Mac Pro won't fully boot

[Gothboy1]

Sat down to my studios' 2006 Mac Pro the other day and it wouldn't fully boot. It chimes but to a grey screen. Unplugged everything and put it up on the bench went through all the procedures here http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/steps-take-when-your-mac-wont-start-3423817/

I reset the video card, 2 usb cards, and the ram cards too still no go. Computer has 5 internal drives total 2 OS, 2 for audio and one for audio samples. Have 2 outboard backup drives. 13 GB ram.

Ran utility on both OS drives, there were a few corruptions on the Snow Leopard drive which I fixed the Lion drive seems fine and can do safe mode on both but it's a no go from here thought I'd ask here for other options.

I didn't install anything before this happened except Flash player maybe I should uninstall that?

 

[thats all folks]

sounds bad. try pulling all the cards, RAM and drives to a minimum of what you would still need to boot?

when you say, "Ran utility", was that on another machine or were you able to get into single user or hardware test?

do you have a boot drive from another machine you can try? that would help draw the line between a hardware or software problem.

 

[ActionableMango]

Neither OS will boot?

If you hold down ALT/OPTION on startup do you see a list of bootable partitions?

 

[Gothboy1]

If you hold down ALT/OPTION on startup do you see a list of bootable partitions?

I used Disk Utility by booting into OS X Recovery Mode Command and R keys all disc drives are present there

I can get into safe mode on either OS drives
[doublepost=1467745470][/doublepost]

try pulling all the cards, RAM and drives to a minimum of what you would still need to boo
when you say, "Ran utility", was that on another machine or were you able to get into single user or hardware test?
do you have a boot drive from another machine you can try? that would help draw the line between a hardware or software problem.

Pulled all cards but not drives used disc utility in recovery mode and that repaired a few things, did single user twice until it said OK. Did all on that list.
No don't have an extra drive to spare
[doublepost=1467748223][/doublepost]Pulled all the drives except for the main OS lion drive still not fully booting.

 

[ActionableMango]

It is suspicious to me that both OS drives stopped booting at the same time. This would indicate to me some sort of hardware problem.

I think the next step is too boot up in verbose mode to see where the OS hangs during bootup. (Hold down Command-V at startup.)

 

[Gothboy1]

Yeah like the video card went. I already tried single user mode that uses verbose. I had to run it twice so it would say fixed and reboot.
[doublepost=1467755214][/doublepost]Started up in verbose ran the text for about 30 sec then it quickly went to grey screen then spinning ball then just grey.

 

[ActionableMango]

Two things:

1) What did verbose mode say before it went grey? You might have to capture it on video with a smartphone or something.

2) Try booting up with all unnecessary hardware removed. (i.e. one stick of RAM, no USB cards, etc.) This will rule out (or confirm) a hardware problem with what you removed.

 

[Gothboy1]

Two things:

1) What did verbose mode say before it went grey? You might have to capture it on video with a smartphone or something.

Could not catch what it said too fast, video didn't work

2) Try booting up with all unnecessary hardware removed. (i.e. one stick of RAM, no USB cards, etc.) This will rule out (or confirm) a hardware problem with what you removed.

Yes did all that.

I had the idea of using an old SATA drive I had to reformat and then install an OS to make it a boot drive but when I tried to boot computer it made a slow deliberate Beep....beep.....beep and machine wouldn't boot. The drive is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 didn't show up on desktop in safemode nor the Utility list. Could the drive be dead and that's why I'm getting a beep?
[doublepost=1468339283][/doublepost]Graphics Card is a Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT 256 MB Graphic

 

[ActionableMango]

I had the idea of using an old SATA drive I had to reformat and then install an OS to make it a boot drive but when I tried to boot computer it made a slow deliberate Beep....beep.....beep and machine wouldn't boot. The drive is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 didn't show up on desktop in safemode nor the Utility list. Could the drive be dead and that's why I'm getting a beep?

I doubt it. Your two other drives with separate operating systems both stopped working at the same time. Three dead hard drives all at once seems exceptionally unlikely.

Safe mode only loads a minimum of drivers. If that's working, I suspect it is skipping a driver that would normally load in a normal boot, a driver which is causing problems perhaps because it is initializing bad hardware. But I don't know what to point at unless you can capture the verbose mode text in a video or something--that is what I do if verbose mode goes by too quickly. I take a video and then review it frame by frame toward the end so that I can pause it on a still image of the text on the screen right before the computer chokes.

 

[Gothboy1]

I doubt it. Your two other drives with separate operating systems both stopped working at the same time. Three dead hard drives all at once seems exceptionally unlikely.

Safe mode only loads a minimum of drivers. If that's working, I suspect it is skipping a driver that would normally load in a normal boot, a driver which is causing problems perhaps because it is initializing bad hardware. But I don't know what to point at unless you can capture the verbose mode text in a video or something--that is what I do if verbose mode goes by too quickly. I take a video and then review it frame by frame toward the end so that I can pause it on a still image of the text on the screen right before the computer chokes.

[doublepost=1468344590][/doublepost]If I take a video and stop the frame on that last verbose line what would I do next?

 

[ActionableMango]

Post it here so we can read it. Not just the last line, as much as possible.

Alternatively you could boot into safe mode and look at the log file.

 

[Gothboy1]

How can I look at the log file it would be much easier,,,,how can I find it while in safe mode?

Thanks!

 

[Gothboy1]

OK here goes my last gasp. Got the video camera and recorded the verbase info as it was displayed then put it up on a widescreen TV and even then it was hard to read. Booted up in Safe/Verbose mode and here is what I get for the last few lines. There might be a typo in here so I will try to try a macro on the camera.

Airport Link down on om 2. Reason 1 (unspecified) .
DSMOS has arrived
waves soundgrid version 2 .0.0. 14, Non-Interleaved Playback
SMC: :Macreadkeyaction ERROR smc read data8 failed for key 0EM0

 

[ActionableMango]

Based on that last line before it fails, I'd try resetting the SMC:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

If that doesn't work, I suspect hardware failure. You can test that for sure by trying to install a fresh copy of OS X on a spare drive.

Based on the age of the computer, you might try replacing the internal battery too. Lithium batteries have a 10-year shelf life and your computer is 10 years old. But I think that's a long shot.

 

[Gothboy1]

Based on that last line before it fails, I'd try resetting the SMC:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

I looked at doing that but it looks like the computer has to be fully booted to do. If you re-read the instructions there you have to have a fully booted computer to put to sleep.

If that doesn't work, I suspect hardware failure. You can test that for sure by trying to install a fresh copy of OS X on a spare drive.

As I mentioned early in this thread I have 2 OS running on 2 different drives. I took the Snow leopard drive out as it's an older drive, so I'm just using the newer Lion drive...I don't have a spare drive. So if I reinstall the OS on this drive do I have to reformat and wipe?

Based on the age of the computer, you might try replacing the internal battery too. Lithium batteries have a 10-year shelf life and your computer is 10 years old. But I think that's a long shot.

I've done this at the very beginning

 

[ActionableMango]

I looked at doing that but it looks like the computer has to be fully booted to do. If you re-read the instructions there you have to have a fully booted computer to put to sleep.

Here is the pertinent section from that web page:

Reset the SMC on Mac desktop computers
Follow these steps for iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, and Xserve.

1. Shut down the Mac.
2. Unplug the power cord.
3. Wait 15 seconds.
4. Plug the power cord back in.
5. Wait 5 seconds, then press the power button to turn on the Mac.

For Intel-based Xserve computers that aren't responding, you can shut down locally or by using remote commands. You can also shut down by pressing and holding the power button for 5 seconds.

As I mentioned early in this thread I have 2 OS running on 2 different drives. I took the Snow leopard drive out as it's an older drive, so I'm just using the newer Lion drive...I don't have a spare drive. So if I reinstall the OS on this drive do I have to reformat and wipe?

Unfortunately yes. I'm already leaning toward hardware failure because of the fact that it happened to both OS drives at the same time. But it's possible that there's something you've done on both operating systems, which is why a fresh install is needed.

Also, you could ask for help in the OS X forum. You might get more troubleshooting advice there than you are getting here.

 

[ITguy2016]

"I used Disk Utility by booting into OS X Recovery Mode..."

This suggests a problem with the OS install. If you're able to run Disk Utility from Recovery Mode and check the disks it might be worth it to try reinstalling the OS. Hard drives are inexpensive...buy another one and try installing the OS on it.

 

[Macschrauber]

I would swap the gpu if you have one to borrow for a test.

 

[Gothboy1]

I tried resetting the SMC no worky

I'm ordering a new spare HD but while I'm waiting for that to arrive:

Neither OS will boot?
If you hold down ALT/OPTION on startup do you see a list of bootable partitions?

I went back to this post as I didn't remember if I tried it. Not a list of partitions but drives(I don't partition drives as a rule) selected the Lion OS drive it went to gray so no go...then tried the Snow Leopard drive and wouldn't boot but it kept switching from gray to blue and back again. What if I chose Recovery HD what would that do?

 

[ITguy2016]

I'm ordering a new spare HD but while I'm waiting for that to arrive:



I went back to this post as I didn't remember if I tried it. Not a list of partitions but drives(I don't partition drives as a rule) selected the Lion OS drive it went to gray so no go...then tried the Snow Leopard drive and wouldn't boot but it kept switching from gray to blue and back again. What if I chose Recovery HD what would that do?

I'm confused about the configuration. In your initial post you mentioned you had five internal hard drives in total. Two are OS drives (I assume one is Snow Leopard and the other is Lion). The remaining three are data storage drives. You also mentioned two external drives which are used for backups. Is this correct?

Having said that what is the Recovery Drive? Is this one of the two OS drives? One of the data drives? One of the external drives? Have you inserted the OS X disc? Is this what you're referring to as the Recovery Drive? Is this the "Recovery Mode" from which you ran Disk Utility? Or is this part of the OS X Installer which allows you to run Disk Utility?

IMO if you can boot from OS X media and run Disk Utility or the installer the system is likely fine except for the possibility of the hard disks or HD controller. What is the media you're using to boot the system to the point you're able to run Disk Utility?

 

[Gothboy1]

You've got the original config right but in testing I removed all except the OS drives. I don't know what the recovery drive is but it appears as a choice when I boot using ALT/OPTION. I don't have one setup for reinstall purposes just don't know why it's there? I can't get the tray to open to get a disk in there to boot from Snow Leopard disk when in safe mode

 

[ITguy2016]

You've got the original config right but in testing I removed all except the OS drives. I don't know what the recovery drive is but it appears as a choice when I boot using ALT/OPTION. I don't have one setup for reinstall purposes just don't know why it's there? I can't get the tray to open to get a disk in there to boot from Snow Leopard disk when in safe mode

I would suggest removing all but one of the OS drives for testing. Choose one and test with it. If testing fails perhaps it's the problem so try testing with the other one.

I'm not familiar with a recovery drive on the Mac Pro. I know later models include a recovery option to reinstall the OS from the Internet. However I do not believe it was available for the 2006 Mac Pro.

To open the optical media tray hold down the mouse button when starting the computer. Continue to hold it down until the tray ejects (it can take a little longer than you might expect).

 

[Gothboy1]

I can get the tray open now It seems I have a new problem: Getting Lion to install on a new HD. I don't have it on disc I bought it from the App store as a download and I can only boot the Mac into safe mode which from what I understand does not let the Mac go online(It has a wireless card). Any idea on how to do this?

 

[ActionableMango]

cMPs don't have Internet Recovery, so you have a Recovery partition on one of your OS drives.

Boot to the recovery partition. After it boots up, use Disk Utility to format your new HD. After formatting, do the "Install a new copy of Lion" onto the new HD.

I think the Lion installer files are on the Recovery partition, so you shouldn't need an Internet connection. But I'm not sure. If you need a wi-fi internet connection, select a wi-fi network by clicking on the wi-fi icon in the upper right.

The recovery partition is free of third party software, drivers, settings, etc. So if it won't boot either, I think software has been eliminated as the problem and that you have a hardware failure.

 

[h9826790]

cMPs don't have Internet Recovery, so you have a Recovery partition on one of your OS drives.

Boot to the recovery partition. After it boots up, use Disk Utility to format your new HD. After formatting, do the "Install a new copy of Lion" onto the new HD.

I think the Lion installer files are on the Recovery partition, so you shouldn't need an Internet connection. But I'm not sure. If you need a wi-fi internet connection, select a wi-fi network by clicking on the wi-fi icon in the upper right.

The recovery partition is free of third party software, drivers, settings, etc. So if it won't boot either, I think software has been eliminated as the problem and that you have a hardware failure.

There is no copy of installer in the recovery partition. So, the user MUST have already get / buy the installer from App Store. Otherwise, even with internet connection, the associated Apple ID still cannot download the OSX installer for the next step.