5,1 Mac Pro dead after High Sierra

[SoTex]

Hoping to get some help with a huge problem we are currently having.

We have a 4,1 Mac Pro that we have been running since 2010 as our photo editing workhorse. It has numerous upgrades from OWC, including a 120gig OWC SSD being used as its startup disk. It was happily chugging along with no issues running El Capitan until two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago we had to update Photoshop to the newest version which required an OS update. After downloading High Sierra, we started experiencing what I would describe as Windows type freezing, where the only solution was a hard reboot. Sometimes it was a freeze and sometimes the monitor would go entirely black. During these periods where the monitor went black, the tower still appeared to be functioning. We do large amounts of photo uploading and if for instance it said it would take 30 minutes to upload a batch of files, and the monitor froze 10 minutes into that, if you did a hard reboot at the end of the 30 minutes you would find that all the files had uploaded as planned.

After reading numerous articles online, I reset the PRAM and the SMC. I downloaded and ran Onyx which showed zero issues with the drive. After that, I started experiencing mouse issues manifesting themselves as either the mouse freezing up, or the ability to move the mouse but not click on anything. (Mouse is an apple bluetooth mouse)

After talking to apple support online (who said my MP was "obsolete or vintage"), they also recommended the above steps. The only other option they suggested was to boot to recovery mode and attempt a fresh install of High Sierra. However, during my chat with them I had it freeze (screen on, but no response from mouse). After a hard reboot my monitor would not come back on, though I got the normal apple sound from the tower and could hear the tower hitting the disk. Since then, I can not get my monitor to come back online. I have tried both USB outputs, as well as a DVI to HDMI converter cable. I bought another monitor and tried that as well. No joy.

My tower is currently on and functioning as far as I can tell (bluetooth apple keyboard still appears connceted and will open the CD drive when I push eject), but the monitor is completely black.

Any help solving this would be incredibly appreciated. Help from this forum is the last option I can think of prior to scrapping it and buying a new machine.

 

[brandflakes7969]

Did you flash your 4,1 machine to work with 10.13 by any chance?

I have a 4,1 machine also but by default, Sierra can't be installed on this old thing.

 

[William Payne]

Im running high sierra on a 4,1. Mine has been firmware flashed to a 5,1 and also had the firmware upgrade that is required to run high sierra.

 

[krakman]

what graphics card are you running?

 

[SoTex]

@krakman I have no idea, I have never upgraded it so it the one that came with it.

@William Payne how does one go about upgrading said firmware?

@brandflakes7969 We went straight from El Capitan to High Sierra. No Sierra.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Technically, the 4,1 does not support High Sierra (or Sierra). You can flash it to the 5,1, but this isn't an Apple solution, but a hack of sorts. I've done this myself, and I haven't had issues. With that being said, I'm surprised you were able to upgrade to High Sierra, the installer shouldn't have allowed this. Are you sure you're using a 4,1? Below is the link to flashing to 5,1:
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=09a3956fbu2eabcfsv517s1ltlo6cuh9&topic=852.0

 

[krakman]

@krakman I have no idea, I have never upgraded it so it the one that came with it.

@William Payne how does one go about upgrading said firmware?

@brandflakes7969 We went straight from El Capitan to High Sierra. No Sierra.

If you have High sierra running on a 4.1 then at some point someone has done the firmware unofficial 4.1 to 5.1 firmware update. Are you sure it is a 4.1 not a 5.1?

Did you buy the mac from new?

Maybe your graphics card has died, check at the wires and connections to eliminate the possibility that you have a loose connection. The only way to confirm this is to install another graphics card to see if the problem persists.

FYI i have 4.1 flashed to 5.1 running high sierra with non apple graphics card installed and it works fine.

I think your problem is specific to your machine.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I know it's a pain in the BUTT but a clean install of High Sierra and your apps will most likely resolve your issues. If it was working fine two weeks ago it will work fine again. If you buy a new machine you will need to re-load all your apps again anyway. If this machine is your critical photo editing workhorse it deserves a clean install of HS not an upgrade over El Capitan. Who is your IT guy? He should know this. Clean installs are known to avoid many of the issues you are now experiencing. The time it takes to build a new clean install will save you much time ($$) over trying to resolve upgrade issues. Not to mention the critical down time while you scramble to try and resolve the issues. The new monitor was just knee-jerk wish-full thinking and makes my point. Sorry, but this is pretty much common knowledge or at least it should be.

 

[chrfr]

Two weeks ago we had to update Photoshop to the newest version which required an OS update.

Photoshop CC 2018 works with El Capitan (10.11) and Sierra (10.12.) Both of these are natively supported on your Mac Pro and if this is a production computer I'd recommend staying with either one of those over High Sierra.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I also agree that it sounds like your graphics card has likely died. If it's the base 4,1, then you're running a Geforce GT 120. Pretty much any GPU you buy today will surpass it. If you just grab one off the shelf, you won't get the early boot screens, but it will function perfectly once MacOS has a chance to load the drivers.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I also agree that it sounds like your graphics card has likely died. If it's the base 4,1, then you're running a Geforce GT 120. Pretty much any GPU you buy today will surpass it. If you just grab one off the shelf, you won't get the early boot screens, but it will function perfectly once MacOS has a chance to load the drivers.

I do not agree. If your hardware was working fine two weeks ago and only showed problems after upgrading to High Sierra then the odds of your hardware failing during that two week time period is pretty much nill. A clean install will most likely resolve your issues.

 

[SoTex]

Okay, clean install it is. Any ideas on a monitor workaround so that I can attempt a clean install. Currently, all I get is a black screen.

 

[h9826790]

OP, I suggest you slow down a bit. We need more info to provide accurate and useful suggestion to you.

At this moment, you don’t even know if your Mac is a 4,1 or 5,1.

Since HS cannot run natively run on 4,1. And it doesn’t look like you ran it via any loader / hack. I highly suspect you bought a used Mac Pro back in 2010 which was upgraded by someone else (not native config). And now, you mention about black screen. Then I suspect even your GPU is not the standard one.

The very 1st question I want to ask. Do you know which GPU you are running right now? Is it an Apple GPU? If possible, you can open the side panel, take a picture, and post it here.

 

[vworks]

The very 1st question I want to ask. Do you know which GPU you are running right now? Is it an Apple GPU? If possible, you can open the side panel, take a picture, and post it here.
exactly

Do you have another monitor to test the GPU?
I think something happened to the drivers of the GPU and therefore the monitor is not recognized. If another mmonitor shows a black screen, then you should check the GPU

 

[SoTex]

It was purchased through Apple as a refurb in 2010. I feel fairly confident it is a 4,1 but without being able to check the about screen, I cant be 100 percent sure. Opening up the side of the tower, it is an ATI Radeon GPU. I do have another monitor to test the GPU, and still get a black screen.

 

[z970]

Does it look like this?

 

[h9826790]

Or this

 

[SoTex]

@z970mp It looks like the one you posted, the black one with the red fan.

 

[z970]

@z970mp It looks like the one you posted, the black one with the red fan.

Then you most likely have a 5,1.

 

[SoTex]

Well. Damn. So, where to from here then? I pulled our internal backup drives out of it and put them in enclosures to allow us to pull from them. Id prefer not to write the machine off if I don't have to, so do I need to get a new graphics card to proceed and then do a clean install or is there a better route to take?

 

[vorkosigan1]

Pretty sure the OWC SSD has a problem with High Sierra. Check with OWC.

 

[z970]

Don't write the machine off, I wouldn't trash the GPU if it appears to be working properly, and did Photoshop require 10.13? Are you sure it didn't just need 10.12? Because 10.12 is like Snow Leopard compared to High Sierra.

 

[William Payne]

If you have a 4,1 or a 5,1 then don't give up on your machine unless you have a serious failure. 5,1's can happily run high sierra and 4,1 can be flashed to 5,1's with the compatibility benefits that go with that.

I have a 4,1 flashed to 5,1 running high sierra and the OS is running just fine.

 

[z970]

If you have a 4,1 or a 5,1 then don't give up on your machine unless you have a serious failure. 5,1's can happily run high sierra and 4,1 can be flashed to 5,1's with the compatibility benefits that go with that.

I have a 4,1 flashed to 5,1 running high sierra and the OS is running just fine.

So can 3,1s. 3,1s are very capable machines, especially in Windows and Linux. Reliable too.

 

[Squuiid]

Before you do a clean install of High Sierra get rid of that garbage OWC SSD and replace it with a Samsung 850 EVO or PRO, or even better a HyperX Predator PCIe.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00V01C6M8/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

That OWC SSD is likely your problem.
Do a clean install on the new SSD (save the old OWC to recover data from) and my guess is you’ll be set.

As others have said, you have a 5,1 and it is an excellent Mac. Do not write it off!