Mac Pro 2012 vertical lines at startup? help?

[BobDesktop]

Hi, I have a Mac Pro Xeon Workstation mid 2012 Desktop Tower. At startup, by pushing button on the front of the tower, I get an audible startup chime but only orange vertical lines over green background across the Cinema Display monitor.

Things already tried:
Starting in safe mode (holding down shift key).
Starting holding down COMM + OPT + P + R.
Switching mini display ports.
Connect a brand new LG monitor.
Apple Care is over.

GPU: ATI Radeon 5870. I pulled it out for visual inspection (like that would reveal anything). Looked ok and didn't smell burned neither did the inside anywhere.

Any ideas what I need to get back into operational order?

Thanks for looking. I did search these forums last night and this morning but only found a lot of similar problems but with MacBooks and iMac but no desktops.

 

[t8er8]

Your gpu is very likely failing. These cards are notorious for their short lifespans, even if theirs no visual cues that signal a failure. To be sure, you could put in a different gpu that has native Mac support if you have one, and test it, but it sounds like you don’t have any of those at close hand.

From the startup chime it seems like everything else is working fine. You’ll likely need a new gpu and you should be good from there.

My guess is that soon enough you won’t even get any signal at all and the GPU itself will be dead.

get back to me if you actually do have another gpu you can put in there.

A safe bet before buying a new, more expensive gpu would be to pick up an old Mac Radeon HD 2600xt or maybe even older to see if your gpu is really the issue.

One thing I’d try before all this is to test all the different ports you have and try swapping cables, ex instead of (dvi, use HDMI) or vice versa.

 

[BobDesktop]

Thanks for your reply. I have a G5 (I think, it's in an aluminum tower as well). I'll see if that one will fit. However it had the problem with the "Anti-Apple" icon show up at startup.

I've since optimized the photos in my camera so I edited my first post.
[doublepost=1528050854][/doublepost]I see now that these are not the same.
The one on the bottom is from my old G5 tower and the one on the top is the one at question if it is at fault.
I'm going to Frys later to return the monitor I bought yesterday because I thought that was the problem. While there I'll see if they have a new GPU for my 2012 tower.

Thanks for looking.

 

[t8er8]

Thanks for your reply. I have a G5 (I think, it's in an aluminum tower as well). I'll see if that one will fit. However it had the problem with the "Anti-Apple" icon show up at startup.

I've since optimized the photos in my camera so I edited my first post.
[doublepost=1528050854][/doublepost]I see now that these are not the same.
The one on the bottom is from my old G5 tower and the one on the top is the one at question if it is at fault.
I'm going to Frys later to return the monitor I bought yesterday because I thought that was the problem. While there I'll see if they have a new GPU for my 2012 tower.

Thanks for looking.

A gpu from a G5 is way too old for what you need to test. The parts on a g5 are ancient in comparison to the 2012 Mac Pro, so even if the card was functional it’s not likely that it would work anyways.

If you could pick up any compatible gpu for the Mac Pro we could get somewhere

 

[BobDesktop]

Frys didn't have any GPU that would fit so I'm going to an Apple Store this weekend to see if they make anything for this anymore.

 

[BobDesktop]

The Genius Bar Genius determines it is the video card, 1GB GDDR5, ATI Radeon HD 5770.
I thought my tower had a 5870 but instead it's a 5770.
Next step is to find a source for a new video card. Weekend shopping...

 

[t8er8]

The Genius Bar Genius determines it is the video card, 1GB GDDR5, ATI Radeon HD 5770.
I thought my tower had a 5870 but instead it's a 5770.
Next step is to find a source for a new video card. Weekend shopping...

Yup, my diagnosis was right! Time for you to invest in a new gpu

 

[BobDesktop]

Yup, you are correct. Where is your go to - online purchasing place for new hardware?

 

[flowrider]

^^^^It depends on what you want - price, performance, boot screen, new, used and etc. There are many threads on this forum about replacement GPUs. Trying searching or just look around.

Lou

 

[t8er8]

Yup, you are correct. Where is your go to - online purchasing place for new hardware?

Also depends if you want a boot up screen, you can buy almost any normal gpu and it’ll work in the Mac, but if it’s a non Apple AKA non flashed GPU, you won’t get the Apple logo in the boot up screen, nor will you be able to go to startup manager or recovery mode with the unflashed gpu.

Flashed gpu’s run for a lot more, if a flashed gpu is something you want, look on www.macvidcards.com

otherwise, do your research before buying a new GPU, especially in the area of compatibility with your Mac Pro. I can help you find out if the gpu you’re looking into getting will work in the Mac you have.

Another thing is that if you want to put a recent gpu in, AKA an RX 500 series gpu or something within the past few years. I’d very highly reccomend I gotta updating to high Sierra, the Latest OS version always has more support for gpu’s.

Personally, I upgraded my old 2010 Mac pro’s GPU to an RX 560, works wonders, and I don’t need a boot screen so it’s not that much of an issue for me. If you want something higher end than that, look into the RX 580, also both are very recent and are still sold by retailers.

Last thing when shopping for new GPU’s is to always remember to avoid the XFX manufacturer, these cards are notorious for not working in Mac pros, favour manufacturers like SAPPHIRE or Gigabyte.

 

[BobDesktop]

Also depends if you want a boot up screen, you can buy almost any normal gpu and it’ll work in the Mac, but if it’s a non Apple AKA non flashed GPU, you won’t get the Apple logo in the boot up screen, nor will you be able to go to startup manager or recovery mode with the unflashed gpu.

Flashed gpu’s run for a lot more, if a flashed gpu is something you want, look on www.macvidcards.com

otherwise, do your research before buying a new GPU, especially in the area of compatibility with your Mac Pro. I can help you find out if the gpu you’re looking into getting will work in the Mac you have.

Another thing is that if you want to put a recent gpu in, AKA an RX 500 series gpu or something within the past few years. I’d very highly reccomend I gotta updating to high Sierra, the Latest OS version always has more support for gpu’s.

Personally, I upgraded my old 2010 Mac pro’s GPU to an RX 560, works wonders, and I don’t need a boot screen so it’s not that much of an issue for me. If you want something higher end than that, look into the RX 580, also both are very recent and are still sold by retailers.

Last thing when shopping for new GPU’s is to always remember to avoid the XFX manufacturer, these cards are notorious for not working in Mac pros, favour manufacturers like SAPPHIRE or Gigabyte.

Thanks, good thorough information to consider.
[doublepost=1528576192][/doublepost]

^^^^It depends on what you want - price, performance, boot screen, new, used and etc. There are many threads on this forum about replacement GPUs. Trying searching or just look around.

Lou

Thanks for the reply and advice.

 

[flowrider]

There is one other thing, if you plan on running Mojave you'll want a card that is metal capable. Whole thread on it here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...cs-cards-will-run-macos-10-14-mojave.2121475/

Lou

 

[BobDesktop]

It was the video card. I bought a new ATI Radeon 5770 and plugged it in. No more vertical lines. Thanks for the helpful replies.