Mac Pro mid 2010 light stays on but won't boot up

Question

Level 1

15 points

Mac Pro mid 2010 light stays on but won't boot up

Recently I was in the process of trying to make a CD when I engaged Waveburner the computer crashed and never worked again. I tried all the usual things: like unplugging or 60 seconds and longer. When I turn it on I can hear the fan and the white light is solid but no boot or chime.

I switched to Yosemite a few weeks ago. I'm hoping it's not the board that's bad but thinking it might be. Anyone with any ideas of what it could be.

Thanks,

Stuart

Mac Pro-OTHER

Posted on Feb 17, 2015 5:16 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Feb 17, 2015 7:29 AM in response to stuart35

Desperate times require desperate measures. The traditional way of debugging this situation is to remove everything that could be drawing too much power, and see if the minimal set that remains is alive.

Remove all drives, graphics card, any other PCI cards, disconnect the DVD Readers, and remove all memory DIMMs, keyboard and mouse and all USB devices, and anything else.

The symptom you seek is for the Power-on light to blink, saying "not enough RAM memory to start up". It does this under processor control, so a few things are working.

If you get there, add some RAM and look for the chime, which happens (again under processor control) when the power-on self test passes.

Then add keyboard, mouse, and graphics card, look for the gray screen and blinking question mark.

Then add a Boot drive, look for gray Apple (which is loaded off a Drive in the first "blob" of software, long before the File System has been started up.

Reply

Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Feb 17, 2015 7:25 AM in response to stuart35

What I learned about SMC Reset is that unplugging alone is never enough, you only need a minute, but in that you also need to hit power on button for 10 seconds.

Combine that with NVRAM reset - zap pram from cold boot only - and go through 2-3 boot cycles, and do it again from cold boot.

Reply

Answer 3

stuart35 Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 25, 2015 1:21 AM in response to The hatter

This help me get a chime but did not solve the problem. I'm thinking it could be the video card I put in a couple of months ago or even the battery which is at least 5 years old

Stuart

Thank you

Reply

Answer 4

Feb 25, 2015 7:09 AM in response to stuart35

The chime is generated in software after the first part of the power-on self test passes. Your Mac is working.

If a suitable source of software can be found, booting is likely.

Reply

Answer 5

stuart35 Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 25, 2015 7:24 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

That's good to know. Thought I was going to have to buy Logic board. I put the original video card back in. I am waiting for a new battery. I will let you know how it works out.

Thanks

Reply

Answer 6

stuart35 Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 26, 2015 12:57 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Ok I figured out what is wrong. The Sapphire video card I bought from OWC about 4 months ago for over $400 is not working. I should say the HDMI part of it is not working. The VGA part is working. But I bought the thing for better resolution (HDMI) So currently the Sapphire is essentially the same as the original video card the came with my unit. I'm going to reach out OWC in hopes that they will replace the card.

Thanks for you help

Reply