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MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 wont boot

E

Eljutre

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 9, 2020
20
1
Hello!, lets see if I can get maybe some solution to this problem.
In my work place theres a Mac pro 5,1 and it has been sitting around for a lot of time without being used at all, but now we need him. But the thing is that after pressing the power button, the white light blinks and then it shut itself off without the boot shime. It doesn´t restart itself, it just dies.
So I tried different things, full cleansing, removing parts. etc, but nothing work, all thought, it did start for a couple times, but then died. I did a diagnostic test in one of those times and it didnt find anything wrong.
What it does do, is when a take a ram stick, it stays whith the power light on, but it doesnt star the machine, it just stays there.
So I get another working 5,1, the same model and year and I narrowed down to the CPU Tray. So I did the northbridge fix, clean the tray fully, but nothing still the same. The diagnostics leds lights says that hes working fine.
when it did turn on, the sistem show all of his components no problem, and I tested the ram sticks in he other mac, and no problem.
So, any ideas what could be the problem? Im out of ideas.
 
Bigwaff said:
Replace the PRAM battery on motherboard - BR2032
Click to expand...
Yes, thanks, but I did try the other´s mac pro CPU Tray in the computer and it work right away, so it couldn´t be the PRAM Battery. I´m pretty sure that the problem is on the CPU tray.
 
Eljutre said:
Yes, thanks, but I did try the other´s mac pro CPU Tray in the computer and it work right away, so it couldn´t be the PRAM Battery. I´m pretty sure that the problem is on the CPU tray.
Click to expand...

Besides thoroughly cleaning the CPU tray to remove the oily conductive residue from the degradation of the pink thermal pads, realistically there is nothing else that an end user can do to repair it.

If you already did the CPU tray maintenance and the Mac Pro is confirmed working with another CPU tray, time to get a replacement.
 
tsialex said:
Besides thoroughly cleaning the CPU tray to remove the oily conductive residue from the degradation of the pink thermal pads, realistically there is nothing else that an end user can do to repair it.

If you already did the CPU tray maintenance and the Mac Pro is confirmed working with another CPU tray, time to get a replacement.
Click to expand...
I did that, because I read a comment you left on another post in wich you mentioned has a possibility, but no change.
I think that probably the CPU is dead, but I can´t get it out of my head that it should be a minor issue, because the CPU and ram are fine, so it´s got to be a capacitor or a temp sensor and I wish I could narrowed down to the actual problem.
Why it doesn´t shut down when I move around the ram sticks? could be a software issue?
 
tsialex said:
You NEVER should install or replace a DIMM while the Mac Pro is on or even connected to the mains power.



There is no software config in or for the CPU tray itself. Nothing to configure, no jumpers - works or not.
Click to expand...
Off course. When I try different configurations the machine is completilly shut down, unplugged and I used static wrist. It´s not my first time working in a mac pro. I have two of them fully operational and I haven´t read or seen any problem like this before. That´s why I ask in this community
 
The only thing that you can do after all you did is to double confirm that the CPU tray is the problem, installing the suspect one to a confirmed working Mac Pro.
 
Yes, I did that and the symptoms are the same, the working mac pro shuts down or stays on without booting.
I notice something do, the first diagnostic led lights up when I press the power button, but after that it doesn´t. the one labeled SYS PG.
 

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Eljutre said:
Yes, I did that and the symptoms are the same, the working mac pro shuts down or stays on without booting.
I notice something do, the first diagnostic led lights up when I press the power button, but after that it doesn´t. the one labeled SYS PG.
Click to expand...
I just want to clarify something. You said you had a working 5,1 and got another 5,1. Was one of these firmware upgraded to a 5,1 and not an actual 5,1 machine? One thing I can think is that maybe the one of the boards is a 4,1 board and not working for that reason.

would you mind posting serial numbers of the Macs?
 
FirDerrig33 said:
I just want to clarify something. You said you had a working 5,1 and got another 5,1. Was one of these firmware upgraded to a 5,1 and not an actual 5,1 machine? One thing I can think is that maybe the one of the boards is a 4,1 board and not working for that reason.

would you mind posting serial numbers of the Macs?
Click to expand...
Posting the last 4 digits is enough and secure. That contains the hardware code what is 3 or 4 letters.
 
FirDerrig33 said:
I just want to clarify something. You said you had a working 5,1 and got another 5,1. Was one of these firmware upgraded to a 5,1 and not an actual 5,1 machine? One thing I can think is that maybe the one of the boards is a 4,1 board and not working for that reason.

would you mind posting serial numbers of the Macs?
Click to expand...

This is not the reason, an early-2009 CPU tray works with a mid-2010 and vice-versa, just the fans will run at full blast because of the SMC firmware mismatch. No need to check serials at all.
 
FirDerrig33 said:
I just want to clarify something. You said you had a working 5,1 and got another 5,1. Was one of these firmware upgraded to a 5,1 and not an actual 5,1 machine? One thing I can think is that maybe the one of the boards is a 4,1 board and not working for that reason.

would you mind posting serial numbers of the Macs?
Click to expand...
Hi, yes, these two macs are the same, they´re both 5,1, single CPU, not 4,1. with the firmware update. The only difference between them is that, the one that it´s working with no problem has the CPU upgraded to the xeon 5690, but it doesn´t even has the firmware update of high sierra because I used it with 10.9 with protools 10 and a not so old audio interface through firewire.
The one with the problem is in High Sierra.
On another note, last night I got it to boot, fully, but the red light on the cpu tray stays on the all time, and after a while it shut itself off. I loock at the specs and diagnostic and it didn´t said anything different than the other times. I´ll try to install something to check the temp to see if there´s a sensor spiking up.
 
Eljutre said:
Hi, yes, these two macs are the same, they´re both 5,1, single CPU, not 4,1. with the firmware update. The only difference between them is that, the one that it´s working with no problem has the CPU upgraded to the xeon 5690, but it doesn´t even has the firmware update of high sierra because I used it with 10.9 with protools 10 and a not so old audio interface through firewire.
The one with the problem is in High Sierra.
On another note, last night I got it to boot, fully, but the red light on the cpu tray stays on the all time, and after a while it shut itself off. I loock at the specs and diagnostic and it didn´t said anything different than the other times. I´ll try to install something to check the temp to see if there´s a sensor spiking up.
Click to expand...
Ok then I am fresh out of ideas. I have a 5,1 and have had a 4,1 and a 1,1 along with various PM G5s with various issues but based on what you've posted I have no additional advice.
 
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