MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro, 5,1 booting up issue, crash or reboots then black screen

[cakey]

Hello,
I have a MacPro Mid 2010, 2x 3.46 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon, 48GB 1333 MHz DD3
AMD Radeon HD7xxx 3GB.

I have issues with crashing, turning off and rebooting and a black screen while booting up and running.

It always powers up, but the monitor screen is either black or I get the log in screen.
Sometimes it will boot up normally with one press of the power switch - usually if the previous session had no issues.
Most of the time, I have to do a NVRAM reset while pressing the button, and sometimes I have to reset the SMC - pulling out the wall socket for 15 seconds.
Even then, it can have issues. I can sometimes get the chime 6 times, before the log in screen appears.
Sometimes, if the screen is black, and I press the power button for a second or two, the log in screen appears.
Then it can run normally or crash/reboot.
One other thing. Sometimes when there is a black screen after not loading up correctly, the red light from the bottom of the usb cable mouse, is not on. It can appear when you click on the mouse, but only then.
And when it turns off, it always reboots. But I don't get a crash report every time this happens.


Looking at some of the threads here, I saw there is a common problem with overheating of the Northbridge Diode, etc.
I took some screenshots
After 10 minutes and then 2 hours running, the temperatures were around the same. The two NB readings were74 and 62 after two hours.
I assume this is probably not the issue?

Any other ideas?

Many thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Hello,
I have a MacPro Mid 2010, 2x 3.46 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon, 48GB 1333 MHz DD3
AMD Radeon HD7xxx 3GB.

I have issues with crashing, turning off and rebooting and a black screen while booting up and running.

It always powers up, but the monitor screen is either black or I get the log in screen.
Sometimes it will boot up normally with one press of the power switch - usually if the previous session had no issues.
Most of the time, I have to do a NVRAM reset while pressing the button, and sometimes I have to reset the SMC - pulling out the wall socket for 15 seconds.
Even then, it can have issues. I can sometimes get the chime 6 times, before the log in screen appears.
Sometimes, if the screen is black, and I press the power button for a second or two, the log in screen appears.
Then it can run normally or crash/reboot.
One other thing. Sometimes when there is a black screen after not loading up correctly, the red light from the bottom of the usb cable mouse, is not on. It can appear when you click on the mouse, but only then.
And when it turns off, it always reboots. But I don't get a crash report every time this happens.


Looking at some of the threads here, I saw there is a common problem with overheating of the Northbridge Diode, etc.
I took some screenshots
After 10 minutes and then 2 hours running, the temperatures were around the same. The two NB readings were74 and 62 after two hours.
I assume this is probably not the issue?

Any other ideas?

Many thanks.

Did you verified the RTC battery? You are running native macOS? Which version?

 

[cakey]

Did you verified the RTC battery? You are running native macOS? Which version?

Not looked at the battery. Will do.
OS is Mojave.
Cheers.

 

[cakey]

Did you verified the RTC battery? You are running native macOS? Which version?

Checked the voltage of the battery, and it was 2.82v.
It is a Panasonic BR2032.

 

[tsialex]

Checked the voltage of the battery, and it was 2.82v.
It is a Panasonic BR2032.

Dangerously low, try replacing it and see if the craziness stops.

 

[cakey]

Dangerously low, try replacing it and see if the craziness stops.

Checked the new battery voltage, and it was over 3v. Put it in, closed the case and plugged everything in.
It booted up itself.
The screen went black after 5 mins. The mouse light was on.
It took one little press of the power button for it to turn off.
I did a NVRAM reset and after a total of 5 chimes (including the two while you hold the buttons), it booted up.
Left it running for 5 mins, then restarted.
It booted up and after typing in my password it froze and restarted itself.
Now there is a black screen. Mouse light is on.
I pressed the power button for a couple of seconds and got the screen to type in my password.

 

[tsialex]

Checked the new battery voltage, and it was over 3v. Put it in, closed the case and plugged everything in.
It booted up itself.
The screen went black after 5 mins. The mouse light was on.
It took one little press of the power button for it to turn off.
I did a NVRAM reset and after a total of 5 chimes (including the two while you hold the buttons), it booted up.
Left it running for 5 mins, then restarted.
It booted up and after typing in my password it froze and restarted itself.
Now there is a black screen. Mouse light is on.
I pressed the power button for a couple of seconds and got the screen to type in my password.

Do you have a PC or another Mac Pro to test the GPU? You have to start the process of elimination, GPU is. good place to start.

 

[cakey]

I restarted again and got a black screen. Then it shut down itself and the power light came on. It is like a lighthouse light - on and off slowly.
I pressed the button and the screen came on.

I don't have another MP, but I have a couple of PCs.
I could use the old PC.
I guess I should run Linux on it to test the GPU.
Cheers.

 

[cakey]

Do you have a PC or another Mac Pro to test the GPU? You have to start the process of elimination, GPU is. good place to start.

I put the GPU into a PC and let it run for a few hours. I restarted it a few times and there were no errors.
Unless there are some tests I can do within the PC, I assume it is running OK?
If so, what should I look at next?
Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

If you have access to an AppleOEM GPU, you can run AHT/ASD:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-mid-2010-5-1-random-shutdowns.2373483/post-31803378

 

[cakey]

If you have access to an AppleOEM GPU, you can run AHT/ASD:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-mid-2010-5-1-random-shutdowns.2373483/post-31803378

Not any more.
I may buy a cheap one.
Would I be able to use a SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI?
Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Not any more.
I may buy a cheap one.
Would I be able to use a SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI?
Thanks.

If is really an AppleOEM, yes. A cheap and easy AppleOEM GT120 will also work.

 

[h9826790]

I guess I should run Linux on it to test the GPU.

This is a good idea indeed.

Just run Linux on the cMP, then stress test the GPU. If stable, then more likely something wrong in macOS, but not hardware issue.

 

[cakey]

If is really an AppleOEM, yes. A cheap and easy AppleOEM GT120 will also work.

I got a DT120, installed it, and turned the Mac on. It rebooted around 5 times before it settled. I guess the original GPU is probably not the issue?
I attempted to do the quick AHT test 4 times using a USB, and each time the screen freezes about 1–15 seconds in, while it is testing the memory.
EDIT:
I managed to get it running, and it came back as No trouble found. I will try the one-hour test.
EDIT:
The one-hour test froze after 3 minutes. I left it on for an hour and no change.
Managed to run another quick test, and it can back, No trouble found.

Cheers.

 

[cakey]

If you have access to an AppleOEM GPU, you can run AHT/ASD:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-mid-2010-5-1-random-shutdowns.2373483/post-31803378

Hi, I am on a PC now, I have a USB drive plugged in - it is a Windows fat 32 format.
The ASD link says:

You’ll need a windows PC and NVFlash to upload the ROM to the card, don’t forget to dump the origional ROM first.

I have downloaded both the NVFlash exe file and the ASD-3S149 zip file which contains dmg files.
If I open the NVFlash exe file I get a terminal like window.
How do I get this working on the usb drive?
Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Use your Mac to restore the ASD to the pen drive. Maybe it's possible to create it with a PC, I never tried. There are a PDF inside the DMG with instructions.

An AppleOEM is required to successfully run ASD. A flashed GPU will fail when the sensors are checked.

NVFlash have nothing to do with ASD, is to flash a NVIDIA GPU.

 

[tsialex]

Hi, I am on a PC now, I have a USB drive plugged in - it is a Windows fat 32 format.
The ASD link says:



I have downloaded both the NVFlash exe file and the ASD-3S149 zip file which contains dmg files.
If I open the NVFlash exe file I get a terminal like window.
How do I get this working on the usb drive?
Thanks.

ASD links are down the page, below the part for flashing a GT630 PC GPU.

 

[cakey]

Use your Mac to restore the ASD to the pen drive. Maybe it's possible to create it with a PC, I never tried. There are a PDF inside the DMG with instructions.

An AppleOEM is required to successfully run ASD. A flashed GPU will fail when the sensors are checked.

NVFlash have nothing to do with ASD, is to flash a NVIDIA GPU.

Thanks.
I am going through the instructions - page 2 (see attachment 1) and in Disk Utility I don't get an option for destination - see attach 2.
I also tried by clicking on the USB OS drive and when I clicked restore, I only got an option from the Mojave home drive.
Am I doing something wrong here?
Is this due to a newer version of Disk Utility I have running than shown in the instructions?

Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Nuke your USB key, format it with one HFS+ partition.

 

[cakey]

Nuke your USB key, format it with one HFS+ partition.

Hello,
I ran through both the ASD tests (OS and EFI) and there were no issues.
I tried the AHT test again and managed to do the short test (froze once, completed on 2nd attempt) and long test.
Both found no issues.
What would you suggest next?
Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

When the Mac Pro crashes/reboots, do you get a crash report/Panic log after you log in again?

 

[cakey]

When the Mac Pro crashes/reboots, do you get a crash report/Panic log after you log in again?

Sometimes there are crash reports. Maybe 1 in 7–10 times it reboots by itself (including black screen - which requires pressing the power button to turn off and on again).
Should I upload some reports?

 

[tsialex]

Sometimes there are crash reports. Maybe 1 in 7–10 times it reboots by itself (including black screen - which requires pressing the power button to turn off and on again).
Should I upload some reports?

Yes.

 

[cakey]

Here are two.
Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Here are two.
Thanks.

NMI (Non-Maskable Interrupts) crashes are usually northbridge related, even more so when the kext crashing is com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement. Inspect the CPU tray northbridge heatsink push-pins.

If the northbridge overheated because a broken push-pin and cooked itself, you will need a replacement CPU tray. There is no economical way to repair the CPU tray when the northbridge is damaged.

You could also have BootROM problems because of the crashes being saved inside the NVRAM for months, first PanicLog is from Sun Apr 16, but first inspect the push-pins.