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Meltdown here: Hardware test says what?!

I

IceMacMac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2010
394
18
I'm having massive problems with my MacPro...and they've been worse since I upgraded to 48Gigs of RAM, a new RAID card and RAID. Any help from any party would be greatly appreciated.

No kernel panics but increasingly frequent system freezes (requiring hard reboots)...that reached a crescendo yesterday.

So I run the Apple hardware diagnostic...the short version and it reports this:
Alert! Apple Hardware Test has detected an Error!
4MOT/1/40000002:pCI-0

How do I do decipher this? Does this meant the card in slot 4 is bad? The port? Or is it PCI slot 0? (first?)

Then I ran the deeper test and it FROZE up during the test...about 10% of the way into it. (I let it go all night but it was clearly froze up in the morning...no mouse movement, etc)

Crap. Crap. Crap.
 
beto2k7 said:
either the pci fan or the heat sensor
Click to expand...

That would make sense given some of the crazy fan noise I've been getting lately...but then what would explain the freeze-up of the hardware test when I ran the deeper version.
 
Bad temp sensor = over temp condition = freeze?

Could you have some bad memory? I had bad memory cause failures on the extended test. But with that temp sensor / fan bit - I'd look at this first.
 
My bet is bad memory

The thing is the more you increase your memory the more you increase the changes some of it is bad. another you could try is swap pci-e cards/slots run the test again see if the error remains. and of course try first an pram zap (hold alt+cmd+p+r) at startup. this will reset hardware fan snesors etc etc.
 
matspekkie said:
The thing is the more you increase your memory the more you increase the changes some of it is bad. another you could try is swap pci-e cards/slots run the test again see if the error remains. and of course try first an pram zap (hold alt+cmd+p+r) at startup. this will reset hardware fan snesors etc etc.
Click to expand...

Good ideas, matspekkie. Tonight I'll try what you said and then give Apple Hardware Test another go.
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
Bad temp sensor = over temp condition = freeze?
Click to expand...
That would make a lot of sense because the system's fan was absolutely freaking-loud when I went to bed. So either it got too hot...or the sensor falsely reported it getting too hot.

Big-TDI-Guy said:
Could you have some bad memory? I had bad memory cause failures on the extended test. But with that temp sensor / fan bit - I'd look at this first.
Click to expand...



I wonder how much of a repair cost for sensor and/or fan (Apple Care expired).

$150?
 
It's looking very much like my core problems have nothing to do with RAM and everything to do with my SATA card or the PCI port it's seated in.

Today I ran my main Data drive via Firewire and had zero problems. Massive contrast.
 
Might want to run disk utility or DiskWarrior on that drive while you can now. I am sure the FS is a little corrupt after all those freezes and hard shut downs. Repair now before it's unrepairable.
 
bizzle said:
Might want to run disk utility or DiskWarrior on that drive while you can now. I am sure the FS is a little corrupt after all those freezes and hard shut downs. Repair now before it's unrepairable.
Click to expand...

Yes...I've run Disk Warrior. It took five hours to repair my boot volume!
 
Joshuarocks said:
Could also be your hard drive might be dying.. Have you checked the smart on it?
Click to expand...

Yes, checked that.

My current conclusion is that I've got two issues:
-A bad fan or thermal sensor
AND
-Something up with my RAID card or the slot its seated in

Could the two be related? I'm not smart enough to figure that out yet...
 
Apple doesnt repair specific parts on motherboard, they just replace the whole thing.
So you are looking at ~400$ if you want to fix a thermal sensor.

However, the message you are getting, deciphers to: "PCI fan not working". Go and install iStat menus, a app that tells you your fan speeds. Check if any of the fans actually are 0 rpm.
Check by putting your head in the machine too.

It could explain why you get fan noise (mac pro compensating for one broken fan).

Check the graphics card too. PCI 0 might refer to either PCI bay fan or the fan of the PCI unit at slot 0.

If all fans are running perfectly fine, then yes, there is a thermal sensor going crazy somewhere in that area. Check the temps with istat too.


You won't die from a broken thermal sensor. You can install apps to control the fans manually instead of letting them react to the broken thermal sensor.
 
Cindori said:
Apple doesnt repair specific parts on motherboard, they just replace the whole thing.
So you are looking at ~400$ if you want to fix a thermal sensor.

However, the message you are getting, deciphers to: "PCI fan not working". Go and install iStat menus, a app that tells you your fan speeds. Check if any of the fans actually are 0 rpm.
Check by putting your head in the machine too.

It could explain why you get fan noise (mac pro compensating for one broken fan).

Check the graphics card too. PCI 0 might refer to either PCI bay fan or the fan of the PCI unit at slot 0.

If all fans are running perfectly fine, then yes, there is a thermal sensor going crazy somewhere in that area. Check the temps with istat too.


You won't die from a broken thermal sensor. You can install apps to control the fans manually instead of letting them react to the broken thermal sensor.
Click to expand...


Massively helpful post, Cindori. Thanks!!! I'm already using a paid-for version of iStat, but I had not known/noticed you can check for fan speeds. What a great app!

I see that the Expansion Slot fan is at 0 rpm...so I guess that explains it...

The next question I'll have to decide...to fix myself...or have the Apple shop fix the fan....
 
Last edited:
If the fan isn't soldered to the main-board (very, very rarely they are), find the part # via iFixit or equivalent - and this should be a fairly straightforward job, unplug one connector, swap 4 screws / elastomers and you're up and running again.

At the expense of being captain obvious - have you tried moving the fan by hand to see if it starts spinning? Excessive dust that can be blown out? Could be a simple as this. I can't tell you how many stalled fans just had a ball of pet hair sucked into a corner - a little air duster and they're good as new. (the fan, not the dogs)
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
If the fan isn't soldered to the main-board (very, very rarely they are), find the part # via iFixit or equivalent - and this should be a fairly straightforward job, unplug one connector, swap 4 screws / elastomers and you're up and running again.

At the expense of being captain obvious - have you tried moving the fan by hand to see if it starts spinning? Excessive dust that can be blown out? Could be a simple as this. I can't tell you how many stalled fans just had a ball of pet hair sucked into a corner - a little air duster and they're good as new. (the fan, not the dogs)
Click to expand...


Big-TDI-Guy, I am hopeful that it is a dust issue...and when I recently installed RAM I noticed I'm due for a good deep cleaning.

But if the fan isn't soldered...then perhaps it would be a simple fix, as you suggest.
 
IceMacMac said:
Big-TDI-Guy, I am hopeful that it is a dust issue...and when I recently installed RAM I noticed I'm due for a good deep cleaning.

But if the fan isn't soldered...then perhaps it would be a simple fix, as you suggest.
Click to expand...

I have a MacPro4,1 as well and the fan is NOT soldered just attached by two phillips screws
 
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