Catro91

Q: Mac Pro 3.1 black screen, loud fans

Hello community,

 

I have a Mac Pro 3.1, 2008 dual 2.8ghz computer. I bought it cheaply as the original owner claimed it had a problem where it would randomly sleep, and a hard reset was neccesary in order to restart the computer. On turning on the computer myself I soon saw what he meant, all of a sudden, quite randomly the screen would drop out entirely and about 8 seconds later the fans go on full whack. This could happen before the computer boots, or could happen 15 minutes later. Sometimes it would happen more often when say I watched a youtube clip on full size in 720/1080p. This shut down can only be stopped by hard resetting the unit.

 

Originally i thought it might of been the graphics card (Nvidia 8800 GT) which upon researching had found out there have been issues with this graphics card for other people in the past, however they speak of glitchy graphics, over-heating and 'baking' the card. I tested the temps on the gfx card and they were not abnormally high at all. Infact on monitoring all the temperatures when the computer was on i noticed no abnormality with any temps apart from maybe the north bridge which was max 62 C when idling. But my macbook pro hits 75 C on the CPU when using intensive software (logic pro etc). I also tested the gfx card in both available pcie slots aswell as cleaning out excess dust from the gfx card using compressed air.

 

The computer has a WD velociraptor 128gb 10k rpm HDD installed. I tested the computer with a 128gb SSD which i know worked. I managed to install snow leopard from a DVD onto it before a crash and the computer worked for maybe 20-25 mins then it blacked out again. Not the hard drive then. Tested all the ram (6gb), moved them around etc, no red dimm lights on either board. Not the ram.

 

The only main components left really are the power supply and the logic board. I have no red leds on the logic board lighting up, so no obvious failures. And when the computer is on it works a treat.

 

Does this sound like the PSU is dying/dead? I thought this could be an easy software fix, but am now chasing the hardware train....

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!

 

Cheers!

 

Catro

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 2, 2014 3:00 PM

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Q: Mac Pro 3.1 black screen, loud fans

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Apr 6, 2016 9:06 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 9 (61,078 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 6, 2016 9:06 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    Since you are not getting kernel panics, your hanging problems could only be caused by two other subsystems:

     

    1) a disk stops responding. Your recent swapping around of drives appears to rule this out.

     

    2) Your graphics cards stop responding.

     

    If you had another Mac, connecting using screen sharing and removing the graphics card altogether might allow you to debug this. Lacking that kind of setup, I think you should get a "Known-good" graphics card.

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle Apr 6, 2016 11:56 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 6, 2016 11:56 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    You made me think, I did not try to change the slot of the graphic card, so far I've experienced the bugs with 7950, gtx570 and 2600xt. I doubt It would come directly fro the gpu, but what about the slot.

     

    Same, for the drive, could it come from upward in the chain, like not the drive but the mini sas connection?

     

    I am going to try changing gpu slot.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Apr 6, 2016 12:07 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 9 (61,078 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 6, 2016 12:07 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    If these cards are all provided by the previous owner, who could not get this machine to work reliably, you do not yet have a "Known-Good" card. These card get very hot and a a frequent source of failures.

     

    The slot almost never has anything to do with anything.

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle Apr 6, 2016 12:19 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 6, 2016 12:19 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Sorry Grant, If think you've mistaken me with catro91, who opened the fill.  I did post here because I have the same symptoms with the same machine as catro91.

     

    The difference is I bought mine new from apple with the 2600xt. I changed for the gtx 570 during the year 2013, and I bought the 7950 new refurbished this year in February because I thought I was having problem with the gtx570.

    basically all these cards are good.

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle Apr 7, 2016 2:33 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 7, 2016 2:33 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    So, I've tried

    changing gpu pcie slot > it still bug

    swaping gpu (for the gtx570) and pcie slot > it still bug

    Could that come from a temporary  power leaks in the psu?

     

     

    I realized that I had a kernel report yesterday but I didn't noticed it, unfortunately I don't remember in what circumstances.

    Anonymous UUID:       7C3876EE-FB81-CA1A-954C-E173D4E5E652

     

     

    Wed Apr  6 11:50:27 2016

    panic(cpu 3 caller 0xffffff80134dcc1d): Kernel trap at 0xffffff7f944be084, type 13=general protection, registers:

    CR0: 0x000000008001003b, CR2: 0xffffff83b9dc6000, CR3: 0x0000000015e8b000, CR4: 0x0000000000000660

    RAX: 0xffffff8050790d80, RBX: 0xffffff8050786400, RCX: 0xffffff8013b034d0, RDX: 0xffffff8050786408

    RSP: 0xffffff83bad5be90, RBP: 0xffffff83bad5bea0, RSI: 0x000000000000ffff, RDI: 0xffffff8050790c80

    R8:  0x0000000000000657, R9:  0x0000000000000000, R10: 0xffffff8013a70800, R11: 0xffffffffffffffff

    R12: 0xffffff8050786400, R13: 0xffffff8050118e00, R14: 0xffffff80506c6400, R15: 0xffffff80506c6400

    RFL: 0x0000000000010282, RIP: 0xffffff7f944be084, CS:  0x0000000000000008, SS:  0x0000000000000000

    Fault CR2: 0xffffff83b9dc6000, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x3

     

     

    Backtrace (CPU 3), Frame : Return Address

    0xffffff83b04b5df0 : 0xffffff8013423139

    0xffffff83b04b5e70 : 0xffffff80134dcc1d

    0xffffff83b04b6040 : 0xffffff80134f4486

    0xffffff83b04b6060 : 0xffffff7f944be084

    0xffffff83bad5bea0 : 0xffffff80138966ea

    0xffffff83bad5bf30 : 0xffffff8013892269

    0xffffff83bad5bf70 : 0xffffff80138971e3

    0xffffff83bad5bfb0 : 0xffffff80134d7c67

          Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

             com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport(3.5)[C009098B-C292-38E0-8359-BC525165C 9F7]@0xffffff7f944bd000->0xffffff7f944c3fff

                dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily(3.6.7)[4E8FD771-E528-3155-9F0B-5C C160F056AD]@0xffffff7f93a7f000

                dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(2.5.2)[295311C0-2053-3FC7-9535-25D539F1AAA7]@0xffff ff7f93d6a000

     

     

    BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

     

     

    Mac OS version:

    Not yet set

     

     

    Kernel version:

    Darwin Kernel Version 13.4.0: Mon Jan 11 18:17:34 PST 2016; root:xnu-2422.115.15~1/RELEASE_X86_64

    Kernel UUID: 8926E512-6714-34FC-B27C-6AE90EB51D5E

    Kernel slide:     0x0000000013200000

    Kernel text base: 0xffffff8013400000

    System model name: MacPro3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)

     

     

    System uptime in nanoseconds: 3048976294

    last loaded kext at 2675350414: com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 2.6.0 (addr 0xffffff7f94517000, size 135168)

    loaded kexts:

    com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 2.6.0

    com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 404

    com.apple.driver.CSRHIDTransitionDriver 4.2.7f5

    com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 3.6.7

    com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver 3.0.1

    com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1

    com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeLZVN 1.0.0d1

    com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1

    com.apple.BootCache 35

    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 683.4.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleIntel8254XEthernet 3.1.4b1

    com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 5.0.2

    com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 3.0.5

    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPIIXATA 2.5.1

    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 660.4.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI 656.4.1

    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 2.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.8

    com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 2.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 2.1

    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 2.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.7

    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 217.92.1

    com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 153

    com.apple.security.quarantine 3

    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 217.92.1

    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHIDMouse 180.9

    com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse 180.9

    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHIDKeyboard 170.15

    com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 170.15

    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 660.4.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 650.4.0

    com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 3.6.7

    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass 3.6.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 656.4.1

    com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport 3.5.0

    com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 3.6.7

    com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.2

    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 660.4.2

    com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.5.5

    com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.6.5

    com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily 2.5.2

    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 686.4.1

    com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 2.0

    com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 2.0.0

    com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 2.0

    com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1

    com.apple.security.sandbox 278.11.2

    com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1

    com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 7

    com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 2

    com.apple.driver.DiskImages 373

    com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.9

    com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily 23

    com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore 28.30

    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 2.0

    com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.9

    com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4

    com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0

    com.apple.kec.pthread 1

     

     

    System Profile:

    Model: MacPro3,1, BootROM MP31.006C.B05, 8 processors, Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 2.8 GHz, 32 GB, SMC 1.25f4

    Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7950, AMD Radeon HD 7950, PCIe, 3072 MB

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser B/DIMM 1, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x802C, 0x333648544635313237324638304545314434

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x0198, 0x4B494E4753544F4E20202020202020202020

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x802C, 0x333648544635313237324638304545314434

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x0198, 0x4B494E4753544F4E20202020202020202020

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser B/DIMM 3, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x802C, 0x333648544635313237324638304545314434

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x802C, 0x333648544635313237324638304545314434

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 3, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x802C, 0x333648544635313237324638304545314434

    Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4, 4 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 800 MHz, 0x802C, 0x333648544635313237324638304545314434

    Bluetooth: Version 5.2.7f4 15858, 3 services, 14 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

    Network Service: Ethernet 1, Ethernet, en0

    PCI Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950, Display Controller, Slot-2

    PCI Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950, ATY,HamachiParent, Slot-2

    Serial ATA Device: WDC WD40EFRX-68WT0N0, 4 TB

    Serial ATA Device: WDC WD40EFRX-68WT0N0, 4 TB

    Parallel ATA Device: PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-112D, 8.04 GB

    USB Device: Keyboard Hub

    USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse

    USB Device: Apple Keyboard

    USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller

    FireWire Device: built-in_hub, Up to 800 Mb/sec

    Thunderbolt Bus:

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle Apr 8, 2016 6:03 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 8, 2016 6:03 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    One thing that I try to understand, is when it crash the diagnosis led on the logic board indicate, trickle power OK ( led 2 on ) , but the pwrg Led 8 is off meaning that there is a power failure... or a short circuit somewhere.

     

    I am wondering if it could come from a power leak issue like if something in psu fuse for a few second...

     

    well as soon as I can i will put my hands inside again to see if there is something wrong, maybe buy one other psu from macpalace.

     

    Is there a service manual for testing psu, I saw there is a little plug on the inside face.

  • by rogerfromSF,

    rogerfromSF rogerfromSF Apr 13, 2016 12:12 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 13, 2016 12:12 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    Hello, I have a 2008 mac pro 3,1 also. I bought this used thinking it be a great powerhouse to have but in return I have the same problems as you. I've been running OSX El Capitan and it crashes. I have switched out from 2 SSD's and 1 hard drive. Still crashes. I then ran bootcamp to make it a windows machine. While in the windows partition, it still crashes. I have swapped out the ram also like you have tried but no good has come out. I was wondering if you have had any success in the last 5 days since you have posted.

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle Apr 13, 2016 6:12 AM in response to rogerfromSF
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 13, 2016 6:12 AM in response to rogerfromSF

    Hi roger

    I am out for holidays now but as far as I tried I did not had any improvement in this situation.

    It s a good thing you he tried with windows I was wondering if it could be os  dependent... Your experience seems to prove it is not.

    SSo obviously it s a hardware matter.

    do your macpro crashes exactly the same way? Sudden black screen then 7-8seconds wait then huge fans activity. Led diagnosis indicate power and efi but nothing else?

    WWhat is your exact configuration?

     

     

    IIn my last hypothesis I was wondering about the psu that could suddenly stop working correctly or make a short with something or just power off the CPU parts of the logic board

    JJust before I left I tried monitoring the current with a software. I did not noticed anything about voltage or current variation before the crash in gpu CPU or ram or global psu...

    I Asked myself if it could be a bad short circuit or like in keyboard or mouse !!!

  • by rogerfromSF,

    rogerfromSF rogerfromSF Apr 14, 2016 10:51 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 14, 2016 10:51 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    Hello Paul,

     

    Yup i get a black screen then fans start blowing hard. I also tried out different OS X versions but still had the same problem. I have 18 gigs of ram, duel 2.8ghz quad core, nvidia gt 120. I feel like it must be the ram, or the connection of the ram riser to the whole system. My ram connections can sometime not be read as 18 gigs, when i switch the ram around. Also it gets pretty hot. When I have the case open and boot up the machine, I can see the Dimm led lights light up. Sometimes all the dime lights or one or two. I also have the problem where the machine can run fine for hours. But if i let it go to sleep, then wake it up after a couple hours, it will crash as always. I can disable it from sleeping and it will work. Then random crashes.

  • by rogerfromSF,

    rogerfromSF rogerfromSF Apr 14, 2016 11:02 PM in response to rogerfromSF
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 14, 2016 11:02 PM in response to rogerfromSF

    Also I have tried two different SSD's and a old fashion hard drive. Still the same problem with all three storages.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Apr 15, 2016 8:59 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 9 (61,078 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 15, 2016 8:59 AM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    The kernel panic report from 6-April indicates that panic was caused by ATAPI devices. The only such devices in your model Mac Pro are the DVD reader(s).

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle Apr 17, 2016 11:38 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 17, 2016 11:38 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    THanks grant

    I Realized that last time I opened it I may have I inversed the two connectors but I only use one SuperDrive so ... Does it matter?

    TThe kernel report say no os? It could be when I was using the recovery partition?

     

    FFor roger I did not notice ram error very often it occurred only one time earlyer in the forum. As far as I saw each dimm are recognized from 4 to 32go.

    SSo I did not ask myself if it could be from the riser ? Could it ?

    the ram can get hot but since I installed th fan manager it never get hotter than 60•c usually 50 to 54.

     

    TO garret does it worth trying a new psu? Is there a way to check this one ? Could my doubt about keyboard and mouse be real?

    thanks

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Apr 17, 2016 12:14 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 9 (61,078 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 17, 2016 12:14 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    I may have I inversed the two connectors but I only use one SuperDrive

     

    The cabling ships with cable-select addressing.

     

    Does it matter?

     

    A kernel Panic ends whatever you are trying to do. So yes, a kernel panic matters. ¿is drive position the cause of the kernel panic? I have no idea.

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle May 10, 2016 5:21 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 10, 2016 5:21 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Ok ,now I'm getting confused.

     

    Last week I openened and look inside the power supply, nothing looked wrong.

     

    I did not use it until yesterday.

    It crashed four or five time, in the morning each time I restarted it very quickly.

    And now It 'has been running for 24 hours without failing... doing some batch import of pictures

  • by paulfromla rochelle,

    paulfromla rochelle paulfromla rochelle May 11, 2016 3:47 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 11, 2016 3:47 PM in response to paulfromla rochelle

    ... still very strange, it crashes after more than 24 hours working, did about 4-5 crash during the few hours after, and then It worked fine rendering huge dpx timelapse in media encoder for more than 30 hours untill now...

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