MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5.1 won't boot when ambient temperature is low

[shuto]

I've done a search for this but couldn't find any answers.

Has anyone heard of a Mac Pro 4.1/5.1 not booting when the temperature is too cold?

When its too cold - I turn the power on and the power switch white light comes on and the fans speed up, but it doesn't make the chime sound, and no video is outputted.

(I work in a garden studio shed, so the machine is getting quite cold over winter, where it hasn't been booting up for the past few weeks. I've brought the Mac Pro into my house now where it is warmer and it is booting fine today)

Do you think its a power supply issue - maybe not because the system is always powering the fans.

If there is anything you think I could try help would be much appreciated.

(I was thinking of turning my Mac Pro 5.1 into a file server by adding a 10GbE card, but it not turning on reliably seems a problem!)

 

[MevetS]

I don't know if this will be of any help to you but given that metal contracts when cold and expands when hot, perhaps there is a loose or broken connection that is sensitive to temperature. I don't know how to troubleshoot this though.

 

[jmp473]

My 3.1 has ad this problem for some time and it's gradually getting worse. Must press the start button multiple times, and then as it warms up, it will get progressively further along in the boot sequence.

I'm pretty sure it's the power supply - but have no proof.

Temporary work-around - leave it on 24/7 in cold weather.

Hoping to put the cost of a replacement power supply toward a newer 5.1 if I can find a deal.

 

[Objectivist-C]

How cold is the ambient temperature getting? You could conceivably be below the minimum operating temperature.

 

[MIKX]

shuto

You live in Iceland ? Greenland ? Siberia ?

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[shuto]

How cold is the ambient temperature getting? You could conceivably be below the minimum operating temperature.

Thanks for everyone’s replies

Ambient room temperature is 14 degrees centigrade, so I thought that was ok. I live in England so it’s cold in winter but not that cold.

Maybe just leaving it on all of the time is the best solution, going to try and work out how much electricity this would cost per day. My MacPro is an upgraded 12 core 3.46ghz system, so wondering if this will use much electricity when just sitting there. I mainly use it as a render box for helping with C4D these days.

My hunch is it’s the power supply, but if the fans turn on when power button is pressed and it doesn’t get any further along in boot can this still be a power supply issue?

I ran two 989ti cards off the internal power supply for quite some time, so maybeI wore out the power supply doing this?

 

[Synchro3]

14 degrees Celsius is ok, I used my Mac Pro once an evening with 5 degrees Celsius.

 

[shuto]

Do people know if they think it could be the power supply causing this?

I could get another one from eBay, they are about £100, so worth it if I knew it would fix it, but I don't!

It managed to turn on today when room temperature was about 16 degrees. But then after being booted up for 30mins it randomly shut itself down, and now won't turn on again. So the idea of just leaving it on isn't going to work.

 

[skizzo]

booting a system that is really cold can create condensation as it heats up. if a drop of water gets on something it shouldn't, you're gonna have a bad time. hopefully this didn't already occur. that or as others mentioned there is enough contraction/expansion going on that is making a poor contact somewhere. it does sound related to the power supply though. that would be my first piece of hardware to tick off the list. unless you have a 2nd PS already, yea it sucks, you will need to purchase one in order to do the swap for testing. also as others have said, no guarantee. it's all part of troubleshooting

as for some components such as fans turning on that is plausible. a under 10W fan is a lot different than powering up a 500W+ system, just the CPUs alone are 260W.