MP 1,1-5,1 Old Mac Pro 3,1 arrives to new owner

[OldMacPro2]

Hello,
This Mac Pro 3,1 arrived today. It’s very much a base model. No too sure about previous owners. It’s currently undergoing an update to El Capitan, which seems to be the last official version supported.

It has a RAID controller, but apparently only one drive attached to it, a 500 GB HD.

Getting an error when it boots up saying the battery can’t charge.

Any ideas on.that? I am new to the cMP world. Thanks!

 

[theMarble]

Is the battery on the RAID card bulging? That would explain the battery error. Though, if you don't intend on using the MP as a file server with Hardware RAID array (software RAID is good these days), I would simplify everything and just remove it.

Also, you aren't stuck on El Capitan! If you add a new graphics card (assuming yours has the 2600 XT) that supports Metal, you can run Mojave through to Monterey.

 

[OldMacPro2]

Is the battery on the RAID card bulging? That would explain the battery error. Though, if you don't intend on using the MP as a file server with Hardware RAID array (software RAID is good these days), I would simplify everything and just remove it.

Also, you aren't stuck on El Capitan! If you add a new graphics card (assuming yours has the 2600 XT) that supports Metal, you can run Mojave through to Monterey.

I will check on the battery…haven’t even bothered to crack the case yet. Thanks for the advice!

 

[OldMacPro2]

Well had a chance to play around some. The RAID battery is not bulging. And I left the MP turned on overnight. After rebooting the RAID message seems to have gone away.

After doing quite a bit of online searching and reading, I got the El Capitan update to work (created a bootable USB thanks to some post somewhere pointing me to an Apple support page)

The previous owner had not deleted their accounts, so the thing was still pointed to their iCloud, keychain, etc. Took a while, but was able to do a system reset, erase the hard disks, and do a fresh install. Don’t really know all this, just searching the web and stumbling along, but it seems to be working.

 

[OldMacPro2]

Ok, this RAID controller is acting up again today. Getting the error message that says the battery isn't charging and it's turned off the write cache.

Since this MP is 14+ years old at this point, I think the RAID controller battery is probably just flat and not coming back. Perfectly understandable.

Using the RAID utility, I can see the main boot disk is setup as a "JBOD" on that controller.

Question: If I just remove the RAID controller, will that JBOD disk still be readable as a boot disk?

Or will I have to do a low-level partition/format and reinstall MacOS on it?

I could just go ahead and pull the RAID controller (it's a pain, but I can do it) since I've just started using this MP and don't have any serious data on it, but thought I would ask here first.

Might save me some time and there might be some "other gotcha" that I should know about.

Thanks!

 

[Ben J.]

I have a 3,1 myself, sitting in the corner and still works.
I'd say; get rid of the raid and buy a pcie adapter card that can take a couple of SSDs. That's what I did, and it really gave it new life. Much faster startup, launching of apps, documents etc. It doesn't have to cost much at all, and is very easy to install. The read/write speed of my SATA HDs were around 70 MB/s, the ssds are over 400 MB/s.

Also I managed to install High Sierra on it, which is the last OS not needing a Metal graphics card.

 

[OldMacPro2]

I have a 3,1 myself, sitting in the corner and still works.
I'd say; get rid of the raid and buy a pcie adapter card that can take a couple of SSDs. That's what I did, and it really gave it new life. Much faster startup, launching of apps, documents etc. It doesn't have to cost much at all, and is very easy to install. The read/write speed of my SATA HDs were around 70 MB/s, the ssds are over 400 MB/s.

Also I managed to install High Sierra on it, which is the last OS not needing a Metal graphics card.

Yes, that's ultimately what I need to do.

The spinning disks in this machine are 10+ years old and it's only a matter of time before they start dying.

Need to get a good fast SSD (at least one) in there and pull the RAID card. The old disks can be good for internal backup.

 

[Ben J.]

Yes, that's ultimately what I need to do.
The spinning disks in this machine are 10+ years old and it's only a matter of time before they start dying.
Need to get a good fast SSD (at least one) in there and pull the RAID card. The old disks can be good for internal backup.

Remember the big difference lies in SATA vs PCIe. The same ssd will perform many times better if it's on a PCIe adapter card. Also a superfast ssd wil always be limited to the speed of the PCIe bus. So any regular 2.5" ssd will do.

 

[OldMacPro2]

Which Pcie adapter do you recommend?

 

[Ben J.]

Which Pcie adapter do you recommend?

I can only tell you that this is what I got three years ago for my 3,1:

Sonnet Technologies Tempo SSD 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.5" SSD Host Adapter. Mount one or two high-performance 6Gb/s SSDs in your Mac Pro, desktop PC, or Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis. Sonnet Technologies 1 Year Limited Warranty
Price: $99.00

I put two OWC Extreme Pro 6G on it.

 

[OldMacPro2]

Sonnet stuff usually is the best, thanks for the pointer.

 

[sfalatko]

Mispost...

 

[OldMacPro2]

Slightly off topic, but I also have a Dell Precision workstation built about this same era (T5500).

It’s interesting to see how Apple and Dell both approached the design a of dual Xeon “tower/desktop”.

Neither is a desktop, but I think that’s how they are characterized sometimes.

Comparing the two, People tend moan about how “proprietary” Apple is, but Dell (and HP) are as well. Each system design has its own quirks and kinks, and upgrading either has its tricks to learn.

After working with both, I have to admire Apple’s overall approach. They wanted them powerful and quiet. They were very smart to build an big aluminum case that doubles as a HUGE heat sink. Probably explains why these things are still running smoothly this many years later.

I just wish it wasnt so HEAVY. But it probably help insure that petty theft was rare when these were newer.

 

[OldMacPro2]

These things are apparently reproducing. A Mac Pro 4,1 just showed up to keep the 3,1 company.