Mac Pro randomly turns itself off

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Level 1

5 points

Mac Pro randomly turns itself off

i've had this problem for almost a year now with my mac pro, mid 2013 A1289 and could not find a solution to date. It randomly and spontaneously turns itself off. The pattern is very random. I can turn it back on after a few seconds but it always die on me after a little while. My warranty period is now over and there is no apply service nearby (i have to send it through flight to the nearest service).

Few months back i claimed my warranty and send it to apple. They told me they replaced the logic board. Worked fine for a few weeks but the problem came back (by this time my warranty is over). not even the apple support on the phone cannot provide me a solution. So, i did a lot of research and try to fix it myself with help from local computer heads. I suspected overheating but the problem came even when i switch it on for the first time in 2 days. I got a 2kva voltage stabiliser and APC back ups pro 1000, didn't help. I got all my RAMS checked, all are 100% working. I removed some RAMS and switched it around to see if there's problem with the slots, didn't work. I bought an SSD drive, removed all my old HDD, installed a fresh OS, still the same problem. The only thing I haven't checked and now my only suspect to cause the problem is the power supply.

sorry for making this very long but i wanted to be as detailed as possible. I've wasted a lot of time, thoughts and money. And its hard not to feel deflated. Please, if there is anyone out there who can find a solution it would mean a lot.

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 5, 2016 10:45 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 6, 2016 9:14 AM in response to Hp Sailo

The most common reason for sudden power-Off is overheating.

A strong contributor can be dust collecting inside. If yours has been serviced in the last few months, it should have been "dusted" when serviced.

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Answer 2

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

Feb 6, 2016 1:33 AM in response to Hp Sailo

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

Look before the entry titled BOOT_TIME since that indicates that the start of a bootup.

Also what Mac do you have? A1289 indicates a silver tower Mac Pro desktop and covers many years. The last silver tower Mac Pro was the mid 2012. I late 2013 Apple introduced the black trashcan Mac Pro

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Answer 3

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 10, 2016 11:19 PM in response to Hp Sailo

I clean my mac regularly, because i had over heating in the past with my other computer.

UPDATE - I'm trying to look for patterns in the way it switch off. It was working flawlessly for few days, but happened again yesterday. This time it happened while i was playing game using bootcamp.

1) i powered back on, got back into the game and shuts down again after around 4 or 5 minutes.

2) removed the power cable for few secs and load back to the game, this time it shuts down as soon as the game finish loading and to the main menu.

2) powerd back on, boot to OSX, there were some pop ups telling me the keyboard cannot be configured l, ignored it and waited 5 mins, nothing happens. so i restart to bootcamp and again shuts down at around the same as no.2.

3) i then booted back to OSX, opened up console and waited for about 10 -15 mins. Nothing happens. then i rebooted to bootcamp, got back to my game with no problem there-after.

Note - the graphic card exhaust at the back was quite hot to touch. Could it be a problem with the card?

IT might look like the problem happens only when using bootcamp, but i've also been getting this same problem while on OSX as well... I only use windows these days

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Answer 4

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

Feb 11, 2016 1:17 AM in response to Hp Sailo

Yes. have you opened the side cover and dusted out the unit and make sure that all the fans spin freely?

Also, install a temp and fan speed monitoring app to check temps and fan speed. I use Mac Fan Control

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Answer 5

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 12, 2016 1:57 PM in response to lllaass

Thanks for the response, will try that and see what happens. And btw it happened again... This time, was browsing the net, didn't load or run any heavy programs. I've tried using a similar gpu temp monitoring software earlier, everything showed normal. I've also tried leaving the side pannel open while running it (a workstation should run properly with the pannel closed in the first place if apple designed it to be closed) , nothing seem to work. Its about 15 degees C here.

From all the things ive observed so far im suspecting a power supply (smps) failure. Is ther le a way to check if my smps is working properly? or could it be any other hardware failure? I feel like there's an expensive yet useless huge lump of alluminium occupying my desk which at this point feel like throwing it out the window

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Answer 6

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 12, 2016 2:03 PM in response to lllaass

All the fans seem to run smoothly as they should be, the insides are clean with minimum dust. I have a habbit of cleaning my pc/desktops by dusting them with very soft brush while vacuming, so it should be clean.

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Answer 7

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

Feb 13, 2016 2:08 AM in response to Hp Sailo

Nothing really abnormal

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

Look before the log entry that starts with BOOT_TIME since that is the first line of a bootup.

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Answer 8

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 15, 2016 6:16 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

that is a screenshot which i took quite a while back, sorry i don't have text. if it helps you can download the file here https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5FTC7SzW2JHZ0ZvLUgtTnlrRFk

i will try to get it the next time i get the problem while i'm on OS X

BTW i cannot do Apple diagnostic and Apple hardware test and my date and time are always wrong even if i reset and use different settings

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Answer 9

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 15, 2016 8:47 AM in response to lllaass

done. sorry about that.

console screenshot https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5FTC7SzW2JHZ0ZvLUgtTnlrRFk/view?usp=sharing

windows error 1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5FTC7SzW2JHVUgzR19KNHloUkU/view?usp=sharing

windows error 2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5FTC7SzW2JHM3dNd2dJNkRTN0U/view?usp=sharing

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Answer 10

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 26, 2016 11:23 PM in response to Hp Sailo

Thanks for all the replies but sadly, i couldn't find any solution to my problem any where on the net. It happen again last night four times. and again this morning twice. but working ok as of now, in fact im using it right now to type this. im always on bootcamp windows playing games or something when it happen as my mac have become very unreliable to do my work on, i dont use it much. sorry i cant get any console screenshots. i will try replacing the display card (ATI radeon 5770) if i can find one to borrow. i'll keep updating...

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Answer 11

Mar 27, 2016 7:49 AM in response to Hp Sailo

OH, you did not say you ran windows a lot, and played heat-inducing games (the most heat inducing thing you should possibly be doing) a lot.

Windows is much poorer at maintaining proper temperatures inside a Mac.

You will need to get a third-party utility and boost the base fan speeds. Or it will power off on over-temperature, and not leave a trace.

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Answer 12

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 29, 2016 8:40 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for the reply, i didn't think display card over-heat is the issue earlier as i've also got the shut down when idle (even while running on OSX).

I've also got my display card serviced about 3 weeks back, cleaned the fans etc and applied a new thermal paste.

If it isn't too much to ask can you suggest any third-party utility for the fans?

i've managed to arrange another display card to run some test which i'll receive soon. lets see how it goes... will update with results. Again, thanks a lot for the replies

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Answer 13

Hp Sailo Author

Level 1

5 points

May 15, 2016 3:49 AM in response to Hp Sailo

UPDATE: After testing with HD 7770 i think i have come closer to diagnosing my problem. I used the HD 7770 for a good 3 weeks or so without any problems. i played some games did some design works and do things which i would normally do when i get the shut down. It all seems to work well. Im thinking the problem is GPU overheating or problems related to the GPU.

So, i think i'll be getting a new GPU upgrade. i don't mind getting one without apple boot screen support. i just want it to be compatible with great performance. i'll get an external PSU for the GPU so i don't have to mess around with the on-board PSU.

Any suggestions on which graphics card i should get?? Thanks in advanced

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