MP 1,1-5,1 MP5,1 Dual CPU board only boots with one CPU, no chime

[woefi]

Hello!

I recently entered the "cMP owners club", if I may call it, after decades of doing my work on PMs, G5s, MBPs and iMacs.

I bought a smoothly running 6core cMP5,1 (W3680 single), but after upgrading with memory, NVMe, rx580 and getting to know the specifics of this generation of Mac, I decided to get a dual-tray and separately ordered two X5690s.

So I bought a "does chime, but shows only white screen, dual cMP51" and got a badly demolished case with 5770, working PSU, no wifi, but including a 2010 dual tray with installed two W3520s, which I know should not work.

The first thing I noticed on the bad dual machine was: immediately after plugging in power, it began to chime - but halfway thru stopped and re-chimed. over and over again until i plugged the cable. Diag-LEDs showed no EFI_DONE. So I expect this 2010 Backplane is bricked.

Using only the dual tray in my known good first machine with the two x5690s and good RAM, I get no chime, black screen, and DIAG shows PSU_PWROK, 5V_STBY, SYSPG, and a flashing GPU_OK.With one CPU it boots OK, but I get the fullspeed fans.

Maybe someone can point me to a thread about what can be broken/fixed on a CPU-board, so I can inspect. My brother works in a company which does electronic stuff and he is good at soldering (one colleague of him repaired my 27" Thunderbolt Display backlight once)

@tsialex was so kind to tell me that some 2009 boards had the flashing GPU_OK, but it's absolutely a 2010 5,1.

 

[tsialex]

The first thing is to test your Xeons on your single CPU tray and be sure that they work with a single CPU tray. Working on a dual CPU tray is a more complex test and need a known working dual CPU tray or dual CPU server motherboard, since you need all QPI links working and the Chinese market are flooded with dual Xeons that works only with single CPU trays - i.e. one of the QPI links are bad.

For the CPU tray repair, schematics are not available anywhere. If it's not something really stupidly obvious, like a ripped cap or a damaged socket, repairs are not cost effective or may be not even possible.

 

[woefi]

the Chinese market are flooded with dual Xeons that works only with single

that's interesting. never thought of such a thing.

I already tried one of my x5690s in the single tray successfully. will try the other one.
But you say I can only diagnose both QPIs, if I can test in a known good dual tray...

Here in europe, the dual trays are only reasonable cheap if you find them inside a "broken" complete machine. on ebay I would have pay $ 450-600 plus expensive shipping...

 

[tsialex]

that's interesting. never thought of such a thing.

I already tried one of my x5690s in the single tray successfully. will try the other one.
But you say I can only diagnose both QPIs, if I can test in a known good dual tray...

Here in europe, the dual trays are only reasonable cheap if you find them inside a "broken" complete machine. on ebay I would have pay $ 450-600 plus expensive shipping...

I use a Dell server with dual 1366 sockets to test X56xx Xeons before installing on a Mac Pro, it's a lot easier to install and remove processors, maybe you can find someone to test for you.

Doing this way I'm always sure that the Xeon processors are fully working, got several Xeon dudes from China in the recent past.

 

[woefi]

I could get a poweredge r410 motherboard for 40 bucks including shipping, but I don't know which additional parts I need to diagnose the dual qpi.

 

[tsialex]

I could get a poweredge r410 motherboard for 40 bucks including shipping, but I don't know which additional parts I need to diagnose the dual qpi.

It's easy, you have to install both RAM banks and all RAM must be identified and working. I just boot a Linux install to check if both Xeons are identified and all RAM is working and after that I boot memtest86 and let ir run one time to confirm all RAM is working. A defective QPI link wil not work with both CPUs or not recognise the second RAM bank.

Some Dell heatsinks are very pricey, $75 each for the server I have, be sure that you are getting it.

 

[woefi]

Thank you – but what about the power supply? ATX?

 

[tsialex]

Thank you – but what about the power supply? ATX?

I can't answer that, Dell uses a lot of different power supplies. I don't think that getting just a motherboard is cost effective at all. Try to find a friend that have a dual server to test for you or get a working T410/etc.

 

[woefi]

well then, because it's just for confirming, that my problem _are_ the cpus (and at this point I don't know what to wish for) I'm not sure to spend much more.

I will look around If somebody here already has such an old server to test...

 

[tsialex]

well then, because it's just for confirming, that my problem _are_ the cpus (and at this point I don't know what to wish for) I'm not sure to spend much more.

I will look around If somebody here already has such an old server to test...

You can go the other way too, find someone that have know working original Xeons and use it for testing your dual CPU tray.

The real problem as of now is that you don't even know what is working or not.

 

[woefi]

that you don't even know what is working or not.

You're right.

Was hoping for the DIAG Leds to tell me what's wrong...
Originally wanted to put the rest of the second machine back together with my single-board and sell it cleaned and working good (although ugly case), to cover a bit of the cost of the first machine, but obviously this didn't pan out so well yet. It helps to have different parts for testing, but I'm not buying a third deranged machine.

 

[tsialex]

You're right.

Was hoping for the DIAG Leds to tell me what's wrong...
Originally wanted to put the rest of the second machine back together with my single-board and sell it cleaned and working good (although ugly case), to cover a bit of the cost of the first machine, but obviously this didn't pan out so well yet. It helps to have different parts for testing, but I'm not buying a third deranged machine.

Mac Pro DIAG system was intended for a very different use, Apple designed it to help an AAPL technician do the basic troubleshooting using known working parts with a very strict script to be followed.

It was never intended to diagnose used parts that are not tested and just put together.

 

[KeesMacPro]

To keep costs low the OP could buy a pair of cheap compatible CPUs e.g. E5620 , X5670 etc.
This way after testing one by one in the working single CPU tray, they could be installed in the DUAL tray to check if the tray is working....

 

[tsialex]

To keep costs low the OP could buy a pair of cheap compatible CPUs e.g. E5620 , X5670 etc.
This way after testing one by one in the working single CPU tray, they could be installed in the DUAL tray to check if the tray is working....

This test only shows that you have one QPI link working. Defective Xeons with one QPI link not working will pass with flying colours…

 

[KeesMacPro]

Ah, I understand

 

[woefi]

I have an offer here locally for a working poweredge r710 with dual X5560, 72gb ram, two psus,
One hour drive
Cost: appr. USD 160....

 

[tsialex]

I have an offer here locally for a working poweredge r710 with dual X5560, 72gb ram, two psus,
One hour drive
Cost: appr. USD 160....

Price of two T410 heatsinks. Go for it.

 

[Macschrauber]

I just tested a 5.1 Dual CPU board for general functionality with just the right one CPU (located by Ram Slot 1-4) and left the other socket empty.

This would not test the Processor links, of course, but it helps if the board is totally dead.

Fans ramped up after seconds but the machine was working.

 

[woefi]

I just tested a 5.1 Dual CPU board for general functionality with just the right one CPU (located by Ram Slot 1-4) and left the other socket empty.

This would not test the Processor links, of course, but it helps if the board is totally dead.

Fans ramped up after seconds but the machine was working.

I already tried that. And yes it works and shows at least that the board is not completely dead.

 

[woefi]

I have currently no time to travel the 1,5 hours to pick up the r710. And he won't ship it as it's to bulky.

I found a r610 12core E5645 for less than 100. (remember it's only for testing and maybe reselling.)
But this model is 1U and I'm sceptical of the height of the heatsinks.
@tsialex do you know if it will run my x5690s?

...could I also test the opposite and install the two e5645s on my macPro Board?

 

[woefi]

@tsialex yesterday I hit the road and bought the r710 after some nights of research. I had to make sure that it was a "revII" board to handle my 130 TDP xeons. Otherwise the max would only be x5675 (TDP90).

So I installed them in the server and they work. Which means they should have working QPI(?)

Inserting the dual quad x5560 from the server into my cMP51 dual tray shows the same old behaviour: blinking CPU_OK and no chime...

So the dual cpu-tray must be the faulty part. Replacing it would cost me around 600 USD. For this amount I could upgrade the cpu in a (supposedly) hackintosh to i9

 

[Macschrauber]

blinking gpu ok is what I get, too from the most faulty CPU Boards.

Some day I need to take a seat and investigate what's going south on this boards.

 

[woefi]

Some day I need to take a seat and investigate what's going south on this boards.

I will gladly help investigating with my available resources. (2x cMP51, a:singletray b:dualtray, 2x known good x5690, 2x known good x5560, GTX680 mac edition, HD5770 mac, rx580 pc, rDIMMs, uDIMMs and a brother with a voltage tester and and soldering skills)

 

[tsialex]

I will gladly help investigating with my available resources. (2x cMP51, a:singletray b:dualtray, 2x known good x5690, 2x known good x5560, GTX680 mac edition, HD5770 mac, rx580 pc, rDIMMs, uDIMMs and a brother with a voltage tester and and soldering skills)

Let's be real here, it's a too complex circuit board to track any defects that are not stupidly obvious. There's no schematic available, not enough demand for a specialised RI shop to make one.

More important than anything, it's not possible to replace the H8S SMC without the firmware code. While it's possible to take two or three boards with different defects and then make a working one, it's not possible to repair a board with any SMC related defects.

Start to investigate another ways to get your Mac Pro working again, repair CPU trays is not possible in a cost effective way.

 

[Macschrauber]

If its not a fault on the voltage regulators or the elektrolytes it is hopeless.

I do electronic repairs for living so I have some skills and tools.

And of course enough Mac Pro parts

Must have 3 or 4 dead 4.1 CPU Boards, all with the same fault: Mac starts, but get stuck on blinking GPU ok LED.

Such a board is about 100 Euros in central europe so it is not worth too much effort. Thats the reason why I have just stored them. Of course its not simple as a shortened rail.