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MP All Models 2010 Mac Pro Turning Itself Off

S

steveyraff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 8, 2014
20
2
Hey guys,

I have a 2010 Mac Pro tower that runs my recording studio (2.66GHz Nehalem Quad Core). All I really use it for is Logic Pro X, and not really much else, asides from associated plugin software.

A few years ago, it started randomly turning itself off. While working, it'd be just fine. Sometimes I would power it up and it'd stay on for hours, other times, just for a few minutes. I sent it to the nearest Apple Store (Belfast), and they were a bit of a disaster with it. I kept telling them the issue, and they kept telling me they'd turn it on, leave it on all day, and run software benchmarks etc. I kept telling them the problem was that SOMETIMES it would turn on and stay on only for a few minutes - to keep rebooting it until this happened. They swapped out almost everything in it to no avail. I complained to Apple HQ, and they sent it to an Apple repair centre in London. Those guys identified the issue the very day it arrived. They said it was a very simple issue related to the power supply; which made perfect sense to me. Due to inconvenience, the large bill was wiped clean for me.

Fast forward to about a month ago, it has started doing the exact same thing. It keeps suddenly turning off after a few minutes of being left on. For obvious reasons, I feel reluctant to make the journey to Belfast's Apple store again, to potentially run up a bill on a rather dated and low value machine.

I am handy enough with electronics as I work with soldering for a living - and I have self repaired a few Macbooks myself (full screen replacements, hard drive replacements etc).

Before I go down the long winded and possibly expensive task travelling the 1.5hr journey to Belfast with the Mac Pro, could anyone here recommend things to look into myself? Is this a known issue? Is it something people can fix fairly easily from home? If someone can at least point me in the right direction in which to research or tackle this issue, it'd be highly appreciated.

Thanks!
Steve.
 
steveyraff said:
Hey guys,

I have a 2010 Mac Pro tower that runs my recording studio (2.66GHz Nehalem Quad Core). All I really use it for is Logic Pro X, and not really much else, asides from associated plugin software.

A few years ago, it started randomly turning itself off. While working, it'd be just fine. Sometimes I would power it up and it'd stay on for hours, other times, just for a few minutes. I sent it to the nearest Apple Store (Belfast), and they were a bit of a disaster with it. I kept telling them the issue, and they kept telling me they'd turn it on, leave it on all day, and run software benchmarks etc. I kept telling them the problem was that SOMETIMES it would turn on and stay on only for a few minutes - to keep rebooting it until this happened. They swapped out almost everything in it to no avail. I complained to Apple HQ, and they sent it to an Apple repair centre in London. Those guys identified the issue the very day it arrived. They said it was a very simple issue related to the power supply; which made perfect sense to me. Due to inconvenience, the large bill was wiped clean for me.

Fast forward to about a month ago, it has started doing the exact same thing. It keeps suddenly turning off after a few minutes of being left on. For obvious reasons, I feel reluctant to make the journey to Belfast's Apple store again, to potentially run up a bill on a rather dated and low value machine.

I am handy enough with electronics as I work with soldering for a living - and I have self repaired a few Macbooks myself (full screen replacements, hard drive replacements etc).

Before I go down the long winded and possibly expensive task travelling the 1.5hr journey to Belfast with the Mac Pro, could anyone here recommend things to look into myself? Is this a known issue? Is it something people can fix fairly easily from home? If someone can at least point me in the right direction in which to research or tackle this issue, it'd be highly appreciated.

Thanks!
Steve.
Click to expand...

The previous repair detected the issue already.
You just need to replace the PSU and see if it occurs again.
 
I had a similar shutdown problem with one of my 4.1 Mac Pros. Sometimes it would stay on for hours other times it would shut down after a few minutes

Turns out it was dodgy stick of ram. Once removed the Mac was rock solid.

However it could be any number of things like the PSU or GPU or even a build up of dust etc

The best way to trouble shoot is to remove all the parts like hard drives, memory, cd drives etc give it all a good clean and then add them back one by one to identify the fault.
 
As mentioned above, what GPU do you have and how is it connected, it may be drawing too much power and causing a shutdown. Do you have any non-standard components installed.

Have you tried a clean install of MacOS on another disk.
 
Me again. Thanks for messages so far. Well, I had to book it into the "genius bar". Several people there at the Mac store looked at it. They couldn't keep it as they said its too old for them to repair, they don't keep parts for it anymore.

Unfortunately, at the store, it wouldn't turn on at all. All we got was a brief blink of the red light behind the front grill.

They said it didn't look like anything obvious, they couldn't see any dust build up, or parts that could cause it. They couldn't even switch it on, so they couldn't run any diagnostics on it.

He basically sent me home with the machine, and told me to try repairing it myself. All he was able to do was show me the location of the power module that was replaced the last time this happened a few years ago, and suggested replacing that again.

What is the best way to proceed forward, considering its not powering up any more? Any advice welcome. (It doesn't seem to be a problem with RAM or GPU).
 
steveyraff said:
Me again. Thanks for messages so far. Well, I had to book it into the "genius bar". Several people there at the Mac store looked at it. They couldn't keep it as they said its too old for them to repair, they don't keep parts for it anymore.

Unfortunately, at the store, it wouldn't turn on at all. All we got was a brief blink of the red light behind the front grill.

They said it didn't look like anything obvious, they couldn't see any dust build up, or parts that could cause it. They couldn't even switch it on, so they couldn't run any diagnostics on it.

He basically sent me home with the machine, and told me to try repairing it myself. All he was able to do was show me the location of the power module that was replaced the last time this happened a few years ago, and suggested replacing that again.

What is the best way to proceed forward, considering its not powering up any more? Any advice welcome. (It doesn't seem to be a problem with RAM or GPU).
Click to expand...

Considering that it's not power-up.
1. Try it with a known-to be working PSU.
2. If no extra PSU is available, crank open the PSU and examine inside. Consider this is a scientific project of your own.
 
I've got spare PSUs but I imagine shipping across the pond would be cost-prohibitive, and I don't know if your area requires a different electrical connection than the 120v we have here.
 
IT'S THE PSU!!

here's a cool way to get proof.. don't use it for 1-2 weeks and then try it again.. it'll work - seemingly normally at first.. and then bit by maddening bit, the unpredictable power cut outs will begin again.

The capacitors in the PSU are getting old and need to be replaced. For most people this means replacing entire PSU
 
zedex said:
IT'S THE PSU!!

here's a cool way to get proof.. don't use it for 1-2 weeks and then try it again.. it'll work - seemingly normally at first.. and then bit by maddening bit, the unpredictable power cut outs will begin again.

The capacitors in the PSU are getting old and need to be replaced. For most people this means replacing entire PSU
Click to expand...


OK. Since last posted, I bought a tested as working PSU. I followed a very detailed guide on how to replace it.

It's still not powering up. Nothing. It's just completely dead. I tried swapping out the RAM cards one by one to eliminate any issues there. I also tried replacing the fuse in the plug just incase. Still nothing.

Now I have absolutely zero idea what to do.

Any other suggestions?
 
oh, also, any time I swap the PSU and first plug it in, before I even touch the power button, I am getting a single red LED flash on the logic board. It's labelled "OVTMP CPUB".

Not sure if thats any help.

EDIT: I removed the Hard Drive from BAY1. It's actually 2 lights that flash red once when plugged in. OVTMP CPUB and OVTMP CPUA
 
Last edited:
Ok, from my research I guess those CPU leds are normal while plugging it in.

I'm tempted to just replace it with another machine entirely. I'm seeing similar models being sold refurbished for 200 - 300 bucks. I've already spent 70 on replacing the PSU - not sure how much more money I want to fire at it. Can I use my two 1TB Hard Drives on another machine? I mean, can I access the stuff saved on them in another machine?
 
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