MP 6,1 6,1 2013 Mac Pro has no power and no signs of life

[viktorgallardo]

Hello all, this is my first time on the forums.

I recently picked up an older 2013 Mac Pro for super cheap at a local surplus store and brought it home to find no CPU or memory. I got a 10 core processor for $85 on ebay (E5-2690 V2) and 32gb of memory.

When I installed them and powered on the machine, nothing happened. No fan noise, no chime; the machine is completely dead. So I did some research and found that it has diagnostic LEDs and I tested them by pushing the little button on the IO board. only one LED lit up, the second one from the top. According to this website https://logi.wiki/index.php/Mac_Pro_6,1_Late_2013_Diagnostic_LEDs, that is LED is #2 which means 11V power. No other LEDs are lit, neither on the IO board or the CPU board.

I am sure I installed the processor and memory correctly as I have been working on computers for some time now. I also tried the magnet trick to get it to power on without the case, and that does not change anything at all. Another thing I tried is a SMC reset by unplugging it for 15 seconds and then plugging it back in for 5 and trying to power it up. That doesn't change anything either. I disassembled the whole computer and looked at the IO board and power supply and nothing seems out of place or damaged.

The only possible thing that I saw wrong was the dead CMOS battery, which I removed. Once the snowstorm is over I will head out and get a new one. But I cant imagine that a missing battery would cause it to appear dead? Who knows.

Again, absolutly no signs of life, no IO port lights, fans, chimes, or display output. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks!

 

[krakman]

take it back and get a refund wait a few months and buy a new M1 Mac

there was a very good reason why it had no cpu and no ram, the original owner probably took them out and sold the as working items.

the trash can is difficult to troubleshoot and spare parts are really expensive. you should have 6 or 7 led lit on the diagnostic. It could be a fault in any one of the 4 PCBs that are inside the machine, each PCB costs several hundred dollars to replace and its pot luck trying to identify the problem without proper diagnostic tools

you can find the apple service manual shared on this forum, that might help you trouble shoot

good luck

 

[viktorgallardo]

take it back and get a refund wait a few months and buy a new M1 Mac

there was a very good reason why it had no cpu and no ram, the original owner probably took them out and sold the as working items.

the trash can is difficult to troubleshoot and spare parts are really expensive. you should have 6 or 7 led lit on the diagnostic. It could be a fault in any one of the 4 PCBs that are inside the machine, each PCB costs several hundred dollars to replace and its pot luck trying to identify the problem without proper diagnostic tools

you can find the apple service manual shared on this forum, that might help you trouble shoot

good luck

Thanks for your reply, it makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't have normally bought it but it was like $200 and I was up for a challenge. I will try a bit more testing but will probably just try to get a refund and sell the processor and memory back on eBay. If anyone else has some tips or advice that would be great even if I ultimately end up returning it.

 

[TheValleyOfDefilement]

Did you get anywhere with this?