Dude, Have you read the thread? I've stripped out everything but the power supply, cleaned everything, and replaced paste on everything that I could. She look like she did in 2008, that's because she's now spotless.
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MP 1,1-5,1 Opened up Mac Pro 3,1 - found disturbing scene. Help please Apple gurus!
- Thread starter dMajor
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Dude, Have you read the thread? I've stripped out everything but the power supply, cleaned everything, and replaced paste on everything that I could. She look like she did in 2008, that's because she's now spotless.
Checked battery on multimeter - getting 3 volts. It's not that.
Pulling front fan and Ram enclosure so I can check cables....
Pulling front fan and Ram enclosure so I can check cables....
Oooh - miniSAS connector was not fully clicked in.
Fingers crossed that was it....
Fingers crossed that was it....
I didn't realize it was multiple pages! ? Good on you! I've always loved the G5 tower design. It's still quite timeless. Take care of it so it doesn't end up as an ugly piece of furniture.
Lol - the woodwork is nice!
Just for the record - I offically suck at re-plugging cables.
Found another one under RAM enclosure that wasn't quite seated.
Everything else checks out. Stuff going back in, and then Start Up - round 2.
No celebratory photos until I'm positive everything is Hunky Dory.
Couple of days to put her through her paces...
Couple of days to put her through her paces...
All the LED diagnostics are looking good.
There are however some interesting RAM developments:
I assume this light isn't meant to be on?
Despite all my slots being full (oh behave), the mac only seems to be seeing four occupied and four empty:
I bought this Mac Pro second hand, and have never touched the RAM. I always thought it only had 4 x 4GB of Ram, but it seems there are either 4 dead modules or 4 faulty slots in there. Going to do a bit of swapping around and see whats going on. For the record, does it matter which board is in the top and which is in the bottom?
There are however some interesting RAM developments:
I assume this light isn't meant to be on?
Despite all my slots being full (oh behave), the mac only seems to be seeing four occupied and four empty:
I bought this Mac Pro second hand, and have never touched the RAM. I always thought it only had 4 x 4GB of Ram, but it seems there are either 4 dead modules or 4 faulty slots in there. Going to do a bit of swapping around and see whats going on. For the record, does it matter which board is in the top and which is in the bottom?
Oh also, this may be stupid question, can I pull the RAM boards out whilst computer is on?
All this switching on/off is pain in butt.
All this switching on/off is pain in butt.
Do not pull out the ram boards when the computer is on!!!
Turn it off and then pull out the boards to check the memory to see if they are in correct pairs, and to see if they are seated correctly.
Turn it off and then pull out the boards to check the memory to see if they are in correct pairs, and to see if they are seated correctly.
Cool, won't do that then. lol.
Service manual said ok to swap boards around so did that, and got reverse readout of which modules are working.
Implies that it's dead modules, and not dead slots - so that's good news.
Looking at the congfiguration of functioning modules, it doesn't match what Apple says is ideal. Going to move some modules around. I have an upgrade pack of 64GB RAM en route from the USA already. Getting ready for that upgrade is what got this whole palava started in the first place....
I'm not sure how the memory temp sensors work in the 3,1, but in 1,1 and 2,1 there are only DIMM slots with temp sensors, riser A slots 1 and 2.
I see that you have the non-OEM server RAM without the big heatsinks. That's OK, but only if you have some in the slots with temp sensors, since this type of non-OEM RAM runs much hotter. So, if you have this type of RAM in all slots, then that's fine. However, if you have OEM Apple RAM in the slots with temp sensors, but non-OEM type RAM elsewhere, the latter will overheat and fail.
I see that you have the non-OEM server RAM without the big heatsinks. That's OK, but only if you have some in the slots with temp sensors, since this type of non-OEM RAM runs much hotter. So, if you have this type of RAM in all slots, then that's fine. However, if you have OEM Apple RAM in the slots with temp sensors, but non-OEM type RAM elsewhere, the latter will overheat and fail.
Ok, so I now have a matched pair in slots 1 & 2 in both cards.
No more nasty red lights.
Going to run Apple hardware test now....
No more nasty red lights.
Going to run Apple hardware test now....
I notice the Service Manual says the RAM must be:
• 800 MHz, DDR2, FB-DIMMs
But my System report says my RAM speed is 667Mhz
Should I be worried about that?
Hope not, the new 64GB I have ordered is the same speed!
• 800 MHz, DDR2, FB-DIMMs
But my System report says my RAM speed is 667Mhz
Should I be worried about that?
Hope not, the new 64GB I have ordered is the same speed!
They all seem to have been made by Sanya. I matched the 2 pairs by their serial numbers.
It's a common way to install 667MHz RAM instead of 800MHz.
The performance loss doesnt seem to be dramatic and the benefit is ~1/2 the price.
AFAIK you can combine 667 with 800 but all RAM modules will run at 667 MHz.
What is it then? I've tried to find a diagram naming all the visible parts but haven't succeeded thus far.
For the second time in three years I just discovered that one of the loops that holds those two spring clips down has popped out of the board in my own Mac Pro 3,1. The first time this happened, the heat sink completely fell off, as it did in the OP's first pic. I have no idea how long it operated in that state, as it had been quite some time since I had had occasion to open the case.
This time it was still attached but had skewed a bit. Fortunately, the popped-out loop didn't short anything out and I was able to shake it out of the machine. Taking it to a repair guy on Monday, as I'm not about to attempt the removal and solder job the courageous OP did. ?
I know the machine is ancient, but it seems like poor design to expect solder to withstand the pressure exerted by the spring clips over time. Is there an alternative way to affix the heat sink that doesn't require the clips? Or will the fact that it's applied to a vertical surface mean that any kind of thermal paste will eventually start to give, causing the heat sink to slide off?