Mac Pro 3,1 black screen then fans on full

I have extensively researched this and from all accounts no one has ever found a fix - even with multiple known good GPU / various MacOS versions / new RAM / strip down and full cleaning (one guy even replaced the motherboard and PSU to no avail)

I have tried running it headless (physically removing the GPU(s)) and accessing via VNC viewer (thus eliminating GPU entirely) but still the same issue - after a period of time from accessing the login screen the mac will go black screen (there is an audible single 'tick' inside the case when this happens but no one has ever seen a LED warning inside the case if they have had the side off ....) then about 10 secs later the fans go on full throttle (default) and the only way to restart/shutdown is via the power button or the mains plug. As to whether the machine will restart ok or not, it seems entirely random; I have had a clear month of uptime or worst case scenario a wasted day of trying to get it running for more than a few seconds before the black screen.

...these 2008 Mac Pros still offer further usable life if this can be sorted out, so if you have experienced this and beaten the problem please save me and many others (it seems to be a very common issue!) from turning these well designed Mac Pros into landfill/reclamation.

My suspicions lie more with how the OS handles the hardware but it will in that case probably be something that has changed in everything OS since possibly Mavericks.

Safe boot makes no difference.

**Putting an Ubuntu drive in it and booting from that makes the issue go away completely**

I look forward to hearing from you if you can help or even tell me your experiences trying to troubleshoot this frustrating issue.

Many thanks

Andy

Posted on Jan 2, 2021 2:10 AM

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

140,261 points

Posted on Jan 2, 2021 7:37 AM

Panic Reports are stored at:

/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

If you copy and paste that string into:

Finder > Go menu > Go to Folder

it will take you to where those reports are stored.

They are named with Date&Time and end in .panic

You can post the entire report here, by using the “additional text” Icon in the reply header (looks like a paper with writing).

Please don’t post more about 20 lines of any other types of reports — they are interminable, and any information useful for this purpose is on the first screenful.

There are three quick take-aways from any panic report.

1) The panic-reason,

2) the extensions present at the "scene of the crime", and

3) the BSD process in which the problem occurred.

One more item that is important is the names of any third-party Extensions you have added. They are shown FIRST in the extensions loaded section

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65 replies

Apr 8, 2021 12:45 PM in response to Andrew Beardsmore

Once it finally started spitting out crash logs, they *seemed* to point to the graphics card... but I'm no expert at reading them.

The motherboard swap was done by a repair shop. It was definitely beyond my skill level.

Apr 8, 2021 3:32 PM in response to Andrew Beardsmore

Fans on full wasn't a consistent symptom for me, but DID happen from time to time. Sometimes the machine would sit and howl until I held down the power button and forced a shut down, but more often it was like this: Screen would go black, fans would blow full force for a second or two, machine would restart immediately.

Apr 19, 2021 12:15 PM in response to Andrew Beardsmore

Well, a week after they posted me as 'solving' the problem, it came back with a vengeance. Moving the card to slot 2 got me one month of blissful productivity, and then the problem came back with a vengeance.

If I post some crash logs, will anyone here look at them?

Apr 19, 2021 5:55 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hrm. Well, that's what I thought, good to have it confirmed. Thanks.

Here's the insane thing though - It does this with ANY nVidia card, so it's not just a bad card. And with many different driver configurations. And why is it that if it fails ONCE, it will keep quickly failing again and again, over multiple reboots, until I've poked and prodded and rebooted many many times, when it suddenly re-stabilizes?

Apr 19, 2021 6:20 PM in response to Sailordoom

There is a technical term for that:

Your cards are ... flaky.

It would be really nice if bad Hardware would simply drop down dead in its tracks and never respond again. But alas, it simply is not so.

Memory is the worst in this regard.

Apr 20, 2021 7:37 AM in response to Sailordoom

Sailordoom wrote:

3 different cards? All of them? I'm not sure that holds up to scrutiny. And I never had the problem running Mountain Lion with a GTX480. I can't escape the suspicion that it's a software issue, especially because the problem goes away if I flush the system's memory enough times...

The number of transistors and the heat generated by these graphics cards makes them more likely to fail than any other component in your Mac Pro.

Think about why you have three different cards. It is likely each went flaky in turn, and rather than pitch it out, you set it aside and did some "magical thinking" that maybe it was not broken.

Simply having a large collection of flaky cards does Not prove your case.

Apr 20, 2021 8:03 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Ok thanks for the advice- re flaky GPUs being the issue I entirely agree in this instance that it’s highly likely that even half those up on eBay for cMPs are likely ’half alive’ and I get what you’re saying about GPU memory so often being the issue but how does your hypothesis explain the exact same symptoms when my 3,1 crashes with NO

GPU present in any slot? Whilst viewed remotely (well, less than 2m away) over VNC on another machine ?

Apr 20, 2021 11:43 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

You made some assumptions about my cards. None were tossed because they went bad. GTX480 ran fine, but I wanted more onboard RAM (sadly I gave the card away and can no longer test it). GTX 680 is currently in the system. Tried upgrading to a 900 series and it was VERY unstable, so went back to the 680. When I took the machine to the repair shop they tried it with another 680 they had on hand.

So no, I don't think it's a series of 'flaky' cards. Something else is going on.

Apr 21, 2021 1:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

yes - came across that issue/fix elsewhere but as I had been running fairly sophisticated temp monitoring software reporting from all the cMP's sensors and fans, I think it would have picked up critical rises in temp in the processors. Typically under load they were operating in the 46degC to 63degC range which I've been told is very good. Machine is very clean, no dust clogging up any areas

Jan 2, 2021 6:24 AM in response to Andrew Beardsmore

**NB Stop Press - tempted fate clearly, it has experienced the same issue now whilst booted into Ubuntu :-(

Jan 2, 2021 11:25 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Yes and there’s a definite tick/click when screen goes black- sound coming from top of box (could be dvd drives)

I will try get the logs 😉

Jan 2, 2021 1:00 PM in response to Andrew Beardsmore

"up by the DVD drives" is where the power supplies located as well, and the click is like nothing else.

Jan 2, 2021 5:27 PM in response to Andrew Beardsmore

Based on that list, it could be that when your replacement power supply is working, you might not be quite done. But they don't look that scary.

Jan 3, 2021 7:49 AM in response to Andrew Beardsmore

You aren't showing any outright .panic reports. That is why I think the remaining issue(s), if any, are not scary ones (and not likely to be RAM memory issues).

Mar 3, 2021 8:56 AM in response to Sailordoom

Any joy Sailordoom ?

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Mac Pro 3,1 black screen then fans on full