MP 1,1-5,1 CPU upgrade FAIL!

[jhjulian]

I'm probably not in the right thread, so please move my post if necessary. Here we go...

I've been in Mac Pro 5,1, 2010, upgrade mode and have chased down problems with NVMe installations, flashing the BootRom to upgrade to Mojave. Today was CPU upgrade day...eesh.

X5690 (used) installed with the utmost care. When placed back in the machine, fans and other electrics were working, but no chime, no bong, no boot. SO - I put the original back in and it's still dead. (Again, power is on for fans, NVMe, etc) I don't see any flashing or colored lights that others mentioned.

Going back to this page: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-cpu-compatibility-list.1954766/

I see that the X5690 is only used in Dual CPU configuration. I got some bad advice somewhere (youtube) on which chip to buy. But I KNOW I should always triple check, but I only did two.

So yea, I screwed-up - /anger/kickingthecat/frustration

So my question now: did I fry the board? How do I diagnose the problem? Do I need a new tray or did it fry every board? I am not opposed to buying a dual CPU tray if I killed this one. That was always the plan as a last hardware step, but if I fried the main board that's pointless.

Thanks for your help.

 

[haralds]

You migth try an NVRAM reset.
X5690s work as a single CPU on a single CPU tray. On a dual CPU tray, you must have two matching Xeons.
Unless you screwed up pins in the socket, you did not mess up the board.
I moved an X5675 from dual tray to single and it worked great.
Make sure that you have properly applied thermal compound and the heatsink is seated and connected. I did find that the system might post with it disconnected but will not boot.
You could have received a bad CPU. I would recommend to put your old CPU back to test the board and setup.

 

[jhjulian]

I put the old CPU back in and it's still dead. Pretty sure the "pre-owned" CPU was bad. It's not my first CPU upgrade, but my first with a pre-owned chip and a Mac. I was extremely careful - even over-cautious with the procedure - with the cleaning and thermal paste. (I followed the video here - https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-pro-3-2-ghz-quad-core-westmere-xeon.2230120/ ).

I will give the NVRAM reset a try. Can't hurt at this point.

Please let me know if you have a way to test the board without electrical meters. I was a musician/ teacher for 40 years so I have little money and lots of "tools of the trade" for music but nothing in the way of volt/amp/watt meters. If I can get what I need at the local electronics store for not too much $$, I will do that.

Thank you for your reply!

 

[jhjulian]

NVRAM reset = failure☹️

 

[tsialex]

It's possible that the X5690 was defective, but the CPU tray would work again when you replaced it back to the original one unless you damaged something while doing the CPU install, like a bent CPU pin in the CPU socket.

I'd borrow a CPU tray and try to see if the Mac Pro works again.

Btw, early-2009 Mac Pros and mid-2010/mid-2012 are not the same, you can't use one with the other since the SMC firmware is different and when you mix it SMC versions, all the fans run at maximum RPM full time. If you have a mid-2010 or mid-2012 Mac Pro, you need to buy a mid-2010/mid-2012 CPU tray.

 

[jhjulian]

Agreed. I re-checked the CPU socket and the are several places that feel "scratchy" rather than smooth as it was before.

We have one independent Apple repair shop about 15 minutes away. If there's no way around it (which it seems is the case), I'll take it in.

The original plan was to, eventually, get a dual cpu tray. But I need to know if I fried the board first.

If you know a way to check the boards, I can do all that from here.

Thank you for your reply! Greatly appreciated!

 

[tsialex]

Agreed. I re-checked the CPU socket and the are several places that feel "scratchy" rather than smooth as it was before.

We have one independent Apple repair shop about 15 minutes away. If there's no way around it (which it seems is the case), I'll take it in.

I'd not go this way, even if the Apple repair shop accept it, most won't, the price will be several times greater than just buying a 2nd hand replacement CPU tray from eBay.

The original plan was to, eventually, get a dual cpu tray. But I need to know if I fried the board first.

If you know a way to check the boards, I can do all that from here.

Thank you for your reply! Greatly appreciated!

Borrow/buy a CPU tray that works with your Mac Pro, be sure to get one of the correct year model. There is no way to diagnose a Mac Pro if the CPU tray is not working.

Mac Pro backplane is probably still working and you just damaged the CPU tray CPU socket.

 

[tsialex]

Btw, I'd look with recyclers/craigslist/marketplace and etc, maybe you can get a working Mac Pro for less than what you gonna pay to repair yours.

Some weeks a go I bought a dual CPU mid-2010 Mac Pro working, but without any disks, for less than what I would pay on a dual CPU tray.

 

[jhjulian]

Thank you!

I have searched eBay and there are indeed several working machines that are less than the tray. Seems like the trays are big business on eBay.

I'll also search recyclers/craigslist/marketplace.

Again, thank you!