Mac Pro Early 2008 not booting

Question

Level 1

9 points

Mac Pro Early 2008 not booting

Hey guys!

I walked into a problem with a Mac Pro early 2008 model.

I got this Mac Pro from somebody since it wasn't working anymore. I was told there could be a graphic card (Nvidia) issue which I think should at least be correct but I am also having trouble with loading EFI. The following things happen:

When I turn on the mac using a DVI to VGA adapter i have no screen at all. (I don't have any other options atm)

There is no HD inserted.

PRAM and SMC reset won't do anything, i'm not even sure it reads keyboard commands.

The fans all work even the one on the GPU.

Front LED just burns steady.

No lights on my USB (non Apple) Keyboard turn on.

The lights of the mouse just flashes on start up.

RAM LEDS light up on startup.

Motherboard reset button doesn't make anything change.

When I Press the button for the diag LED's, the Trickle Power and the Good Power led come on, the GPU LED stays off. The EFI LED is off aswel.

No RAM errors show up. Tried switching RAM and disconnecting RAM and GPU.

No startup chime what so ever.

I figured there could be something wrong with the EFI firmware (or logic board is just broken). I am trying to restore the firmware with a firmware restoration cd, but I can't get the cd tray to open. I pressed the on button and kept pressing it for a long time. All it does is makes my status LED flash a couple of times real fast, but then it goes back to normal state. No cd tray is opening and its not flashing 3 times fast, 3 time slow, 3 times fast as it probely should be doing.

You guys have any idea what to try next or how to restore the firmware?

Thanks in advance.

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Mar 25, 2015 9:43 AM

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Answer 1

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Mar 25, 2015 10:07 AM in response to RoyD2

My best bet is that it is time for a wastebasket.

😢

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Answer 2

RoyD2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 25, 2015 10:22 AM in response to Lexiepex

Yeah I could always sell it in parts, but i'm still curious if I can reset the firmware somehow and see what that does.

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Answer 3

Mar 27, 2015 8:46 AM in response to RoyD2

there's a boot code to run with the older machines

Pike wrote this code

Using this code will get you around the efi/boot issue and move on to OS 10.10.02

Installing Yosemite just prior to entering the efi/boot, then restart twice.

You'll need to research Pike's code, but your 2006 to 2008 machines are long ways from trash.

I'm upgrading my 2006 to 8 cores, Yosemite and 32 gig of ram.

Long live these early Mac Pros

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&v ed=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.mac…

maybe your issue is not related

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 27, 2015 9:26 AM in response to RoyD2

About 2008, and they are the problem child in the Mac Pro line:

FBDIMMs - $19 a set 2x2GB and even cheaper on ebay

OEM ATI 2600XT - not a good bet - not sure where the Nvidia is

SMC Reset - unplug and pull everything and hit power button briefly, then reconnect and reattach kb and mouse, and only two DIMMs - can go in A1 and B1 or A1 and A2 or even (gasp!) A1 and A3.

Try a different keyboard. Apple keyboards have firmware which can be a problem. All or most kb;s that support connecting other USB devices are acting as a hub too.

$495 buys a 2009 4,1 which can be a fun toy to do lots and lots of upgrades and has better GPU and PCIe support as well as processor upgrades. If you had a 2008 and need spare parts a semi-dead 2008 might be useful for parts and testing. Maybe. Or not.

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Answer 5

Sep 20, 2016 7:12 PM in response to The hatter

Instead of always telling someone to buy something or just get a better system, why don't you just not respond if you don't have a clue what the problem is! I've read countless threads and all Mr. Hatter say's" Your system *****, get something new, buy this." how did you ever get a level 9 user level???

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