Mac Pro random restarts, I'm lost!

[jdoe83fr]

Hi all,

I’ve been having issues for a while with my mac pro early 2008. Here are the specs :

Mac pro early 2008
OSX Mavericks
2x2.8ghz Quad Core Intel Xeon
32 GB
ATI Radeon HD 5770
1.5TB and 2TB Samsung HD

So my computer has been restarting randomly for a year or so now. Sometimes it restarts continuously for 5mns, sometimes just once and sometimes not at all for a week or more. I first brought it to a mac repair guy who diagnosed a fail hard drive so he replaced it with a brand new one. Nothing else was wrong.

It went well for a few weeks but it started all over again. So I resetted the SMC a few times but nothing. I did a memtest on the new rams I bought but it passed.
Then I used a fan controller (smcFancontrol) and it worked well for months! Until summer came, my room got hot and it did it again.

I noticed that it always does it when my room gets warm. But I can hear the fans, I checked inside and they all seem to work.
I’ve checked a lot of forums on internet, people talk about the power supply, others about giving it a good clean. I cleaned it with compressed air cleaner but it does the same.

So I decided to do a hardware test but for some reason I cannot make it worked. Whether I hold D or Option +D, nothing happens, it just starts as usual.. I have a wireless keyboard and some people reckon it’s because I’d need a usb keyboard.

Are there some people with a solution out there? It’s just so frustrating I want to buy a new one but it’s pretty useful for music composing (and expensive!)

Thanks
Nadege

 

[keysofanxiety]

When it restarts it may say 'you had to restart your computer because of a problem'. If you check the log on that, is there an error log or anything that we can possibly look at? I'm not an expert myself but there may be another forum member who can look through it and possibly identify what may be causing the issue.

Have you also tried iStat Pro or a different program such as that? from what you've described it sounds like it could be an issue with overheating. I'm not sure if you've tried reapplying the thermal paste on the CPU but this could do the trick (obviously will be best to check the temperatures are getting high before doing this, as it may be a little messy).

 

[DeltaMac]

Your Mac Pro is too old to have either the internet diagnostics, or the built-in hardware test, (and if the original hard drive has been replaced,) the test will be on one of the original restore DVDs that came with your MacPro when new.

Anyway, I suspect that you may have a flaky power supply.

 

[h9826790]

You can download AHT from here.

 

[jdoe83fr]

Hi,

I don't have any messages appearing, it just restarts without notice.. Someone else mentioned the thermal paste as well. I have no idea where the CPU is and how to apply this, I'll have to google it.
Thanks!

 

[h9826790]

If you don't know where the CPUs sit, better not to touch them, at least not to do it as random try.

SMCFanControl allow you to monitor the CPU's temperature, only re-paste them if the temperature reading shows an evidence that the restart is due to overheat.

About your RAM, are they all ECC RAM?

Did you try a clean install of the OS? A new HDD, but recover from the old backup may carry the same bug from the old HDD and cause the restart.

Is your Mac Pro plug into the wall's power socket directly?

 

[Maxx Power]

Hi all,

I’ve been having issues for a while with my mac pro early 2008. Here are the specs :

Mac pro early 2008
OSX Mavericks
2x2.8ghz Quad Core Intel Xeon
32 GB
ATI Radeon HD 5770
1.5TB and 2TB Samsung HD

So my computer has been restarting randomly for a year or so now. Sometimes it restarts continuously for 5mns, sometimes just once and sometimes not at all for a week or more. I first brought it to a mac repair guy who diagnosed a fail hard drive so he replaced it with a brand new one. Nothing else was wrong.

It went well for a few weeks but it started all over again. So I resetted the SMC a few times but nothing. I did a memtest on the new rams I bought but it passed.
Then I used a fan controller (smcFancontrol) and it worked well for months! Until summer came, my room got hot and it did it again.

I noticed that it always does it when my room gets warm. But I can hear the fans, I checked inside and they all seem to work.
I’ve checked a lot of forums on internet, people talk about the power supply, others about giving it a good clean. I cleaned it with compressed air cleaner but it does the same.

So I decided to do a hardware test but for some reason I cannot make it worked. Whether I hold D or Option +D, nothing happens, it just starts as usual.. I have a wireless keyboard and some people reckon it’s because I’d need a usb keyboard.

Are there some people with a solution out there? It’s just so frustrating I want to buy a new one but it’s pretty useful for music composing (and expensive!)

Thanks
Nadege

I'm going to take a stab at this and say it is your power supply. Those Mac Pros had a power supply that was prone to eventual failure after a few years, the symptoms are random shutdowns/restarts.

Consider taking a look at your power supply, you may need to have it repaired or replaced.

That's the most probable from my point of view.

 

[JesterJJZ]

I've been having pretty much the exact same issue. I just replaced the power supply for a new one. After a few days (today) I get the random restart again...