MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 Randomly Freezing and Crashing

[Conradish006]

Greetings, forum-goers! Today I present an issue that is very irksome and continues to get worse.

My 2009 Mac Pro 5,1 is randomly freezing for upwards of 10 minutes at a time. There have been a few times when it was so bad that I had to hold the power button to shut it down and restart it. A few days ago, I turned the monitor on to find a crash report saying that a restart was forced. I saved the crash report to a paste site and will attach it to this post.

If anybody can possibly help me sort this out, I would greatly appreciate it!

Crash Report: Crash error Mac Pro 5,1

 

[Macschrauber]

link does not work

 

[Conradish006]

link does not work

My bad, the normal website I use was down so I tried that paste site.

New link: Mac Pro 5,1 Crash Report

 

[arche3]

Usually it's power issues related to graphics card or power supply.

 

[tsialex]

12 TIMED-OUT WAITING FOR NMI-ACK

NMI errors 99% of the time are caused by the CPU tray. First thing to check are the northbridge heatsink push-pins.

 

[Conradish006]

I pulled the northbridge and repasted it, I need to buy new bolts. What size are they? Plus one of the springs is missing, any particular size I have to buy?

 

[tsialex]

I pulled the northbridge and repasted it, I need to buy new bolts. What size are they? Plus one of the springs is missing, any particular size I have to buy?

Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 Northbridge heatsink retainer spring kit | eBay

This precision spring kit is the definitive answer to repairing your Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 Northbridge heat sink broken rivets. Fix your Mac Pro before you have a catastrophic failure like many have already.

rover.ebay.com

 

[70700]

Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 Northbridge heatsink retainer spring kit | eBay

This precision spring kit is the definitive answer to repairing your Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 Northbridge heat sink broken rivets. Fix your Mac Pro before you have a catastrophic failure like many have already.

rover.ebay.com

I just started experiencing a similar problem with a 2012 Mac Pro 5,1 but have not gotten any crash reports. Is there any diagnostic that will check for this issue?

 

[avro707]

I just started experiencing a similar problem with a 2012 Mac Pro 5,1 but have not gotten any crash reports. Is there any diagnostic that will check for this issue?

If you are getting these NMI errors, have a look at the Northbridge heatsink to make sure it is secured properly, watch the temps on it (if the computer will stay on for long enough), if it needs thermal paste then do that again.

In my case on the Dual CPU Mac Pro it was none of those issues, it was actually CPU A had failed. After I replaced it with another X5690 it worked perfectly again.

 

[70700]

If you are getting these NMI errors, have a look at the Northbridge heatsink to make sure it is secured properly, watch the temps on it, if it needs thermal paste then do that again.

In my case on the Dual CPU Mac Pro it was none of those issues, it was actually CPU A had failed. After I replaced it with another X5690 it worked perfectly again.

Good to know. Where do I look for NMI errors?

 

[avro707]

It will be in the messages you get on the kernel panic if it is doing that.

 

[avro707]

Good to know. Where do I look for NMI errors?

Here is an example:

stuck in boot loop, 12.2 on 5,1

i have got it to start in Mojave, but it gave me this kernel panic above. CPU 3: NMI. I took the CPU tray out and checked north bridge heatsink clips, everything is solid and the NB temps were below 60°C (I have an extra fan to cool it). I also put new thermal compound on the northbridge not...

forums.macrumors.com

From when my machine was doing this NMI problem.

 

[70700]

Here is an example:

stuck in boot loop, 12.2 on 5,1

i have got it to start in Mojave, but it gave me this kernel panic above. CPU 3: NMI. I took the CPU tray out and checked north bridge heatsink clips, everything is solid and the NB temps were below 60°C (I have an extra fan to cool it). I also put new thermal compound on the northbridge not...

forums.macrumors.com

From when my machine was doing this NMI problem.

Thanks. Its just hanging at this point, 2-10 seconds at a time. Its a 5 year old high sierra install so I haven't ruled that out, but I want to stay on top of potential issues given the age of the machine.

 

[70700]

Would be great if there was a single document covering all potential issues to be aware of as they get older.

 

[tsialex]

I just started experiencing a similar problem with a 2012 Mac Pro 5,1 but have not gotten any crash reports. Is there any diagnostic that will check for this issue?

Run AHT/ASD:

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