Mac Pro 4,1 won't start

[sabbott]

Hi,

I have a Mac Pro 4,1 dual-CPU 2.26 that won't start. Initially it would power up with no chime, and now it won't power up at all. Any advice?

In detail:

1) Initial problem:
Mac Pro powered up, initial brief red LED flash on the CPU tray, normal fans and a little bit of hard drive activity. No chime and no boot. Apple support initially suggested it was the graphics card. Resetting the SMC had no effect. I changed the card from the Radeon 4870 to a GT120, but this had no effect.

Diag LED:
- flashed red—when connected to power.
- orange 5V STBY when diag button pressed—when connected to power but switched off.
- green EFI, green GPU, orange 5V STBY—when connected to power and switched on, and idling without chime.

2) Later problem:
I removed all but two RAM sticks in slots 1 and 5, removed the single hard drive, removed the GPU. The problem described in (1) continued. Then I popped the GPU back in and restarted. The GPU fan ran really fast for ~10 seconds, then the whole Mac clicked off. This happened two more times.

Now, the Mac Pro won't start up at all. I get a red flash on the Diag LED on connecting the power cord, and the Diag button gives me an orange light on the 5V STBY and that's it.

Still no boot without the GPU.

—

Reading the Mac Pro Apple technician manual, I realise now that the RAM should've been in slots 1 and 2. But I don't think that'll have been the problem...?

This sounds to me like a power supply problem. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[h9826790]

If zero power, sounds like a PSU problem.

I have more or less the same problem last month. Power up but no start up chime. My 4,1 still in a Apple for diagnosis.

They said 3 main sources for this problem. PSU, GPU, and mobo. In my case, none of them are the source, now waiting for the part to test the CPU tray.

But in your case, from no chime to no power. Probably is PSU related.

 

[sabbott]

Thanks. I'll try swopping it with a known-good 4,1 PSU. I'll let you know.

 

[Frank Jones]

So I've got a 4,1 and its also not starting up. I've taken out all the drives, the RAM, and all of the PCIe cards including the graphics card. When I plug it in, I get a momentary red LED flash on the mobo, but that's it. The power indicator does light up, but does not 'flash' so no message. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[tsialex]

So I've got a 4,1 and its also not starting up. I've taken out all the drives, the RAM, and all of the PCIe cards including the graphics card. When I plug it in, I get a momentary red LED flash on the mobo, but that's it. The power indicator does light up, but does not 'flash' so no message. Any ideas or suggestions?

Download the early-2009 Apple Technician Guide and go to the part (around page 28, if I remember correctly) that shows how the DIAG button works. If you don't have EFI_DONE LED lit when you press the DIAG button, you have a brick to repair.

Btw, this topic is covered multiple times here, use EFI_DONE on the search box.