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Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
On my list. New (refurbished) psu and a dual cpu tray. The old one is sent to someone who is smarter than me. I either buy it back or he sells it on or uses it as parts. Either way. For me it was the end of my abilities.

I hope to hear back what he found was the cause. I mean that would be awesome if somebody can repair it. Or to hear why it is the end of the line. At least I can learn from it that way.

I am more of an advanced user with lego skills than an actual repairman like my father is/was. We spend countless hours fixing tube amps and stereo amplifiers and all sorts of things.

But this is above my paygrade for now.
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
I received 128 gb ram samsung ecc registered ram today. So I installed 64 gb ram in the single cpu tray with 2,66ghz quad core. It booted. And then........ A BLUE APPLE....

So I powered it down. Took out one 16gb ram stick. And there it booted. Perfect.... So I have to install a 6 core for it to be able to work with 64gb ram.

That's for another day. I am really happy that this looks like brand spankin new Samsung ram. 48GB ram it is. Still the most ram I ever put into a machine I own.
 

SAKart

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2023
10
0
Warren, Mi
Thats great that you got things to work! that inspires me to continue work on my 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 upgraded to 5,1. Maybe you or someone else here, have some tips from their experience. My system was working just fine, and booting up in High Sierra. Then one day the power light was on, but no power to the USB ports...no mouse or keyboard. So I shut down everything. When I started to power it up again, the power light comes on, but the system won't chime up any longer, and no mouse or keyboard. The light stays on.The fans run, the CD drive does it's thing, the HD's spin up, the graphic card fan goes on, the PCIe cards have power, the Processor tray blinks once, as it should. I swapped out the Power supply, no change. I swapped out the processor tray, no change. A new back plane board is what I originally replaced to get this machine to work. Checked the ram, pulled out everything not necessary, to get it chime-up. The power light comes on, fans come on, tray blinks. push the indicator button on the back plane board, everything lights up green & amber., No mouse & keyboard power, no chime up. Replaced the short ribbon cable that connects the Back plane board to the front USB/Fireware ports, no change. I suspect the back plane board, but I can't think of anything that could of caused it to go bad, since I replaced it.
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
Thats great that you got things to work! that inspires me to continue work on my 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 upgraded to 5,1. Maybe you or someone else here, have some tips from their experience. My system was working just fine, and booting up in High Sierra. Then one day the power light was on, but no power to the USB ports...no mouse or keyboard. So I shut down everything. When I started to power it up again, the power light comes on, but the system won't chime up any longer, and no mouse or keyboard. The light stays on.The fans run, the CD drive does it's thing, the HD's spin up, the graphic card fan goes on, the PCIe cards have power, the Processor tray blinks once, as it should. I swapped out the Power supply, no change. I swapped out the processor tray, no change. A new back plane board is what I originally replaced to get this machine to work. Checked the ram, pulled out everything not necessary, to get it chime-up. The power light comes on, fans come on, tray blinks. push the indicator button on the back plane board, everything lights up green & amber., No mouse & keyboard power, no chime up. Replaced the short ribbon cable that connects the Back plane board to the front USB/Fireware ports, no change. I suspect the back plane board, but I can't think of anything that could of caused it to go bad, since I replaced it.
Get some brake cleaner or alcohol. Pull all connectors. Then clean all connectors. Then change the backplane battery. See if the cpu coolers are tight. Was the new powersupply 'another' powersupply or was it gone over? In 15 years time the capacitors of such a powerfull powersupply could be bad.

Make sure the powersupply is vacuumed out. Use alcohol and cottontips to wipe all boards
clean in such a way hairs cannot form bridges that create powerleaks.

Professionals would create a multiconnector (or more of them) then check the voltages on the rails and then check the same under load. That lather bit is something we mere mortals cannot do due to the lack of the right equipment. You can however buy refurbished powersupplies.
 

SAKart

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2023
10
0
Warren, Mi
I've totally cleaned the system with alcohol, and compressed air, and chanced the back plane battery, but I checked the voltage and it was 3.18 volts...I am going to replace it again, because it is a never used battery, but is a few years old. The power supplys are both used, I keep putting the original back in , because I never used that Mac Pro, very often. The replacement PS, I could not say. But at least I have something to compare to. Both of them worked in my system when things were good. You inspired me to tray again, with the other PS, after I get a new battery...I believe it was a refurb PS.
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
For me I build it because it will give me access to Digidesign/avid hardware that will supersede the value of a new Mac multiple times over.

To make it last I want new memory, a new ssd as main drive. A good refurbished powersupply and working components. I have seen the components of the cpu tray. If it is fed by a decent powersupply, stable under load. I am confident I can get another 10 years of service out of this hardware.
 

SAKart

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2023
10
0
Warren, Mi
I bought this 2009 Mac Pro re-furbished, 5 or so years ago, when my (Purchased New); MacPro G5, liquid cooled dule processor, LEAKed, and destroyed the PS & Logic board. Unfortunately this Mac pro has been through multiple brown outs, and the UPS, doesn't help the situation...I believe it contributed to the problem. The logic board got fried. So I replaced it along with a PS & Processor tray, but found that the PS & Processor board still worked with the new logic board. I haven't had an issue with it. until one day I couldn't get the machine to chime-up, no power to the mouse & Keyboard, just the power light is on, with everthing else seemingly powered up.
I put a NEW logic board battery in yesterday...nothing changed. I have no way of checking the Fussion drive, and the original boot-up drive is fried. So I don't know how to create a new boot-up drive for this 5,1 Mac pro, flashed from 4,1.
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
Based on your story I think your powersupply has dried out capacitors. Meaning it needs to be replaced or refurbished.
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
Put in an empty drive. Then;

Start your Mac. Immediately press and hold one of the following key combinations until you see the startup screen: Command-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery System. Use this key combination to reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your system, or to use the other apps in macOS Recovery.

If the Mac has internet it can download it's own OS I believe. If not, an external usb drive can help?

I cloned my other Mac OS.
 

Macschrauber

macrumors 68030
Dec 27, 2015
2,979
1,487
Germany
Thank you. If it is updated to sonoma using open core legacy?
No, this is a firmware feature Macs from this age not have.

 
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Borowski

macrumors 6502
Oct 22, 2018
254
72
I'm not completely sure, but you can start your recovery partition which is located on drive, cause no online restoration available:
- alt-key: Will show all bootable partitions, also recovery, if present and not hidden. Seems Apple hide the recovery since Mojave, don't know.....
- cmd+r-keys: After a PRAM reset will start hidden recovery

Correct me, if i'm wrong.
 

Macschrauber

macrumors 68030
Dec 27, 2015
2,979
1,487
Germany
The alt key for showing the Recovery does not work for APFS systems, so cmd-r is to choose.

Dont forget that not all keyboards are compatible with preboot firmware keys.

Directly connected on backplane USB ports and using an USB 1 keyboard are some data points.

Bluetooth keyboards are a gamble.
 

Borowski

macrumors 6502
Oct 22, 2018
254
72
Ok, from (High) Sierra up no visible recovery in bootpicker?

What will happen if you have several OS? Has every OS its own visible or hidden recovery?
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
It is not so off topic as this machine I am still going to build will do more than simple things. Multiboot might be one of them. Considderations like recovery are a main concern. And it is why I have no issue exploring these topics.

All of these things I went through when I build my dual processor Athlon ... And it failed to deliver the horsepower I was seeking for my DAW (digital audio workstation).

My sixcore was more of a succes. But still the latency killed most of my productions and thus my creativity.
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
This Mac Pro with dual 6 cores and 128gb of ram will hopefully be without too much latency and will be able to run several heavy hitters of soft synthesizers like Spectrasonics Omnisphere and perhaps East West symphonic orchestra samples.


 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5

Maximum RAM supported by MacOS Sierra?​

Did they bump up the maximum memory (RAM) limit for MacOS Sierra? Last I knew it was capped at 128GB. In Lion the limit was 96GB and in Mavericks it was raised to 128GB. I'm wondering if the limit was raised again in Yosemite, El Capitan, or Sierra.


Looks like I do not have to upgrade from high sierra to have the benefit of 128gb of ram...

Hmmm....
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
The defect dual cpu tray has arrived at its new owner who is gonna look at a possible revival.
 

Muziekschuur

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2023
120
5
This is the memory I got. Neatly wrapped. In new plastic boxes.
549_0.jpeg
 
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