MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro shuts down instead of going into sleep mode, I need help

[ferranrobuste]

Hello,
I have a mac pro 5.1 (2010), with Mojave 10.14.6 OS. The mac has always worked fine, but today, when I put it into sleep mode, it turned off completely. The front LED turns off, and does not respond with the mouse or keyboard.
I have tried several times to put it into sleep mode, but it always shuts down. It is set to go to rest at 15 minutes, if I leave it just also turns off after 15 minutes...
Until today, sleep mode had always worked well...
I tried an SMC reset, but no changes ...
What problem can it be? What can I do?
Thank you very much

 

[Macschrauber]

Do you have another Mac Pro available to cross change the power supply?

 

[ferranrobuste]

Do you have another Mac Pro available to cross change the power supply?

Could it be the power supply?

 

[tsialex]

Before checking the PSU, first check the RTC (real time clock) battery voltage.

Sleep problems are frequently caused by the BR2032C battery being low voltage and the time counters being stuck. Replace it whenever it's lower than 3.0V.

 

[Macschrauber]

Not the only cause, before investing cash there are other things to check.

Smc reset was done correctly?

could be the rtc Battery, should read 2.8 Volts or more

 

[ferranrobuste]

Not the only cause, before investing cash there are other things to check.

Smc reset was done correctly?

could be the rtc Battery, should read 2.8 Volts or more

How can I know if the SMC reset has been done correctly?

I did this (for desktop computers):

Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

The SMC is responsible for managing power on your Mac. Resetting it can resolve certain uncommon issues related to power or thermal management.

support.apple.com

I'll check the battery...

 

[Macschrauber]

How can I know if the SMC reset has been done correctly?

I did this (for desktop computers):

Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

The SMC is responsible for managing power on your Mac. Resetting it can resolve certain uncommon issues related to power or thermal management.

support.apple.com

not really, just by checking if you do it correctly.

 

[ferranrobuste]

It seems that it was the RTC battery, I have changed it and the sleep mode seems to work correctly now.
Thank you so much for all the advices!

 

[ferranrobuste]

Hello again,
Well, after replacing the battery, the sleep mode worked fine for a couple of days, but today it completely stops again when I try to put it to sleep ...
I have done a PRAM reset, and the sleep mode has worked once, but the next time it has turned off again ...
What else can I try? Change the power supply?
Thanks!

 

[tsialex]

Hello again,
Well, after replacing the battery, the sleep mode worked fine for a couple of days, but today it completely stops again when I try to put it to sleep ...
I have done a PRAM reset, and the sleep mode has worked once, but the next time it has turned off again ...
What else can I try? Change the power supply?
Thanks!

I'd test with a deep NVRAM reset and a clean macOS install on another disk before resorting to replacing the PSU.

How to do a deep NVRAM reset:

Install a wired keyboard that works for NVRAM resets, not all keyboards work, press CMD-Option-P-R and keep pressed until you hear the 5th chime - you need to reset the NVRAM at least four times consecutively.

 

[ferranrobuste]

Ok, I have an original apple USB keyboard...
It will be a bit complicated to count to the 5th chime, because the internal speaker of the mac must be damaged, and it does not play any sound (the connection to the motherboard seems to be fine)...

When I have reset the NVRAM I have held down the CMD-Option-P-R keys for about a minute...

I have Mojave OS installed on another disk where I store some files, I will try booting the mac from the other disk and try...

 

[tsialex]

Ok, I have an original apple USB keyboard...
It will be a bit complicated to count to the 5th chime, because the internal speaker of the mac must be damaged, and it does not play any sound (the connection to the motherboard seems to be fine)...

When I have reset the NVRAM I have held down the CMD-Option-P-R keys for about a minute...

I have Mojave OS installed on another disk where I store some files, I will try booting the mac from the other disk and try...

You have sound when selecting the internal speaker on macOS? If the internal speaker is audible, the no chime sound at POST is a classic sign of a almost corrupted/corrupt BootROM.

Anyway, you need to continuously reset the NVRAM at least four times to do a deep reset.

 

[ferranrobuste]

No, there is no sound coming out of the internal speaker in mac OS.
I guess the speaker must be faulty. The mac boots fine, and works perfect (except sleep mode ...).
The line audio out works fine too ...

 

[ferranrobuste]

You have sound when selecting the internal speaker on macOS? If the internal speaker is audible, the no chime sound at POST is a classic sign of a almost corrupted/corrupt BootROM.

Anyway, you need to continuously reset the NVRAM at least four times to do a deep reset.

I suppose I must have reset the NVRAM at least four times because I have been holding down the keys for more than 4 minutes (I suppose that is enough time)... and no change...

 

[tsialex]

I suppose I must have reset the NVRAM at least four times because I have been holding down the keys for more than 4 minutes (I suppose that is enough time)... and no change...

Test with a clean install, without any third party kexts, keep only the GPU installed, remove any other PCIe cards.

If sleep still don't work, AHT + ASD tests and the PSU replacement are the next logical step.

 

[ferranrobuste]

Ok, I'll give it a try.
My primary boot disk is an SSD installed on a OWC PCIe card. Besides I have an HD disk for time machine, and another secondary HD disk for data with Mojave installed (to be able to boot if the main one fails). I also have a USB 3.0 PCIe card (Inateck KT4004).
It is better to remove the ssd disk installed on the PCIe card and do the clean install on the HD, or can I install it on the SSD?
Thank you very much!

 

[tsialex]

Like I wrote, keep only the GPU installed, remove all other PCIe cards and do a fully supported clean install (no OpenCore/rEFInd/etc) to any erased drive installed on the native southbridge SATA ports.

Keep it simple, if even with the minimal config you still don't have sleep working, you will need to look at the PSU.

 

[Physalia]

Hi tsialex! Great to see you are providing guidance on a new issue that just came up with my Mac Pro 5,1 mid 2012. I have Mojave with the Radeon RX 580 8 GB. My Mac is going to sleep, but shuts down instead. Have to restart from the power button, hear the start chime through the internal speaker, and then have only cancel option (out of the normal 3 options) on the bottom of the log in screen. I can log in and then business as usual. I have High Sierra in another disk that I keep for troubleshooting, and it boots just fine with HS. The sleep mode works perfect and as expected. I replaced the battery since I've never replaced it, but I'm still having issues. There are no obvious sleep prevention apps found in the activity monitor. I re-installed Mojave (not the full/clean install) and no changes. I'm now thinking about a full/clean install, but perhaps like you have mentioned, could it be a BootROM issue as previously stated? Could a BootROM issue manifest in one OS X and not another? Apple had an update for Mojave a few weeks ago and wonder if this could be the culprit. Please let me know if you have questions that would help you figure this out. Thanks for your great help once again!

 

[tsialex]

Hi tsialex! Great to see you are providing guidance on a new issue that just came up with my Mac Pro 5,1 mid 2012. I have Mojave with the Radeon RX 580 8 GB. My Mac is going to sleep, but shuts down instead. Have to restart from the power button, hear the start chime through the internal speaker, and then have only cancel option (out of the normal 3 options) on the bottom of the log in screen. I can log in and then business as usual. I have High Sierra in another disk that I keep for troubleshooting, and it boots just fine with HS. The sleep mode works perfect and as expected. I replaced the battery since I've never replaced it, but I'm still having issues. There are no obvious sleep prevention apps found in the activity monitor. I re-installed Mojave (not the full/clean install) and no changes. I'm now thinking about a full/clean install, but perhaps like you have mentioned, could it be a BootROM issue as previously stated? Could a BootROM issue manifest in one OS X and not another? Apple had an update for Mojave a few weeks ago and wonder if this could be the culprit. Please let me know if you have questions that would help you figure this out. Thanks for your great help once again!

I'd first test with fully clean install of Mojave on a new/nuked disk to see if it's a Mojave related problem - some kexts cause this.

This also could be caused by NVRAM corruption and is critical to Mojave and newer macOS releases and a lot less so for earlier releases, to eliminate any BootROM problems you can dump your current BootROM and flash MP51.fd generic upgrade image just for testing.

 

[ferranrobuste]

Hello,

After trying all your tips and indications, the problem continued, so I finally changed the power supply, and the problem has been solved, now the mac pro goes into sleep mode without problem.

Thank you very much for all the help!

 

[Max Black]

Hello,

When I put the mac pro into sleep mode it shuts down.

Nvme drive running Mojave on Mac Pro 5.1, running fine for about year no sleep issues until now, I have done a hard NVRM reset, 4 times chime and still does it. I have a SSD drive installed with same OS just for back up, and when I start up with that drive, I can put into sleep mode no problem. I did SMC reset as well, no luck.

The only significant change that I can think off in the past afew weeks is that the original HD which had OSX 10.6.8 and was never used for start up, but only as audio storage, I swapped out for WD blue SSD drive for storage, I can say this issue started after that change.

Also when I did the hard NVRM reset, it started up with the SSD drive with the mojave install, not the Nvme drive which was the start disk when I shut down.

Thank you for any help you can give. Cheers!

 

[tsialex]

Hello,

When I put the mac pro into sleep mode it shuts down.

Nvme drive running Mojave on Mac Pro 5.1, running fine for about year no sleep issues until now, I have done a hard NVRM reset, 4 times chime and still does it. I have a SSD drive installed with same OS just for back up, and when I start up with that drive, I can put into sleep mode no problem. I did SMC reset as well, no luck.

The only significant change that I can think off in the past afew weeks is that the original HD which had OSX 10.6.8 and was never used for start up, but only as audio storage, I swapped out for WD blue SSD drive for storage, I can say this issue started after that change.

Also when I did the hard NVRM reset, it started up with the SSD drive with the mojave install, not the Nvme drive which was the start disk when I shut down.

Thank you for any help you can give. Cheers!

Did you checked the BR2032 RTC battery voltage? It’s the first thing to check when diagnosing sleep problems.

 

[Max Black]

I saw that, but to be honest , I dont know how to check that, please advice, Thank You.

 

[tsialex]

I saw that, but to be honest , I dont know how to check that, please advice, Thank You.

Voltmeter/multimeter on the volt scale, upside is positive and the battery bottom is negative. Replace the RTC battery if below 3V.

If you don’t own one, buy a new BR2032 and install, since your battery is probably the same age as your Mac Pro.

 

[Max Black]

can we use CR2032 3V or better just track down an exact BR2032...Cheers!