MP 7,1 Adobe CC / Mac Pro 7,1 / W7500X

[Hotshoe]

He said "As many machines as we have shipped with the 5700 MPX module, we would be inundated with complaints by now if this was a wide-spread problem, and I am not seeing that"

Well, again, I had two back-to-back machines w/ W5700X (returned both) before finally building out a Pro Vega II system, which resulted in a stable system (2-1/2 weeks now, and counting -- nary a hiccup muchless a panic). Also again, same software installation profile and end-user workflow (it's my personal machine, so nobody else uses it, and I've been working on a long-term project so the day-to-day usage patterns are near identical).

So, regarding the support tech's claim, the empirical evidence suggest otherwise. Or I was incredibly unlucky to get two bad machines in a row, with identical symptoms also consistent with the symptoms of other W5700X users in this thread. The claim is also inconsistent with the conversation I had with Apple support, where the the tech latched onto the problem I described very quickly, and qualified it as a "known issue" that Apple is working to address.

I'm not suggesting the support tech is lying to you, but there are many possibilities that could explain the issue (bad hardware batch, different integral component sources, etc.). We just don't know. But, all arrows seem to point to the W5700X card itself, or integration of it into MacPro hardware / Catalina. Regarding the tech's claim that seems not to be GPU related, I disagree. I do, however, agree with the tech's claim that Apple should be inundated with complaints by now, which is something I also expressed curiously about above. Again, many explanations possible.

Based on my experiences and others from this thread, I am confident that if you were to swap out the W5700X in your machine for a Pro Vega II, the issues with your system would go away. Possibly a repave needed depending on if and how much you've needed to tweak your system config to try and work around the problem -- it hardly feels like a virgin system anymore and I'm all about controlling the variables when drawing conclusions. Unfortunately, I think you're getting exercised to try and work through this problem w/ Apple support. Hopefully, for your sake, I'm wrong. (It won't be the first or last time! )

 

[choreo]

Well, again, I had two back-to-back machines w/ W5700X (returned both) before finally building out a Pro Vega II system, which resulted in a stable system (2-1/2 weeks now, and counting -- nary a hiccup muchless a panic).

I mentioned your experience (not by name) and others to the Tech, but I was unable to sway him. At first he wanted to just wipe my boot drive and start over (typical protocol, but I had my first crash before I installed anything the first day), but we decided to wait until the engineers have a chance to look at the diagnostics collected. I am not very optimistic that they will come to the conclusions that we have, but we will see?

 

[Hotshoe]

but I was unable to sway him

If that's the case then he's not taking the issue seriously. Your machine has had issues from day one, so it's illogical that repaving it will solve anything (as you correctly assert).

Rather than have Apple exercise you, you should put them to work and demand that they overnight you a Pro Vega II card to try out (you'll probably need to leave a deposit). This will enable you prove (or disprove) the issue is with or related to the W5700X module.

There's enough evidence to support there's an issue with the card, and at makes sense to eliminate it from the equation before pursuing another troubleshooting avenue. It's the right next step to take and the support tech knows (or show know) it. Apple needs to do the right thing here. I venture to say that at this point, you've wasted enough time that they owe you a Pro Vega II card when accounting for the value of your time.

Edit: PS, feel free to give him my name of contact me if wants more details on my experience. If he's open to it, PM me for contact info.

 

[choreo]

If that's the case then he's not taking the issue seriously. Your machine has had issues from day one, so it's illogical that repaving it will solve anything (as you correctly assert).

Edit: PS, feel free to give him my name of contact me if wants more details on my experience. If he's open to it, PM me for contact info.

Thanks for the offer! I was planning on pushing for the Pro Vega II next time he calls - was curious if the engineering guys would find anything first. He said he would be calling me back in a day or two with their analysis.

 

[Hotshoe]

Happy to help. My prediction is their analysis comes back inconclusive or in the form of a request for more info / have you try more next steps (i.e., your time spent). At this point I think they owe sending you a loaner card to see if it addresses the issue or not -- if for no other reason than to put your mind at ease that you're not wasting your time. The evidence is too strong that there is an issue with the W5700X (or batch of) to be ignored.

 

[choreo]

Happy to help. My prediction is their analysis comes back inconclusive or in the form of a request for more info / have you try more next steps (i.e., your time spent). At this point I think they owe sending you a loaner card to see if it addresses the issue or not -- if for no other reason than to put your mind at ease that you're not wasting your time. The evidence is too strong that there is an issue with the W5700X (or batch of) to be ignored.

I agree. My guess is they will want me to strip out all the PCI cards, etc. and start from scratch. I don't even have the original ram anymore - at least I proved my problems were not ram-based since same problems with both sets!
Sending out a Vega card just seems like a logical quick test - saves their time and mine!

 

[daveedjackson]

Spent some time on the phone today with an Apple Level 3 Tech again. He did a screen-share and had me run a long diagnostic which he has forwarded to engineering (waiting to hear back). I relayed some of the user experiences expressed on this forum and how some claim to have solved their similar issues by swapping the w5700x with a Pro Vega II. He said "As many machines as we have shipped with the 5700 MPX module, we would be inundated with complaints by now if this was a wide-spread problem, and I am not seeing that" (paraphrasing). He did not think my problems were related to the graphics card? We will see!

They always say similar things to this. Yet look at these forums. Riddled with complaints of a similar nature.
Maybe we can do a poll.

 

[choreo]

They always say similar things to this. Yet look at these forums. Riddled with complaints of a similar nature.
Maybe we can do a poll.

Your wish come true:

POLL: 2019 Mac Pro - Having Suspected Issues With W5700X GPU?

Applications freezing/crashing? Mac Pro logging out/restarting/shutting down randomly? Mac Pro will not sleep or wake up from sleep? Kernel Panics? Other anomalies where you suspect the GPU/driver implementation is the source?

forums.macrumors.com

 

[LeonPro]

Any progress with today's supplemental update for you guys?

"‌macOS Catalina‌ 10.15.6 supplemental update includes bug fixes for your Mac.

- Fixes a stability issue that could occur when running virtualization apps
- Resolves an issue where an ‌iMac‌ (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) may appear washed out after waking from sleep"

 

[fritzzzzzz]

just updated. Firmware of w5700x remain unchanged but T2 firmware updated to P6610 from P6065. so far I don't find any issues ....

 

[choreo]

just updated. Firmware of w5700x remain unchanged but T2 firmware updated to P6610 from P6065. so far I don't find any issues ....

Same here.

 

[choreo]

Apple engineering came back with a response to my issues yesterday and told me to remove the following extensions from my system. It is too early to tell (only been about 30 hours), but I have not had any glitches so far - so hoping one or more of these extensions may be causing me the problem. My question is, I am not sure what some of these are, where they came from or what they do... any incite?

BJUSBLoad.kext (I am assuming something to do with a BubbleJet USB Printer? Maybe Epson?)
CaptoDevice.kext (I know this is for the Capto Screen Capture utility, because it no longer captures sound now and their software has been a problem to install on all three of my machines - System Security never recognizes them as a trusted source).
CIJUSBLoad.kext (I am guessing Canon USB Printer)
Dropbox.kext (Dropbox obviously)
DymoUsbPrinterClassDriver.kext (Dymo LableMaker Printer)
EPSONUSBPrintClass.kext (Epson USB Printer)
FTDIKext.kext
SiLabsUSBDriver64.kext

I have no idea what those last (2) items did? (Have not tried to use any of my 5 printers yet!)

 

[bsbeamer]

FTDI is likely Future Technology Devices International:

Technical Note TN2315: Introducing the Apple AppleUSBFTDI kernel driver

TN2315: discusses the AppleUSBFTDI driver in OS X Mavericks and the compatibility issues which arise with applications communicating with FTDI D2XX based hardware.

developer.apple.com

SiLabs:

Community - Silicon Labs

The Silicon Labs Community is ideal for development support through Q&A forums, articles, discussions, projects and resources.

www.silabs.com

SiLabs is likely a Wacom install, if you have a Wacom product.

Did you migrate macOS?

 

[choreo]

FTDI is likely Future Technology Devices International:

Technical Note TN2315: Introducing the Apple AppleUSBFTDI kernel driver

TN2315: discusses the AppleUSBFTDI driver in OS X Mavericks and the compatibility issues which arise with applications communicating with FTDI D2XX based hardware.

developer.apple.com

SiLabs:

Community - Silicon Labs

The Silicon Labs Community is ideal for development support through Q&A forums, articles, discussions, projects and resources.

www.silabs.com

Did you migrate macOS?

Well the Mac Pro came with 10.15.5 already installed and I migrated my files from a Time Machine backup done the same day on my MacBook Pro (also running 10.15.5 with no issues).

Yes, I have two Wacom tablets attached - they seem to be working without that extension?

 

[bsbeamer]

Wacom tend to work mostly fine without the extension, except when you want custom actions installed - such as a PS menu/shortcut bar or similar. Some newer models have other installers that are sometimes required, but those are usually full mirrored screen models.

 

[OkiRun]

Well the Mac Pro came with 10.15.5 already installed and I migrated my files from a Time Machine backup done the same day on my MacBook Pro (also running 10.15.5 with no issues).

Yes, I have two Wacom tablets attached - they seem to be working without that extension?

How about reporting back on Monday with results of the purge..?

 

[choreo]

How about reporting back on Monday with results of the purge..?

I definitely will. Just made through my 2nd day with no issues and today I was exercising ALL my Adobe apps without a single hiccup. Still too early to tell if it was one of the extensions that was at the root my problems, but if that turns out to be the case, it would be interesting to know how many people having problems used Time Machine (or some other app) to migrate files initially to their Mac Pro. All of those extensions I removed were operating without any issues in my MacBook Pro running the same version of Catalina (still are).

 

[OkiRun]

I definitely will. Just made through my 2nd day with no issues and today I was exercising ALL my Adobe apps without a single hiccup. Still too early to tell if it was one of the extensions that was at the root my problems, but if that turns out to be the case, it would be interesting to know how many people having problems used Time Machine (or some other app) to migrate files initially to their Mac Pro. All of those extensions I removed were operating without any issues in my MacBook Pro running the same version of Catalina (still are).

I used the time machine from an iMac to initialize the 7,1 and had some hiccups at first with a few apps that were solved with fresh reinstalls. So it seems its not a completely flawless migration to the 7,1 when you have lots and lots of files/programs/apps/hardware extensions...

 

[choreo]

Still trying to figure out what app installed this extension:
FTDIKext.kext
and what is did?

 

[OkiRun]

Still trying to figure out what app installed this extension:
FTDIKext.kext
and what is did?

did you initialize any external usb/hdd devices when you first started with the 7,1? I had an old external hdd I tried to use that gave me fits. Or maybe you had initialized an old usb drive in your old machine and the 7,1 didn't like it..?

 

[bsbeamer]

Still trying to figure out what app installed this extension:
FTDIKext.kext
and what is did?

Do you use any smart home products, or have you ever tried to use them on this machine or in the past? Any light controllers? Ever use any USB to Serial adapters?

This is what I believe is their latest product listing, but does not list the brands that actually use their products:

https://www.ftdichip.com/Corporate/Press/FTDI%20Chip%20Product%20Brochure.pdf

https://www.ftdichip.com/Corporate/Press/Bridgetek%20Product%20Brochure.pdf

 

[flowrider]

^^^^

Technical Note TN2315: Introducing the Apple AppleUSBFTDI kernel driver

TN2315: discusses the AppleUSBFTDI driver in OS X Mavericks and the compatibility issues which arise with applications communicating with FTDI D2XX based hardware.

developer.apple.com

Lou

 

[bsbeamer]

^^^^
Posted that exact link above already in #163

 

[choreo]

did you initialize any external usb/hdd devices when you first started with the 7,1? I had an old external hdd I tried to use that gave me fits. Or maybe you had initialized an old usb drive in your old machine and the 7,1 didn't like it..?

Did not initialize any external drives after moving to 7,1. I have initialized a number of external USB drives in the past (G-Drives, etc.) from my 5,1.

 

[choreo]

Do you use any smart home products, or have you ever tried to use them on this machine or in the past? Any light controllers? Ever use any USB to Serial adapters?

This is what I believe is their latest product listing, but does not list the brands that actually use their products:

https://www.ftdichip.com/Corporate/Press/FTDI%20Chip%20Product%20Brochure.pdf

https://www.ftdichip.com/Corporate/Press/Bridgetek%20Product%20Brochure.pdf

I do not think I have any Smart Home devices. Don't recall any USB>Serial Adapters.