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MP 1,1-5,1 5.1 Mac Pro No Signal

M

MXMV

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2020
10
0
Hey everyone, I recently bought a used 2010 mac pro to upgrade and use for work.

New Specs are
- 3.46 GHz W3690
- RX580 8 BRAM
- 512 GB SSD
- 32 GB RAM

The Problem
Upon turning it on, it chimes but does not send a signal to the moniter, it simply says searching for signal but sounds like it's booting up correctly

It is currently connected to a 2012 Apple cinema display that works flawless with my MacBook, and I have tried multiple different cables.

I've tried switching everything back to the original hardware and various combinations of new and old with no luck

The SSD is completely Blank so I don't know if that's the problem.

If anyone can help me get this beast up and running I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,
Danny
 
MXMV said:
Hey everyone, I recently bought a used 2010 mac pro to upgrade and use for work.

New Specs are
- 3.46 GHz W3690
- RX580 8 BRAM
- 512 GB SSD
- 32 GB RAM

The Problem
Upon turning it on, it chimes but does not send a signal to the moniter, it simply says searching for signal but sounds like it's booting up correctly

It is currently connected to a 2012 Apple cinema display that works flawless with my MacBook, and I have tried multiple different cables.

I've tried switching everything back to the original hardware and various combinations of new and old with no luck

The SSD is completely Blank so I don't know if that's the problem.

If anyone can help me get this beast up and running I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,
Danny
Click to expand...
Mac Pros are very different beasts from other Macs, you will never get the display to work with your present config.
  1. RX 580 don't have pre-boot configuration support.
  2. A Mac Pro with a blank SSD won't boot, Internet Recovery is not supported. With a RX 580, you won't see anything on the screen.
Start from a createinstallmedia of Sierra. High Sierra and Mojave need firmware upgrades to be installed, seems you don't know if your Mac Pro already have the current firmware.

The easiest way to check if your Mac Pro works is to install a drive with Sierra on it, but needs to be 10.12.6 or the Display will not work, RX 580 started to be supported by it.
 
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Unfortunately I do not have access to a hard drive with 10.12.6 on it

I do however still have the original red Radeon Graphics Card that I can swap back in if that can help me get it to boot.

Question: What is a createinstallmedia of Sierra? Does that mean I need to make a boot drive? I have a MacBook that I can use to download the os from if that's possible

So is there a way to see the moniter with a blank ssd but with the original Radeon GPU? or am I stuck having to find a 10.12.6 hard drive?

Thanks
- Danny
 
MXMV said:
Unfortunately I do not have access to a hard drive with 10.12.6 on it

I do however still have the original red Radeon Graphics Card that I can swap back in if that can help me get it to boot.

Question: What is a createinstallmedia of Sierra? Does that mean I need to make a boot drive? I have a MacBook that I can use to download the os from if that's possible
Click to expand...
createinstallmedia macOS USB installer.

So is there a way to see the moniter with a blank ssd but with the original Radeon GPU? or am I stuck having to find a 10.12.6 hard drive?

Thanks
- Danny
Click to expand...
With an AppleOEM GPU you have Preboot configuration support, and will see the grey screen and the blinking folder, nothing else.
 
Ok do I make the USB installer 10.12.6?

And how do I get the Mac into into the preboot configuration support to see the gray screen and folder?
 
MXMV said:
Ok do I make the USB installer 10.12.6?
Click to expand...

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

And how do I get the Mac into into the preboot configuration support to see the gray screen and folder?
Click to expand...

You don't enter pre-boot configuration support, the GPU support pre-boot configuration or not. AppleOEM GPUs have it. PC GPUs don't.
 
Oh OK got it, so how do I install it from the flash drive since it doesn't send a signal to the screen and I can't see what I'm doing?
 
MXMV said:
Oh OK got it, so how do I install it from the flash drive since it doesn't send a signal to the screen and I can't see what I'm doing?
Click to expand...
You are going in circles. Install an AppleOEM GPU, install Sierra, then read/follow ALL THE STEPS here:

forums.macrumors.com

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
Ok so I tried to make a Sierra installer but there's apparently a bug where it doesn't work as of last September so I made a high sierra usb boot drive, put the oem apple gpu back in and connected it to the apple cinema display, turned it on and held option key, but still no input on the display

Do you have any suggestions

Thanks, Danny
 
MXMV said:
Ok so I tried to make a Sierra installer but there's apparently a bug where it doesn't work
Click to expand...

After making the installer, did you test it e.g. on your MacBook?

download here: Download macOS Sierra

osxdaily.com

How to Create a Bootable macOS Sierra Installer

Some Mac users like creating a bootable USB install drive for macOS Sierra, which offers for a way to easily update multiple machines, perform clean installs, and to have just as a backup Mac OS Si…
osxdaily.com osxdaily.com
 
Last edited:
It is connected via the Thunderbolt cable that comes out of the display, it works fine with my MacBook
 
The Thunderbolt Display is not compatible with the Mac Pro 4,1 or 5,1...

The Mac Pro 4,1 /5,1 got Firewire connections.
On the newer Macs Firewire was replaced by Thunderbolt.
 
Last edited:
KeesMacPro said:
The Thunderbolt Display is not compatible with the Mac Pro 4,1 or 5,1...

The Mac Pro 4,1 /5,1 got Firewire connections.
On the newer Macs Firewire was replaced by Thunderbolt.
Click to expand...
While that is a true statement (and likely if it's working on a MacBook) you need to determine if it is a 27" LED Cinema Display (model MC007LL/A with minidisplayport) or a 27" Thunderbolt Cinema Display (model MC914LL/A that requires a thunderbolt connection). The LED Cinema Display will work with the MacPro 4,1/5,1
 
Start with a configuration that works and change one thing at a time, in the right order. Start with an apple video card connected by say dvi or hdmi to a known good monitor and put a system on a sata hard drive in one of the bays, either from a bootable usb stick or external drive. start with sierra or high sierra and then follow the steps in the guide mentioned above to install mojave
 
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macguru9999 said:
Start with a configuration that works and change one thing at a time, in the right order. Start with an apple video card connected by say dvi or hdmi to a known good monitor and put a system on a sata hard drive in one of the bays, either from a bootable usb stick or external drive. start with sierra or high sierra and then follow the steps in the guide mentioned above to install mojave
Click to expand...

Ok I have an old 2012 MacBook pro that I installed the new SSD into and installed high sierra and it's working on the MacBook. I put the SSD back in the Mac pro and connected it to a good known moniter via a Thunderbolt to hdmi adapter, currently running off of the oem apple gpu.

Turned it on and it starts up normally and chimes, but still no Display Input, what else could I be missing here??
 
IndioX said:
a thunderbolt PCIe card
Click to expand...


I know there are workarounds, but the OP bought a cMP that isn't yet running correctly at the moment...
You probably meant something like this:

forums.macrumors.com

Mac Pro and Thunderbolt Display ?!?

Hello to all, I have a problem connecting the Mac Pro with a 27 "Thunderbolt Display, model A1407. I saw around the internet that in order to use this monitor with the Mac Pro, you had to use a DisplayPort to Mini Displayport adapter, and for convenience a Displayport extension cable (I put...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
MXMV said:
Ok I have an old 2012 MacBook pro that I installed the new SSD into and installed high sierra and it's working on the MacBook. I put the SSD back in the Mac pro and connected it to a good known moniter via a Thunderbolt to hdmi adapter, currently running off of the oem apple gpu.

Turned it on and it starts up normally and chimes, but still no Display Input, what else could I be missing here??
Click to expand...
try doing what i said instead of what you did, which is totally different. get the old video card and put it alone in the mac pro and get a boot screen from the hdmi connection or figure out if your monitor even works or not .... then install high sierra on a sata drive in the mac pro tray before you even think about trying the rx580, which should work but you need a card with a boot screen first to troubleshoot. ok ? which monitor do you have, anyway ? A thunderbolt display will never work with a mac pro...

IF you have a tbolt->HDMI adapter plugged into your screen and the hdmi cable running to the mac pro video card ??? then that will not work. not ever. apologies if i guessed wrong ..
 
Last edited:
tsialex said:
Mac Pros are very different beasts from other Macs, you will never get the display to work with your present config.

A Mac Pro with a blank SSD won't boot, Internet Recovery is not supported. With a RX 580, you won't see anything on the screen.
Click to expand...

Thanks tsialex. I learned this " Internet Recovery is not supported" and "Mac Pro 1,1 won't boot from USB flash drive" the hard way.
I mess-up both HDD with Mac OS installed while trying to install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive.
My Mac Pro now in the service shop to have OS re-installed....
 
sfalatko said:
While that is a true statement (and likely if it's working on a MacBook) you need to determine if it is a 27" LED Cinema Display (model MC007LL/A with minidisplayport) or a 27" Thunderbolt Cinema Display (model MC914LL/A that requires a thunderbolt connection). The LED Cinema Display will work with the MacPro 4,1/5,1
Click to expand...
Hey, so I got the Mac pro to work, installed high sierra and the rx580 and all works now,and I checked the model of the cinema display and it is indeed the thunderbolt one. Is it possible to get a thunder bolt to firewire adapter or some other way to connect the rx580 to the thunderbolt display?
 
MXMV said:
Is it possible to get a thunder bolt to firewire adapter or some other way to connect the rx580 to the thunderbolt display?
Click to expand...

AFAIK
I'm afraid not...
There seems to be a complicated way but this involves workarounds etc.
 
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