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I recently came across what seemed like a good deal on a handful of 2008-era Mac Pro desktop machines. Of the three I picked up, one turned out to be a dual-processor G5 machine, and the other two are dual-processor Xeon machines. The Xeon machines are the ones I'm trying to resurrect.None of the machines had hard drives or video cards. I bought a couple of new hard drives and a couple of new (MSI F5450 MDIGH) video cards, installed one of each into each of the two Xeon machines, and pressed the button.Both machines turn on and the power lights are on steady.
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But I get no video from either machine (I have two monitors plugged into each - one via HDMI and one via VGA). I don't understand why I'm not getting any video (and no video is making it hard to troubleshoot anything else). Is it because there's no drivers on the brand-new hard drive?For what it's worth, I opened up the case and started each machine, and I see no LED indicator lights anywhere inside (I think there are supposed to be some, but I don't know where).Today, I connected my MBP to one of the machines via Firewire and started the Pro in Target Disk Mode. I immediately got the 'The disk you inserted is not readable.' Dialog on the MBP and used Disk Utility to format it. Then ran OS X installer and installed Yosemite on the newly-formatted HD in the MP. Unplugged everything and restarted.still nothing.Any ideas on what's going on here?
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Andrew Taylor, here are a couple things that may help to further trouble shoot:'Power-On Self Test: RAM and Processor VerificationA power-on self test in the computer’s ROM automatically runs whenever the computer is started up after being fully shut down (the test does not run if the computer is only restarted). If the test detects a problem, the status LED located above the power button on the front of the computer will flash in the following ways.:1 Flash: No RAM is installed or detected. Or, the quick memory test failed.
An LED will light up on the memory riser card next to the affected DIMM or empty DIMM slot.3 Flashes: A RAM bank failed extended memory testing. An LED will light up on the memory riser card corresponding to the affected DIMM.Troubleshooting: Try reseating the memory DIMMs. Check memory installation instructions for proper installation order. Swap affected DIMM with known good DIMM.Note: The status LED lights up when the power button is depressed at startup.
Do not count this light as one of the diagnostic flashes. The memory riser card diagnostic LEDs will also flash briefly when the computer is started up or shut down and when it goes in and out of sleep mode. This is normal behavior. Diagnostic LEDsLogic Board Diagnostic LEDsThe Mac Pro (Early 2008) logic board includes a set of LEDs to help service providers troubleshoot the computer. The LEDs are located on the logic board between the two DIMM riser card connectors. LEDs 3, 4, 5, and 6 are normally off and will automatically illuminate if an error occurs. To read LEDs 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9, you must press the DIAGLED button, which is adjacent to the LEDs.
To press the DIAGLED button, use the nylon probe tool (Apple part number 922-5065). LED 1 SleepLED 2 Standby or Trickle PowerNormally on when DIAGLED button is pressed.If LED 2 is not on, the symptom would be that the computer won’t power on.Troubleshooting:Check AC cord is connected to a working AC wall outlet.Reseat AC Plug.Check connections of power supply cables to the logic board.Check power supply cable connections at power supply.Replace power supply.LED 3 CPU B (Lower Processor) ErrorLED 4 CPU A (Upper Processor) ErrorNormally off. These LEDs come on if an error occurs or if the BootROM is corrupted.
They do not depend on the DIAGLED button being pressed.Related symptoms include no video or the computer is hung up. If the BootROM is corrupted, the optical drive tray should eject, prompting for the insertion of a recovery disc to restore the BootROM.Troubleshooting:With the computer booted, up press the SYSRST switch. If this clears the CPU Error LED, check for incompatible device driver software that may have been installed for added hardware.If the Error LED is still on, power down the computer and try resetting the SMC.
Restart the computer.Reset the power supply by unplugging the AC cord for 10 seconds.Unplug AC cord and remove any added DIMMs and PCI Express cards. If this causes the LED to go off, repopulate the DIMMs and/or PCI Express cards to find the combination that caused the LED to come on. Overheated memory could be a possible cause for this CPU error LED to come on.
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Check fan operation.Unplug the AC cord and remove the battery for 10 seconds. You may need to remove a PCI Express card to get to the battery. Reinstall the battery and restart the computer.Try swapping CPU A and CPU B locations. If the CPU Error LED follows the CPU, replace that CPU.Try replacing the logic board.LED 5 CPU B (Lower Processor) OvertempLED 6 CPU A (Upper Processor) OvertempNormally off. These LEDs come on if an error occurs. They do not depend on the DIAGLED button being pressed.These two LEDs can operate in two different modes; they will either flash or stay on. If either LED is flashing, it may indicate an initial processor over-temperature condition.
If either LED is solidly on, it may indicate a chronic processor over-temperature condition. Initial processor over-temperature can cause symptoms such as sluggish computer performance.
Chronic processor over-temperature can cause the computer to hang completely.Troubleshooting:Verify proper heatsink installation.Verify all thermal sensors are properly connected.Verify all fans are operating properly, especially the front intake fan.Verify power supply cables are properly seated.If both overtemp LEDs come on immediately when the computer is turned on, a faulty power supply could be one cause of this behavior. Replace power supply.Try swapping CPU A and CPU B heatsink locations. If the CPU Error LED follows the CPUheatsink, replace that CPU heatsink.Try swapping CPU A and CPU B locations.
If the CPU Error LED follows the CPU, replace that CPU.LED 7 GPU PresentNormally on when DIAGLED button is pressed.If this LED is on, it indicates there is a graphics card installed and recognized by the computer. It does not indicate that the graphics card is fully functional. Some graphics cards require additional power to function, which is available from connectors on the logic board. For these cards, if the auxiliary booster power cable is not connected between the logic board and the graphics card, an error message reminding about this additional power connection will be displayed as Mac OS X starts up.Troubleshooting:Check that the graphics card is seated correctly in its PCI slot.Check that the card’s auxiliary booster power cable is connected properly on both ends (if the card requires one). If the cable is connected properly, try connecting it to the other, empty logic board booster power connector (if available) to see if the cause is related to this connector.
If the card and LED operate properly when connected to the other power connector, check EFI and SMC firmware versions and update them if necessary. See “Mac Pro Firmware Updates” in this section for more information. Only then should you consider replacing the logic board.Verify power supply cables are properly seated.Try the graphics card in a different PCI slot.Try a different graphics card.If an error message about graphic card booster power connection is displayed, check that the appropriate booster power cable is firmly connected between the logic board and the graphics card.Replace the logic board.Replace the PS3 power supply cable. (.
Note: This cable supplies power to the PCI slots.)LED 8 Power GoodNormally on when DIAGLED button is pressed.If this LED is on, it indicates the power supply is functioning.Troubleshooting:Check that the power cables to the logic board are properly attached.Check the cable connections at the power supply.Check for any signs of an obvious electrical short, e.g. Metal screws or PCI card slot cover loose inside computer touching the logic board.LED 9 EFI GoodNormally on when DIAGLED button is pressed. Takes approximately 5 seconds after power up.If this LED is on, it indicates that the computer has completed the on board Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) operations and the operating system is now in control.Troubleshooting:Check that LED 8 Power Good LED is on.Check that LEDs 3, 4, 5, and 6 are off.Try removing any added hardware.Try removing any added DIMMs.Memory Riser Card Diagnostic LEDsBoth of the memory riser cards include diagnostic LEDs for each DIMM. Each of the LEDs will light if it detects an issue with the corresponding installed DIMM. These LEDs will also flash briefly when the computer is started up or shut down and when it goes in and out of sleep mode. This is normal behavior.Troubleshooting:Shutdown and restart the computer.Verify EFI and SMC firmware versions and update them if necessary.
See “ Mac Pro Firmware Updates” in this section for more information.Reseat the memory riser card associated with the failure LED. If the failure LED persists, continue with the next step.Swap upper and lower memory riser cards A and B. If the symptoms follow the riser card, continue with the next step. If the failure LED remains associated with the same memory riser card slot, consider a possible connection issue with the logic board. Replace the logic board in this case.Reseat the appropriate DIMM corresponding to the failure LED. If the issue persists, continue with the next step.Check memory installation instructions for proper installation order.Swap affected DIMM with known good DIMM.Try moving DIMM to another slot (within the same bank of two) to see if the failure LED follows the DIMM. If so, replace DIMM with known good DIMM.
If the failure LED persists, replace the memory riser card associated with the failure LED.Video Card Diagnostic LEDsTFault LEDNormally off, this LED lights up if the graphics chip gets too hot.Troubleshooting:Verify that the video card heatsink and fan are not clogged with dust. Okay, I had some time to troubleshoot this morning. With the video card installed in PCI Slot 1, pressing the DIAGLED button lights up LEDs 2 and 8 - nothing else, including the GPUPRESENT LED.
Moving the video card to the other PCI slots (tried them all) results in no change. Replacing the video card (tried all 4 slots) results in no change.
So.there's either a problem with the two video cards I bought (they're identical), or a problem with the Mac itself. I've ordered a Mac-specific video card off eBay (Nvidia GeForce GT 120) that was apparently pulled out of a similar Mac Pro unit and is 'guaranteed to work'. We'll see.by.
Hey Andrew,Sounds like your Mac Pro is starting up properly but its not reading any drivers for your Graphics Card. Here is a link to the specifications for that Mac Pro if your right on the money about what year/gen it is:. Take a look at the specs for the graphics card and grab one that matches those specs. From experience, a friend of mine had somewhat of a similar problem if I can recall correctly and the Graphics card that ended up working was an ATI Radeon HD 4870. Hope this helps.Best of Luck! I'm reposting my comment as an answer because I don't think comments trigger an email notification to those of you who might be subscribed to this topic (they don't for me, anyway).New graphics card was a bust.
It doesn't work in any of the slots on the machine. Still not getting 'GPU-Present' LED on any slot. Methinks the logic board is busted.Looks like I can get a replacement logic board on eBay for about $80 - but I don't want to go throwing good money after bad.
Can any of you confirm that a faulty logic board would cause the symptoms I've indicated? The XT2600 Cards have become real turkey's for us. They fail for a variety of reasons, dirty, fan failure, bad solders. Have you check to see if the fan on the card is spinning?If you need keep using the XT2600 card you can clean the card, check and see if the fan is spinning, and do the shake and bake thing (stripping the card and baking it for a few minutes in an oven) to see if this might bring back bad solder joints., Or probably best idea is just buy a GT 120 card (as someone recommended above).Good luckby.
Hey Michael,Short answer - not any inexpensive 4k cards available for Mac Pro.btw, not sure how well your 2008 MP will do with 4K video - at a minimum would suggest upgrading CPU to the 3.0Ghz (Xeon E5472 SLANR less than $20 on EBay).Video cards - Best one:Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3G D5 MAC Edition - about $350 (used) -$500 (new) - on EBay or macsales.comThere have been quite a few people using nVidia cards (most of them have been flashed - places like macvidcards.com) but we don't usually recommend using a flashed video card. And if you use an unflashed card (without Apple code) you will not have an Apple splash screen which could make it difficult to diagnose any challenges you may have in the future.by.
Having the no video issue with my 2009 Legacy Mac Pro. Got video once today when I swapped in my old Apple HD Cinema Display but blank on the next boot. Tried different cards (that worked previously) and startup drives. I am an IT guy so I knew to try swapping memory around. Have taken all cards except the video card out.
System boots as I can ssh to it. Tried resetting pram. Had Applejack clean the caches and swap file. It has been flashed to 5,1 but it's booted many times since then. Get no red lights on the cpu tray or the system board(backplane). Is there a reset button on the backplane?
If so, where?Any ideas appreciated.by.
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