mac pro 2009 5.1 faulty ???

Question

Level 1

4 points

mac pro 2009 5.1 faulty ???

I recently bought a mac pro 2009 5.1 system refurbished spent a lot on it. I have backed up my imac mavericks onto it. I had final cut pro x on it but it seemed to crash some times.

System spec

2x x5670 xeon 2.9ghz 12 core

32gb ram 1333

ssd crusial drive/ have tested with normal drive drives on 4 drives tested so far. 2 ssd drives 2 7200rpm sata

Graphics are 7950 ati 3gb. this is a mac card designed for mac.

tested on both high serria and mavericks on separate hard drives.

I am exsperiencing alot of issues on the machine can any one help when I compare this machine to my imac 2013 even on paper the mac pro is a better machine do you think I should return the mac pro to the seller ?

I tested the machine on maxton cinebench 15 during the cpu test it was quick but during the openGL test the machine completely crashes. I am also experiencing issues with the dvd player which when I go back and forth from small window to full screen that application crashes.

I also tried Rome total war a game which came out 2002-2010 it crashed in the campaign screen. This is about 1 minute into loading up the game. I really think this machine is a pile of crap as every thing seems to not work right any advice guys?

I have a 2012 macbook and 2013 imac and dont have any problems on them so what do you guys think. When I contacted the seller about my mac pro not working right I never got a reply seems to me their not interested.

Should I return the system and think about a mac pro trash can ? hope you can help regards Paul.

Posted on Mar 17, 2018 7:31 AM

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Answer 1

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 1:42 PM in response to paulbrogden

Oh Paul, you just keep on confusing matters.

Have you ever downloaded Mavericks?

Have you ever downloaded Yosemite?

Have you ever downloaded El Capitan?

If you had ever downloaded any of those OS's they should appear in the Purchases page in the App Store,

have you checked that yet?

If you do see them choose one and download it, once downloaded make a bootable USB installer, How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support make sure you use the correct commands for the OS you downloaded.

And yes a fresh install of either Mavericks, Yosemite or El Capitan should help to solve the problem, because as I mentioned before the High Sierra disk should not work properly if your Mac Pro is a 2009 model and has not had the firmware upgraded, and your Mavericks backup disk will only ever work properly on your iMac.

Come on Paul we've been at this for hours now, and it is all quite simple.

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Answer 2

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 7:52 AM in response to paulbrogden

If you migrated your software over to the Mac Pro from the iMac rather than installing it on the Mac Pro then you are in danger of not having the correct software files necessary for it to operate on the Mac Pro.

For example Final Cut Pro which of course can operate on both machines but when installing will install the optimum files on the desired machine. It sounds like you have just copied over your iMac install to your Mac Pro, and that is not the way to do it. This will be true for the operating system and other software.

You need to install the operating system and then install your apps individually, then you will see your Mac Pro flourish.

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Answer 3

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 8:25 AM in response to paulbrogden

Just to add it is also necessary for the OS and your software to install the necessary files so it matches the hardware architecture of the destination Mac, i.e. the logic board, graphics card serial bus etc etc etc.

For Example I have 2008 Mac Pro and if I took out one of my drives and put it in a 2009 Mac Pro although the drive would fit the software would not work as expected.

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Answer 4

paulbrogden Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 17, 2018 8:50 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Well as I have said perhaps its not very clear The hard drive that came with the machine was a fresh install of high serria and when I tested that fresh mac pro install. during cinebench 15 openGL test the system crashed. I tried the test 3 times and it keeps crashing. Unless it is an issue with the 7950 ati graphic card and a driver issue I can not see what could be the problem. The radeon hd 7950 ati graphic card is a card designed for the mac pro 2009-2012 so can not see that being the issue.

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Answer 5

paulbrogden Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 17, 2018 8:58 AM in response to Eau Rouge

their lies the problem most of my software came from a older imac 2008 I think so I migrated all the programs from that imac to the 2013 one. I then downloaded from time machine back up on the mac pro. The mac pro just feels really sluggish on the mavricks on the other hard drive. But put that issue aside for a moment if I am using the sellers original install HD of high serria why is openGL not working at all on cinebench test? Also the game I tried crash with in 1 minute. This game only requires a 1.6ghz processor so I am not having alot of confidence in this machine.

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Answer 6

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 9:08 AM in response to paulbrogden

Well the first sentence in your initial post says you backed up your iMacs Maverick install onto your Mac Pro, so is that not the case.

If you cannot supply the correct information then it is hard for someone to give you advice.

A 2009 Mac Pro cannot install High Sierra officially. You can upgrade the firmware making the Mac Pro effectively a Mac Pro 5.1 2010-2012 and then you can install High Sierra There is another way to get High Sierra installed on an unsupported Mac, but we are not allowed to discuss it here.

I would install Mavericks and then build up your Mac by installing software individually not from any back ups or via migration assistant. When you bought the Mac Pro did you get the original installation disks, there should be two and they are grey, one has the Apple Hardware Test on it, can you run that.

Was the person you bought this Mac from reliable, did you know them prior to the sale?

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Answer 7

paulbrogden Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 17, 2018 9:19 AM in response to Eau Rouge

the mac pro was from a mac power seller on ebay the original hard drive they sent me had high serria on it a fresh install. I am able to plug in a mavericks backup I installed on a separate hard drive. If I need to access my programs . but on both hard drives the cinebench test will crash on the mac pro the same test on the imac work normally. I noticed the 12 cores on the mac pro is quicker for the cpu test but the open gl test will not work and in fact makes the machine crash. What I am trying to say is I have a hard drive from the seller that has high serria and another hard drive with the mavericks install a back up from my imac. If I try both not at the same time cinebench will crash and the mac pro feels not stable.

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Answer 8

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 9:30 AM in response to paulbrogden

So if your Mac Pro is a 2009 4.1 it cannot run High Sierra natively without the firmware upgrade or the hack that we cannot mention. And you cannot take a hard drive that has a back up of your iMac and put it in your Mac Pro and expect it to work for all the reasons I stated earlier.

Put a HD in your Mac Pro install Mavericks and then install your apps, do not migrate them or copy them over.

Second time I have told you to do that.

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Answer 9

paulbrogden Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 17, 2018 9:34 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Hello eau rouge thank you for what you said. As I have said I have tested this machine with 4 hard drives a kingston 512 ssd and a 1tb crusial ssd and 2 x 7200 rpm hard drives. The seller shipped the machine with a 1tb hitachi 7200 hard drive with high serria installed on it. I tested cinebench 15 on that drive and the machine crashed completely during the openGL test. Also the dvd player is buggy and does crash and when going from small window to full screen and feels very buggy. I installed rome total war from dvd that crashed as well. I understand what you said regarding the migrate issue from the time machine back up from my imac I could do a system migrate I suppose but this does not explain why the full install of high serria on a separate hard drive

So basically I am getting the spinning wheel that does not stop problem.

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Answer 10

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 9:43 AM in response to paulbrogden

Listen I have said that a Mac Pro 4.1 2009 model cannot run High Sierra without the firmware being upgraded or the hack which we cannot mention, so having someone you do not no supply you with a disk with High Sierra on it and just plugged into you Mac will not be correct and could be the cause of your problems.

I have also told you not to migrate any system or apps from your iMacs Mavericks install as that will undoubtedly cause crashes. You need to do a clean install of your Mac Pro. Did you get the grey disks I mentioned earlier???

I think I have made my self abundantly clear on these matters.

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Answer 11

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 10:15 AM in response to paulbrogden

What OS does your iMac run, you mention you have a Mavericks backup, that would indicate your iMac is running Mavericks, now you are mentioning Yosemite which is the OS that came after Mavericks. So again you are giving confusing information.

Did you ever download Mavericks on your iMac?

When you open the Purchased page of the App Store are there any OS's available for download, in may be the case that if you do not see any you may have hidden them if so go into your App Store account preferences and click manage next to hidden items.

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Answer 12

paulbrogden Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 17, 2018 9:43 AM in response to paulbrogden

where can I download a fresh copy of mavericks then?

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Answer 13

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Mar 17, 2018 9:53 AM in response to paulbrogden

On your iMac open the App Store, login with your AppleID and open the Purchased page, it should be there for download if you had downloaded it before.

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