MP 1,1-5,1 mac pro 5,1 black screen

[himunebato]

Hi! I've been trying to solve a problem with my cMP 5,1. Whenever I power it on, it plays the chime sound and then all i get is a black screen and after a couple minutes it shuts off. No apple logo nor white screen and i cannot get into recovery mode through command+R or the boot disc selection via holding option when turning it on. Things i've done include: SMC reset, NVRAM reset, trying to boot with nothing buy essentials plugged in, trying to boot with different GPUs (RX580, which wouldn't get me to any of those screens anyway, and the stock 5770), trying to boot with no GPU at all, trying different video cables, different screens, removing the CMOS battery... None of this worked, except one random time I powered on with no Drives attached, the 5770 and a USB keyboard and it gave me a white screen, but i could never replicate it ever since. I don't know what else to try. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[tsialex]

Hi! I've been trying to solve a problem with my cMP 5,1. Whenever I power it on, it plays the chime sound and then all i get is a black screen and after a couple minutes it shuts off. No apple logo nor white screen and i cannot get into recovery mode through command+R or the boot disc selection via holding option when turning it on. Things i've done include: SMC reset, NVRAM reset, trying to boot with nothing buy essentials plugged in, trying to boot with different GPUs (RX580, which wouldn't get me to any of those screens anyway, and the stock 5770), trying to boot with no GPU at all, trying different video cables, different screens, removing the CMOS battery... None of this worked, except one random time I powered on with no Drives attached, the 5770 and a USB keyboard and it gave me a white screen, but i could never replicate it ever since. I don't know what else to try. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Classic signals of a brick. Your options are:

1. Buy a replacement backplane on eBay and replace the backplane yourself, cheapest option if you can't solder SMD. Remember that you need a 2009 backplane if you have a 2009 Mac Pro. If you have a 2010 or 2012 you can use 2010 or 2012 backplanes.
2. Buy a Mac Pro MATT card and use it as a replacement SPI flash, this is not recommended since all MATT cards are clones and won't work for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime. A replacement backplane is usually cheaper.
3. Desolder, reprogram and solder back the SPI flash, chip U8700 on the backplane. It's not possible to read or write while soldered on the MP5,1 backplane. A cheap ch341a programmer will work for reprogramming the BootROM after the SPI is desoldered. Start reading here #928, read all my posts from there. Mojave has the generic MP51.fd firmware image inside the full installer, it's enough for boot but not for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime.
   
   

   Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd

 

[MIKX]

himunebato

Is your HD 5770 EFI flashed ?

Which Mac OS are you using ?

===========================

In your case it would be a good idea to make a "SIGNATURE" in your Macrumors member profile.

As an example my "SIGNATURE" is at the bottom of this post. A signature will automatically be included in all your Mac Pro forum posts, it will allow us to instantly know how your Mac Pro is set up.

 

[himunebato]

himunebato

Is your HD 5770 EFI flashed ?

Which Mac OS are you using ?

===========================

In your case it would be a good idea to make a "SIGNATURE" in your Macrumors member profile.

View attachment 899677

As an example my "SIGNATURE" is at the bottom of this post. A signature will automatically be included in all your Mac Pro forum posts, it will allow us to instantly know how your Mac Pro is set up.

I'm not sure of all the specs but i'll put whatever i remember in the signature, thanks!

The 5770 is EFI enabled, i was previously running a sapphire rx580 and put the 5770 back on so i could try to recover. I was running 10.14 Mojave

 

[himunebato]

UPDATE:

I previously had an SSD with macOS Mojave, which was my main boot disk, a HDD with Windows 10 and another HDD for files. I removed both the SSD and the files HDD leaving only the W10 boot disk and, with the RX580, it booted normally. I can't get it to boot with the 5770, nor with the SSD or the files HDD though. That way, I still can't access the recovery screen so I can do a fresh install on my SSD. Could it be that the 5770 is just gone? I'll go to my parents house so I can test it on a different computer, but right now I'm having to resort on using W10, which is less than ideal.

 

[MIKX]

himunebato

Do you have BOTH the HD5770 AND the RX 580 installed ?

If so what power cables are you using?


Recovery mode often takes a looong time to start up . .v give it a few minutes.

 

[himunebato]

himunebato

Do you have BOTH the HD5770 AND the RX 580 installed ?

If so what power cables are you using?


Recovery mode often takes a looong time to start up . .v give it a few minutes.

I can only use one at a time cause i havent done any mod to be able to supply power for both, so I have to keep interchanging them.

I'll try to wait a little more then! Another thing that happens is that if I try to enter recovery mode the computer stays powered on for some time, but if i just turn it on without holding any keys, then it shuts down after a minute or so.

 

[MIKX]

I can only use one at a time cause i havent done any mod to be able to supply power for both, so I have to keep interchanging them.

I'll try to wait a little more then! Another thing that happens is that if I try to enter recovery mode the computer stays powered on for some time, but if i just turn it on without holding any keys, then it shuts down after a minute or so.

Yes, but WHAT POWER CABLES are you using for each of the GPUs ?

 

[himunebato]

Yes, but WHAT POWER CABLES are you using for each of the GPUs ?

I'm using a dual 6 pin to 8 pin for the 580 and a 6 pin to 6 pin for the 5770

 

[Macschrauber]

Insert your 5770,
Pull everything off the box but one Ram stick, USB Keyboard and Display.

Do a triple-nvram-reset-in-a-row (hold the keys for 2 or 3 minutes until you hear 4 chimes)

If you can't get back your white screen with a ? with this minimal configuration than something serious happened.

Was that Windows Installation Legacy or UEFI (installed with usb stick) ?

 

[himunebato]

Insert your 5770,
Pull everything off the box but one Ram stick, USB Keyboard and Display.

Do a triple-nvram-reset-in-a-row (hold the keys for 2 or 3 minutes until you hear 4 chimes)

If you can't get back your white screen with a ? with this minimal configuration than something serious happened.

Was that Windows Installation Legacy or UEFI (installed with usb stick) ?

Success! thanks, i did what you suggested and got it working. Though it only gave a video signal with the DVI out, the displayport ones seem to not be working.

 

[Macschrauber]

Shut the Mac off, take your mini displayport cable and while shaking it a bit plug it in, say 10 times - to clean the socket.

Sounds odd but helped me often. HD5770 are 10 years old and when the sockets were rarely used they need some "cleaning"