I am just wondering if anyone else has the myriad of problems I have had in getting A SINGLE, WORKING NEW MAC PRO delivered. I am currently about to return my THIRD DEFECTIVE late 2013 nMP 6-core with D700s. Thats right - so far, I have been shipped three machines that do not perform to spec.
The original purchase and the first replacement both shared the same problem - the wifi was not recognized when booting cold; but the wifi card is recognized on a Restart and works nominally. Addition, both machines would eject firewire drives once all were recognized by the system and addressed, only to be remounted a few seconds later and (for the most part) stabilizing. More on this in a moment.
I received this latest replacement (#3 of 3 so far), plugged it in, attached a few drives and a monitor to check it. Finally - a machine that always recognized the Wifi card on boot! So I packed up unit #2 and dropped it at my nearby FedEx. A few hours later, I connected #3 to everything I use for editing. But when I turn it on, I can now only get any 2 of the 3 monitors working at any time.
Yes - I am well aware you need at least one dual-link DVI (Monitor #1 is single link, Monitor #2 is dual-link#3 is HDMI), and the displays need to be distributed across all three busses. Check. But no combination would get all three monitors to work at once - it was as if it this machine refused to recognize one cable was dual-link; when I first received the original in March, I was not aware of the dual-link issue and was trying with two single-link adapters at first. My current results mirrored that first attempt,like a shell game when you only get two of three in any combo.
I disconnected all peripherals - no change. I zapped the PRAM, no change. When I went to zap the PRAM a second time, I pressed P-R-Ctrl option at boot (instead of Commanbd Option) by accident, which begins the process of installing a new System download from Apple. But Lo and Behold - ALL THREE SCREENS LIT UP!!! For whatever reason, this little subroutine was able to get all three outputting - so it wasn't that my adapter suddenly broke in the act of disconnecting from one machine and reconnecting to another. It was either a hardware problem with machine #3 or something wankly with Mavericks. Since it was a new machine, why not re-install the system? So I did it, expecting that would be the panacea.
So wrong.
Reboot, and it was back to only two monitors. Only two. Dos. So, just for fun, disconnect everything, reconnect everything differently, etc etc wash rinse repeat..
So - now I get to spend a few more hours talking with tech reps while they go through all of the motions that the engineers require, wasting my time for yet a THIRD defective machine. And hope that this time it gets slated for replacement immediately, instead of trying A, B, C and D for a computer that should arrive in perfect working order OUT OF THE BOX.
As far as Firewire - I have two dozen legacy video drives, all FW800 and Western digital. And all of mine have had the same problem with premature ejection (and the warning pop up about not ejecting correctly) with all three nMP's that have been on this desk. According to the best tech support person I have ever met (and he left Apple last week; talk about timing), this problem is known and the correction is installing updated firmware from the manufacture.
This strikes me as very peculiar, as Apple promised backward compatibility via TB adapter (I have two, and both have the same effect). If using the nMP with FW requires installing new firmware on FW drives purchased as late as this January, their statement rings very hollow. If this is, indeed, a problem that Apple refuses to address and instead leaves it up to manufacturers (and not all seem to be following suit), how can they say there is compatibility at all? Even stranger-- isn't FW a standard? So I get it - they can conveniently say they aren't responsible because they are peripherals and pass the buck. If that's the case, I'd say their engineers are being lazy and their marketers have taken to the cusp of lying. Crappy way to do business.
My order went in on Jan 2. I still don't have a working machine. Guess who has two thumbs and is considering a Dell with Premier?
So Here's the Question:
Anyone else have any nightmare experiences like this? My story means either I am doing everyone a favor and aggregating all the defective product, or Apple is really screwing up with this model. I am especially curious which models are having the worst time of it. So if you have had to exchange a new Mac Pro for technical problems - please chime in with the model information and issue. I'd like to know this isn't some weird Karma being visited upon this Mac enthusiast since the 512k.
The original purchase and the first replacement both shared the same problem - the wifi was not recognized when booting cold; but the wifi card is recognized on a Restart and works nominally. Addition, both machines would eject firewire drives once all were recognized by the system and addressed, only to be remounted a few seconds later and (for the most part) stabilizing. More on this in a moment.
I received this latest replacement (#3 of 3 so far), plugged it in, attached a few drives and a monitor to check it. Finally - a machine that always recognized the Wifi card on boot! So I packed up unit #2 and dropped it at my nearby FedEx. A few hours later, I connected #3 to everything I use for editing. But when I turn it on, I can now only get any 2 of the 3 monitors working at any time.
Yes - I am well aware you need at least one dual-link DVI (Monitor #1 is single link, Monitor #2 is dual-link#3 is HDMI), and the displays need to be distributed across all three busses. Check. But no combination would get all three monitors to work at once - it was as if it this machine refused to recognize one cable was dual-link; when I first received the original in March, I was not aware of the dual-link issue and was trying with two single-link adapters at first. My current results mirrored that first attempt,like a shell game when you only get two of three in any combo.
I disconnected all peripherals - no change. I zapped the PRAM, no change. When I went to zap the PRAM a second time, I pressed P-R-Ctrl option at boot (instead of Commanbd Option) by accident, which begins the process of installing a new System download from Apple. But Lo and Behold - ALL THREE SCREENS LIT UP!!! For whatever reason, this little subroutine was able to get all three outputting - so it wasn't that my adapter suddenly broke in the act of disconnecting from one machine and reconnecting to another. It was either a hardware problem with machine #3 or something wankly with Mavericks. Since it was a new machine, why not re-install the system? So I did it, expecting that would be the panacea.
So wrong.
Reboot, and it was back to only two monitors. Only two. Dos. So, just for fun, disconnect everything, reconnect everything differently, etc etc wash rinse repeat..
So - now I get to spend a few more hours talking with tech reps while they go through all of the motions that the engineers require, wasting my time for yet a THIRD defective machine. And hope that this time it gets slated for replacement immediately, instead of trying A, B, C and D for a computer that should arrive in perfect working order OUT OF THE BOX.
As far as Firewire - I have two dozen legacy video drives, all FW800 and Western digital. And all of mine have had the same problem with premature ejection (and the warning pop up about not ejecting correctly) with all three nMP's that have been on this desk. According to the best tech support person I have ever met (and he left Apple last week; talk about timing), this problem is known and the correction is installing updated firmware from the manufacture.
This strikes me as very peculiar, as Apple promised backward compatibility via TB adapter (I have two, and both have the same effect). If using the nMP with FW requires installing new firmware on FW drives purchased as late as this January, their statement rings very hollow. If this is, indeed, a problem that Apple refuses to address and instead leaves it up to manufacturers (and not all seem to be following suit), how can they say there is compatibility at all? Even stranger-- isn't FW a standard? So I get it - they can conveniently say they aren't responsible because they are peripherals and pass the buck. If that's the case, I'd say their engineers are being lazy and their marketers have taken to the cusp of lying. Crappy way to do business.
My order went in on Jan 2. I still don't have a working machine. Guess who has two thumbs and is considering a Dell with Premier?
So Here's the Question:
Anyone else have any nightmare experiences like this? My story means either I am doing everyone a favor and aggregating all the defective product, or Apple is really screwing up with this model. I am especially curious which models are having the worst time of it. So if you have had to exchange a new Mac Pro for technical problems - please chime in with the model information and issue. I'd like to know this isn't some weird Karma being visited upon this Mac enthusiast since the 512k.
