Mac Pro 1.1 no video (solved)

[Gillianseed]

I was using my Mac,I put it to sleep and then a few hours later when i woke it up again I was presented with a blank screen ,the monitor isn’t picking up a signal.

When i hold the option key down on start up to get the boot loader screen up the image appears to be low resolution ,when i then click on a hdd to boot it takes longer than usual to boot then goes to a blank screen again,it does seem to be working as it seems to boot up there’s just no video,only on the bootloader screen

Here’s what I’ve tried so far :

-Pulled out the trays of ram
-bought a replacement graphics card
-tried the graphics card in pci slot 2
-pulled individual hdd’s out
-unplugged usb keyboard/mouse
-replaced the little cr2032 battery

Any ideas ?

 

[casperes1996]

Does it work booting in safe mode? (hold shift on boot)

 

[Gillianseed]

Does it work booting in safe mode? (hold shift on boot)

No,i mean safe mode might be working but i still can’t see anything

 

[casperes1996]

No,i mean safe mode might be working but i still can’t see anything

What cables do you connect your monitor and GPU with? Have you tried switching out the cable?

 

[Gillianseed]

What cables do you connect your monitor and GPU with? Have you tried switching out the cable?

It’s dvi-d ,unfortunately i have no spare cable or any other dvi-d device to test the monitor but the monitor appears to be working fine ,this is the only picture i can get out of the Mac and it’s at a 800x600 resolution oddly

 

[casperes1996]

It’s dvi-d ,unfortunately i have no spare cable or any other dvi-d device to test the monitor but the monitor appears to be working fine ,this is the only picture i can get out of the Mac and it’s at a 800x600 resolution oddly

Does it work if you boot Windows or Recovery?

I think you should try and get a replacement cable and try that. Could be the cable is failing and not communicating with the system about what specs it can run at, the boot screen just sending out the minimum it can do

 

[Gillianseed]

Does it work if you boot Windows or Recovery?

I think you should try and get a replacement cable and try that. Could be the cable is failing and not communicating with the system about what specs it can run at, the boot screen just sending out the minimum it can do

No nothing works ,I guess that’s possible but just seems strange that it would stop working when i never even touched the cable.

I should mention that I’ve been having random 2 second drop outs in video for about a year ,it happens maybe once a week so that’s a clue.

 

[casperes1996]

No nothing works ,I guess that’s possible but just seems strange that it would stop working when i never even touched the cable.

I should mention that I’ve been having random 2 second drop outs in video for about a year ,it happens maybe once a week so that’s a clue.

I'm betting on a bad cable

 

[Gillianseed]

I'm betting on a bad cable

Ok I hope you are right ,il order some now and give an update when they arrive.

 

[orph]

odd if your getting boot video with disc select options then the gpu works? so maybe it's the OS drive
are all the volumes your booting from on the same HD?
not even able to boot in to recovery or windows?

may just be cable or port on display/GPU

what GPU are you using?
(if it has power cables try re-seating them)

 

[Gillianseed]

odd if your getting boot video with disc select options then the gpu works? so maybe it's the OS drive
are all the volumes your booting from on the same HD?
not even able to boot in to recovery or windows?

may just be cable or port on display/GPU

what GPU are you using?
(if it has power cables try re-seating them)

I have 3 hdd’s ,recovery or Windows doesn’t work ,it can’t be the gpu as I already bought a replacement.

I’m curious to see if a new cable will solve the problem ,just waiting for it to arrive.

 

[Gillianseed]

Ok guys I’ve now got a new dvi-d cable and have the exact same problem ,any ideas ?

The only thing I need to rule out is the monitor dvi-d port ,need to find another monitor to test this though.

 

[Gillianseed]

Other things I’ve tried

-booting from OS X disc ,screen still goes blank after the bootloader screen
-diagnostic leds show no problem
-no leds lit up on video card or memory
-re-seat all ram

Totally scratching my head ,it was working fine then just a few hours later waking up from sleep this happens.

 

[bsbeamer]

Any chance you have an HDTV? If so, pickup a DVI-D to HDMI adapter or cable. Usually can find them under $5. Should allow you to test on another monitor and eliminate the current monitor as the problem, or find it's something else entirely.

Recall having a 1,1 at a client's office years ago and it was dropping ports. Was able to boot from an external drive (probably FW400) but was not able to boot from internal drive. Kept it running on daisy-chained drives in external cases for much longer than it should have. They never wanted to pay for it to be replaced or properly fixed...

 

[Gillianseed]

Any chance you have an HDTV? If so, pickup a DVI-D to HDMI adapter or cable. Usually can find them under $5. Should allow you to test on another monitor and eliminate the current monitor as the problem, or find it's something else entirely.

Recall having a 1,1 at a client's office years ago and it was dropping ports. Was able to boot from an external drive (probably FW400) but was not able to boot from internal drive. Kept it running on daisy-chained drives in external cases for much longer than it should have. They never wanted to pay for it to be replaced or properly fixed...

Yeah I’ve thought about doing that ,guess il have to buy one of those and test it,I just can’t see it being the monitor but I guess it’s possible.
[doublepost=1517005152][/doublepost]If it’s not the monitor what other possibilities am i looking at ?

 

[bsbeamer]

Yeah I’ve thought about doing that ,guess il have to buy one of those and test it,I just can’t see it being the monitor but I guess it’s possible.
[doublepost=1517005152][/doublepost]If it’s not the monitor what other possibilities am i looking at ?

It might not be, but worth eliminating as possibility since it's pretty easy to test.

Where did you get the new GPU? Was it really "new" or was it a pull from another machine? What brand/model?

Another thing to try - plug NOTHING else into the machine except 1 stick of RAM, the drive with OSX, the GPU, and a wired keyboard & mouse. If it works, swap RAM and until you've individually tested them all. Was either on an old 1,1 or 2,1 that I had bad a bad stick of RAM that wouldn't register as bad with the system, but would end up randomly shutting off when rendering video (high RAM usage).

Could also be the PSU not powering the GPU properly. Check to make sure any and all pins are connected.

Been awhile since I was working with 1,1's daily but most had some quirks after several years.

 

[Gillianseed]

[/QUOTE]

It might not be, but worth eliminating as possibility since it's pretty easy to test.

Where did you get the new GPU? Was it really "new" or was it a pull from another machine? What brand/model?

Another thing to try - plug NOTHING else into the machine except 1 stick of RAM, the drive with OSX, the GPU, and a wired keyboard & mouse. If it works, swap RAM and until you've individually tested them all. Was either on an old 1,1 or 2,1 that I had bad a bad stick of RAM that wouldn't register as bad with the system, but would end up randomly shutting off when rendering video (high RAM usage).

Could also be the PSU not powering the GPU properly. Check to make sure any and all pins are connected.

Been awhile since I was working with 1,1's daily but most had some quirks after several years.

The original card was just a
ATI Radeon X1900 XT so I bought the exact same card on eBay for £15,I really don’t think it’s the gpu for me to get identicle issues.

Just tried the 1 stick of ram ,no luck.

The only pins/cables that i can see and get access to are the
Gpu cables and I’ve already plugged it into the secondary ports and pci slot 2,it’s worth noting that the gpu cable is still the original as the replacement card didn’t come with one ,so it could be that ?

 

[bsbeamer]

How many sticks of RAM do you have? Did you try EACH STICK individually? Check the heatsinks on those sticks. Make sure it's seated properly.

The ATI Radeon X1900 XT was plagued with problems. Many were basically recalled by Apple under a service advisory/bulletin after years of issues and complaints. The original notice is not available on Apple's website, but found this: Affected graphics cards have “V6Z” in the last 4 digits of the card’s serial number.

I remember pulling what looked like a rat out of that card from a client's computer when it overheated once. Almost fried the board. Amazing how much dirt and gunk was stuck in it. Remove the card. Clean it out. Clean out your old one. DOUBLE CHECK the power cable(s). Clean out the port before reconnecting the card. I hated that card.

 

[Gillianseed]

How many sticks of RAM do you have? Did you try EACH STICK individually? Check the heatsinks on those sticks. Make sure it's seated properly.

The ATI Radeon X1900 XT was plagued with problems. Many were basically recalled by Apple under a service advisory/bulletin after years of issues and complaints. The original notice is not available on Apple's website, but found this: Affected graphics cards have “V6Z” in the last 4 digits of the card’s serial number.

I remember pulling what looked like a rat out of that card from a client's computer when it overheated once. Almost fried the board. Amazing how much dirt and gunk was stuck in it. Remove the card. Clean it out. Clean out your old one. DOUBLE CHECK the power cable(s). Clean out the port before reconnecting the card. I hated that card.

I have 6 ram sticks in total ,tried 3 individually then put it all back.

I know it’s a ****** card but I had no problems with it and i find it hard to believe 2 cards would have identical problems ,checked both serials and neither are “v6z”

Just took it back out and put it back in pci slot 1,no luck.

What’s puzzling me is why i can only get the boot loading screen but in a low resolution.

 

[bsbeamer]

If you are 100% confident it's not the card, PSU, or logic board then try a different monitor. The monitor's port, processor, or board may be fried.

The least amount of things plugged into the machine the better if you're trying to troubleshoot a PSU. If you have an external drive enclosure, I'd remove the drive and try to boot from the enclosure.

 

[Gillianseed]

If you are 100% confident it's not the card, PSU, or logic board then try a different monitor. The monitor's port, processor, or board may be fried.

The least amount of things plugged into the machine the better if you're trying to troubleshoot a PSU. If you have an external drive enclosure, I'd remove the drive and try to boot from the enclosure.

It could be the logic board but I’m not sure i want to buy a replacement and have the hassle of fitting it ,I will buy the dvi-d to hdmi connector ,if it’s not the monitor then i guess il have to buy a new Mac Pro,thanks for the help il update when i can rule out the monitor.

 

[orph]

things that come to mind
1 do you have a second mac you can use? if possible make a bootble usb stick by installing osx on a USB stick, then see if you can boot from it

2 you posted a screenshot of your display, do you actually see the boot select screen?

3 if you do get the disc selector screen when you boot do you get it with both GPU's?

4 when you checked ram i think you need to do it in pairs of 2, not shore if it will work with single sticks and make shore there in the correct slot when you do it
https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/0/MA171/en_US/MacPro_MemoryDIMM_DIY.pdf
so single sticks wont work i suspect, worth trying all 6 sticks in pairs of 2 (matching)

5 what version of osx are you on

6 have you tried a different mains plug

7 when you boot what do you see, do you get the boot bong, fans spin & GPU fan spin? etc..

8 try pulling all drives apart from 1 that you want to boot from

9 for luck pull all un needed usb devises and any extra PCI cards

10 try the GPU in a different pci slot

it sounds odd if you are getting the boot display then the GPU/display is working & the mac seems to be working and it's just not getting in to the OS which sounds like a disc problem or OS corruption but if all volumes wont boot even on different drives it's odd that they all fail at the same time.

 

[Macschrauber]

Pram reseted ?

 

[Gillianseed]

things that come to mind
1 do you have a second mac you can use? if possible make a bootble usb stick by installing osx on a USB stick, then see if you can boot from it

2 you posted a screenshot of your display, do you actually see the boot select screen?

3 if you do get the disc selector screen when you boot do you get it with both GPU's?

4 when you checked ram i think you need to do it in pairs of 2, not shore if it will work with single sticks and make shore there in the correct slot when you do it
https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/0/MA171/en_US/MacPro_MemoryDIMM_DIY.pdf
so single sticks wont work i suspect, worth trying all 6 sticks in pairs of 2 (matching)

5 what version of osx are you on

6 have you tried a different mains plug

7 when you boot what do you see, do you get the boot bong, fans spin & GPU fan spin? etc..

8 try pulling all drives apart from 1 that you want to boot from

9 for luck pull all un needed usb devises and any extra PCI cards

10 try the GPU in a different pci slot

it sounds odd if you are getting the boot display then the GPU/display is working & the mac seems to be working and it's just not getting in to the OS which sounds like a disc problem or OS corruption but if all volumes wont boot even on different drives it's odd that they all fail at the same time.

1. Haven’t tried this but I’ve alread tried booting from cd.
2.yes it actually displays on my monitor.
3.yes.
4.just done that.
5.10.7.5
6.yes
7.the bong,and all fans spinning,then hdd spinning I get A white screen with the Apple logo (in low res) and a spinning wheel for about 2 minutes (which is not normal) then i get a blank screen but the hdd is still making the usual noises as if it’s booting into the OS.
I can make a video if you want.
8.tried that.
9.tried that.
10.tried that.

I think that it is booting up into the OS it’s just the display issue.
[doublepost=1517055712][/doublepost]

Pram reseted ?

Yes done that.

 

[Macschrauber]

Can you check if the mac is alive when its in dark mode ?

Does the Caps Lock LED get lit ?

Can you urge the mac to make sounds ?

Does a USB item indicates voltage (ram stick, optical mouse, etc ?)

I second the faulty gpu

Plus I would check the monitor & cable, borrow one or go to someone with known good hardware and plug your Monitor & cable in