MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 Power light flashes. No memory diag lights?

[MikeDavies99]

Forgive me in advance. This subject has been covered a lot.
I have a Mac Pro 5,1. It started acting flaky, you would have to try once or twice to make it startup.
Then it booted and ran like a top. I left it on for months, only rebooting it when necessary.
It finally refused to re-start, so I started trouble shooting per the Tech Manual.

When you press the Diag Button, the yellow 5 V light comes on.
When you press the power button, it lights, the fans spin, after 5 seconds or so
the power light starts flashing. If you press the Diag Button again, the Yellow 5V
light and the Green PWR SP OK light come on.
I know this is supposed to mean you have bad memory, but the diag lights by the
memory sticks are off. If you take them out and press the power button, same thing.
The memory diag lights don't come on? From the tech guide, I thought they should.

Does anyone know if those diag lights by the sticks should light up if all the sticks are
pulled?
Thanks
Mike

 

[tsialex]

Forgive me in advance. This subject has been covered a lot.
I have a Mac Pro 5,1. It started acting flaky, you would have to try once or twice to make it startup.
Then it booted and ran like a top. I left it on for months, only rebooting it when necessary.
It finally refused to re-start, so I started trouble shooting per the Tech Manual.

When you press the Diag Button, the yellow 5 V light comes on.
When you press the power button, it lights, the fans spin, after 5 seconds or so
the power light starts flashing. If you press the Diag Button again, the Yellow 5V
light and the Green PWR SP OK light come on.

Like you said, this is a common problem you can just read past threads. Anyway, no EFI_DONE LED lit is a brick, but check if your CPU tray works with another Mac Pro before anything.

I know this is supposed to mean you have bad memory, but the diag lights by the
memory sticks are off. If you take them out and press the power button, same thing.
The memory diag lights don't come on? From the tech guide, I thought they should.

Without a working EFI, nothing on the CPU tray will work. So, no, nothing related to the DIMMs.

Does anyone know if those diag lights by the sticks should light up if all the sticks are
pulled?
Thanks
Mike

No, the LEDs only are lit when you have a defective DIMM. Default is OFF.

 

[MikeDavies99]

Thanks.
Just going by the Tech Guide:
• 1 Flash: No RAM is installed or detected or the quick memory test failed. An LED will light up
on the processor board next to the affected DIMM or empty DIMM slot.
• 3 Flashes: A RAM bank failed extended memory testing. An LED will light up on the
processor board corresponding to the affected DIMM.

I have to figure out where the EFI led is.. The stupid guide mentions it but doesn't show where it is..

 

[tsialex]

I have to figure out where the EFI led is.. The stupid guide mentions it but doesn't show where it is..

It's one of the DIAG LEDs, there is a diagram with it's location around page 29~32, should be ON when you press the DIAG button.

 

[MikeDavies99]

I found a picture Thanks man. This one oddly has all the buttons installed..

 

[MikeDavies99]

Okay,
When you press the Diag Button.
You get"
PSU PWR OK
5V STNDBY
SYS PG

No EFI Done..

 

[tsialex]

Okay,
When you press the Diag Button.
You get"
PSU PWR OK
5V STNDBY
SYS PG

No EFI Done..

Confirm that your CPU tray is working with another Mac Pro, since a non-working CPU tray can affect the EFI_DONE led.

If your tray is confirmed working, then you have a defective backplane, the problem could be a dead/corrupted SPI flash memory. The info below may be useful:

- What to do if during the upgrade process your Mac Pro bricked:

If during the upgrade process you bricked the BootROM, you have three options:

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 an early-2009 Mac Pro. If you have a mid-2010 or mid-2012 you can use either 2010 or 2012 backplanes. Don't mix early-2009 backplanes with mid-2010/mid-2012 CPU trays, or vice-versa - either scenario is a SMC firmware version mismatch and all your fans will run at maximum RPM, full time and without any software control.
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 to the SPI flash memory while it's soldered on the MP5,1 backplane. A cheap SPI flash programmer like ch341a will work for read/write the BootROM after the SPI flash memory is desoldered from the backplane. Start reading here, read all my posts on the subject from there. I strongly recommend that you replace your original SPI flash memory with a brand new one, don't solder it back to the backplane, it will fail soon since SPI flash memories have limited lifetime (manufacture rated for just 100.000 erase/write cycles) when used as NVRAM for a Mac Pro. Again, most hard bricks are caused by the failure of the SPI flash, it's a US$ 2 component easily available, MXIC MX25L3206E, just replace it! Btw, yes, you can use a MXIC MX25L3206E as a modern replacement for the two older models SST25VF032B and MXIC MX25L3205D used on early-2009 and mid-2010 respectively, Apple did it for mid-2012 Mac Pros.
   
   Mojave has the generic MP51.fd firmware image inside the full installer, it's enough for boot your Mac Pro again but not for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime login.
   
   

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

 

[MikeDavies99]

Thanks..

 

[MikeDavies99]

As an update.. It has some intermittent failure.. When I started working on it this morning. Nada.. No light, no click..It still had 5V standby power. I stripped it down to disconnect the front panel board. 5V nothing else.. After I put it all back together, As soon as pressed the button, light comes on. One memory led lit. EFI DONE and GPU GOOD are on.
Hmm..

 

[tsialex]

As an update.. It has some intermittent failure.. When I started working on it this morning. Nada.. No light, no click..It still had 5V standby power. I stripped it down to disconnect the front panel board. 5V nothing else.. After I put it all back together, As soon as pressed the button, light comes on. One memory led lit. EFI DONE and GPU GOOD are on.
Hmm..

Intermittent problems are the worst. If it's not something really obvious that you can visually identify or easily test, like a bent connector/pin somewhere or a voltage out of the standard parameters with the PSU, you will have to test each component with a working Mac Pro.

While Mac Pro design is very robust, it's extremely difficult to track problems without the electrical schematic/circuit diagram (never leaked from Apple and no 3rd party ever made it). If you don't have a lot of lab equipment and knowledge to track each test point on the PCBs, your only alternative is to test with a working Mac Pro.

 

[MikeDavies99]

Thanks.
Agree.. I just don't have another 5,1 set of parts to try.. I did jumper the start pins on the PSU.. Everything looks fine there. PSU turns on and Voltages look find in standby and switched on.. But whatever the fail point is it keeps changing.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks.
Agree.. I just don't have another 5,1 set of parts to try.. I did jumper the start pins on the PSU.. Everything looks fine there. PSU turns on and Voltages look find in standby and switched on.. But whatever the fail point is it keeps changing.

Buy the cheapest working early-2009 (SMC firmware version is different, but you can still use it for diagnostic purposes) mid-2010/mid-2012 that you can find locally, use it to diagnose yours, get the best parts of both and then sell everything working on eBay, you will make some money in this process. A lot of people need parts these days.

Btw, you need to check the PSU voltages under load.

 

[MikeDavies99]

I have some work I have to do so I just ordered another 5,1 off Ebay.. Yes I know to properly test them they have to be under load but you can at least see if its turning on.
I need to switch to a Windows Machine for what I am doing.. Pro Tools. Mac's are great but for what you pay for them they break way to often..

 

[tsialex]

I have some work I have to do so I just ordered another 5,1 off Ebay.. Yes I know to properly test them they have to be under load but you can at least see if its turning on.
I need to switch to a Windows Machine for what I am doing.. Pro Tools. Mac's are great but for what you pay for them they break way to often..

The most recent MP5,1, the mid-2012 made before late-2013 Mac Pros release are now around 8 years old, most are around the 11+ years old mark. Mac Pros are built like tanks, but even tanks need maintenance and refurbishment after some point in life.

Things would be easier with the electrical schematic for people that can use it to track defects and correctly repair, but won't change the fact that MP5,1 are now seniors.

 

[MikeDavies99]

To me Ebay is the market.. Yes they are old. But they are still in demand.
And they still kick ass.
And while I am at it, I can check the processor tray in my ailing 5,1 in this one.
Then power supply as they are easy to swap..
That makes my trouble shooting much easier.. And I can sell either one for about what I paid for them locally.
There are hundreds of people producing music here in New Orleans and not many Mac's for sale on Craigslist.
Thanks

 

[Jay0406]

I got a new backplate for my mac por because old one had a broken cmos battery but my new one is also an orange 5v light only but is it possible to desolder en re solder my spi flash memory from my old backplate with broken cmos and on the new backplate with the 5v error and then i works ? Or not possible??

 

[tsialex]

I got a new backplate for my mac por because old one had a broken cmos battery but my new one is also an orange 5v light only but is it possible to desolder en re solder my spi flash memory from my old backplate with broken cmos and on the new backplate with the 5v error and then i works ? Or not possible??

Possible, yes. Should you do, no. Doing that will make a fake clone and Apple will detect it. Just buy a new RTC battery holder and replace it.