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Mac Pro 1.1 2 dead bays

D

danishpete

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2009
16
0
Help!

Hi there,

I got got a used Mac Pro 1,1 2.0Ghz Quad, but bay 2 and 3 seems to be dead, I have tried all the reset tricks, I have tried 4 different drives, 1 brand new, reinstalled Snow Leopard, I have checked the connectors on the logic board, they are all fine and so on, but they are still dead.

What can I do!? please help.....
 
Did you check if anything is showing up in Disk Utility? Perhaps the previous owner unmounted the drives from bays 2 and 3, and now the system expects you to mount whatever drive is there manually from DU. Just a WAG. I routinely run with a couple of my rarely used drives unmounted to save some power.
 
I did try Disk Utility, but nothing is showing up so I can't mount them.

I can hear and feel the drives spin, so they get power but for some reason the mac can't see them...

Very frustrating...
 
danishpete said:
I did try Disk Utility, but nothing is showing up so I can't mount them.

I can hear and feel the drives spin, so they get power but for some reason the mac can't see them...

Very frustrating...
Click to expand...

That only means the drives are getting power. SATA port may still be dead.
 
beto2k7 said:
That only means the drives are getting power. SATA port may still be dead.
Click to expand...


What can I do in that case??? New Logicboard? New SATA harness? Or is it the drive controllers? (the little box next the the SATA plug)? Will it affect the other 2 bays?
 
You could swap their connectors directly on logic board, for instance: bay 2 one (dead) with bay 4 one (working). It's not that easy, but possible.
This way you could test if it's logic board or defective bay connector/cable.

2dlqgow.jpg


Edit: my bad
 
Last edited:
666sheep said:
You could swap their connectors directly on logic board, for instance: bay 2 one (dead) with bay 4 one (working). It's not that easy, but possible.
Click to expand...

How so? From my understanding (which is limited for the 1,1 I have to admit), the SATA harness is connected via a single SSF-8087 connector to the logic board, so no options to swap anything around.
Might work for the power, but not for the data connection.
 
666sheep said:
You could swap their connectors directly on logic board, for instance: bay 2 one (dead) with bay 4 one (working). It's not that easy, but possible.
This way you could test if it's logic board or defective bay connector/cable.

2dlqgow.jpg
Click to expand...


Cool, Ill have a go at that and see how I get on. All the cables are numbered yes?

Thx.
 
Transporteur said:
How so? From my understanding (which is limited for the 1,1 I have to admit), the SATA harness is connected via a single SSF-8087 connector to the logic board, so no options to swap anything around.
Might work for the power, but not for the data connection.
Click to expand...


I see.... The large plug at the bottom of the picture?
 
Transporteur said:
How so? From my understanding (which is limited for the 1,1 I have to admit), the SATA harness is connected via a single SSF-8087 connector to the logic board, so no options to swap anything around.
Might work for the power, but not for the data connection.
Click to expand...

Darn, you're right. I stand corrected :eek:

OP, sorry for misleading you.

Edited my previous post. Thanks Transporteur :)
 
Right, just tried to have the fan out and have a look. Everything looks to be in place, however there is a little break on the ATA connector, could that have something to do with it?
 

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Or are those two bays just not to save?

Will it have any effect on the others long term? The guy I bought it from is willing to take it back, shall I do that and find another or can this be fixed?
 
By the way, I can see the plug for the HD1 controller and that is in just fine, but there are the other plugs? Wanted to check if they might have come out...
 
danishpete said:
there is a little break on the ATA connector, could that have something to do with it?
Click to expand...

It shouldn't. SATA and ATA are separate contollers.

Or are those two bays just not to save?

Will it have any effect on the others long term? The guy I bought it from is willing to take it back, shall I do that and find another or can this be fixed?
Click to expand...

It's hard to say. To test it out you will need to obtain whole working SATA cable with all bays connectors. If it's dying SATA controller - other bays could die as well (or not) = logic board needs replacement. If you don't want to take this risk, return it and look for another one. Decision is up to you...
 
This seems like a very odd problem. Personally, I'd buy a SFF-8087 breakout cable and see if that works with all connections.

If this works, your machine is fine and the existing SATA harness is probably broken, which is an easy an cheap fix.

So in short:
If you can't find any disconnected connectors, buy an iPass cable (SFF-8087 to SATA), connect it to the port on the logic port and test each SATA connector separately with a drive. Get the power from one of the Molex adapters from the ODD bay or directly from the logic board.

An iPass cable looks like this and costs about $10 to $20;
60-00340-xx.JPG
 
666sheep said:
It shouldn't. SATA and ATA are separate contollers.



It's hard to say. To test it out you will need to obtain whole working SATA cable with all bays connectors. If it's dying SATA controller - other bays could die as well (or not) = logic board needs replacement. If you don't want to take this risk, return it and look for another one. Decision is up to you...
Click to expand...

How hard/easy is the sata controller to change? And are they expencive?

Also, is there a hardware test I can run?
 
danishpete said:
How hard/easy is the sata controller to change? And are they expencive?

Also, is there a hardware test I can run?
Click to expand...

Controllers are soldered on logic board i.e. you need to replace whole logic board if it fails.

IMO Transporteur's advice is very reasonable. Give it a shot maybe?

If you have original Install DVDs, there is AHT (Apple Hardware Test) on one of them (see description on DVD).

Apple Service Diagnostics is way better than AHT but is hard to find (in legal way)...

What you linked is temperature sensor only.
 
666sheep said:
Controllers are soldered on logic board i.e. you need to replace whole logic board if it fails.

IMO Transporteur's advice is very reasonable. Give it a shot maybe?

If you have original Install DVDs, there is AHT (Apple Hardware Test) on one of them (see description on DVD).

Apple Service Diagnostics is way better than AHT but is hard to find (in legal way)...

What you linked is temperature sensor only.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think you are right, I give it a go...

I don't have the original in DVD's:( Gonna look for Apple Service Diagnostics, I think my friend has it...

Thanks everyone for your help so far.
 
Transporteur said:
This seems like a very odd problem. Personally, I'd buy a SFF-8087 breakout cable and see if that works with all connections.

If this works, your machine is fine and the existing SATA harness is probably broken, which is an easy an cheap fix.

So in short:
If you can't find any disconnected connectors, buy an iPass cable (SFF-8087 to SATA), connect it to the port on the logic port and test each SATA connector separately with a drive. Get the power from one of the Molex adapters from the ODD bay or directly from the logic board.

An iPass cable looks like this and costs about $10 to $20;
60-00340-xx.JPG
Click to expand...
Apple's cable is custom though, as it also includes power (backplane connector end per HDD bay, and the way the power hooks to the logic board isn't that of a standard cable that uses backplane connections <not 4 pin flat Molex, which is the usual standard>).
 
So, I have run the Apple diagnostic software on it and here is the result.. So what's next?? :) please....
 

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I googled it, a Fan problem?

I should say I used the Apple Diagnostic from my Macbook Pro....
 
nanofrog said:
Apple's cable is custom though, as it also includes power (backplane connector end per HDD bay, and the way the power hooks to the logic board isn't that of a standard cable that uses backplane connections <not 4 pin flat Molex, which is the usual standard>).
Click to expand...

Yes I know. But the standard iPass cable should get the OP an idea whether the controller has to be replaced (well actually the logic board in that case) or the iPass cable itself.

Provided that it is an actual hardware error of course.
 
Transporteur said:
Yes I know. But the standard iPass cable should get the OP an idea whether the controller has to be replaced (well actually the logic board in that case) or the iPass cable itself.

Provided that it is an actual hardware error of course.
Click to expand...
The disks won't have power, and without it, the test won't generate accurate information (no drives available, even if all the hardware is good).
 
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