Advice needed... possibly bricked my cMP?!?

[tpivette89]

Sure it isn't bricked. Otherwise, you can't even see the loading bar.

It sounds like your son just accidentally killed the OS.

Since you have a HS USB installer on hand. All you need to do should be

0) Shut down

1) install a SATA drive (can be SSD, however, expect all data will be completely destroyed)

2) with a know good GPU (that HD4870 is good)

3) Hold option to boot

4) select HS installer

5) open disk utility

6) select the SATA drive (NOT the partition, but the drive, you may need to select "show all devices" on the top left)
View attachment 804569

7) Erase it (as per the following parameter, except you can name it to whatever you want)
View attachment 804570

8) install HS to this newly erased drive

Tried this last night. Once I selected the bootable USB drive after holding the option key, I would just get a white screen with a progress bar that never progressed. Never actually got to the disk utility window.

I have some free time this afternoon, I will give it another shot then.

 

[h9826790]

Tried this last night. Once I selected the bootable USB drive after holding the option key, I would just get a white screen with a progress bar that never progressed. Never actually got to the disk utility window.

I have some free time this afternoon, I will give it another shot then.

Just wonder which GPU you are using for installing Mojave?

Also, did you ever use that USB installer on the cMP?

If you installed all hard drives back in, and hold Command + R to boot, can you get into recovery partition?

 

[tpivette89]

I was using an MSI reference model RX 480.
When trying to reboot into HS i switched back to the Apple HD 4870 to view the boot screen.

Havent tried it with all drives back in it. Will attempt that now.
[doublepost=1542404877][/doublepost]Installed all old drives, and attempted to boot into recovery mode (command + R), and once again, am greeted with a progress bar that never progresses.

Seems that no matter what I try, this is where I end up. Holding down the option key while turning the machine on gives me the choices to boot from (internal drive with HS, Time Machine, or USB installer), but no matter which one I select, I get the apple logo and a never moving progress bar afterwards.

 

[h9826790]

I was using an MSI reference model RX 480.
When trying to reboot into HS i switched back to the Apple HD 4870 to view the boot screen.

Havent tried it with all drives back in it. Will attempt that now.
[doublepost=1542404877][/doublepost]Installed all old drives, and attempted to boot into recovery mode (command + R), and once again, am greeted with a progress bar that never progresses.

Seems that no matter what I try, this is where I end up. Holding down the option key while turning the machine on gives me the choices to boot from (internal drive with HS, Time Machine, or USB installer), but no matter which one I select, I get the apple logo and a never moving progress bar afterwards.

Remove the HD4870 and install the RX480 and try again the recovery partition.

Progress bar stuck may point to hardware failure. e.g. GPU. If the card is partially failed. It can display by Mac EFI UGA. However, when driver want to take over, the hardware may not respond correctly, and hang at there.

It's hard to tell what's wrong, may be network card, may be wifi card, may be something else. But GPU is the easiest to test at this moment.

 

[LightBulbFun]

did you reset your NVRAM?

it may be you have some Boot arg like rd=diskX

which no matter which OS X volume you boot will cause OS X to look for a specific disk as its Root device and if it cant find that it will stall out

 

[tpivette89]

Removed HD 4870 and installed RX 480. Tried recovery mode, but cant see whats going on due to RX 480 not displaying anything until the OS boots. I get nothing but a black screen.

I have reset NVRAM many, many times (comand/option/P/R until the secomd chime, correct?). No change.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Removed HD 4870 and installed RX 480. Tried recovery mode, but cant see whats going on due to RX 480 not displaying anything until the OS boots. I get nothing but a black screen.

I have reset NVRAM many, many times (comand/option/P/R until the secomd chime, correct?). No change.

with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 have you tried running AHT/ASD? do you have a Snow leopard installer/install on hand and try and boot that?

(have you also tried booting Windows or Linux?)

and finally have you tried shuffling RAM or putting RAM back to stock?

 

[h9826790]

Removed HD 4870 and installed RX 480. Tried recovery mode, but cant see whats going on due to RX 480 not displaying anything until the OS boots. I get nothing but a black screen.

I have reset NVRAM many, many times (comand/option/P/R until the secomd chime, correct?). No change.

That most likely means the 4870 is good. And something else stuck during cMP boot.

with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 have you tried running AHT/ASD? do you have a Snow leopard installer/install on hand and try and boot that?

(have you also tried booting Windows or Linux?)

and finally have you tried shuffling RAM or putting RAM back to stock?

Agree, the next thing I will try is a Linux LiveCD.

 

[crjackson2134]

I have reset NVRAM many, many times (comand/option/P/R until the secomd chime, correct?)

That's what Apple says, but I've found that for ME, no less than 3 chimes is better.

Agree, the next thing I will try is a Linux LiveCD.

My recommendation too about 18 posts ago. Take macOS out of the equation and see what happens.

 

[Slash-2CPU]

Tried removing RAM sticks?

Tried removing ALL SATA devices and simply booting to the USB stick?

Tried remaking USB stick on the off chance that it's corrupted?

Leave it at the halted point for a while and walk away. Maybe not halted and just slow as heck on something. Give it a few hours.

 

[tpivette89]

Tried removing RAM sticks?

Tried removing ALL SATA devices and simply booting to the USB stick?

Tried remaking USB stick on the off chance that it's corrupted?

Leave it at the halted point for a while and walk away. Maybe not halted and just slow as heck on something. Give it a few hours.

I have removed all RAM except for one stick.

I have tried pulling all the internal drives and booted with just the USB installer.

I doubt the USB installer is corrupt, as I get the same result no matter which drive I try to boot from. Just an empty progress bar that never fills up.

And last night after the problem arose, I did leave the computer at the progress bar screen overnight, only to wake up to find still nothing has changed.

I have both a Windows 7 and 10 install DVDs. Would trying to boot/install from that work the same as a Linux disc?

 

[w1z]

Did you check/remove then reinsert the PRAM battery as I recommended earlier?

If you have and are still facing this issue then try this:

- Shutdown, unplug power cable, move GPU to Slot 2 and storage to slot 1 or slot 4.
- Plug the macOS USB installer in one of the available USB ports on the backside of the mac.
- Plug the power cable and boot to the installer.

Please report back with your findings.

 

[tpivette89]

I will try some more experiments later today, as I worked a 16 hour shift last night and need to get some sleep before doing any more testing.

I will try the battery removal, a different OS (I have bootable El Cap/Lion/Sierra USB drives), and I will try and install Windows 7 or 10 from a DVD.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[h9826790]

I will try some more experiments later today, as I worked a 16 hour shift last night and need to get some sleep before doing any more testing.

I will try the battery removal, a different OS (I have bootable El Cap/Lion/Sierra USB drives), and I will try and install Windows 7 or 10 from a DVD.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Yeah, make sure you get proper rest before do this kind of diagnosis / repair. Otherwise, really easy to make silly mistake, then you may really damage it.

If you have Window 10 DVD, try that. Forget about any macOS at this moment. Just to make sure the cMP's hardware is normal.

 

[tpivette89]

Ok... so I removed the battery for a few minutes, installed one stick of RAM, and put the HD 4870 in slot 2. Also threw in a Windows 10 install DVD.

Seems to be taking Windows just fine. However, I tried so many things at once its hard to say what did the trick. But I’m leaning towards the computer having some kind of problem with OSX.

Or not... after the cMP loaded the files from the install DVD, I was greeted with this screen (and its hung up, won’t actually restart):
[doublepost=1542498304][/doublepost] Trying a Lion USB installer gives me this screen.

Even tried holding down the power button while starting up like a firmware flash. No change.

Feeling kind of burned out with this thing. Maybe its time to look at parting it out and getting something new.

 

[tsialex]

View attachment 804900 Ok... so I removed the battery for a few minutes, installed one stick of RAM, and put the HD 4870 in slot 2. Also threw in a Windows 10 install DVD.

Seems to be taking Windows just fine. However, I tried so many things at once its hard to say what did the trick. But I’m leaning towards the computer having some kind of problem with OSX.

Or not... after the cMP loaded the files from the install DVD, I was greeted with this screen (and its hung up, won’t actually restart):
[doublepost=1542498304][/doublepost]View attachment 804901 Trying a Lion USB installer gives me this screen.

Even tried holding down the power button while starting up like a firmware flash. No change.

Feeling kind of burned out with this thing. Maybe its time to look at parting it out and getting something new.

Try to load a Linux Rescue-CD, if loads sucessfully, we can reflash the BootROM using flashrom.

Gparted live cd is the one that people flashed Mac Pro BootROMs.

 

[tpivette89]

Try to load a Linux Rescue-CD, if loads sucessfully, we can reflash the BootROM using flashrom.

Gparted live cd is the one that people flashed Mac Pro BootROMs.

I've never messed with Linux... EVER. Guess I have some searching to do to find said CD.

 

[tsialex]

I've never messed with Linux... EVER. Guess I have some searching to do to find said CD.

https://gparted.org/download.php

 

[LightBulbFun]

on the Lion USB thats a kernel panic

boot the Lion USB in verbose mode, it will print out the panic log and then I can tell exactly what its crashing on

 

[tpivette89]

OK, I got it working.

I decided to swap out the CPUs I had just installed a few days ago with the stockers just as a last ditch effort. These CPUs (dual X5650s) were working perfectly until I tried to upgrade to Mojave. After installing the original E5520s, the machine booted as normal with the Lion USB installer. Powered down, and reinstalled my SSD with HS and all my previous info/apps, and everything is as it was.

This is blowing my mind... don't know why the X5650s gave the system such indigestion... especially just after upgrading to Mojave (albeit after a forced shutdown halfway through). I'd like to test again, but I used the last of my thermal paste when putting the E5520s back in.

I guess I will update to Mojave using the RX 480 and the E5520s tonight, then go to Best Buy tomorrow and pick up some more paste and try the X5650s again once everything is completed.

 

[tsialex]

OK, I got it working.

I decided to swap out the CPUs I had just installed a few days ago with the stockers just as a last ditch effort. These CPUs (dual X5650s) were working perfectly until I tried to upgrade to Mojave. After installing the original E5520s, the machine booted as normal with the Lion USB installer. Powered down, and reinstalled my SSD with HS and all my previous info/apps, and everything is as it was.

This is blowing my mind... don't know why the X5650s gave the system such indigestion... especially just after upgrading to Mojave (albeit after a forced shutdown halfway through). I'd like to test again, but I used the last of my thermal paste when putting the E5520s back in.

I guess I will update to Mojave using the RX 480 and the E5520s tonight, then go to Best Buy tomorrow and pick up some more paste and try the X5650s again once everything is completed.

Don't do this yet. Dump your BootROM and let's check if you didn't corrupted the private streams of the NVRAM, Lot's of people are bricking Mac Pros upgrading firmware while installing Mojave.

I'll pm instructions.

 

[tpivette89]

Don't do this yet. Dump your BootROM and let's check if you didn't corrupted the private streams of the NVRAM, Lot's of people are bricking Mac Pros upgrading firmware while installing Mojave.

I'll pm instructions.

My firmware was already upgraded to 140, however. Did this as soon as the public 10.14.1 was released. And I've upgraded to Mojave multiple times before using this machine...however, not on this particular setup I am running as of now.

Oh well, I guess it can't hurt to have a check up. Mojave is currently installing on the cMP. When it is finished, I will start the process for the BootRom repair...

 

[bookemdano]

Hindsight is 20/20 but the fact that you just installed new CPUs a couple of days before this problem happened would have been very helpful to note in your original post. Any recent hardware change would have been relevant.

 

[tpivette89]

Hindsight is 20/20 but the fact that you just installed new CPUs a couple of days before this problem happened would have been very helpful to note in your original post. Any recent hardware change would have been relevant.

I didn't think that was a factor as they were working perfectly until my son halted the Mojave update. It's not like I swapped them out and THEN the system became unresponsive. Didn't seem as though that could possibly be a factor. Why would they have worked for 3 days and suddenly crap out on the 4th?

I will know for sure tomorrow when I can get my hands on some new thermal paste.

 

[Slash-2CPU]

What's the s-Spec on the X5650's? SLBV3 or Q3xx or Q4xx? It's laser etched onto the heat spreader. If they're Q (qualification samples), then it's a crapshoot.