Mac Pro4,1 Early 2009 Won't completely boot, no chime, no display

[Izenhour]

Hello, I have a early 2009 Mac Pro 4,1. Out of no where while using it just shut it off completely and when I went to go reboot it, everything sounded fine except that I didn't hear the start up chime and my display remained inactive.

The light above the power button stays solid and when I press the power button while holding DIAG button and watching the status lights, the EFI DONE and GPU OK Led's light up for a second but do not stay lit up. But the PSUPWR OK led stays lit up green.

I've gone through the Technicians support document and have done everything I could for trouble shooting. I've removed everything and tested with DIAG button after each time I added back a peace of hardware. After doing that with no errors I took out the Coin cell battery and disconnected the PSU from the wall and let it sit for 24 hours as recommended to reset the SMC and after that I tried powering it on, same thing and no changes in how it responds.

I've also tried to do a PRAM reset and that doesn't work because it doesn't boot far enough to do so. No chime, no display nothing.

I have taken out the hard drives and tested them via USB adapter on my Macbook pro and they all showed up fine, And I tried the Nivida Geforce 120 in another desktop computer and it worked fine.

I am not getting any error or temperature issue status lights anywhere on the processor try or Main logic board.

""NOTE: All fan's, and HDD's spin up and sound as they normally would after pressing the power button.""
""NOTE: After powering it on and having everything spin up (fans and HDD's) and waiting a few minutes I press the power button once to turn it off and it goes off instantly""
""NOTE: I've reseated all of the ram modules, processor tray and all connectors on the main logic board (All power and normal adapters like the optical sata cables etc""

One thing I had tried from the service tech PDF was to try powering it on with out the processor installed. And as I mentioned the EFI DONE and GPU OKAY lights didn't stay lit during the boot process as they're supposed to and after removing the processor and installing 1 stick of ram, and holding the DIAG button all the proper status LEDS stayed lit up. I do not have a LGA 1366 motherboard to test the W3520 unfortently, but I am considering the possibility that I may have a failed processor? Even though when installed the CPU ERROR LED doesn't light up.



Any and all help/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[MacVidCards]

Ideally find a buddy with a 4,1 or 5,1 who is a little adventurous.

Swapping CPU trays would tell you quickly whether it was in one or other.

Have you tried removing RAM and trying each stick separately?

Even try with none and see if ti triggers the "no memory" flashing light.

 

[Izenhour]

Ideally find a buddy with a 4,1 or 5,1 who is a little adventurous.

Swapping CPU trays would tell you quickly whether it was in one or other.

Have you tried removing RAM and trying each stick separately?

Even try with none and see if ti triggers the "no memory" flashing light.

I've tried both, and with ram nothing happens. The power light on the front stay's solid, no error light but with ram removed I do get the flashing light error.

Also I unfortunately live in a small town and not many people even own a computer. (Yay me)

And any place in the local City near by don't have a 4,1 or a 5,1 mac pro sitting around to help me find out what is wrong with mine.

 

[h9826790]

The symptom sounds very familiar to me. I had a similar issue last year, Apple said the 3 main suspects are PSU, GPU, and logic board. And end up is the CPU tray failure.

It's hard to tell if your case is exactly the same, unless there is another CPU tray for you to test.

Another member also suggest that most likely is the NB chip borken. It's a relatively easy job to replace, most of the repair shop can do that without any problem. However, end up I just get the new tray from Apple (about $300, including 3 months Apple care). Replace the NB chip may be cheaper, but there is no guarantee that the NB chip is the problem source. So I go for the new tray to buy time.

Anyway, since Apple just put the 4,1 in the obsolete list few months ago. I am not sure if they can still fix your machine. If there is any Apple store near by (seems not applicable in your case), it's worth to book a time slot and ask for the possible way to fix it (unless you agree to pay for any repairing, the consultation is free). If they can't provide you any hardware replacement. The best you can do may be to get a used 4,1 on ebay (~$400). So, that you can use it straight away, or getting the parts from it for testing etc... and then sell the useless parts (if you want to).

It's possible to buy a new tray online ($300), but since we haven't identify that's trouble source. I won't recommend you to pay that much for testing.

 

[Izenhour]

The symptom sounds very familiar to me. I had a similar issue last year, Apple said the 3 main suspects are PSU, GPU, and logic board. And end up is the CPU tray failure.

It's hard to tell if your case is exactly the same, unless there is another CPU tray for you to test.

Another member also suggest that most likely is the NB chip borken. It's a relatively easy job to replace, most of the repair shop can do that without any problem. However, end up I just get the new tray from Apple (about $300, including 3 months Apple care). Replace the NB chip may be cheaper, but there is no guarantee that the NB chip is the problem source. So I go for the new tray to buy time.

Anyway, since Apple just put the 4,1 in the obsolete list few months ago. I am not sure if they can still fix your machine. If there is any Apple store near by (seems not applicable in your case), it's worth to book a time slot and ask for the possible way to fix it (unless you agree to pay for any repairing, the consultation is free). If they can't provide you any hardware replacement. The best you can do may be to get a used 4,1 on ebay (~$400). So, that you can use it straight away, or getting the parts from it for testing etc... and then sell the useless parts (if you want to).

It's possible to buy a new tray online ($300), but since we haven't identify that's trouble source. I won't recommend you to pay that much for testing.

Yeah, I unfortunately don't have much for funds to go and buy parts and many places I've contacted won't like me test my hardware with theirs because they don't want to risk damaging some of there hardware. And I can't blame them. But if I could find someone selling a single CPU board alone for a decent price (And because I live in canada and our dollar is **** I mean in the 100 to 150.00 CAD price range)

But until I can find someone locally to help me test my rig I guess I am SOL until some funds are available.

 

[Izenhour]

The symptom sounds very familiar to me. I had a similar issue last year, Apple said the 3 main suspects are PSU, GPU, and logic board. And end up is the CPU tray failure.

It's hard to tell if your case is exactly the same, unless there is another CPU tray for you to test.

Another member also suggest that most likely is the NB chip borken. It's a relatively easy job to replace, most of the repair shop can do that without any problem. However, end up I just get the new tray from Apple (about $300, including 3 months Apple care). Replace the NB chip may be cheaper, but there is no guarantee that the NB chip is the problem source. So I go for the new tray to buy time.

Anyway, since Apple just put the 4,1 in the obsolete list few months ago. I am not sure if they can still fix your machine. If there is any Apple store near by (seems not applicable in your case), it's worth to book a time slot and ask for the possible way to fix it (unless you agree to pay for any repairing, the consultation is free). If they can't provide you any hardware replacement. The best you can do may be to get a used 4,1 on ebay (~$400). So, that you can use it straight away, or getting the parts from it for testing etc... and then sell the useless parts (if you want to).

It's possible to buy a new tray online ($300), but since we haven't identify that's trouble source. I won't recommend you to pay that much for testing.

So today I am going to the apple store to have them test it for me so I can find out what part I need to replace.

I'll let you know the results.

 

[adam9c1]

I don't think Apple store will touch it. I think it's considered end of life.

 

[Izenhour]

I don't think Apple store will touch it. I think it's considered end of life.

They looked at, and it is the power supply. They had a test psu in the back and put it and it booted right up.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[h9826790]

I don't think Apple store will touch it. I think it's considered end of life.

According to my friend (an Apple store staff), they will (same as OP's case), no matter how old the machine, you can always take it to the Apple store have a check. They just not necessary have the parts to test / fix it.

 

[adam9c1]

I took my 4,1 (in December) I thought and I know shortly after APPL marked it as obsolete and they would not service the device any longer.

You can call the store and tell them the serial number and model identifier and see what they say.

 

[jdryyz]

So....didn't take me long to find a 2009 Mac Pro after all. I snagged one up cheap. The catch is, it also is not working and I believe it is showing the same symptoms at the original poster.

I say that because I was not paying enough attention when it was demonstrated for me so I do not recall if it made a chime or not. The problem is no video and the graphics card (GT 120) fan is running high. Graphics card failure perhaps? That would be an easy fix. Wish I had access to a working Mac Pro to test things out that way.

I have not turned it on again since bringing it home as I wanted to do some cleaning up first. There's a fair share of dust bunnies I want to clear out. By the looks of it, the modular design of the internal components should make this task easy.

I also have a copy of the service manual and I see there are many diagnostic steps to try but I wanted to check in here first to see what the fastest step to recovery might be.

 

[h9826790]

So....didn't take me long to find a 2009 Mac Pro after all. I snagged one up cheap. The catch is, it also is not working and I believe it is showing the same symptoms at the original poster.

I say that because I was not paying enough attention when it was demonstrated for me so I do not recall if it made a chime or not. The problem is no video and the graphics card (GT 120) fan is running high. Graphics card failure perhaps? That would be an easy fix. Wish I had access to a working Mac Pro to test things out that way.

I have not turned it on again since bringing it home as I wanted to do some cleaning up first. There's a fair share of dust bunnies I want to clear out. By the looks of it, the modular design of the internal components should make this task easy.

I also have a copy of the service manual and I see there are many diagnostic steps to try but I wanted to check in here first to see what the fastest step to recovery might be.

I prefer do NOT clean the 4,1 until you can boot it. Otherwise, if it never boot, you won't know if you bought a seriously faulty machine, or you damage it when you clean it.

 

[jdryyz]

I didn't even notice you had posted that you solved your problem. So even though a lot of items in your system appeared to be alive, it was still a bad power supply, eh?

Now that I have thoroughly cleaned my system and have been troubleshooting much the same as you have, I know now that I have all the same symptoms as yours (no chime, no video, no activity). I was curious about your graphics card fan, though. Was it running faster that normal when it would not boot?

They looked at, and it is the power supply. They had a test psu in the back and put it and it booted right up.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

[doublepost=1457304267][/doublepost]I appreciate your suggestion, however, if you saw the amount of dust there was, I think you would change your mind on that. Fortunately, it did not take long to clean up the system.

The problem remains for now. Based on Izenhour's post I missed earlier, looks like I can try a new power supply. Going to see if I can find someone to borrow from first.

I prefer do NOT clean the 4,1 until you can boot it. Otherwise, if it never boot, you won't know if you bought a seriously faulty machine, or you damage it when you clean it.

 

[jdryyz]

Uh oh...forgot to mention I have an active red LED next to my single CPU (2.66GHz).

So.....bad CPU or processor tray, right? Hunting down another CPU should be easier for me than finding a power supply. Hope it isn't the whole tray. Not ready to spring for one of those yet....although it was part of my plan to upgrade to a dual at some point.

 

[jdryyz]

The plot thickens...

...removing the heatsink (I really need to find a single, long 3mm hex wrench instead of this lousy kit I was forced to buy) reveals [even MORE dust!] AND the infamous broken heatsink rivet (just as h9826790 mentioned) !! I read about this a lot on a Mac news site I frequent but it never sunk in that the 2009 Mac Pros were affected. Always thought it was happening on older models.

So, this alone could also result in the no boot scenario according to my research. I may have some rivets I can pull from GPU coolers I have floating around to test this theory.

 

[jdryyz]

Found some clips, cleaned up the processor tray, reapplied thermal grease and the system is booting now!!

Amazing how this lack of a properly seated heatsink can result in no boot. Even though there is a temp sensor right on the heatsink, I would still think more time would be needed to detect a problem. The chip it is cooling must heat up fast.

 

[beccas]

Hi jdryyz,

I am curious. What did you use to clean the processor tray? It looks so clean!

 

[jdryyz]

"Super Wash" by MG Chemicals.

Available at Frys Electronics.

Be sure to use in a well ventilated area.

Hi jdryyz,

I am curious. What did you use to clean the processor tray? It looks so clean!

 

[beccas]

Thanks. Bookmarked it. Was that all that you used for that cleaning project?

 

[jdryyz]

I specifically used it for the processor tray because of greasy-like dirt that was covering a lot of the surface-mount components. Most of the dirt/dust bunnies were removed from the rest of the machine using an anti-static vacuum, air dusters, and just plain old water and a lint free cloth for the metal surfaces.

Thanks. Bookmarked it. Was that all that you used for that cleaning project?

 

[beccas]

Thanks for sharing. Happy to hear that your system is back up and running.

 

[jdryyz]

Thanks!

Thanks for sharing. Happy to hear that your system is back up and running.

 

[guywithFX]

Found some clips, cleaned up the processor tray, reapplied thermal grease and the system is booting now!!

Amazing how this lack of a properly seated heatsink can result in no boot. Even though there is a temp sensor right on the heatsink, I would still think more time would be needed to detect a problem. The chip it is cooling must heat up fast.

Where did you find these new heatsink mounting clips? These look better than most hacky solutions I've seen.