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Mac Pro 1.1 odd lock up issue.

Z

zerb

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 4, 2012
40
0
so, this is my first post here after spending a decent time lurking and im hoping to get some light shed on my issue ive been having with my 1.1 mac pro. machine specs...1tb HD with OS 10.6.8 on it, 8gb of ram from TransIntl, ATI x1900 GPU, x5355 CPU's. i was having an issue with the pro locking up on me during normal use, sometimes just surfing the wed in safari and listening to itunes, the screen would lock up...but itunes would still play in the background or say a youtube video etc. power down, reboot, everyhting would fire back up.

friend thought it may be ram related, when this first started happening i only had the measly 2gb of apple supplied ram the machine came with back on 2006. so 8gb was put it. problem happened less, but still happened. thats when the x5355's went it, i wanted something that would render video faster anyway at the time and a new machine just wasnt in the cards so the CPU's upgrade was the logical step. the machine no longer locked up doing random everyday tasks, but now only froze if i was jumping back and forth from FCP X and Motion 5. cranked the fans in SMC fan control, and had no more issues thus far.

the other day an issue came about, i was downloading a file walked away and came back 20 minutes later and the screen was frozen, cursor still moved around but screen was frozen. the file said on the screen that it downloaded 1.2gb of a 4.3gb file, rebooted the computer...started the download client again...and it instantly said that it downloaded 3.4gb of the 4.3gb file. this makes me think that the computer is still working, even after the screen hasa frozen and become un useable. would a failing GPU be to blame? im out of ideas, and i was looking for an excuse to upgrade to an ATI 5770 with FCP X anyway, i just want to FIX my issue at hand before dumping any more "play" money into the machine.
 
I will have to read through the second link, the first one i have skimmed through before through prior to my CPU upgrade. My only thing is, and I'm not a professional or really even a decent amateur by any means here, that if there were kernel panics like that first article was describing, wouldn't it register in the OS's crash log folder? Each time my machine locks up, I check that after I reboot and there isn't anything in there stating why the machine did what it did.
 
Next time your Mac Pro freezes, do not shut it down. Instead, open the side panel and look at Diagnostic LEDs on the logic board (above the memory riser card A).
If any LEDs are lit in red, the logic board might be broken, which happened me when my Mac Pro had almost the same configuration as yours. I wasn't able to try the firmware update because it was before the update was available.
I sent my Mac pro to Apple for the repair and they replaced the logic board.
The new logic board came with D firmware, so it might solve the problem or the logic board was really broken.
it's worth the try updating the firmware before you think something is broken.
 
I'll have to do some more reading into that firmware update. I've never dabbled with updating the firmware, I'll give that a shot when I get home and see what happens.
 
Did the firmware update and it seemed to be running smoother. Played in FCP X and Motion5 for a few hours last night and it seemed great. Played with both programs again this evening and all was fine. Then was using just Motion5 and it just rebooted on me, didn't freeze on screen at all, monitor read "no input signal" and the next thing I knew it was rebooting by itself. Played in only motion5 for a whole again, locked up. Then it locked up and I popped the side cover off to reveal this. Rebooted, used FCPX and motion5 some more, did some heavy renders in FCP as well...activity monitor showed only about 22 percent of the CPUS still idle while rendering, regardless it ate it up and I had no problems for the rest of the evening.

44c6a4e4-f0fb-88d1.jpg


My options now are?
 
Last edited:
Do you still have the original Xeons (5130 or 5150 or 5160)? If so, put 'em back and see what'll happen.
I don't think CPUs are broken but just make sure what is really broken.
If the MP w/ the original Xeons freezes, I think the logic board itself is probably broken.
your choice would be either send for a repair or get a new Mac...
It's a tough choice since MP 1.1 won't run Mtn Lion and a new MP will unlikely be out.
 
zerb said:
ATI x1900 GPU
Click to expand...

IMO this is the source of your problems. CPU LEDs could be misleading a little, but if you'll read Service manual carefully, you'll notice that one (or both) of them could also point to PCIe card failure. If you'll add screen lockups to this and bad fame of X1900s - you have an answer.

Enable screen sharing, remove X1900 and stress your computer with something remotely, using another Mac.
 
666sheep said:
IMO this is the source of your problems. CPU LEDs could be misleading a little, but if you'll read Service manual carefully, you'll notice that one (or both) of them could also point to PCIe card failure. If you'll add screen lockups to this and bad fame of X1900s - you have an answer.

Enable screen sharing, remove X1900 and stress your computer with something remotely, using another Mac.
Click to expand...

I'll be honest. That's also what most my my PC friends are saying too. I unfortunately didn't find any sort of utility to "test" the GPU, I assume the screen sharing idea and removing the card would allow me to test the pro to see if it locks up without the card in there?
 
Ok. I'll have to do that and see what happens. Thanks for the advice man. If that narrows down the issue to the gpu, thats as good an excuse as any for a nice 5770!
 
fingers crossed thats it, id rather buy a new GPU for $250 vs a new machine. it is the original card in there from 06, so i really cant complain if that turns out to be the root of my issues.
 
anyone have an opinion on the 5770 .vs. the 6870? i dont do any sort of gaming, just FCP X and Motion 5 editing. little bit of CS5 pshop here and there as well.
 
Thanks for that link. I just ended up going with a 5770 kit, I'll have it tomorrow. With all the issues that fcpx continues to have I really just want something that I know WORKS. If the 5770 doesn't cut the mustard, maybe I will look into a 2gb 6870, from the threads I read on here the 6870 seemed to work on most setups, but I didn't eat to take the chance.
 
I've had my MP 1,1 since new (2006, dual 3 gHz model) and I have had these issues twice. In both cases replacing the video card solved the problem. Hopefully that's all that will go wrong. I am not sure why just the video card keeps dying. It's in a relatively dust free, cool environment although the machine does seem to run pretty warm. My vote goes to a new video card. Good Luck!!!!

Joe
 
44c6a4e4-850f-1575.jpg


Booted up and I couldn't BELIEVE how much quieter the machine runs now.
 
All is well this far. I'll hopefully get to edit some stuff in fcpx later this evening and see how it handles it.
 
I blasted through fcpx last night without a hitch. Rendering seemed to be much faster as well. Haven't had a lock up yet, using fcpx and photoshop cs5.
 
I have been editing in FCPX and Motion 5 for a few hours straight this past week. Haven't had any sort of lockup issues (FCPx crashed once but it opened right back up and there was no issues from there on). CS5 photoshop runs awesome as well now too, even with motion 5 open jumping back and forth. ONLY, issue I had was rendering a semi long title I was making in motion 5. It ate the 8gb of ram I had in the machine, I just got another 8gb today and I can't wait to go home and see what it does now.

a6898b52-75f1-e37d.jpg
 
Got 16gb of ram in there now. But it only shows in About this Mac and Geekench. Activity monitor only sees 8.

44c6a4e4-ec1a-b8a9.jpg
 
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