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Has any component in your Mac Pro ever failed?

Has any ORIGINAL component in your Mac Pro ever failed?

  • Yes

    Votes: 24 33.3%

  • No

    Votes: 48 66.7%
  • Total voters
    72
neiltc13

neiltc13

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2006
3,128
28
I was thinking about my Mac Pro and it hasn't skipped a beat since I got it back in 2009. AppleCare is up next year, and I'm curious as to how many people have had to receive service on their machines because a component failed.

So, considering only the original parts (and nothing you've added later, from Apple or otherwise), has any component in your Mac Pro ever failed?
 
I've had 2 Mac Pros. In both of them the Superdrive went. In fact it's a recurring theme with me, almost every Mac i've had the CD/DVD drive has failed. With the exception of the first Performas i had with a CD drive. It's not as if i'm putting the disks in the wrong way or anything!

On my current one, a 2008 8 core model, the temperature sensor on one of the fans has gone, meaning one of the fans runs at maximum all the time, so it sounds like a rocket launch in my office :)
 
On my 2006 MacPro1,1:

  • 3 of the original 4 WD Caviar Blue 500 GB drives failed. I replaced the 4th before it failed. Not really Apple's fault in any way - all of the drives were well past their rated MTBF (this machine is up 24x7).
  • Original nVidia 7300GT failed after about 18 months. Apple replaced it at no cost with same card. Apparently many of these failed early. Eventually gave up on the card [too slow for my needs] and replaced it with Radeon 4870 which has been great since.
  • Despite heroic efforts to keep my Mighty Mouse operating, including several successful disassemble/reassemble cycles to clean debris out of its tiny trackball, eventually it failed due to the cord fraying at the attachment point to the mouse.
  • Original Apple Pro Keyboard A1048 M9034 failed when I used a cloth which was just a little too damp to clean it. A tiny bit of moisture reached and caused corrosion on the capacitive membrane - ruining what had been a great keyboard.
  • Not really a Mac Pro issue, but I have had to replace no less than 4 iPhone docking cables due to fraying at the point where the cord enters the dock connector
Of these issues, the only ones which I can really lay at Apple's feet are the cord fraying problems. C'mon Apple - you've got to improve your strain relief design, which is obviously lacking!
 
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My GT120 stock GPU failed after 3 days working with the Mac Pro.
Replacement worked. Bought myself later a 285GTX Mac Edition by EVGA.
Failed aswell. Fast replacement on both cards. Thanks apple.
 
Power supply
Graphics card
Superdrive

All failed at different times on my early 2008 Mac Pro.

The PSU was overheating, if I shut down my Mac it would fail to start unless I left it switched off for a while to cool down. The graphics card just started giving me random coloured blobs over the screen and the superdrive failed to eject.

All sorted by Applecare.

The logic board finally failed after a lightning strike and the computer was written off. I've got the cash in hand and am waiting for a new Mac Pro to be released.
 
The original hard drive in my 1,1 Mac Pro was failing. Fortunately it had Windows on, and I was able to get my stuff off before it did finally go belly up.
 
My MP 1,1 lasted from 2006 to 2010 without a problem (I don't count a keyboard that wore out as Apple's fault).

My MP 4,1 has functioned flawlessly since mid-2010

My MBP 3,1 has functioned flawlessly since Dec 2007 (I have replaced the HDD with a SSD and added memory to improve performance, not because of a problem).

We've gone through many Macs since the original IIcx we bought in 1989 and I can't think of a single problem with any of them. I usually replace them every 4 years or so simply to get the newer technology.
 
2008 octo core, 3,1 Mac Pro. Graphics card failed, and took the logic board with it. Happened 2+ years after purchase, but I had bought Apple Care which handled the repair.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of Mac owners never have problems, and never join into a board like this. One of the reasons, I believe, that people join a board like this is because they've had a problem, and are trying to fix it. Many people never have that motive to join. So, don't let the stats of problems/no problems worry you. I know many people with Macs, and they never have any problems at all.
 
Nothing so far. It goes on Apple Care this week or the next. Some parts will never wear out. I don't use the original super drive, boot drive or RAM. My MP doesn't get very hard use at all. Hopefully it will hold together for a few years.
 
2006 Mac Pro 1,1 (2x2.66GHz)
Two things:

The original graphics card (ATI 1900XT).

There's one bank of RAM that constantly gives errors, so I've had to cut down on the amount of RAM in the machine to avoid using that bank. It's not the DIMMs as swapping reproduces the error, and it's not the riser card as swapping those leaves the bad bank in the same virtual place. It's a logic board problem, but it's long out of warranty so I'm not going to bother to fix it. The machine has been relegated to file server duty and it's running fine on 6GB of RAM, so I'm just going to leave it.
 
In my Mac Pro 1,1, nothing from Apple has failed. My original video card wasn't performing at up par was replaced by Applecare but it didn't exactly fail.
 
Mac Pro 1,1.

7300GT failed. Apple replaced with 8800GT. Still working though I've put in a 5770.

Superdrive went. Easily replaced.

Front fan assembly power connector broke (previous owner's fault). I bought a replacement and fixed it in myself. Saved quite a few quid on repairs for that.
 
Early 2008 MacPro still running fine. The only problem I've had (which seems to be the most common one) is my 8800GT died. I was going to replace the card but then thought I'd google the problem and found many graphics cards fail and many have been resurrected by baking in the oven at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes. I had nothing to lose so I tried it and it worked! The 8800 GT is running perfect again (with game stress testing).

MacPros are very well designed and built machines.
 
three logic board failures in one year

my 2009 Nehalem quad-core had 3 logic board failures in one year - after the third one, when Apple would not replace the mac pro, I turned it in to Powermax for a store credit
 
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Mine 2006 is still rocking solid (bought it brand new). Only thing I might complain about is SD - it doesn't want to eject the tray sometimes. But I'm too lazy to replace it with new one, especially when it reads and burns all CDs/DVDs I need. I've replaced stock 5150 Xeons with 5160s. Painless :)
 
Early 2008 Xeon. Smething caused the fans to rev up and never stop straight out of the box. MLB, GPU, power supply, all fans, both CPUs were all replaced with testing done each time. They could not repair so they replaced in Feburary 2009. The experience with AC was ideal. It was my patience that paid off.
 
Nvidia 7300 GT failed after 4 years

Mac Pro 1.1

Cooling Failed and leaked onto the logic board on my old G5 Mac Pro a few years after selling it to a friend.
 
Just a dead SuperDrive about a year ago. Everything else has been rock-solid since new on my 2008. Not surprising, considering most manufacturers use cheap $25-30 optical drives in desktop machines.

Every Mac I've owned since my original PBG4 Ti has had a SuperDrive replaced under warranty at least once.

Of these issues, the only ones which I can really lay at Apple's feet are the cord fraying problems. C'mon Apple - you've got to improve your strain relief design, which is obviously lacking!
Click to expand...

I hear ya, man. I've been through several iPod cables and PB/MBP power adapters over the years - all broken from frayed cords because Apple insists to apply the form-over-function principle on their OEM cables. It's especially annoying with MagSafe adapters because it's $80-90 every time (when you're out of warranty) and since the connector is patented, they sue everyone who attempts to sell a 3rd-party adapter. :p
 
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