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Curious on how many Mac Pro (Late 2013) are defective?

Hey everyone


So i'm in a bit of a trouble with my mac pro (late 2013). One night i noticed my mac pro was acting very strange, I was getting screen tearing, random reboots, frozen graphics, weird error messages... etc. I had no idea what was going on and I did literally EVERYTHING to get it fixed. I have tried:


Reinstalling the OS (10.10 and 10.11)

SMC reset

PRAM reset

Run Apple System Diagnotics

Run Built in hardware test

Run clean my mac

Verbose mode, single user mode, and safe mode.

boot from external drive


It got so bad to the point where i couldn't even boot into recovery. I eventually took the machine to the apple store where they determined it was a faulty GPU. They replaced GPU A within 2 HOURS, which was very impressive. The machine worked fine for about a week and then today, same issues started happening. My Mac which is only about 6 months old is currently at the Apple store being serviced for the second time. Hopefully its actually fixed this time but back to my original question, I'm not sure how many people on this forum actually have a nMP, but am i just one in a million for this to happen to or is this common? I've been doing a lot of reading on the issue and it appears that many people are suffering from defective d300, d500, or d700 cpu cards. This is supposed to be the best machine apple has built to date, and part of me feels like i just spent $4000 on a destined paper weight.

Posted on Oct 12, 2015 10:50 PM

Reply
27 replies

Jul 31, 2017 11:19 AM in response to KidVideo

I am also having problems with MacPro late 2013, bought 2014.

After 16 months had to change logicboard and CPU Raiser and now they want to change logic board again.

MacPro in Brasil cost as much as a new car and all this fixings at authorized apple shops costed already US 2K.

I really don't now what to do. I do not trust this machine anymore and they are asking US 1,2K for new repair with 3 month guarantee.

Tried to contact apple support but they could not care less........very cordial at phone but did not even called the repair shop to hear about my machine repetitive problems....... First class at sale but third world treatment when you need support.

Great disapointment after more then 10 macs bought!

Roberto F Jr

Aug 1, 2017 7:58 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I disagree with, " You always have to submit it for repair, ..."


It is completely up to the discretion of the company of said product.


I work for a company that understands "down time" and we choose to immediately replace to keep the end consumer happy and productive.


Perhaps in the USA or very large metropolitan centres Apple still has good customer service, but it is very poor elsewhere in the world.

Aug 1, 2017 8:13 AM in response to marsofearth

I disagree with, " You always have to submit it for repair, ..."


It is completely up to the discretion of the company of said product.


There may be some companies with very generous service policies, who would provide a replacement instead of a repair. That sort of policy is very expensive. In almost all cases, the company will require you to submit your unit for repairs, often multiple times, before considering replacing it.


You are welcome to try that technique with your car dealer. "Mr dealer, my car appears to have a flat tire. Please give me a new car instead of this one, because this one is obviously no good any more."

Oct 13, 2015 4:09 AM in response to SynGatesFan200

I have a 2013 MacPro (bought in 2014) and am very, very happy with it. It is the most trouble-free, stable machine I have ever owned. Mine has the 4-core D300 spec. I upgraded to 32GB ram from a 3rd party. The machine has never crashed once or acted strangely for any reason. It is also nearly silent. What a marvel it is! And, let's be honest. Isn't it kinda beautiful too? 😀 I have had some software issues, mainly involving multiple monitors and 4K. All stuff that can be lived with that obviously have nothing to do with the hardware.

That said, we are on what is commonly called "the bleeding edge." Buying the first generation of any new product line can make you a bit of a guinea pig!

Sorry to hear about the issues and I hope Apple makes it right.

Oct 13, 2015 4:52 AM in response to Lexiepex

How true, Lex. Macpaw runs a bunch of these so called cleaning apps and they have all been subject bad comment in the past.


SYNGATESFAN; please get rid of this as soon as you can. Then run your machine for a day or so. If there is no real improvement, download and run an etrecheck program and publish the results here. We can then see if you have removed everything of Macpaw (sometimes it is difficult to do) and if there are any other funnies.


http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Oct 16, 2015 12:50 PM in response to SynGatesFan200

It feels like experience the same problem. "Brand new" Mac pro (early 2013), working in Premiere Pro CC in a quite large project. Could't quit the program properly or unmount the thunderbolt disc. Than when I forced to unmount the thunderbolt ext drive I hade problem shutting down or putting the mac pro to rest. After force quitting and mounting the thunderbolt drive again I launched premiere and it couldn't find the GPU ( I think) (software only). Rebooting again and everything worked fine for a couple of hours, editing. Then when I wanted to do an export from my timeline, everything happened again.


Tried a lot of things. Also a fresh new install of Yosemite. And with premiere pro as the only new software. Same problem, and it comes and goes.


The external drive is a akitio thunderbolt 4-bay. And I haven't experienced anything strange when I connected this one to another computer.


this is what I have.

Apple Mac PRO X6C 3.5 16GB/256GB SSD FIREPRO D500

Oct 16, 2015 3:41 PM in response to SynGatesFan200

The forums in particular and similar Internet sites in general are a lightning rod for people with problems. For every such problem you read about here, there mat be hundreds to thousands of folks who are happy with these macs, but do not start a new topic to report that.


When there have been problems, such as the 2010 MacBook Pro where some samples had a latent defect, those topics were swamped with users piling on with "me, too!" and the threads grew to hundreds of participants. Apple later issued a recall for some of them.


The graphics chips on these cards get really hot, as do the RAM chips. That is why they are all touching the central heatsink. That alone would contribute to a higher-than-negligible failure rate. I think your fears about paying a lot for a dud of a system are completely unfounded. And your own experience -- that Apple is taking it in and finding the problems and fixing it are a GOOD sign, not an indication of systemic problems.

Mar 16, 2016 5:57 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Why should they be replaced again?


If apple knows about this issue, why does it take more than 1,2 and sometimes 3 repairs before it is resolved ???


That's why I'm saying that this is a design flaw. some machines work, and some don't. no one knows why.


I have talked to engineers in an apple authorized service center and they said that even if I would have them fix my computer without using "apple care", they still can't guarantee to resolve this issue without having a few attempts. all parts work great separately. but something in the way it's designed together makes the GPU performance unpredicted.


Sad but True.

Mar 16, 2016 8:05 AM in response to KidVideo

Systems as complex as the Mac Pro are difficult to get into the field without a few bumps in the road.


Apple previously relied on Graphics card vendors to provide them with fully tested subsystems. It is possible that Apple underestimated the complexity of building their own design graphics cards of this complexity from just a "reference design" rather than an existing, shipping set of cards.


In any Field Service system, a few spares that are troublesome have a way of sneaking back into inventory and causing trouble. As time goes on, the number of cards tagged defective, swapped out, and set aside for further testing helps home in on what the issues are.


Very often, the design is not the problem, but out-of-spec components and things that fail in unpredicted or undetectable ways end up being the issue.


Sometimes folks like you sit on the sidelines and suffer in silence, saying "I'll just wait for a fix." Then your bad cards never get into the hands of Engineers, the pile of defective cards stays small, and Apple looks at the small pile and says "not an emergency."


If you have a problem that can be duplicated, Apple can fix it. I urge you to get your problems fixed, for the good of yourself and everyone else.

Mar 16, 2016 8:32 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

if you bought a system brand new to the marketplace, and did not also buy the AppleCare package, that may not have been the best decision ever. But by making decision, you also decided you would be paying for any repairs out-of-pocket.


The time for any large group of these Macs to be recalled has come and gone. Sure enough, there is now a recall in place, but it does not cover your model Mac Pro. The likelihood of another recall on top of the one that is in place is extremely slim.

Mar 16, 2016 9:01 AM in response to KidVideo

then contact Applecare, let them know your problems are not over, and ask them to repair it again.


You purchased AppleCare, and you have an existing history of problems. That counts for something. It will not be a cakewalk, but ask them for relief. If they tell you they are not authorized to get you those repairs, politely ask for the person who CAN authorize the repairs to contact you.


They want you to be a happy customer, if possible. Apple is nothing like your local car dealer.


Be professional, and do not threaten to sue everybody. The "sue everybody" guys will NEVER be a happy customer.

Curious on how many Mac Pro (Late 2013) are defective?

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