Need help with Red Led (not the ram ones).

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Need help with Red Led (not the ram ones).

Hello everyone, well, a couple of days ago, my mac pro (early 2008), started acting strange, i mean all of the sudden it just keept rebooting, after like 3 times, it could boot into osx and didn´t had the issue for the rest of the day, so i thought this is no normal at all, i ran repair permissions, clear the cache, reset pvram, and reset smc.

Next day same thing happens, so i open the Mac, and i found this little red light on, right next to the bluetooth adapter, by the airport card, on the upper left side, really close to the front fan and the first hard drive slot.

I freaked out to be honest, so i inmidiately ran apple hardware test, nothing bad came up, i´ve checked the diagnostic led´s and they are fine, no signs of electric power issues, or processors, the led´s on the memory cards are not lighting, i´ve changed the video card from slots, change the memory ram order, and it happened again.

So my last resource was to ran the Apple diagnostic Service, i´ve looped the test 3 times, the efi and the os, but the Mac Passed all the test, i mean besides the rebooting issue, the computer just runs fine.

I´ve run out of ideas, and the red led it´s still there, i´d appreciate if someone could give me a direction of what to do. finding a official apple repair center in my town is almost impossible.

Thanks in advance, and pardon my english i am not from the US.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Nov 18, 2010 6:53 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 20, 2011 6:47 PM in response to m1kygarcia

Hi there,

Today, i found the same red led on my mac pro, near to the BT adapter and to close from the HDD Slots Fan. so, i cant see what are the words writen next to the led. i had ran the Apple Diagnostics test too, an my Mac Pro has passed all times.

so, i took a picture of the led. you can see it @ http://www.moriaprodutora.com/userfiles/felipelopes/IMG3481.JPG (sry for the dirt)

it isnt this lamps: http://www.appleselfrepair.info/mac-pro-early-2008/diagnostic-leds.html

i found this light on, after i install a HDD with a manufacturing defect.
i dont know what it want to say... please help us.

thats all

thanks,
Felipe Lopes
Brazil.

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Answer 2

m1kygarcia Author

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Mar 15, 2011 4:17 PM in response to Felipe Lopes

Hello, there well after taking it to 3 AAPS, the diagnostic was a faulty power supply, and logic board, they´ve changed both $1500 us total, and guess what, the computer failed today, i turned on this morning, and got a black screen, not even a boot tone, no response what so ever.
I´ve reset the SMC, and unplugged everything, took out the little battery, and leave it the hole night unppluged, didn´t helped at all.

I´m really mad with apple, i am seriously thinking about selling all my apple stuff, cause i have spent almost $2000 Us, paying for gas, diagnostic service and road tickets, in order to get this piece of you know what working again, took it to 3 different AAPS, and my machine is still not working.

but yeah, back to the topic, in 3 different authorized places, they could never figured it out what that led means, not even calling the US center.

Sorry to say, but they may need to replace Logic board, processors and Power supply, basically your $4000, computer is now in progress of getting useless, if you don´t have Apple Care, (wich i am really hopefull you have), start thinking about getting a new computer.

As for me, i am taking it the AAPS, this friday (another 300 km trip and $300us) and i am gonna demand for a New logic board, cause if this computer is not fixed by the end of this month, i am sueing Apple, that´s it for me had enough.

Anyway, i do hope you have Apple Care, and i don´t wish to anyone, the Apple iHell, i´ve been through.

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Answer 3

May 4, 2011 9:25 AM in response to m1kygarcia

Hello everyone! Can you resolve the problem reported? I have 6 equipaments identical to those with the same problem, some worse than others, and only two barely functioning, others are stopped. They power normally and suddenly alone they power off , and after that I only can power on again , after hours waiting or only the next day .

I talked with Apple Computer (from USA) and they do not assume that the problem exists

and that many users have the same problem, worldwide.

If you're not satisfied with the result of Apple, we will have to press them to assume the

defect and promote a recall on these equipments. We have many users with the same

issue (MacPro off alone)

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Answer 4

May 4, 2011 9:27 AM in response to Felipe Lopes

Ola Felipe ! Voce conseguiu resolver o problema relatado ? Eu tenho 6 equipamentos identicos a estes , com o mesmo problema , alguns piores do que os outros , e apenas dois funcionando precariamente , os outros encontram-se parados . Eles ligam e repentinamente desligam sozinho . Eu falei com a Apple Computer (dos USA) e eles não assumem que o problema existe e que tem muitos usuarios com o mesmo problema , no mundo todo . Se voce não está satisfeito com o resultado da Apple , vamos pressiona-los para que assumam o defeito e promovam um recall nestes equipamentos . Nos temos muitos usuarios com o mesmo problema (MacPro desligando sozinho)

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Answer 5

Jun 6, 2013 7:07 AM in response to Miguel from Salvador-BA

Mano, eu descobri o que é o problema.

(não o da lampada vermelha... continua acesa, mas não muda em nada. meu computador está ótimo como nunca!)

agora o seu eu sei qual é o "problema"

Como o Mac Pro é um computador projetado para ser usado nos EUA e em salas de produtoras que tem ar-condicionado, um sistema de proteção do proprio Mac Pro desliga o equipamento quando o termometro percebe que a temperatura ambiente ultrapassa os 32ºC.

na época do frio, meu computador nunca tem problemas, ja no calor, como não tenho Ar-Condicionado aqui, ele desliga as vezes, e fica reiniciando até a temperatura baixar.

Como você mora na BA, é um lugar que eu acredito ser muito quente... Então a Solução que tenho pra você é por um AC. A Apple não assume o erro, porque não é um erro propriamente dito. é apenas um sistema de proteção do mac, que julga que se a temperatura externa estiver muito alta, pode trazer danos ao componentes internos...

antes de vender seus equipamentos, tente liga-los em uma sala com AC.

abraço.

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Answer 6

Jul 27, 2011 6:42 AM in response to Felipe Lopes

Oi Felipe ! Todos estes equipamentos trabalham em salas com ar condicionado entre 17 e 20 graus , normalmente os editores precisam utilizar casacos , pois passam muito tempo dentro da sala com temperaturas

baixas . Alem do que , mesmo com os equipamentos frios , que passaram a noite desligados , as vezes eles sequer ligam . Não creio que o problema seja apenas temperatura , pode ter relacionamento , mas não deve ser apenas isto .

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Answer 7

Jul 27, 2011 12:00 PM in response to Miguel from Salvador-BA

Então o seu caso é mais sério do que eu pensei.

Bom, o que eu faria se fosse você é o seguinte: como você tem mais de 1 Mac Pro que não está funcionando, eu trocaria todas as peças entre eles até descobrir o defeito. ja que não funcionam e não estão mais na garantia, se 1 voltar a funcionar é menos prejuizo né?

Pra sua "sorte" eu baixei uns manuais de serviço do Mac Pro. que vão te ajudar com esse trabalho se quiser...

Coloquei os PDFs no site pra você.

www.moriaprodutora.com/user_files/felipelopes/17539946-Mac-Pro-Early-2008.pdf

(se os seus forem Early '08 pelo problema que relatou, deve ser 08) ou

www.moriaprodutora.com/user_files/felipelopes/58065017-38040376-4525497-Apple-Ma c-Pro-Early-2009-Service-Manual-Repair-Guide.pdf

(se forem '09)

devem demorar abrir, pois os arquivos são grandes... o navegador provavelmente vai ler o documento nele proprio...

verifique, pois pode ser que tenha entrado qualquer coisa metálica e esteje fechando curto em algum chip ou sei la o que... pode ser uma coisa bem idiota... talvez conectores soltos em fim.

Sei que ja deve ter tentado tudo, mas vou indicar mesmo assim. Ja verificou os leds de diagnostico? ja trocou as memorias deles pelas dos outros? quando liga, o led branco pisca ou acende de modo anormal? ja rodou o apple hardware test? trocou HDDs? bateria da Bios? placa grafica? Power Supply? da uma olhada nesses manuais e verifique se a placa do botão de power está de acordo...

Realmente estes computadores no Brasil são muito caros pra simplesmente não funcionarem... as assistencias tecnicas do brasil são muito incompetentes, então temos de tentar com nossas proprias mãos...

no que precisar de mim, pode contar.

Um Recall a esta altura eu acho dificil, pois ja saíram da garantia... mas não custa tentar. estou disposto.

abraço,

Felipe

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Answer 8

m1kygarcia Author

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Aug 9, 2012 6:02 PM in response to m1kygarcia

Hello Guys, I´m reviving this post just to let you know, that after a year and a motherboard and PSU replacement, the trouble is starting again, today the red led near the bluetooth and the airport extreme light up.

So if anyone could possibly know what this means, or how can i prevent some damage, or to spend another $2000. US, please please i´d appreciate any advise.

The Mac Pro is working just fine but again the same issue, everytime i turn it on this led keep flashing all the time.

I have it connected to a USP protective thing, have it really ventilated, monitoring with iStat, and this is getting ridicoulus.

In a year i had to replace my iphone 4, ipad 2 both with manufactured issues, not to mention that my MBP early 2008 is dead and any AASP is willing to accept the issue with the Nvidia re call.

I´ve spent a total of $10,000 US, in 3.5 years in Apple Products all treated with really care, so do the math, or the logical step. i´m thinking of leaving the Apple ecosystem for good and never go back.

back to the topic, i´ve done everything to my knowledge to troubleshoot the issue, but so far no luck.

once again pardon my english, since it´s not my native language.

thanks in advance.

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