MacPro (early 2008) refuses to start

Question

MacPro (early 2008) refuses to start

Hi all,

My MacPro was loading some movies from a GoPro camera, while I went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

When I returned, the screen was black, so I hit a key to wake it up, but nothing happened.

After waiting a few minutes, I pressed the button to shut it down, waited a minute and hit the power button again.

The screen stayed black, but a fan was running wild inside, so after about 30 seconds, I shut it down again.

I opened the case and hit the power button. The fan on the graphics card ran at full speed and I noticed one of the red leds on the DIMM boards was on, so I guessed there was a RAM problem.

Having solved that by fitting some other RAM modules I had ( yes, correct ones ), the startup problem persisted.

I also can't open the DVD drive, so I cannot insert a system disk...

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Peter

Mac Pro, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jul 28, 2020 7:45 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

128,089 points

Sep 3, 2020 8:57 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

Yes. that is very likely the issue.

The initial "chime" sound is generated in software when your Mac passes the Power-On Self Test. If it occurs and/or startup continues, your Mac is working.

The solid Apple is not in the Mac's ROM at Cold start. The Apple logo can only appear when it is fetched in the first "blob" of software loaded from a 'magic' place on the boot drive, or re-run after a Restart. Then a whole lot of stuff is initialized, and the progress Bar moves part way across. After a cold start, seeing the solid Apple appear says your drive is not completely dead.

So if there is a chime and disk activity, it is most likely your graphics card has died, especially if its fans are running full speed.

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Answer 2

Aug 21, 2020 7:39 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for your replies, Geotrax and Grant. Much appreciated.

I did try switching the RAM riser boards and RAM modules, but nothing changed. Power light is on and not blinking.

I have removed the HD and put it in an empty external drive case, so I could search for some clues in the log files.

Can anyone out there tell me if there's some info in there?

I know I had ImageCapture working - importing some GoPro movies, while EasyWMV was used to transform them into (much smaller-) mp4 files.

But what happened is a mystery for me...

Thanks,

Peter

XPCKeychainSandboxCheck

Talagent log

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Answer 3

Geotrax

Level 3

567 points

Jul 29, 2020 8:48 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

Hi Peter!

I had a very similar problem with my 2006 Mac Pro a while back. At first the problem was solved by removing what ended up being a fault RAM riser board, not the RAM itself.

In the end, the machine had other problems (faulty PSU), but the problem with the graphics card fan spinning at maximum RPMs was a faulty RAM riser board. My advice would be to take one out and see if the machine boots then, if not try the other riser board.

Hope it helps!

-Geotrax

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Answer 4

Jul 29, 2020 8:59 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

Carefully observe the power indicator light. A Mac that is otherwise working, but does not have the required 2GB of working RAM to start up will blink a "help-me" code in them power indicator light, pause, and repeat.

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Answer 5

Sep 3, 2020 7:39 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

panic reports form:

/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

named with date&Time and ending in .panic

Please do not post more than 20 lines of other types of reports, they are interminable and any useful information is in the first 20 lines.

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Answer 6

Sep 3, 2020 8:38 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant, thanks for your reply.

Onfortunately, I cannot find any file with .panic in that folder. All files in there end in .diag ...

If (!) the problem is with the video-card, could that be the reason for this behaviour?

Peter

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Answer 7

Sep 3, 2020 9:11 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks Grant.

My screen stays black and the power button just blinks as if it was sleeping.

The power button on the Mac is on, so I' ll have to look for a new graphics card then.

Will an Nvidia GT 120 - 512 MB GPU fit into this MacPro ?

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Answer 8

Sep 3, 2020 9:50 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

No chime says your Mac failed the Power-On Self Test.

Yes, the Mac-Firmware GT120 is available on the used market and is adequate for ordinary tasks. It does not require an aux power cord.

Look also at the Mac-Firmware 5770, available on the used market, as long as you are running 10.6.8 or later. it requires only one aux power cord.

Be sure you buy cards with Mac firmware. Otherwise you get No BOOT-Up (and debugging) screens. That is workable, but a pain in the neck.

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Answer 9

Sep 3, 2020 2:56 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

Nobody out there able to point me in the right direction with this?

Maybe I need to post another logfile? Which one?

Hope, hope, hope....

Peter

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Answer 10

Sep 3, 2020 9:24 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

Does it chime?

Does the power button blink? Is it blinking a pattern (small number of blinks, pause, repeat?) If so How many blinks?

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Answer 11

Sep 3, 2020 9:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

No, it doesn' t chime and the power button doesn' t blink, so I guess the rest of the Mac is OK ?

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Answer 12

Sep 10, 2020 9:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks again, Grant.

I bought a secondhand GT-120 that arrived this morning.

The Mac is working fine now, so problem solved !

Peter

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Answer 13

Sep 10, 2020 10:07 AM in response to Peter lembrechts

Great that you pressed on and got it working again. Congratulations!

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MacPro (early 2008) refuses to start

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