Mac Pro Woe

[swordfish86]

Hi there,
Ok heres my story, a few weeks ago I recived my first mac pro, to replace my aging 1.6 ghz imac g5, when I set it up everything seemed great at first, until a few days later when after doin my updates and finally loading all my software ect on, it decide to give me a gray screen everytime I turned it on (no apple logo or loading wheel, just blank gray) forcing me to turn off, it loaded up normally about 1 in 20 times.
When I managed to get it loaded up I did verify in disc utility, apple hardware check (not just the quick one), and took all the wires out and held down the power button till it beeps (not sure what this does but was advised to do so by applecare) everything said it was fine and it still persisted to give my the gray screen.
I then just decided it was some bizarre freak fault so i sent my mac back to apple and they gave me a brand new machine.
My new machine arrives, great! Well not exactly, as soon as I turn it on it starts grey screening exactly the same as before, I did all the checks exactly as before, and same again they all pass no problem, yet it still does the grey screen thing.
So I phone apple yet again and they arrage to replace my machine yet again.
Ok, so here we are, today I recived my third mac pro, I turned it on and it seemed great, I did my updates and as soon as I restarted BANG grey screen, I was sooo annoyed, I phoned apple to give them an ear-full but I actually got through to a really helpful guy who told me to strart-up holding command, P + R to reset the PRAM, and then when I got it started to go into system prefs, and startup disc, and select my disc.
Well I have now had the machine running fine since, for about 6 hours and have restarted about 15 times just to keep checking, and it has started perfectly every time, I have also done the hardware checks ect as before, and all passed.
The thing is I still don’t trust it, as the other two machines would just be fine and id be on the net or something and it would go to a gray screen, I use this for work (graphic designer,illustrator) and my most important asset I a computer, even more than speed and power, is RELIABILITY, I want to be able to trust my mac to start up every time, an not shut down on me (esp after paying over £2000) just like I trusted my old imac.
I was just wondering if
(a) anyone else has had this issue (there must be if I have had 3 macs that have)
(b) if so how have you solved it
(c) do you think this is going to be a reliable computer now I seem to have solved this issue (touch wood)

the specs are 2.66ghz, 2gb, 250gb and no 3rd party hardware

I would really appreciate any, help, or advice

Thanks a lot
J

 

[dusanv]

Maybe it's a power related problem? How old is your house and do you have a good power bar or is it plugged in straight into the wall? I kind of doubt two in a row would have the same problem. Mine has been fine so far.

 

[SMM]

Hi there,
Ok heres my story, a few weeks ago I recived my first mac pro, to replace my aging 1.6 ghz imac g5, when I set it up everything seemed great at first, until a few days later when after doin my updates and finally loading all my software ect on, it decide to give me a gray screen everytime I turned it on (no apple logo or loading wheel, just blank gray) forcing me to turn off, it loaded up normally about 1 in 20 times.
When I managed to get it loaded up I did verify in disc utility, apple hardware check (not just the quick one), and took all the wires out and held down the power button till it beeps (not sure what this does but was advised to do so by applecare) everything said it was fine and it still persisted to give my the gray screen.
I then just decided it was some bizarre freak fault so i sent my mac back to apple and they gave me a brand new machine.
My new machine arrives, great! Well not exactly, as soon as I turn it on it starts grey screening exactly the same as before, I did all the checks exactly as before, and same again they all pass no problem, yet it still does the grey screen thing.
So I phone apple yet again and they arrage to replace my machine yet again.
Ok, so here we are, today I recived my third mac pro, I turned it on and it seemed great, I did my updates and as soon as I restarted BANG grey screen, I was sooo annoyed, I phoned apple to give them an ear-full but I actually got through to a really helpful guy who told me to strart-up holding command, P + R to reset the PRAM, and then when I got it started to go into system prefs, and startup disc, and select my disc.
Well I have now had the machine running fine since, for about 6 hours and have restarted about 15 times just to keep checking, and it has started perfectly every time, I have also done the hardware checks ect as before, and all passed.
The thing is I still don’t trust it, as the other two machines would just be fine and id be on the net or something and it would go to a gray screen, I use this for work (graphic designer,illustrator) and my most important asset I a computer, even more than speed and power, is RELIABILITY, I want to be able to trust my mac to start up every time, an not shut down on me (esp after paying over £2000) just like I trusted my old imac.
I was just wondering if
(a) anyone else has had this issue (there must be if I have had 3 macs that have)
(b) if so how have you solved it
(c) do you think this is going to be a reliable computer now I seem to have solved this issue (touch wood)

the specs are 2.66ghz, 2gb, 250gb and no 3rd party hardware

I would really appreciate any, help, or advice

Thanks a lot
J

So, when you drug your display wires across the recently cleaned carpet, maybe they actually fell into the bucket, or something similar. So, now you have swapped out a couple new machines and need reassurance all is well?

The odds you actually received two MP's with the same issue are infinitesimal. Getting three would darn near be impossible.

 

[slughead]

So, when you drug your display wires across the recently cleaned carpet, maybe they actually fell into the bucket, or something similar. So, now you have swapped out a couple new machines and need reassurance all is well?

The odds you actually received two MP's with the same issue are infinitesimal. Getting three would darn near be impossible.

same store may mean same batch from the same factory

doesn't seem all that far-fetched

 

[SMM]

same store may mean same batch from the same factory

doesn't seem all that far-fetched

Sure it does. Think about it.

 

[freakonguitar]

i had the same thing..and that guy is right....just select the start up disk and it works forever. its weird...cause i think it started after a recent update...cause i normally had windows on my machine as a secondary boot but it wouldn't start back into mac os x when i held down the option key recently and kept booting windows...i thought i was messed for sure...but i unplugged everything...rebooted and on fluke it worked. so i made sure my start up disk is mac os x in system prefs. and deleted my windows partition..lol..i refuse to nearly give myself a heart attack again...i think its an EFI problem if you don;t have mac os x selected as your for sure boot up disk....so i don;t think it will change till they issue an new update. so yeah..i had the same thing..no disk utility erros nothing....but aside form that...macpro has been excellent...

 

[theblotted]

................. and took all the wires out and held down the power button till it beeps (not sure what this does but was advised to do so by applecare)

i like to know what this does.

do you unplug all wires/cables (including power) to do this?

 

[Richard Flynn]

I have this problem when I try to start up and my iPod (original 5G, 60GB) is sitting in the dock and plugged in. All I need to do is turn the machine off, disconnect the iPod and start up again, and everything's working fine. Perhaps this is related to your problem?

 

[TheSpaz]

I have this problem when I try to start up and my iPod (original 5G, 60GB) is sitting in the dock and plugged in. All I need to do is turn the machine off, disconnect the iPod and start up again, and everything's working fine. Perhaps this is related to your problem?

My PowerBook even does this if I have my iPod plugged in on boot. Not sure why it does but, it's not Mac Pro specific.

 

[swordfish86]

Hmm, i might have figured out what it is, is it possible that after the update, for some reason the machine is trying to boot form the ipod becuase i had not specified which disc to boot from in system prefs? this must be the case becuase as soon as i have specified which disc to boot from, it has been working fine!! and the only other disc it that in the ipod, and like others have said, when then unplug the ipod (or specify the boot disc) the problem stops. so 3 more questions :lol:

(a) is this likely to be what is happening?
(b) now i have corrected it, will no lasting damage have been done to either the mac pro, or ipod
(c)if anyone has tried specifying thee disc in system prefs, has this corrected your problem too

sorry if im talking rubbish, its just a thought i had after i had a simelar prob with my remote for my macbook, it kept interfering with my ipod in its universal dock, but this stoped as i specifically linked it to my macbook (kind of simelar :\ )
thanks anyway your advice has been great

 

[floam]

.

 

[slabbius]

I have heard of stranger things... I used to do house calls for pc repair and one customers machine would reboot each time the toilet flushed...

 

[Killyp]

My PowerBook even does this if I have my iPod plugged in on boot. Not sure why it does but, it's not Mac Pro specific.

Funny that because my dad's Dell laptop does exactly the same thing if you try and start it up with an iPod Nano connected, the BIOS crashes at 90% loaded. Very odd...