MP All Models I think I’ve killed my Mac Pro

[Phil Adams]

Hi friends, what have I succeeded in doing? 2 weeks I’ve had my 2008 MP, 3.1, 8 core 2.8 with 8x1 ram cards, running El Cap.
I’ve been trying to find ways of accessing my work files from my G5, with no success, never mind, it was worth a try.
I’ve tried to download and install 10.6 on it, which I believe it would have been shipped with, hoping it would dual boot without success.
I’ve downloaded Office, and removed it, also Quark.
In the last couple of days it’s got very temperamental and been reluctant to boot, it wouldn’t restart, but appeared more inclined to boot if it’s been left to stand a while! The previous owner passed on the 10.6 installer disk he had, but whilst it’s proper Apple product, I’ve no idea whether it’s the correct one, because it won’t install on a clean HD I put in to avoid having to partition the main boot disk.
Last night I couldn’t make it boot no matter what I did. Dead. I’ve got a USB external caddy, and have put the El Cap had in that and it’s silent. I’ve opened the dead drive and it’s not stuck, free to turn, but doesn’t power up.
I’ve tried to get it to restore from the internet and the commands don’t work (I’m using an Apple wired Keyboard so it shouldn’t be that)
So, I’ve spent today trying all sorts of ways of downloading El Cap onto the spare HD via the G5, obviously I can’t use the G5 to install it onto the fresh hd, I’ve tried various erase and partition etc etc. also tried to create a bootable usb stick, but I only have the downloaded installer to work with.
The hd that the machine came with was 1TB, and it’s clearly dead now. With the USB caddy it only has to be powered up and as soon as you slot a drive in the drive will start humming, the 1TB doesn’t, with the cover off you can see it’s static.
So, nitty gritty time. If the 1TB drive failed whilst in the machine, could it damage the machine? I ask that because I’ve been trying different things all day, and nothing will work.
The machine powers up btw. At one point I got kernel panic messages trying to boot from the spare drive the had the installer on it it the hopes I might be able to get into it somehow.
Is it dead, or is there a glimmer of hope?
Thanks, Phil

 

[Dayo]

Do you get a chime when you power up?
There is a chance the machine is simply damaged and an absence of a chime on start up is the main indicator of this.

You can find troubleshooting information in the service manual: https://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/macpro

 

[Phil Adams]

Hi Dayo,
Yes I do get a chime on startup. Thanks for the link to the service manuals. I’ll get reading.

 

[macguru9999]

maybe buy a 5,1 online and move your drives across... sorry for your loss

 

[DeltaMac]

...
I’ve tried to get it to restore from the internet and the commands don’t work (I’m using an Apple wired Keyboard so it shouldn’t be that)
So, I’ve spent today trying all sorts of ways of downloading El Cap onto the spare HD via the G5, obviously I can’t use the G5 to install it onto the fresh hd, I’ve tried various erase and partition etc etc. also tried to create a bootable usb stick, but I only have the downloaded installer to work with.
The hd that the machine came with was 1TB, and it’s clearly dead now. With the USB caddy it only has to be powered up and as soon as you slot a drive in the drive will start humming, the 1TB doesn’t, with the cover off you can see it’s static.
So, nitty gritty time. If the 1TB drive failed whilst in the machine, could it damage the machine? I ask that because I’ve been trying different things all day, and nothing will work.
The machine powers up btw. At one point I got kernel panic messages trying to boot from the spare drive the had the installer on it it the hopes I might be able to get into it somehow.
Is it dead, or is there a glimmer of hope?
Thanks, Phil

Internet recovery can't work on any 2008 Mac - too old! That feature was not added until 2011, and was then available on most 2010 Macs, but none older than that.
Did you actually remove the cover on the hard drive? That should be done only in a certified clean room, unless you don't have any expectation of recovering data from the hard drive, and the drive won't be usable after opening that hard drive to the elements.
A failed hard drive won't likely cause further damage, outside of the hard drive itself

 

[Phil Adams]

Thanks Delta.
Yes I opened it, and I wasn’t expecting miracles. The pcb on the drive has failed, one component has a bit missing out of the side, another had become loose at one end. There’s no irreplaceable data on the drive apart from the system software.
I need to work out how I can install an operating system onto a clean disk with no installer.

 

[Dayo]

If you have access to another Mac, you can create an installer for El Capitan:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support (BH)

Use an external drive or secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install macOS.

support.apple.com

 

[Phil Adams]

Thanks Dayo, I only have a G5 PPC. I’ve downloaded the installer from the Apple site onto the G5, but it doesn’t seem to want to format for an Intel machine. It just hangs and you have to quit Disk Utility.
I’ve ordered a USB installer from Amazon which should arrive tomorrow, hopefully that will get me on my way.
Had a good look at the failed drive, you can see some damage to one of the round components. Possibly repairable if you could find the spares, but hopefully the USB installer will sort me out.

 

[Macschrauber]

Its just a coil for filtering. You can replace it by a wire temporarily.

 

[Phil Adams]

Its just a coil for filtering. You can replace it by a wire temporarily.

Brilliant, thanks. ??

 

[Phil Adams]

Its just a coil for filtering. You can replace it by a wire temporarily.

It actually meters out ok, however, if you look just to the right there are two tiny black components, one above the other, the lower one as you look at it was misplaced, you can see in the pic that it doesn’t look quite right. It has 2 terminals one side, and one the other. It’s only actually holding on by one. Job for tomorrow with my tiny soldiering iron. In the meantime, USB installer from Amazon doing its thing, hopefully all will be well, and as it’s Easter, my Mac will be resurrected.

 

[Macschrauber]

It actually meters out ok, however, if you look just to the right there are two tiny black components, one above the other, the lower one as you look at it was misplaced, you can see in the pic that it doesn’t look quite right. It has 2 terminals one side, and one the other. It’s only actually holding on by one. Job for tomorrow with my tiny soldiering iron. In the meantime, USB installer from Amazon doing its thing, hopefully all will be well, and as it’s Easter, my Mac will be resurrected.

should be a transistor, from the picture it is not clearly visible if it's broken or not.

Marking Codes: X7, X8, X9

SMD Marking Codes: X7, X8, X9

www.web-bcs.com