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8 core start up problems..Help

D

dupsta

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2010
32
0
I have been having issue with starting up my mac pro. I went ahead and pulled three drives and the system worked for 2 months. Yesterday it died again. I pulled the graphics card, replaced it with a spare. I pulled the ram, reseated it. I pulled the OSX HD sled, and than plugged it into a different HD slot.
I have tried plugging the system into a different wall socket.
I have not tried pulling my unused esata card for my unused external drive. I do not use the PCI esata card but it is seated.

How do I know if it i smy power supply. Can I determine that myself? Or what else should I test? Thanks for your input.
Here is a video, turn up the volume so you can hear the system turn on and off.

http://youtu.be/i9RGaa55Gt0

Thanks!
 
Wow, your fans sound weird.

Anyway to test a PSU all ya do is read the voltages while it's under load. You can search for more details on how to do that.

I dunno what the problem is but I guess it could be the PSU <shrug>.
 
The fans in the ATI RV640 graphic card may sound weird, like a varooom!

I pulled the graphics card, and the system starts up pretty quietly, so it is running with out a graphics card.
It may be that the Power supply unit just can't power on the graphic card? Since I have two ATI RV640 graphics cards, and when I try them one at a time, the system fails. I am not convinced both cards are bad, I still think it may be the Power supply? I don't really know still.
 
dupsta said:
The fans in the ATI RV640 graphic card may sound weird, like a varooom!

I pulled the graphics card, and the system starts up pretty quietly, so it is running with out a graphics card.
It may be that the Power supply unit just can't power on the graphic card? Since I have two ATI RV640 graphics cards, and when I try them one at a time, the system fails. I am not convinced both cards are bad, I still think it may be the Power supply? I don't really know still.
Click to expand...

OK, so the dry grinding sound that your mic picked up is only a product of the dynamics between the EMF, band sensitivity, and proximities? The way it recorded it sounded just like how a fan sounds before it dies completely. :p

Don't you have a 7300GS or something like that to test with? That would offer more conclusive evidence.
 
My testing has been done with just 2 modules of ram. After I pulled the Graphics card and it all started up I began putting it back together. So I placed all 6 modules of ram back in. I now see that one module is out. I pulled the bad module out and one good module out, So not only could it be the PU but I have some bad ram.

I also pushed the LED tester on the mother board and I got a yellow and two greens. Than while the system was on and running, I pressed the reset button on the mother board and the system did not turn off. But these two red lights came on. Not sure yet what this all means, still reading what I can about this.
 

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If ERR A and ERR B came up with graphics card(s) installed, trash both 2600XT. Judging from symptoms both are shot. These are known to die more often than other cards. PSU and logic board seems good.
 
OK, so throw away both my ATI RV640 graphics cards, luckily those are not even in my system so I can just grab those and throw them out. Not sure what the 2600XT are or where to get those but I will throw those away too. Than I have to find a cat in my system and throw that away. "Thanks Tesselator"
"Test the voltage underload," even though I would assume "load" means it is on and working?

Hey, it's all good, I was just looking for some help. Thanks for trying...

I stare blank into the vast folly of humanity. LOL. :confused:
 
dupsta said:
OK, so throw away both my ATI RV640 graphics cards, luckily those are not even in my system so I can just grab those and throw them out. Not sure what the 2600XT are or where to get those but I will throw those away too. Than I have to find a cat in my system and throw that away. "Thanks Tesselator"
Click to expand...

Yes, do find that annoying cat. Dang cats! :)

I dunno what your requirements are for a display but I have a 7300GS, an 8800GT, and a 570 GTX. Strangely the 8800GT preforms good enough that I almost feel the 570 GTX was a wasted purchase. Of course I'm running a 1080p monitor and I don't mind playing games in 720p when or if I can't get good frame rates at 1080. I've only come across one game where the 8800GT didn't feel about the same as the 570 GTX. And that was Witcher II. So just one game out of the 20 or 30 I have installed - not bad. Benchmark apps are an entirely different story but I guess they don't actually apply to reality all that much.

I wouldn't wish an ATI card of my worst enemy so I won't talk about ATI but the 8800GT can be had for about $50 to $75 and the 570 GTX cards seem to go for $120 to $175 in 1.2GB versions. I think I'm discovering that for compatibility and general sanity the 570 cards need to be flashed. I haven't done it yet but all indicators are that while it "works" without flashing there are some pretty good reasons to do so.



"Test the voltage underload," even though I would assume "load" means it is on and working?
Click to expand...

To test it while it's under a load you can either hook it up and put it to use or you buy a PS load-tester specifically. The later is recommended to ensure you don't do any unintentional damage to anything important.

Something like this will give you the thumbs up/down I think you're looking for on the PSU:



.
 
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dupsta said:
OK, so throw away both my ATI RV640 graphics cards, luckily those are not even in my system so I can just grab those and throw them out. Than I have to find a cat in my system and throw that away. "Thanks Tesselator"
"Test the voltage underload," even though I would assume "load" means it is on and working?

Hey, it's all good, I was just looking for some help. Thanks for trying...

I stare blank into the vast folly of humanity. LOL. :confused:
Click to expand...

Sarcasm appreciated ;) At least you didn't lose sense of humor yet.

Not sure what the 2600XT are or where to get those but I will throw those away too.
Click to expand...

These are your "RV640" cards, which you have named wrongly. It should be RV630, which is code of GPU used in ATI 2600XT.
2600XTs are almost that same infamous as 8000GTs. If your MP does start without them, one or both is very likely the culprit.

If you'll read DIAG LEDs description carefully (in Service Manual), you'll notice that ERR A and ERR B could indicate bad PCIe card, not only CPU error. If any is installed in the slot ofc.

Start troubleshoothing again in following order:
– remove all PCIe cards, including eSATA one
– leave 2 known working RAM sticks
– reset SMC
– try to boot your MP in target disk mode – if it will work, try to boot another Mac (if you have one) from MP's HDD and set screen sharing. if it won't work, check DIAG LEDs

Post results.
 
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Jees... I had to actually pull the graphics card back out just to see indeed I had mislabeled it as a RV640. Good catch. Thanks for rollin with it Sheep. I truly don't see the 2600XT anywhere on the card, just the RV630. Excuses, excuses, sorry bout that is what I am trying to say...

so back to business...with out any PCI cards seated it will boot. Striped the ram back out. Left 2 gigs in.
It will boot. Hummm?
I than started to place the ram back in one pair at a time. It boots, with all the ram in now.
I than for the grand test I placed one 2600XT card back into the pci slot. Placed the esata card back in. reset the SMC, hit power and now everything works?

I am skeptical, I will slowly start to ad my second and third HD back into the machine. But I don't want to get greedy. This all of a sudden happened after 3 years, it dies, and now it all works again? Just so strange. I have a feeling it will crap out soon again? But for now, gingerly solved! Thanks for your help.
Computers are like stripers, they leave me tired, frustrated, and dollarless. (if there is a striper reading this, "I am kidding sweat heart...call me")
 
Just encase anyone stumbles upon this thread.

May 22nd the entire system will not start up again. So frustrating to have it work than die again.
 
OK I will pull it again.

I grabbed a couple GeForce GT 120 cards from work to test with? I will try those in there and see what happens? :confused: I don't know if they will work on a 2008 as it is listed to only work on the 2009 model. So this could be a waste of time?

Thanks
 
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I brought 3 GeForce GT 120 home from work. My I.T guy says here are some spares to try out, only 1 works so good luck.

First two GT 120 cards (one at a time) I installed would boot up the machine for about 20-25 sec before the system powered off (failed). So this was longer than the 3 sec boot up with the 2600XT card. (Quieter and booted a few second longer before failing)

The 3rd GT 120 I put into the system started the system up and stayed on. I powered it down, reset the SMC, plugged everything back in and it is purring right now. Working just fine. Super quit start up. No loud varoom.
It is possible this video card may be a good one?

Just to recap, I have installed two 2600XT cards, and three G3Force GT120 cards. Total of 5 cards that I have tested in the system.

Is it possible that it matters what PCI card slot I put it in? I have only tested graphics cards in in pci card slots 3 and 4 as my esata card is in Slot 1.
I have an 8 core 2008 mac pro. I only have two PCI cards in the machine at a time, one esata card SLOT 1, and one graphics card slot 4?

So far so good? Everything is working :rolleyes:
 
The following day the machine would not start up again.
This time I pulled the PCI graphic card. Would not start. So I took everything out minus the HD and a set of ram. So there is no PCI cards, minimal ram. Would get to the chime like it always does than it clicks off. I changed wall outlets. I switched the testing pair of ram for a diff pair of ram to test with. I also tried two different power cables in the back.
So it is pretty bare bones, and it chimes than clicks off.
My very first post says I think It may be my Power Supply unit.
Full circle.
 
Yep, now it's clear. It was dying slowly giving misleading symptoms (like red LEDs). You need part number 661-4677 or 614-0409.
 
So what is worth...
2 days ago I pulled out the 2032 battery in the mother board and replaced it.

I installed the GT 120 pci card in the bottom slot, slot 1, the x16 slot.. All my ram is back in, and both harddrives. I left my esata card out for now.

Everything is running fine so far for two days. In preferences I said to never let the system sleep, as if it does it will not turn back on from sleep, I have to power it up with a hard boot. So other than not being able to sleep the system, it is running? Fingers crossed.

Is that even a symptom, if the mother board battery is low the system will not start? Hard to believe that this is the fix? But I will take it for now.
 
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