Stephen Altobello1

Q: Power Mac won't boot up

Hi, Folks! I've had this Mac Pro 2.8GHz since 2008 and rarely had a problem. Last night, the clock was wrong (for the first time ever); it said it was a few hours later than it was. And I couldn't reset it in System Preferences. I re-booted and the cycle began:

 

-I get the grey screen, with the Apple and the spinning wheel. This lasts for about a minute

-The screen goes black, the CPU winds down and it starts up again.

-I get the grey screen, with the Apple and the spinning wheel. This lasts for about a minute

-The screen goes black, and so on...

 

It sounds like it's pushing a rock up a hill and instead of reaching the top, it suddenly falls off the side and has to be pushed up again--only to fall off again. The fans are working and I hear the usual start-up noises--but not much else.

 

I've booted from the Install Disk and run Disk Utility (it repaired some things, but to no avail). I've run a Hardware Test, which it passed. I've zapped the NVRAM. No luck.

 

I've run out of options. Any suggestions?

 

(BTW, I'm in Brooklyn and therefore got hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. However, we never lost power--and I actually had my computer and power strip off during the worst of it. What happened to me last night was a good two days after the storm had passed.)

 

Thanks!

Mac Pro 2.8GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Nov 1, 2012 5:51 AM

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Q: Power Mac won't boot up

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  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 5:55 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 5:55 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    Have you checked replacing the battery on the logic board?  Most Macs use 1/2 size AA battery, about $9 at Radio Shack list time I bought one.  The battery keeps the clock, PRAM data, etc.

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 1, 2012 6:03 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 6:03 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    This is a great idea, Ralph, and I'll look into it right away. Thanks! I'll follow-up for sure.

  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 6:05 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 6:05 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    Good luck...not sure where there is a Radio Shack in Brroklyn, daughter lives in Park Slope area, but seem to remember one or an appliance place across from the Atlantic Ave mall/stores.

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 1, 2012 6:24 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 6:24 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Wow, helping me locate the Radio Shack, too? That's what I call Support with a capital S!

     

    Gratefully, there's one about 10 blocks from me. I've pulled the battery (which is dead, according to my battery tester) and I'm taking it with me to get the replacement.

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 1, 2012 7:46 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 7:46 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Sadly, the new battery didn't do the trick. (I've since discovered that my original battery ISN'T dead.) Drat.

     

    What to do next, what to do next...

  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 7:58 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 7:58 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    Given the clock behavior that seemed like a good, and not expensive, place to start.  When you say cpu winds down and back up, are you talking about the fans and hard drive instead of the cpu itself?  Have you tried starting up in safe mode, holding the shift key immediately after the chime?

     

    When you booted from the Mac OS X install disk, did it boot all the way?  If so, there may be a fault with the hard drive.  See if the safe mode works or not incase the issue is with application extensions first.

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 1, 2012 8:31 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 8:31 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Hi again, Ralph...

     

    "Have you tried starting up in safe mode, holding the shift key immediately after the chime?"

    Yep--and with the same results.

     

    "When you say cpu winds down and back up, are you talking about the fans and hard drive instead of the cpu itself?"

    I hear the fans and hard drive--and I hear some def. crunching as well, the sounds I associate with the CPU "thinking." I wish I could be more precise.

     

    "When you booted from the Mac OS X install disk, did it boot all the way?"

    If you mean did I get to the Install prompt, then, yes, it did boot all the way.

  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 9:04 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 9:04 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    The "crunching" is more likely the stepping motor in the hard drive, the processor should be silent.  And since you can boot from the DVD then the logic board should not be an issue.  Sounds an awful lot like a bad hard drive.  Do you have more than one hard drive in the Mac Pro?  If so, can you install a bootable copy of the Mac OS X on a second drive and try starting from that drive?

     

    If not, then it seems like the options are to buy another hard drive to install and install the operating system on, or take the Mac to an Apple store and have the techs run some of their diagnostics to see if it isn't a bad hard drive.  They have much better diagnostics than the AHT...but getting into the City is pretty iffy right now.  An option is also to order an external drive and install Mac OS X on it, make that the startup disk, and see how it works.

     

    I would guess the order of options by cost would be:

     

    1.  Apple store for testing

    2.  New internal hard drive

    3.  External hard drive.

     

    I have gotten three eternal drives from OWC for my Macs and been really pleased...cost is reasonable, around $200 for 2 TB, and they are compatible.  OWC also has internal drives so you can check and see what they cost.

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 1, 2012 9:17 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 9:17 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Hmmm...Plenty to think about, Ralph.

     

    "can you install a bootable copy of the Mac OS X on a second drive and try starting from that drive?"

    I have an internal 2tb drive, with plenty of space. Since I've never done this, let me be clear about what you're suggesting: I boot up from the Install Disk; install that to the 2tb drive; and boot up from that? And if that works, it's narrowed down my problem to being the hard drive?

  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 9:30 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 9:30 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    I would: boot from the installation disk, partition the 2 TB drive if it hasn't been, using Disk Utility so the new partition is formatted Mac Extended (Journaled) using GUID partition table, with a name easy to recognize such as Mac OS X or whatever strikes you.  Then install Mac OS X on the clean partition.  Restart, holding the Opt key and when it gives the grey screen showing the available drives/partitions, select the new partition as the boot startup drive.  After you have startedup, you will have to setup user accounts since it thinks this is a clean system.  Then go to System Preferences, Startup Disk and make sure the new disk is identified as the startup disk.

     

    If all of this works and the system starts up cleanly a couple times, you can then migrate apps, etc. from the old drive to the new partition.

  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 9:44 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 9:44 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    One thought if you haven't done anything yet, partitioning is the way I prefer to operate, others on here may prefer to just use one contiguous disk...really doesn't matter to the end result.  So, if you prefer to go directly to install of Mac OS X, by all means do so.  That becomes a matter of personal preference.

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 1, 2012 11:20 AM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 11:20 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

    OK, I'm installing on an external drive right now. If that goes smoothly, then I'll remove the hard drive and see if I can get to an Apple store tomorrow.

  • by Ralph Landry1,

    Ralph Landry1 Nov 1, 2012 11:29 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 11:29 AM in response to Stephen Altobello1

    Keep posting your results, this is an interesting problem and I would like to hear how it gets resolved.

     

    Are you going to go into one of the Manhattan stores?  I understand the SOHO store is above the flooded area but not sure about the 2, 3, 4, or 5 lines and how they are running.

  • by Stephen Altobello1,

    Stephen Altobello1 Stephen Altobello1 Nov 1, 2012 2:18 PM in response to Ralph Landry1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 2:18 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

    Hey, Ralph...OK, so the install was a success. I'm now booting smoothly off an external G-Raid.

     

    Should I run Disk Utility on the internal hard drive (which I did last night anyway) or should I just go straight to pulling it out and getting it looked at? (Maybe I'll go straight to TekServe in the City tomorrow; they've always served me well, plus this computer's Apple Care ended 18 months ago.)

     

    I'll use my manual for instructions on removing the hard drive.

     

    You suggested migrating from the old drive to the new partition. Since I'm all backed-up on Time Machine (thank God!), this shouldn't be too hard a process, right? And it would be perfectly fine to use this external drive to hold me over until I resolve the hard drive issue? I expect it'll be a couple of days. I'll use my computer as little as possible in the interim.

     

    I'm probably asking a lot of CPU101 questions, but gratefully this kind of turmoil happens only every few years. So I can never remember what I did the last time to fix things!

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