Mac Pro Sometimes Booting, Sometimes Not.

[jakesaunders27]

Hi,
I have a 1,1 which is still going strong, however recently it has been coming up with a white screen with a flashing folder with a face on, however sometimes it boots and sometimes it does that, any ideas?

 

[NOTNlCE]

Hi,
I have a 1,1 which is still going strong, however recently it has been coming up with a white screen with a flashing folder with a face on, however sometimes it boots and sometimes it does that, any ideas?

Sounds like a failing hard drive, how old is your startup disk? If it's the original HDD that shipped with the Mac, it might be time to look into getting a replacement.

 

[jakesaunders27]

Sounds like a failing hard drive, how old is your startup disk? If it's the original HDD that shipped with the Mac, it might be time to look into getting a replacement.

No it isn't, I took that out not long ago because it was making a clicking noise, it has a WD Green 500GB from another computer so its probably around 3 years old? Something like that. Maybe its a good excuse to get an SSD! Cheers mate

 

[jakesaunders27]

Ok so it's not booting at all now, il reinstall on a spare 500GB sata drive I have and buy an SSD, what a great Sataurday afternoon this is going to be!

 

[jenzjen]

So I guess it was a failing hard drive

 

[jakesaunders27]

So I guess it was a failing hard drive

I think so, I repaired it with disc utility, and managed to boot it, so just copying the 80 gig or so I hadn't finished sorting out to my RAID!

 

[Robert Davies]

How recently have you changed the CMOS/pRAM battery on the motherboard?

From personal experience, it can make booting a bit 'random' when the battery is on the way out.

-Rob

 

[jakesaunders27]

How recently have you changed the CMOS/pRAM battery on the motherboard?

From personal experience, it can make booting a bit 'random' when the battery is on the way out.

-Rob

Ive never! Never even thought of that, I'm going to try mavericks as I just posted to you on the other thread, if still getting random non boots will have a look into that, thanks for mentioning the battery

 

[Saltymac]

Glad you are getting a new drive - a 3 yr old green wd isn't really a reliable replacement. I would urge you to consider a new wd black 2 T or more drive before a ssd if you have a lot of valuable data you would like to save. You will need a good base drive to supplement your sad limited capacity which you will want to use for startup data. Good luck with the Mavericks install. You also need to evaluate your 1900 card - getting pretty long in tooth for continued reliability.

 

[jakesaunders27]

Glad you are getting a new drive - a 3 yr old green wd isn't really a reliable replacement. I would urge you to consider a new wd black 2 T or more drive before a ssd if you have a lot of valuable data you would like to save. You will need a good base drive to supplement your sad limited capacity which you will want to use for startup data. Good luck with the Mavericks install. You also need to evaluate your 1900 card - getting pretty long in tooth for continued reliability.

I'm installing on a spare 500GB drive I have will hopefully order an ssd on Monday if the funds allow! And I have my RAID array for big files so an SSD is fine for me, and yes I know a new GPU will come after SSD!

 

[Gav Mack]

I'm installing on a spare 500GB drive I have will hopefully order an ssd on Monday if the funds allow! And I have my RAID array for big files so an SSD is fine for me, and yes I know a new GPU will come after SSD!

A WD Green for a boot drive - crikey. Hotukdeals has good deals on the Crucial M500. Got a 120Gb for £55 from amazon linked there only the other day delievered for a client. A lot of them need the firmware updated with the ISO off their website though but will make the performance seem light years better even in a sled!

 

[jakesaunders27]

A WD Green for a boot drive - crikey. Hotukdeals has good deals on the Crucial M500. Got a 120Gb for £55 from amazon linked there only the other day delievered for a client. A lot of them need the firmware updated with the ISO off their website though but will make the performance seem light years better even in a sled!

Thats what Im thinking a M500 but probs a 240 which is still a good deal for just under £100 and yes I know! Live life on the edge

 

[Gav Mack]

Thats what Im thinking a M500 but probs a 240 which is still a good deal for just under £100 and yes I know! Live life on the edge

Live life on the snooze more like waiting for a 5400 green spinner to boot an OS off it more like lol. I cant tolerate booting off a normal hard drive any more, spinning tops are strictly for storage!

 

[jakesaunders27]

Live life on the snooze more like waiting for a 5400 green spinner to boot an OS off it more like lol. I cant tolerate booting off a normal hard drive any more, spinning tops are strictly for storage!

Yes I agree, the difference between my MBA and my MP is mental! Amazon have the 240GB M500 for £85 so might snap one of them up before they go up, cheapest I've seen them for ages! Just waiting for my modified mavericks USB key to finish, hope my old x1900 can run Mavericks ok ish until I can get a new GPU

 

[Gav Mack]

Yes I agree, the difference between my MBA and my MP is mental! Amazon have the 240GB M500 for £85 so might snap one of them up before they go up, cheapest I've seen them for ages! Just waiting for my modified mavericks USB key to finish, hope my old x1900 can run Mavericks ok ish until I can get a new GPU

85 quid - they were 97 the other day. I'll grab one now cos I need another for a job Wednesday. Even in a sled its the best upgrade you can give any PC never mind just a Mac.

 

[jakesaunders27]

85 quid - they were 97 the other day. I'll grab one now cos I need another for a job Wednesday. Even in a sled its the best upgrade you can give any PC never mind just a Mac.

are the optical bays faster with the mobo SATA ports than the standard drive sleds?

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and yes!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BQ8RM1A/?tag=ho01f-21

 

[Gav Mack]

are the optical bays faster with the mobo SATA ports than the standard drive sleds?

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and yes!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BQ8RM1A/?tag=ho01f-21

Bought it already

Worked fine in my sleds till I got the Solo x2 going properly with twin 840 evo's with OSX and bootcamp.

 

[jakesaunders27]

Bought it already

Worked fine in my sleds till I got the Solo x2 going properly with twin 840 evo's with OSX and bootcamp.

ahh I see, damn I'm jelous!

 

[Robert Davies]

Bought it already

Worked fine in my sleds till I got the Solo x2 going properly with twin 840 evo's with OSX and bootcamp.

Hi Gav,

What adaptor did you use to fit the drive to the sled?

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Yes I agree, the difference between my MBA and my MP is mental! Amazon have the 240GB M500 for £85 so might snap one of them up before they go up, cheapest I've seen them for ages! Just waiting for my modified mavericks USB key to finish, hope my old x1900 can run Mavericks ok ish until I can get a new GPU

Holy Mother of God!!

I just SFOTT'd a Samsung 120GB SSD I had handy. I could never call my MP a slouch, but with an SSD boot drive!!

 

[jakesaunders27]

Hi Gav,

What adaptor did you use to fit the drive to the sled?

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Holy Mother of God!!

I just SFOTT'd a Samsung 120GB SSD I had handy. I could never call my MP a slouch, but with an SSD boot drive!!

I've finally finished, and I think I'm going to have to get some kind of graphics card first graphics are useable but laggy, but Tiamo is amazing!

 

[Robert Davies]

I've finally finished, and I think I'm going to have to get some kind of graphics card first graphics are useable but laggy, but Tiamo is amazing!

I know! I haven't found anything about the MP that doesn't work just like it should do

What were up to all this time?

 

[jakesaunders27]

I know! I haven't found anything about the MP that doesn't work just like it should do

What were up to all this time?

Tiamo doesn't have a lot of activity here does he, maybe apple have gone undercover for us old Mac Pro owners joking aside I'm really chuffed just new GPU and SSD and I'm set

 

[jakesaunders27]

I'm thinking of getting a GTX 550/560 Ti probably the 550 due to cost, will that run Mavericks de-lagged and with my other monitor? Until I can afford a better card?

 

[Gav Mack]

Hi Gav,

What adaptor did you use to fit the drive to the sled?

----------



Holy Mother of God!!

I just SFOTT'd a Samsung 120GB SSD I had handy. I could never call my MP a slouch, but with an SSD boot drive!!

I use the NWT Adaptadrive, fits all Mac Pro sleds with an SSD instead of buying custom sleds. The icybox cases I find fall to bits!

 

[Gav Mack]

I'm thinking of getting a GTX 550/560 Ti probably the 550 due to cost, will that run Mavericks de-lagged and with my other monitor? Until I can afford a better card?

My sons GTX 650 Ti works great in my 3,1 and cost £70 new on ebay a few months ago. Uses 1 PCIe power connector and fine performance unless you want to push hard with games over 1680x1050.

I went for the £200 used PC EVGA 680 option and flashed the Mac EFI