Mac Pro 5,1 with Sapphire RX 580 random restarts?

[tsialex]

It does go to sleep just fine, but I haven’t left it there for very long. I’ll give long term sleep a try next. What am I looking for there? Shutting off while sleeping? Not waking properly?

People who had this problem usually reports that:

1. not waking at all, but power on led still blinks
2. shut down totally while sleeping, with power on led off
3. powers down/don't go to sleep when you ask to,
4. KP/crash while sleeping and shows in the logs,
5. KP/crash while sleeping and don't show in the logs,

 

[eicca]

People who had this problem usually reports that:

1. not waking at all, but power on led still blinks
2. shut down totally while sleeping, with power on led off
3. powers down/don't go to sleep when you ask to,
4. KP/crash while sleeping and shows in the logs,
5. KP/crash while sleeping and don't show in the logs,

Well I let it sleep for a few days, nothing went wrong.

A PSU is only $100 from Mac Parts Depot so I’ll give it a whirl.

 

[eicca]

Well I put in a “refurb” from MacPartsDepot and it made zero difference. After gaming, using Safari causes MacOS to restart within two minutes. Every single time. And nothing shows up in the logs.

I have my doubts about the refurb unit though. I think its just repackaged old stuff. Nothing inside looks touched. Everything is still dusty. What a scam.

I’m gonna try the Pixlas mod and see if that makes a difference.

 

[MIKX]

I would do a fresh, clean, FULL install of Mojave 10.14.6 without any 3rd. party apps to a spare SSD first


Download " Dosdude1's Mojave Patcher; Run "Patcher" / Tools / to download the latest FULL version of Mojave 10.14.6

ONLY run the "Tool item" in the patcher to download Mojave.

macOS Mojave Patcher

 

[eicca]

I would do a fresh, clean, FULL install of Mojave 10.14.6 without any 3rd. party apps to a spare SSD first


Download " Dosdude1's Mojave Patcher; Run "Patcher" / Tools / to download the latest FULL version of Mojave 10.14.6

ONLY run the "Tool item" in the patcher to download Mojave.

macOS Mojave Patcher

What’s the purpose for using that tool instead of the Apple installer?

 

[MIKX]

What’s the purpose for using that tool instead of the Apple installer?

Sometimes the FULL ( 6.05gb) Apple Mojave 10.14.6 installer is not available.

In Dosdusde 1 's Mojave Patcher's "TOOLS" menu you can download the FULL 6.05gb installer.

I thought every Mojave user knew this.

 

[eicca]

Sometimes the FULL ( 6.05gb) Apple Mojave 10.14.6 installer is not available.

In Dosdusde 1 's Mojave Patcher's "TOOLS" menu you can download the FULL 6.05gb installer.

I thought every Mojave user knew this.

Well I’ve had Mojave for less than a month, and not even used it most of the time because it keeps shutting off, sooooooo...

I got it fresh installed through recovery mode anyhow.

Cinebench is burning away without any hiccups. North bridge chip is peaked at 76C, CPUs peaked at 61C. Could be better, from what I’ve read, but no cause for alarm.

Windows 10 continues working flawlessly under heavy gaming.

Pixlas mod supplies will be here today.

 

[eicca]

...Also, fresh install on a separate drive did not resolve the issue.

 

[eicca]

Well I’m out of ideas. Still freezing and rebooting only in macOS when running low workload after heavy GPU usage. Stress tests pass with flying colors. Windows 10 runs flawless.


Pixlas mod didn’t fix it, different PSU didn’t fix it, fresh install didn’t fix it. Still nothing in system.log, no error messages of any sort.

Could it be bad RAM? Would that leave evidence in logs or not? I ran the memory pressure test with no issues. But wouldn’t bad RAM affect Windows as well?

I‘m considering putting the original GPU back in, keeping the RX580 for later use and just selling the tower for $300. I can’t keep this if I can’t trust it.

 

[tsialex]

Well I’m out of ideas. Still freezing and rebooting only in macOS when running low workload after heavy GPU usage. Stress tests pass with flying colors. Windows 10 runs flawless.


Pixlas mod didn’t fix it, different PSU didn’t fix it, fresh install didn’t fix it. Still nothing in system.log, no error messages of any sort.

Could it be bad RAM? Would that leave evidence in logs or not? I ran the memory pressure test with no issues. But wouldn’t bad RAM affect Windows as well?

I‘m considering putting the original GPU back in, keeping the RX580 for later use and just selling the tower for $300. I can’t keep this if I can’t trust it.

RAM is very easy to test, just run memtest86 for 24h.

The logical step is to get another Mac Pro and diagnose each component, one at a time. You probably have something going wrong with your tray or backplane.

 

[eicca]

RAM is very easy to test, just run memtest86 for 24h.

The logical step is to get another Mac Pro and diagnose each component, one at a time. You probably have something going wrong with your tray or backplane.

Am I going to be able to use memtest86 properly with my non-EFI GPU?

 

[tsialex]

Am I going to be able to use memtest86 properly with my non-EFI GPU?

No, pre-boot support needed.

Since you spent so little with you Mac Pro, get another, diagnose your problematic one, then repair it to sell it as a whole or the parts. You probably can make some money selling the working parts.

 

[eicca]

No, pre-boot support needed.

Since you spent so little with you Mac Pro, get another, diagnose your problematic one, then repair it to sell it as a whole or the parts. You probably can make some money selling the working parts.

I’ve got an OEM 2009 GPU but I’ll have to figure out how to get High Sierra back onto one of my drives first.

 

[Macsonic]

I’ve got an OEM 2009 GPU but I’ll have to figure out how to get High Sierra back onto one of my drives first.

Sorry to hear about your issues. From your earlier post nos. 172 and 174, the problem appears whenever you’re using Safari browser. Maybe check the articles below on other Mac users’ problems with Safari after updating to Mojave. Though the users in the articles are using different Macs, this is an option you could look into and hope this solves the problem. Your RX 580 works fine in Windows so maybe your GPU is okay from a hardware standpoint. Thanks

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250670876

Is Your Mac Freezing? Safari Might Be The Cause • macReports

A lot of users are complaining about Safari, saying it's causing freezing issues. By freezing, it is meant that your Mac is completely unresponsive. It

macreports.com

Resolving Safari Crash After Mojave Update

Steps on how to fix Safari crashes on Mac after a Mojave update.

softwaretested.com

 

[eicca]

For better or worse, it rebooted on me in Firefox yesterday. Then last night it froze for the first time in Windows 10 shortly after startup.

 

[MIKX]

...Also, fresh install on a separate drive did not resolve the issue.

Was your "fresh install" the FULL 6.05gb Mojave 10.14.6 install ?

 

[eicca]

Was your "fresh install" the FULL 6.05gb Mojave 10.14.6 install ?

Don't see how it could've been anything else. The drive it was installed on was completely blank and the installation was done through recovery mode via my primary system drive.

 

[MIKX]

So you didn't download Dosdude 1's Mojave Patcher.

Good Luck,

 

[eicca]

So you didn't download Dosdude 1's Mojave Patcher.

Good Luck,

Explain to me how I could get any less than the entire operating system than by using the official installer on a drive that has zero trace of the operating system to begin with.

 

[MIKX]

Search the Mojave forum.

I gave you a working solution. If you don't want to use it. Fine with me.

 

[eicca]

Search the Mojave forum.

I gave you a working solution. If you don't want to use it. Fine with me.

All I see is write-ups for unsupported Macs. That's not me, I have a supported model with an Apple-recommended GPU. Doesn't look like I can use it even if it made sense because my GPU doesn't show boot screens.

Furthermore the issue is not unique to Mojave, it happens on High Sierra as well.

 

[eicca]

SOLVED! A tip from my uncle had me re-investigate the GPU firmware. Many thanks to @tsialex — he helped me determine that the BIOS on my card was actually messed and I had missed it the first time I checked.

Luckily I have a dual BIOS switch on my RX580. Flipping it to the second position solved my crashes. So did flashing the BIOS in the first position. I’ve now had over 24 crash-free hours despite my attempts to get it to die. I used to be able to kill it in less than ten minutes. Not anymore.