2006 MacPro stopped working suddenly, won't power on.

The most common reason for uncontrolled power-off is overheating. As hot as these units get, it may take longer than 20 minutes to get it cool enough to start again.

An SMC reset may prove helpful:

Power off

Disconnect the AC power cord

Press the Start button and hold for a quarter minute (this completely discharges the power capacitors and assures a good Reset)

re-connect the AC power cord. Remember to jam it in at the Mac end, as the block of rubber makes it a tight fit.

wait a quarter minute

Try to start up.

If no joy, other things to look at are the PRAM Backup battery, a 3 Volt coin cell half-hidden behind the graphics card. the holder is fragile, be very careful. Substantially lower than 3 Volts in your hand needs to be replaced. If measured in-circuit, be sure the AC power cord is not connected, else you are measuring the "always on" power supply, not the battery.

The approved method for debugging from here is to remove everything that could be drawing down power and go for the chime. No, not MOST things, everything.

All the drives

all the PCI cards

all the RAM

all the USB devices including the keyboard and mouse.

A working Mac Pro silver tower with no working RAM will power on and run the fans and blink the power light in a repeating pattern to tell you, "not enough working RAM to start up". Add back some RAM and you get the chime. add back the graphics card and you see the blinking question mark. and so on.

dean@26 the poster said they have a Mac Pro desktop, not a MacBook Pro

chalkasian wrote:

Aloha,

I was working in Text Edit, just typing, no other apps open. Suddenly my 2006 MacPro turned off.

I waited awhile to see if the unit had somehow overheated and shut down but after 20 minutes I still couldn't start it up.

No response from the power button.

Does the unit have a fuse of some sort?

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.

chalkasian

Do you have the booklet Everything Mac that came with you MacPro -- I have the one that came with my 2008 mac Pro - does list

The RAM error is One short flash followed by a longer off period = No valid memory

Three Short Flashes followed by a Longer off Period = Failed memory

If you are not impressed by the new Mac Pro consider looking for an independent tech shop that can troubleshoot your mac -- I just had the video card repaired on my MacPro2008 - -- lot cheaper than buying a new system

chalkasian wrote:

Aloha notcloudy,

Thank you for your input, I do have the booklet that came with my MacPro.

Unfortunately my computer is not giving any signals at all, no flashes no nothing just sits there being dark.

I've put some money into this Mac, upgraded video card and a lot of memory so I would like to keep it, it may be worth a visit to the Apple store for a diagnosis though I'm pretty sure their cost to repair would be exorbitant.

An independent tech shop may be the answer although we don't have many of those in my area, I'll check around.

Thanks for the idea.

aloha,

chalkasian

It might just be the power connection itself.

I had 3 shops available and interviewed all three and then said -- I will think about it before making a choice. The Apple authorized and one independent made all kinds of hissing noises on setup and would not take my word for it that it was the video card -- the third shop - also independent - accepted that it was the video card and gave estimate on trying to refurbish it before looking for a new on (and also let me keep my hard drive -- used one he had) rather than my drive. Another difference in the third one, is he also recycled old computers Mac and windows - for parts.

I agree the aluminum pro ways a ton - but plus side - no one is going to grab it and run😁 I purchased mine as I was hoping at the time that apple was keeping the pro desk top as a venue for professional graphics/photographers/video - and those of us who are semi pro - where you want to spend more time working on a project using Photoshop/Corel etc rather than installing upgrades.