My MAC PRO is DEAD...

[Guitfiddle]

I went to turn it on the other day and bam...It doesn't turn on. I take it apart re-seat the cards and the ram drawers, and a half hour later it turns on. I go to turn it on today and it does the same thing. This is the third time it hasn't turned on unless I take all the cards out and re-seat them reset the switch on the motherboard and wait. All I can think of is a short some where, the motherboard grounding out, or bad power supply/ cord? I have the 3 year warranty, not a big deal. Has anyone ever had this problem?

[Tui]

No I haven't (touch wood), however there is something a little similar I'd like to get to the bottom of. When my Mac Pro-8 runs as normal, and I move the case only slightly, it will quit all apps and restart itself immediately. This is so strange... I almost think there might be a motion sensor inside, although that can't be, surely..?

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Tui

No I haven't (touch wood), however there is something a little similar I'd like to get to the bottom of. When my Mac Pro-8 runs as normal, and I move the case only slightly, it will quit all apps and restart itself immediately. This is so strange... I almost think there might be a motion sensor inside, although that can't be, surely..?

This second case really does sound like an intermittent connection or possibly a short -- since it's precipitated by moving the case, suggesting that there is a momentary break of contact or perhaps a momentary short.

[Tui]

Originally Posted by theblue1

This second case really does sound like an intermittent connection or possibly a short -- since it's precipitated by moving the case, suggesting that there is a momentary break of contact or perhaps a momentary short.

Right. Perhaps I need to open it up and wiggle the components about. I might be able to isolate the cause.

Tell you what, though, I could do without this kind of nonsense.

[Geert van den Berg]

I don't have any advice other than, send it away for repair and make sure you can get a replacement while yours is gone!

And before doing that make sure you copy all valuable data of the computer! You might have to install the disk in another computer if you can't make it turn on again.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Tui

Right. Perhaps I need to open it up and wiggle the components about. I might be able to isolate the cause.

Tell you what, though, I could do without this kind of nonsense.

I'd be careful...

I take it yours is not under warranty?

Mind you, I'm someone who would probably pop the case and start tinkering -- but I have made bad situations worse on occasion through my impatience.

That said, it sounds like it's happening anyhow... you could start by eyeballing everything very carefully, looking for possible shorts, pieces touching that shouldn't and that sort of thing. Of course, intermittent connections and shorts, which this seems to be, are a stone bitch to suss out.

Since the problem manifests as a momentary shut down, I'd guess the first place to look would be power connections -- particularly the power to the mobo.

But be careful. It's not that hard to kill a mobo and that could be a very expensive proposition in your computer, I'm thinking. (Make sure you discharge any static electricity on your body, yadda yadda. All the typical precautions. But when you're in the middle of diagnosing something like this, it's a little too easy to forget yourself, get up to go get a diet Coke, come back shuffling your neoprene souled shoes across your all-nylon carpet and =poof= ... )

Be careful in there...

[Tui]

Originally Posted by theblue1

Be careful in there...

Good points... Being a typical Mac user, I probably wont bother anyway but wait to see if this minor annoyance escalates into something more serious. I sure hope not...

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Tui

Good points... Being a typical Mac user, I probably wont bother anyway but wait to see if this minor annoyance escalates into something more serious. I sure hope not...

I believe that makes you a typical computer user.




Me... I'm a little on the tweakier side. I can take a minor issue and -- because I sometimes just can't let something go -- I will pursue it until it blows up into something catastrophic.

Obviously, that can be just as bad or worse in a lot of ways. Just last night I caught myself mid-way in doing some serious registry cleaning (yes, I'm a darksider) just because one of my CPU-guzzling convo reverbs was locking up a project... I found myself thinking, Uh, wait... did I bother setting my monitoring latency up from the 2.9 ms I use for MIDI tracking to the couple hundred I typically use [on my very modest machine] for non-monitoring-latency-critical work? The answer? No... I did not.

Happily, my tweak-binge only resulted in a slightly better tuned system rather than the system-wide bollixing I momentarily worried about -- an occurence which I assure you, I have precipitated in the past. I reset the monitoring latency to around 200 ms and everything was groovy. (I like 200 because it's obvious as soon as I lay a hand on my MIDI keyboard -- but it's not so long that waiting a fifth of a second after punching the go button drives me crazy.)


Anyhow, good luck!

[SoundProofStudio]

I wouldn't touch a damn thing.... If you ever lost your warranty because you had to be mr. fix it, then you would really be shit out of luck.... And pissed... Do it the right way, Send it in to be fixed... Thats what warranty's are for...

[theblotted]

Originally Posted by Guitfiddle

I went to turn it on the other day and bam...It doesn't turn on. I take it apart re-seat the cards and the ram drawers, and a half hour later it turns on. I go to turn it on today and it does the same thing. This is the third time it hasn't turned on unless I take all the cards out and re-seat them reset the switch on the motherboard and wait. All I can think of is a short some where, the motherboard grounding out, or bad power supply/ cord? I have the 3 year warranty, not a big deal. Has anyone ever had this problem?

sounds simply like a bad RAM to me.

try taking out all the RAM except for the original Apple RAM, or go diff combination to see which RAM is the culprit.

you can also use the app Rember: http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

if it's still giving you problems, then at least you have boiled it down to the drawers.

or the cards. which cards are you referring to exactly??

[Guitfiddle]

Thanks for all the responses. Tui, Good luck with your problem, hope everything works out for you. I would check to see if your cards and ram are seated fully in their respective slots, sounds like a short or connection problem. I once found a computer to have a motherboard grounding out because of the case. I doubt that would be the the problem with a mac. They are designed well. On to my machine, I thought the ram first, however there are a few more variables before I can suspect that. I have UAD cards installed now, but the problem was happening before the UAD cards were installed. I also thought bad Power Supply, or bad switch on the physical button. My mac pro decided to power on today, so I left it on all day and I will take it in tomorrow and use that 3 year warranty I have. Today, I unplugged it from the back of the monster power pro 3500 to the two unswitched plugs on front. I am wondering when I turn on the MP3500 if it sends a surge to my mac pro, and the power supply on the mac protects itself by not powering on? I am still curious if it could be my MP 3500 causing this problem. I am still doing some research and testing different outlets, including a different power cable to prove that the monster may be the problem. I have built many pc's over the years, and I have had a few minor problems here and there...mostly driver, conflicting software issues, or bad hardware. I am not in anyway insinuating that mac is a bad computer, nor stating that pc is better than mac. I have used both and I like both equally. I posted to see if anyone else was having these problems. The first day I incorporated this mac pro into the studio setup, I noticed the power/stability of this machine in that the new macs are robust and screaming fast!!!! I haven't built a new pc yet because I am going with a new laptop for my location gigs. Plans for a new desktop pc build will definitely be in the future though. Thanks again everyone for contributing.

[dragan]

It's probably stupid, but... I've had the same issue with a G5 - it wouldn't start, then after a while it would, then after a few months again.. Scary. It turned out it was the graphics card issue - the sucker wasn't seated properly. I screwed it in, and never had the same problem again.

[Tui]

Thanks for the input everyone, much appreciated.

[peeder]

I would leave the machine on unswitched outlets. Not due to surges, but due to the possibility the battery on the mobo isn't being charged enough. You may have drained it at some point or it's just faulty. It's like a car battery...won't start without it.

[blaugruen7]

i had several times mac computers not start because the small BATTERY was empty.

imagine that!

there is a small battery which holds the time at least. we brought the computer to a dealer and he said after one week we have to replace the motherboard. then i got a tip and replace that small battery for 5 euros and the computer worked again perfectly.


so check that small batttery.

[ironbut]

It sounds like bad contacts somewhere to me. The next time you have to pull your cards/ram, use something like alcohol (contact cleaner is better) on a swab and clean the pins before reinserting them. It may be that when you pull the cards and reinsert them, it's rubbing just enough of the pin/receptor surface to get your Pro booted (or the tiny bit of friction is helping make contact). Oxidation of bare metal only takes a couple of minutes and with the heat inside of you Mac,.. well, you get the idea.
Also, make sure that you're inserting the cards in all the way. It can be a little scary but that makes a huge difference.

[Guitfiddle]

Thanks...I have left the mac pro plugged into the unswitched plugs on the front of the Monster Pro 3500 and have had no more problems with my mac pro powering on. I guess the Mac doesn't like the switched receptacles on back. Anyway I have to report back just to follow up. Thanks again.