blue purchased even earlier, my performa, G5 iMac and Intel iMac all still work. But my most expensive and newest computer is not working.

Recently my Mac Pro would not run the display. Originally considered to be the graphics card by the Apple Store. Upon further checking they found three of four PCI slots were bad and said it would work now but with only one PCI slot. However when I got it home it did the same thing on the display. After several attempts it did run the display but ran into hard drive errors. TechTool pro said it has a volume structure problem. There was no problem with the hard drive when I took it to the Apple Store. It was obviously running fine because my networked computers could print from the Mac Pro. This was confirmed at the Apple store.

Now I have a hard disk problem, no display, a bad logic board and a graphics card problem. As a loyal customer and an educator I expect a lot more from Apple then a high repair bill for a computer that is very new. I buy Apple products for a premium because they have been reliable. As a teacher I can't afford to buy a new computer every year or two nor can I afford a $1000. repair bill.

I was lucky that I bought the Apple care when the display card had problem before its one year warranty expired.

Since then, the stock display card had been replaced 3 times. Recently, the mother board need to replace. There are still minor problem that my monitor suddenly turn blue but come back normal within seconds several time in the first few minutes after boot. This is spotted by the engineer when he tested it after replacing the new motherboard. He claimed to be problem with my monitor as it also had some ghost image. It does not has such problem using other monitor.

I am struggling if I should further invest to buy more RAM for my Mac Pro early 2008.

My Mac showed the same symptoms getting worse over a number of weeks. Replaced the video card with an ATI Radeon HD 4870 from the London Apple Store. It has been installed for 3 weeks now with no recurrence of the problem.