EFI

Question

Level 1

27 points

EFI

My Mac Pro 3.1 would occasionally freeze. I would switch off using the power button and then it would take several hours to reboot. I have tried SMS and PRAM, I have also put a second system drive in.

2 days ago I was able to boot to either drive quite normally so I set it to display a slide show with music to give it something to do and left it running for over 2 hours. At 2 hours it was still running fine but some time later it froze and I had to switch it off by the power button. Now it won't reboot at all. The memory lights come on on initial power on and the fans rotate, and if I insert an Install Disc the drive whirs for a bit then stops, but after several hours there is still no sign of life.

I have tried changing the Memory configuration but this does'nt seem to have any effect.

Now I am no computer buff but I have heard of EFI which appears to determine the computer's initial start-up and that it can get "scrambled". Is there any way of unscrambling it, or is it time to get a newer computer which would be a pity as when it did boot up it worked fine.

Thanks

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 9, 2015 2:31 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Oct 9, 2015 4:27 AM in response to Roy Bradshaw

Note the time of the next freeze. After rebooting open the Console app in Finder>Applications>Utilities and look for log entries at the time of the freeze. Post suspicious ones here.

Also, after very slow bootup open the Console app and look at what is happening during bootup and post suspicious entries here.

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Answer 2

Roy Bradshaw Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 9, 2015 4:45 AM in response to lllaass

Thanks, but as I can't boot up at all I can't follow your suggestion.

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Oct 9, 2015 5:54 AM in response to Roy Bradshaw

Do you get a startup chime?

Anything show on screen?

Try removing/disconnecting everything except one internal HD and optical drive.

What happens if you boot with Option key depressed?

What graphics card is installed? It could have failed.

Also, what memory is installed? Memory in the 2006-2008 tend to fail with time.

Do you have another Mac with FW? If so you can connect the two and boot the problem on Target disk mode and see if the other Mac can see the drives.

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Answer 4

Roy Bradshaw Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 9, 2015 6:29 AM in response to lllaass

Thanks for coming back.

Originally when the computer froze, was switched off and then on again, it would take hours before it would boot up. I was never there when it did so don't know if it chimed or not, however while it was working, closing down via the apple etc it behaved perfectly with chimes until it froze again, then there is no chime after switching off and on again.

Now it doesn't want to boot up at all.

All fans are running.

I have tried just one drive ( I have 3 with a copy of Snow Leopard on 2 of them) with no result.

There is power to the USB sockets but the keyboard doesn't function - I have tried a second keyboard - so the Option route is not available.

The Graphics card is an ATI 5770, but would a failure prevent the opening Chime occurring, which it doesn't. Each time it has rebooted in the past the display was fine, and afterwards it Chimed away merrily when necessary until the next freeze.

I have a second Mac but I am unsure about swapping Graphics cards in case I end up with neither working, and at present I don't have a suitable firewire cable to try target mode. If I bought one am I likely to find anything that I can easily deal with, I'm no boffin.

It has run with four 1Gb memory sticks and four 512 Mb sticks, I have tried with just two 1 Gb sticks in different combinations.

Thanks again

Roy

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Answer 5

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Oct 9, 2015 6:36 AM in response to Roy Bradshaw

Memory has to be installed in pairs. For where they can go see:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4433

The 512 MB sticks are likely the original ones.

I would try various combinations of the 1 GB sticks in the correct location.

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Answer 6

Roy Bradshaw Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 9, 2015 6:43 AM in response to lllaass

Hello

Yes I have tried different pairs of the 1 GB sticks, one in each riser, without success. As you are aware a Mac 1.1 has no great value so buying new memory or anything else which may not solve the problem doesn't really appeal. but nor does buying another Mac as when this is working, which it has for the last couple of years or so.

Roy

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