MAC Pro 2008 + Cinema Screen Various Issues

[moogmachine]

Hi guys

Sorry for the vague title, i'm having 3 issues with my Mac Pro 2008 that keep cropping up and i'm having a very hard time resolving any of them.

I can't post the details of it as I can't actually get the screen to boot up today (!), but here goes from what I know:
SYSTEM INFO:
MAC Pro Tower 2008
30" cinema screen
Running E Capitan (it's the latest I can update to)
250 Gb SSD harddrive + 2 x 500gb External Harddrives

I use this MAC in my music studio and only use it for music production and Logic X. I keep the harddrives with as much space as possible, and it runs VERY fast when it is working properly.

Here are the issues which seem to happen at different times:

1 - Mac boots fine but cinema screen doesn't turn on (occasionally)
2 - The fan gets REALLY loud (only started happening in the last week or so and not all the time)
2 - It freezes up and I have to reboot (only very occasionally)

OK I know this is a very old computer, but it works amazingly well when these things aren't happening.

I know without more specific info It is hard to tell what is wrong with it. I also should point out I have tried to reset the PRAM and NAVRAM, neither of which seem to do anything at all.

if there is anything you guys can suggest that might be wrong with it or suggestions as to what I might try, I would be eternally grateful!

Thanks in advance

 

[rpmurray]

The 2nd and 3rd issue sound like there might be an overheating problem. Have you tried installing one of apps that can display the temperature of various components to see if something is running hotter than it should? iStat Menus from Bjango is one, also TG Pro from Tunabelly Software.

Could also be the GPU is failing.

 

[Longkeg]

but it works amazingly well when these things aren't happening.

Yes, but things happen. The loud fan could mean things inside are heating up. Why? Well, things happen. An internal component could be failing that is causing excess heat which in turn can cause the symptoms you describe. Have you tried hooking up a different display to see if that changes any behavior? Failing that I'm afraid it may be time to upgrade.

 

[kschendel]

I agree with trying a different display. I think you may have multiple issues, and a known good display will help sort them out. I don't know about the 30" but I know that one failure mode of the 24" displays is a refusal to do more than flicker at startup, after many tries it will eventually work and stay working until the next reboot. (which is how mine failed.) The overheating might be dust, a bad fan, dried out and useless thermal paste on CPU or other chips, etc. Take the sides off and make sure all dust is blown out before you move on to other measures like redoing the CPU thermal paste.