MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro 2010 (almost) DOA

[clevedonal]

Hello from Southwest UK

my first visit to MacRumours


I have been given an Apple MacPro tower from around 2010. (Board has Apple 820 2337 A 2009 printed on it)
Person who gave it told me it powered up a few days ago, but then told me it would not power up after that.

Not sure of processor yet. Single processor.
Currently 16Gb (4 x 4Gb) ram and 1gb (i believe) video card. No hard drive at the moment, though I have a spare ready to install.

The machine will not power up on power button.
When plugging in a little red LED flashes (OVTEMP CPUA), as it's supposed to.
When pressing DIAG button, amber light glows confirming power to backplane board.
Machine will not power when jumping solder pads, as the manual suggests it should,
I removed the processor board, fan assembly, video card,
RAM is seated and locked correctly -and no warning lights suggesting RAM issues.
Disconnected power button, and tried jumping solder pads. Nothing occurs.
Manual suggests taking the machine to 'minimum configuration' with just PSU and backplane board

Even with everything disconnected, the PSU fan does not spin up either on power button or solder pad jumped.
Red LED flashes when power plugged in, amber LED lights on Diag button

I wonder if PSU has failed, albeit that lights still flash on board, or backplane board has failed or something else...
I have no reasonable way of testing PSU - not sure if it's a good idea to stick multimeter probes in?
If it was mainboard failure then PSU should still spin up?


This is my first Apple machine, so i have no spares of any kind to swap in.
Currently have an old USB PC keyboard and mouse - dont want to invest in any Apple kit if the machine cannot be economically salvaged.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated!

 

[twotone]

Hi from Bristol

I don't have any answers, but am following as I'm curious myself as I'm picking one up that won't start soon.

 

[tsialex]

Mac Pros are complex and tricky to diagnose and previous experience with PCs is not exactly helpful. Without another Mac Pro to test components one at a time, you won't be getting anywhere.

You should look locally if someone have a working Mac Pro on the cheap, so you can diagnose your defective one instead of buying parts piece meal and getting nowhere. It will be cheaper to get a working Mac Pro without any disks than parts.

 

[clevedonal]

Hi from Bristol

I don't have any answers, but am following as I'm curious myself as I'm picking one up that won't start soon.

Hello From Clevedon! I wish you good luck!

 

[clevedonal]

Mac Pros are complex and tricky to diagnose and previous experience with PCs is not exactly helpful. Without another Mac Pro to test components one at a time, you won't be getting anywhere.

You should look locally if someone have a working Mac Pro on the cheap, so you can diagnose your defective one instead of buying parts piece meal and getting nowhere. It will be cheaper to get a working Mac Pro without any disks than parts.

Thank you for advice - i will keep an eye open on Ebay and local ads in case something pops up! I certainly dont want it to become a 'money pit' . No experience at all with Macs of any variety, which is why i joined in here -seems to be lots of friendly knowledgeable folks!

 

[startergo]

Thank you for advice - i will keep an eye open on Ebay and local ads in case something pops up! I certainly dont want it to become a 'money pit' . No experience at all with Macs of any variety, which is why i joined in here -seems to be lots of friendly knowledgeable folks!

Don't know how it is in UK, but in US you can get a dirt-cheap Mac Pro from local electronic recyclers. Just call few and see what they have in stock.

 

[clevedonal]

Don't know how it is in UK, but in US you can get a dirt-cheap Mac Pro from local electronic recyclers. Just call few and see what they have in stock.

Thanks for that idea. If i find any useful suppliers i'll share here hoping to help others.

 

[startergo]

Thanks for that idea. If i find any useful suppliers i'll share here hoping to help others.

I was able to buy one for 35 bucks. Originally I was looking for a case only because the one I bought from eBay arrived bent. When I called one of the recyclers he said he had one. When I got to the store he gave me a case+baseboard+cpu+original GPU for the same price. He didn’t bother removing the internals just the hard drives.

 

[clevedonal]

I was able to buy one for 35 bucks. Originally I was looking for a case only because the one I bought from eBay arrived bent. When I called one of the recyclers he said he had one. When I got to the store he gave me a case+baseboard+cpu+original GPU for the same price. Hi didn’t bother removing the internals just the hard drives.

Wow - sounds like a bargain! I will keep eyes and ears open, thanks!

 

[clevedonal]

I've spoken with a local community computer help group, and it seems they may have some spares to try. Sounding slightly hopeful.
Assuming it can be brought to life, which MacOs is appropriate and available for download - my main PC is currently running MX Linux so i would need to burn any ISO /restore files using Linux. is that likely to be a problem?

 

[majus]

This is my first Apple machine, so i have no spares of any kind to swap in.
Currently have an old USB PC keyboard and mouse - dont want to invest in any Apple kit if the machine cannot be economically salvaged.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated!

All Apple Mac Pro Specs (2006-Current): EveryMac.com

Tech specs for all Apple Mac Pro from the original to the latest (2006-2023). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, storage details, configuration options and more.

everymac.com

Input the serial number from the back panel of the machine at the site above to find the original configuration the machine was. OS X 10.6.4 appears to be the original OS but there are different builds of it.

Pay attention to what @tsialex said above. He gives excellent advice.

 

[clevedonal]

I came here for tips/tricks and information - thank you all for sharing. Your knowledge is certainly of benefit!
if/when this is resurrected, i will post here.