My Early 2008 MacPro starts up and shuts down with the solid sleep light still on

Question

My Early 2008 MacPro starts up and shuts down with the solid sleep light still on

HI,

i've got an early 2008 MacPro with a few issues. Sometimes it starts up and runs fine as normal, but then other days it will start up and run for a few minutes then shuts down with the sleep light still on after it's shut down, then the sleep light won't go away until it's been un-plugged for a few hours. Also while the sleep light is on the computer is completely dead and won't do anything. I've tried a few different power supplies and logic boards and tried repairing the disk, but after all of this the problem still seems to occur. It has factory ram as well but I've heard the factory graphics cards can cause issues too. Can anyone think of anything else? Help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), Quad core 2.8ghz Early 2008 MacPro

Posted on May 22, 2015 5:09 PM

Reply

Answer 1

May 22, 2015 5:48 PM in response to Psyco-monkeys

front-panel board (that holds the start button, the light, and the front ports) ??

Reply

Answer 2

May 23, 2015 5:03 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for the suggestion! We replaced the front panel and I thought it worked but then it shut back of again...I tried using a different graphics card too and the light didn't go out. Hmm....

Reply

Answer 3

May 23, 2015 5:38 PM in response to Psyco-monkeys

Also if I hold down the reset button up near the hard drive bays, the light goes out while holding it, then I'll press the power button it seems to start up fine, chime and all until I release the button, then dies again

Reply

Answer 4

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 24, 2015 2:43 AM in response to Psyco-monkeys

Have you ran Apple diagnostics?

Using Apple Diagnostics - Apple Support

Also when it next occurs not the exact time. The upon restarting open the Console app in Finder>Applications>Utilities and look for log entries at that time. Post suspicious ones here

Reply

Answer 5

Jun 2, 2015 10:19 AM in response to Psyco-monkeys

I had exactly the same problem with ours. Once it had decided to shut down it had to be left for several hours without the mains applied before it would start again. The problem was cured by replacing the power supply. I got an exchange unit from http://www.applemacparts.co.uk for £145 + VAT which has cured the problem.

Reply

Answer 6

Jun 6, 2015 9:39 PM in response to Psyco-monkeys

Alrighty, I can't get it into diagnostics mode for some stupid reason but I left the computer mostly dismantled for a while, after I put it all back together earlier it seemed to start fine but the hard drive had some issues, I think the next thing I'll try is another power supply, a new one, we have used ones here with suspected failures, all do the same solid light thing. Thanks for your input guys! appreciate it

Reply