MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro won’t start up anymore (SOLVED)..

[Coenie]

Hi,

Despite of having tried all the steps to make it run again (to my knowledge), it won’t pass the boot up screen.

i have a Mac Pro 1,1 which runs OSX Yosemite (i believe it is 10.10.5). Startup disc is a 1TB SSD. I was working in Logic Pro when suddenly the mac crashed: opened a plugin which i use a lot, changed a parameter and then it hanged! The only thing to make it stop was a hard reset. After thatit went wrong. It will not start up anymore!

I have :
1- Checked power supply
2- Reset the SMC by taking off the power for 1 minute
3- Reset from NVRAM and PRAM
4- Tried to start is safe modus
5- Startup from recovery drive
6- Startup in single user mode

All the steps i have tried to make it start up again, but without any luck. I will attach a photo of what i see on the screen.

I have a Time Machine backup available but when i can't get into recovery mode i don't know how to restore it.

Are there any steps i could try to make it work again?

Thanks in advance.

Coenie

 

[handheldgames]

Hmmm.

1) Memory tends to burn out over time. Are there any red lights showing on the memory risers of logic board?
2) When is the last time you cleaned the CPU heatsinks, Video Card heatsinks and logic board for dust buildup?
3) Have you booted from a different SSD?
4) Have you booted from a USB installer disk?

 

[Coenie]

Hmmm.

1) Memory tends to burn out over time. Are there any red lights showing on the memory risers of logic board?
2) When is the last time you cleaned the CPU heatsinks, Video Card heatsinks and logic board for dust buildup?
3) Have you booted from a different SSD?
4) Have you booted from a USB installer disk?

Hi,

thanks for taking the time to look into this with me.

i can’t see any red lights flashing, except the green onea on my UAD card.

looking at the picture makes clear i haven’t checked on your second point.

when switchingover to an ssd i kept the original copy of the HD. Tried that but similar respons: cant boot into recovery from that disk either.

i do not have a USB installer disc.
[automerge]1591284287[/automerge]
And for the info i have made a screenshot of the terminal info.

 

[handheldgames]

Hi,

thanks for taking the time to look into this with me.

i can’t see any red lights flashing, except the green onea on my UAD card.

looking at the picture makes clear i haven’t checked on your second point.

when switchingover to an ssd i kept the original copy of the HD. Tried that but similar respons: cant boot into recovery from that disk either.

i do not have a USB installer disc.
[automerge]1591284287[/automerge]
And for the info i have made a screenshot of the terminal info.

Some thoughts..

I'd give the cMP a good cleaning and remove/disconnect everything except the video card and your ssd. Your CPU heatsinks are to the left side of the memory bays and can be exposed by removing the cover.

Also disconnect this includes the cd rom and hard disks. If a component is failing, etc, it could be causing the system to hang on boot. Remove the CD to blow the dust out of the power supply.

If your power supply is getting tired, reducing the power load may let you get the system booting again.

 

[MIKX]

Hi,

thanks for taking the time to look into this with me.

i can’t see any red lights flashing, except the green onea on my UAD card.

looking at the picture makes clear i haven’t checked on your second point.

when switchingover to an ssd i kept the original copy of the HD. Tried that but similar respons: cant boot into recovery from that disk either.

i do not have a USB installer disc.
[automerge]1591284287[/automerge]
And for the info i have made a screenshot of the terminal info.

You could start by de-dusting it.

 

[Coenie]

First of all thanks for thinking with me to fix this issue.

I have tried all the suggested but unfortunatly none will help the mac reboot.

I have checked the memory riser boards to see if there is anything strange and also the memory cards aswell. Both risers don’t show any signs of damage. Took some cards out to see if that would make a difference. No red signs on the riser boards.

I took out all HD’s except for the SSD: thats the drive i normally boot from. Also tried to boot when i took out the dvd-drive, but still no luck.

So i took everything out and went on to the cpu heatsinks. Bought some aur pressure cans to blow out all the dust. It was nescessary i have to be honest. A lot of dust came out. Re-assembled it back together and tried it again. Still no life.

I have made a USB boot drive to boot from but without any luck.

In terminal checking the drive it tells me that the drive is acting normal and should work ok (see the last post of me for screenshot). Therefore i am getting more convinced it could be a hardware issue. Could it be the CPU or maybe the heatsinks malfunctioning?

looking forward to any reply.

cheers,

Coen

 

[MIKX]

It would help a lot if you made a SIGNATURE ( in your macrumors member profile ) : list everything we need to know about your Mac Pro 1,1 we cannot read minds ( You can delete this SIGNATURE after your problem has been solved )

You can find all the information listed below in " About This Mac /System report/ More info . . ."

==============================================
What Mac OS is installed ?

Single or Dual CPU ?
What Ghz speed is / are your CPU(s) ?

What is your Mac Pro's bootrom version ?

how much RAM is installed ?
How many RAM sticks?

What type of HDD/SSD is your main Mac OS on?
How old is this HDD/SSD ?

Which GPU ( graphics card ( GPU ) is installed? Maker name AND Model name eg : HD 5770, HD 5870 etc.
Is this GPU EFI flashed = Can you see the PreBoot menu if you booted whilst holding down the Option key ?

etc. . . . .
============================
Your Mac Pro 1,1 looks very dusty. When was the last time that you de-dusted it = Power down, remove power cord. remove everything from inside the Mac Pro = pci cards, hard drives, RAM sticks, VIDEO Card. De-dust everything first with a soft, non-conductive brush then used canned air to blow out the entire internal case.

If you cannot do the above there is no point in proceeding in my opinion.
======================================

Assuming a solution is found you could then upgrade your Mac Pro 1,1 to a Mac Pro 2,1
Please read this post https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-1-1-2-1-firmware-upgrade.2035417/

==================================

You can see my SIGNATURE ( SIG ) at the end of this post as an example.

 

[Coenie]

Thanks for your feedback.

i have updated my “Signature” straight away.

as mentioned above i have dusted off the mac pro completely today: took out everything, dusted it with a soft brush and blew it clean with some air pressure. Installed it all back. Firstwith only the nesceserry things and after That didn’t work i installed the rest as well.

when i hold down the option key when booting up i can choose which drive to boot: SSD or recovery. I choose recovery. After selecting it starts again at the startup screen: apple logo and boot-line which holds on half of the proces.

So, not sure what to do? Is it the CPU which had the longest of days? Or maybe the PSU?

cheers,

Coen

 

[KeesMacPro]

Hoi Coen,

-Have you tried te remove all internal HDD/SSD(including the "normal" OS) and only connect the Bootable USB?
-i don't know if you installed another GPU (Nvidia Geforce is not very specific , but if you got a spare (OEM) one, see if that makes a difference...

Quote:when i hold down the option key when booting up i can choose which drive to boot: SSD or recovery.

Sounds like your MP was still booting from the same SSD. If you could make a bootable installer on another Mac, test it first on the other Mac, and then try the above written....

 

[Coenie]

Hoi Coen,

-Have you tried te remove all internal HDD/SSD(including the "normal" OS) and only connect the Bootable USB?
-i don't know if you installed another GPU (Nvidia Geforce is not very specific , but if you got a spare (OEM) one, see if that makes a difference...

Quote:when i hold down the option key when booting up i can choose which drive to boot: SSD or recovery.

Sounds like your MP was still booting from the same SSD. If you could make a bootable installer on another Mac, test it first on the other Mac, and then try the above written....

Hi KeesMacPro,

Thanks for your tips. Unfortunately it didn't boot up either.

My graphics card is a NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GT 512 MB. I have installed it when i flashed my mac pro to be able to run OSX Yosemite. Part of that was to upgrade the graphics card to these specs.

What i notice is that while booting i have some flashes in my screen, like some hiccups during booting. As i am close to the point of thinking it is a hardware issue could it also be the graphics card sabotaging the bootup? Other things i am thinking of are either the CPU's or the power unit. Any ideas on this thought?

Looking forward to your reply.

Cheers,

Coenie

 

[KeesMacPro]

Hoi Coen,

Since there are many possible causes, based on your description , I thought about eliminate a few:
-the OS corrupted
-the harddrive with the OS failed
-any other harddrive installed failed
-the GPU failed


Unfortunately I don't own a MP 1,1 so I can't help you much further I guess..
There must be loads of people out there (here) who (still) use a MP 1,1 and could help you better.
Sorry man!

 

[Macschrauber]

+1 for the GPU, the 8800 often fails after all those years.

 

[Coenie]

15-06-2020 update:

Hi,

For all of you interested in my thread, i think i found the problem: i think it is the GPU ! Although there are some new problems that come up now, there was a sign of life in the mac pro.

I have purchased online a second hand NVIDIA Geforce 8800GT for 15 euro's. For me it was a small invest to see if that would be the problem. It is a GPU which came out of a pc (not a mac). Didn't think that would harm so i inserted it in the mac pro. When starting up i got the apple chime but not the original boot up screen (apple logo and loading screen). What i got was a black screen. At first i didn't think it was booting up correctly but after a while i got my desktop on my monitor and everything worked like a charm !

Even Logic worked. The project i was working on when this problem occurred was there and could move on where i left it.....until my screen got green and freezed again. The audio played on but there was no sign of life in the screen anymore. After resetting the mac it doesn't boot up anymore (go back to start).

So this is what i learned: it is a Graphics card which causes the problem, however the Geforce 8800GT 512mb might not be suitable anymore for this mac. Which graphics card could i also use which has 512mb or more which is suitable for this mac pro? Because one thing i have noticed is that this one is not coming out of a mac and boots up different.

Looking forward to your comments.

Cheers,

Coen
[automerge]1592135371[/automerge]

 

[KeesMacPro]

He Coen,

Not too bad!
If you use a compatible PC GPU , the only problem is, that it will not show the bootscreen.
After loading the OS, it will work the same as a Mac GPU.

I think you've found the issue , and there are 3 options: buy a Mac version 8800GT , flash it or have it flashed by someone.(to flash=modify the ROM of the GPU ,so it's seen as a Mac version)

On this forum there's a thread about GPU for the MP, I copied a description of the 8800GT:

7. Nvidia Geforce 8800GT 512 Mb
Performance: 44% RPI.Power consumption: 6 pins, very hot.Outs: two DL-DVI.Compatibility: DirectX 10.0, OpenGL 3.3, CUDA 1.0. MACos 10.5.2 - 10.11.x.Other: 32 bit or 64 bit EFI, occupies 1 slot. The first in time mac card that support CUDA. There is "mac edition" of cards.Unflashed (PC version): doesn't work; can be flashed.

The thread:

GPU Compatibility List for cMP

Content: 1. Summary 2. Information on common GPUs that can be used in cMP 3. GPU power consumption 4. Color compatibility 5. Flashing nuances 6. What to choose? 7. Useful links. 1. Summary 1.1. There are 50+ GPU types that are compatible with cMP (classic MacPro = Mac Pro 1.1-5.1/...

forums.macrumors.com

EDIT: You could also go for a superior GPU, in the thread there's detailed info of any GPU that has been tested...

For example:

Original ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 GB PCI E for Apple Mac Pro 1 1 5 1 70110 | eBay

Vind fantastische aanbiedingen voor Original ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 GB PCI E for Apple Mac Pro 1 1 5 1 70110. Winkel met vertrouwen.

www.ebay.nl

 

[Coenie]

Thanks for your feedback.

i have updated my “Signature” straight away.

as mentioned above i have dusted off the mac pro completely today: took out everything, dusted it with a soft brush and blew it clean with some air pressure. Installed it all back. Firstwith only the nesceserry things and after That didn’t work i installed the rest as well.

when i hold down the option key when booting up i can choose which drive to boot: SSD or recovery. I choose recovery. After selecting it starts again at the startup screen: apple logo and boot-line which holds on half of the proces.

So, not sure what to do? Is it the CPU which had the longest of days? Or maybe the PSU?

cheers,

Coen

Issue SOLVED!

it was indeed my graphics card. As i mentioned i gotthe feeling it was and when itcame back to life with wven a pc cardin it i bought an ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB and it works fine (as far as i can foresee now)

everybody who has responded to my thread : Thank you for brainstorming with me concerning this issue, very much appreciated!

cheers,

Coen

 

[KeesMacPro]

Top!