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Got my my first Mac-pro 4.1!

D

DeezelP

macrumors member
Original poster
May 26, 2014
46
0
hi guys

I bought an early Mac Pro 4.1 , 2.66 ghz, quad core with an 27 inch Apple cinema screen for a really good price ....what to do now..?

It came with a fresh install of Mavericks which seems to work quite well, however the two things I have noticed is that the boot startup is quite slow and the screen keeps flashing on and off...

I do have the original disc for Mavericks but it is scratched to hell and I'm not sure it will work. If I download Yosemite , will it be able to run ok on my specs?

I would like to install it on a new ssd drive rather than the hd I have at the moment, is this possible to do? Any advice on these topics would be great
 
flowrider said:
Welcome to the site. Lots of Great Information here. However, it would behove you to learn how to use the search function. There's so many threads on upgrades, SSDs and PCIe Cards for SSDs that they could fill a book. Here are just two.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1721573/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1842555/

Yosemite will run just fine, lot's of threads on that too.

Lou
Click to expand...


Thanks for the advice Lou

Looking at those suggested threads though they are not really specific for what I asking. In addition, if new threads are not created , there really is no forum.

So, can anyone advise a solution as to why my screen might flashing in and off? Also, is Mavericks better than Yosemite on my machine? If not is it possible to just move the whole hdd to the new ssd?
 
DeezelP said:
Thanks for the advice Lou

Looking at those suggested threads though they are not really specific for what I asking. In addition, if new threads are not created , there really is no forum.

So, can anyone advise a solution as to why my screen might flashing in and off? Also, is Mavericks better than Yosemite on my machine? If not is it possible to just move the whole hdd to the new ssd?
Click to expand...

You don't mention how much memory your Mac has, but yes, Yosemite runs on a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1. There are many discussions here that relate that.

Also, yes, you can install an SSD. There are many different options, which is what Flowrider was referencing. The thing is, your questions are not very specific to begin with. They are "yes/no" questions. Are you asking for step-by-step instructions on how to do it or ???

As far as the screen flashing, have you performed all the updates (software and firmware) on the old 4,1 Mac Pro?
 
dmylrea said:
You don't mention how much memory your Mac has, but yes, Yosemite runs on a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1. There are many discussions here that relate that.

Also, yes, you can install an SSD. There are many different options, which is what Flowrider was referencing. The thing is, your questions are not very specific to begin with. They are "yes/no" questions. Are you asking for step-by-step instructions on how to do it or ???

As far as the screen flashing, have you performed all the updates (software and firmware) on the old 4,1 Mac Pro?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply

Basically I bought it second hand. All that was done was afresh install of Mavericks. No additional updates were done. I haven't updated anything because I'm a bit nervous to. I currently don't have an ssd and my ram is 8gb

Regarding firmware updates, is that possible to do without downloading the whole OS X platform ? I guess my main concern at this point is to stop my display from flashing
 
Upgrade the ram, even though you may not need it. And also upgrade to an SSD, and should be really fast
 
DeezelP said:
Thanks for your reply

Basically I bought it second hand. All that was done was afresh install of Mavericks. No additional updates were done. I haven't updated anything because I'm a bit nervous to. I currently don't have an ssd and my ram is 8gb

Regarding firmware updates, is that possible to do without downloading the whole OS X platform ? I guess my main concern at this point is to stop my display from flashing
Click to expand...

What kind/color is the connector on the end of the video cable?
 
I would make a fusion drive with an SSD + the HDD you already have.

In fact... that's exactly what I did in my Mac Pro :)
 
NorCalLights said:
I would make a fusion drive with an SSD + the HDD you already have.

In fact... that's exactly what I did in my Mac Pro :)
Click to expand...

If the bootup is so slow, the drive could be very old and very slow and should be replaced with something of known reliability. SSD's and HDD's are very cheap and if the OP got such a great deal, a few hundred dollar investment is worth it.
 
dmylrea said:
What kind/color is the connector on the end of the video cable?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

The display connects with a white hdmi and a whole power seperate power unit .with a connection that looks a lot like a small USB , not thunderbolt though.

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/itemdetails/T87-723001/T87-723001-out02-am.jpg

These are the connections but like I say there is also a seperate power supply for one of the connectors to plug into.

Regarding how I've plugged it in, all that is connected is the hdmi and this one other connection, leaving two of them unplugged...is this correct?
 
DeezelP said:
Thanks for your reply.

The display connects with a white hdmi and a whole power seperate power unit .with a connection that looks a lot like a small USB , not thunderbolt though.

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/itemdetails/T87-723001/T87-723001-out02-am.jpg

These are the connections but like I say there is also a seperate power supply for one of the connectors to plug into.

Regarding how I've plugged it in, all that is connected is the hdmi and this one other connection, leaving two of them unplugged...is this correct?
Click to expand...

I have to admit I'm no Cinema Display expert. But, the cable image looks to have a mini-displayport (the smallest one that isn't USB). Mini-displayport and Thunderbolt look the same. Does the video card in the Mac Pro have the mini-displayport jack?
 
DeezelP said:
Thanks for your reply.

The display connects with a white hdmi and a whole power seperate power unit .with a connection that looks a lot like a small USB , not thunderbolt though.

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/itemdetails/T87-723001/T87-723001-out02-am.jpg

These are the connections but like I say there is also a seperate power supply for one of the connectors to plug into.

Regarding how I've plugged it in, all that is connected is the hdmi and this one other connection, leaving two of them unplugged...is this correct?
Click to expand...

Looking at your attached image on the Apple display cables, it looks like you have a 30" aluminum Apple Display, the older model released in 2005. As reading thru your description, it has a separate power supply, which could be the white block design though I could be mistaken.

91KYdHu521S._SX522_.jpg


For the flickering problem mentioned from your first post, it could be a problem with either the power supply, or the video card or cables loosely connected.
 
dmylrea said:
I have to admit I'm no Cinema Display expert. But, the cable image looks to have a mini-displayport (the smallest one that isn't USB). Mini-displayport and Thunderbolt look the same. Does the video card in the Mac Pro have the mini-displayport jack?
Click to expand...

Thanks guys

Yes it does, but I'll have to set it up again to see exactly how I plug it in.

If the connections are fitted ok etc, is there a test I can run to see what is causing the problem?
 
Macsonic said:
Looking at your attached image on the Apple display cables, it looks like you have a 30" aluminum Apple Display, the older model released in 2005. As reading thru your description, it has a separate power supply, which could be the white block design though I could be mistaken.

Image

For the flickering problem mentioned from your first post, it could be a problem with either the power supply, or the video card or cables loosely connected.
Click to expand...

Yes, to that list you might consider failing backlight on LCD or bad GPU
 
DeezelP said:
hi guys

I bought an early Mac Pro 4.1 , 2.66 ghz, quad core with an 27 inch Apple cinema screen for a really good price ....what to do now..?

It came with a fresh install of Mavericks which seems to work quite well, however the two things I have noticed is that the boot startup is quite slow and the screen keeps flashing on and off...

I do have the original disc for Mavericks but it is scratched to hell and I'm not sure it will work. If I download Yosemite , will it be able to run ok on my specs?

I would like to install it on a new ssd drive rather than the hd I have at the moment, is this possible to do? Any advice on these topics would be great
Click to expand...

Welcome aboard. I had a new 2010 3.2 quad, very similar to yours. I sold it, realized how stupid that was, and bought a used 2012 3.2 quad. While both machines had RAM upgraded to 24GB the thing that made the biggest difference was adding an SSD.

The 960GB Crucial M500 SSD that I bought is now the previous generation but still available at B&H for a little over 400. Making the Mac boot disk an SSD made the biggest difference of anything I have done. In fact that SSD went into the 2010 MP, then on to a 2012 mini 2.3 quad, then to 2012 mini 2.6 quad then into my new-used 2012 MP. Both the SSD and I are tired!

Just plugging the SSD into the available Lower Bay connector made each Mac Pro feel like a new machine. Putting the SSD on an Apricorn Velocity Duo x2 PCIe card made an even bigger difference. Even a 500GB SSD can now be had for not too much money. The Apricorn card is about $150.
 
scottsjack said:
Just plugging the SSD into the available Lower Bay connector made each Mac Pro feel like a new machine. Putting the SSD on an Apricorn Velocity Duo x2 PCIe card made an even bigger difference. Even a 500GB SSD can now be had for not too much money. The Apricorn card is about $150.
Click to expand...


Can you make fusion drive with SSD on Apricorn Velocity PCIe card and HDD on SATA port?
 
todesto said:
Can you make fusion drive with SSD on Apricorn Velocity PCIe card and HDD on SATA port?
Click to expand...

You possibly could... but I wouldn't. A fusion drive ( as in Apples version ) is a standard spinning disk with a SSD working in unison so A fusion drive is actually 2 serperate parts - a spinning Disk + an SSD

It is a transparent mirroring of certain information to again the best speeds possible. This is done within OSX

It is not directly a hybrid drive or cache drive.

You can make your own but you have to remember if one fails you all data.
http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive


DeezelP said:
hi guys

I bought an early Mac Pro 4.1 , 2.66 ghz, quad core with an 27 inch Apple cinema screen for a really good price ....what to do now..?

It came with a fresh install of Mavericks which seems to work quite well, however the two things I have noticed is that the boot startup is quite slow and the screen keeps flashing on and off...

I do have the original disc for Mavericks but it is scratched to hell and I'm not sure it will work. If I download Yosemite , will it be able to run ok on my specs?

I would like to install it on a new ssd drive rather than the hd I have at the moment, is this possible to do? Any advice on these topics would be great
Click to expand...

SSD then Ram will make all the difference - The PCIE options are great if you need the speed. You don't mention what you need the mac pro for?

Video Card / Flashing
Could be a Graphics card issue - remove and reseat it? What one is it? Get a new / better one from http://www.macvidcards.com/index.html

Hard drive
I have 2 x 500gb SSD in 3.5" docks in 2 slots and 2 x 4TB drives in the others.

1: I have OSX / Applications and home folders on 1 and use the
2: Current WORK drive. When I have finished a project I off load onto
3: Archived work
4: Dump drive - testing etc.

All of this is backed up via time machine to a big synology NAS.

A couple of the SSD on Apricorn Velocity PCIe card would give you even more space. But do you need much space?! You can even stick SSDs on the Optical drive channel - OWC do a kit.

Yosemite - Yes no problem. I have it on a mac 2,1 2008 and works great.

Ram - As much as you can afford - Crucial or OWC - make sure you follow the instructions when you insert them. All versions of the mac pro have different setups - some need matched pairs etc - http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT4433 - mine is tricky as it's got 2 separate memory riser cards and you need to be really careful what slots they are in.

Oh and above all Keep it clean inside... there are a lot of fans and they will suck in any dust. the amount of machines I've seen with crazy dust bunnies and gunk...
 
prowlmedia said:
You possibly could... but I wouldn't. A fusion drive ( as in Apples version ) is a standard spinning disk with a SSD working in unison so A fusion drive is actually 2 serperate parts - a spinning Disk + an SSD

It is a transparent mirroring of certain information to again the best speeds possible. This is done within OSX

It is not directly a hybrid drive or cache drive.

You can make your own but you have to remember if one fails you all data.
http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive
Click to expand...

You're most likely correct. A Mac technician once told me that with Fushion drive, you risk losing all the data when one drive fails.


prowlmedia said:
Oh and above all Keep it clean inside... there are a lot of fans and they will suck in any dust. the amount of machines I've seen with crazy dust bunnies and gunk...
Click to expand...

Yep. As far as I know, more dusts brings in more heat to the computer's interior. Sometimes when dust accumulates in the ram area, may also cause some rams not to be detected.
 
Macsonic said:
Looking at your attached image on the Apple display cables, it looks like you have a 30" aluminum Apple Display, the older model released in 2005. As reading thru your description, it has a separate power supply, which could be the white block design though I could be mistaken.

Image

For the flickering problem mentioned from your first post, it could be a problem with either the power supply, or the video card or cables loosely connected.
Click to expand...


Thanks guys this is great advice from all of you

I've just checked the display and it all it says is 'Apple Cinema HD Display '. It has4 ports on the back aswell , two USB and two others that are the same connection used to link it to its power device/box

Also there is a CD-ROM drive, I can see it but I can't figure out how to open it in Mavericks , is it possible Its installed correctly?

In the meantime, is this the correct page to install firmware updates. Do I just choose the one applicable to me? Bit anxious about doing this...
 
Last edited:
^^^^You open the Optical Drive by pressing the eject button on an Apple Keyboard (upward facing arrow, on the right of F12) or the F12 button on a non-Apple keyboard.

Lou
 
todesto said:
The reason why I ask is I have only 250GB SSD and I'd like to use SATA III and fuse it with my 2TB HDD which I am doing right now (using default SATA port)
Click to expand...

again. fusion drive is more marketing than performance.

You are better off leaving the OS and any important files on the SSD and using the HDD for extra storage.
 
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