Mac Pro Boots to white/blue screen

Hi, hope this is the right place.

A friend of mine has a Mac Pro, it started to run really slowly, so he rebooted it and only gets to the white/grey screen with the spinning 'clock'.

I've now got it to try and fix. I removed the HDD's, cleaned out a load of dust etc and booted. It got to the white/grey screen and displayed the folder with a ? in it. So power off, put in the HDD with the OS on it and fired up again..... It took ages to get through the White/Grey screen and got to a very light blue screen with a mouse pointer in the upper left corner.

I've reset the Pram, and whichever it is where you hold the power button of ages.
I put an OSX disc into the DVD drive and booted with no HDD's and it still refuses to load an OS at all.

Not sure on the machines spec, but its massive, twin processor, 4GB of ram etc. He said its only 2 years old.

Any ideas? As my googling has turned up not much of use/fix
Thanks

Stuart

It should have booted with the OS X disk. What kind of OS X disk did you use? It has to be the correct one for that model Mac Pro you have otherwise it won't work. Do you have the original install recovery disks that came with the machine?

I suspect the hard drive with the operating system on it is defective, that's why you need the original install media or a retail OS X set to test with.

Some details about the machine would also help... Mac Pro which year? Which version of OS X is it using?

right then,

Its a G5 1.8ghz Dual Processor MacPro.

I've just tried the Mac Pro OSX disc that came with it and nothing... I've also tried OSX Leopard (The disc you buy from a retailer). NOTHING.

Although now and again it will ask to reboot, rather than going past the Apple logo and the spinner of doom.

Any ideas?

slindborg said:

Its a G5 1.8ghz Dual Processor MacPro.

Click to expand...

Sorry...but no it's not! It's either a G5 or a Mac Pro...it cannot be both. I'm guessing (from your info) that it's a dual processor Powermac G5.

Also...this computer (if it's a Powermac G5) is closer to 5 years old not 2 years.

- Nick

only going on what I've been told.... not like I'm trying to sell it and scam someone is it


Will there be any markings on the **** machine to tell me *** it is then?
Afterall my macbook dosent have any external markings to suggest its almost older than time but still an intel etc lol

If you are sure about the 1.8Ghz Dual Processors it is a G5, 2003 vintage, as Mac Pro's started at 2GHz. Maybe the person who sold it to you to0ld you a little porkie? Sounds like major problem such as logic board.

Easy way to tell is G5 have a single optical drive door, Mac Pro's all have dual optical drive doors. Here are the specs for a 1.8GHz DP G5:-

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/stats/powermac_g5_1.8_dp.html

Its got dual drive doors.

Its my friends so I've not purchased anything iffy lol

slindborg said:

Its got dual drive doors.

Its my friends so I've not purchased anything iffy lol

Click to expand...

If you take off the side panel of the computer there are two quick ways to determine what this computer is:

1. The processor heat sink covers have a BIG "G5" printed on them (like photos 1 and/or 2 below)...if it's a Mac Pro...it will look something like photo #3 (notice that the Mac Pro has two CD/DVD drive doors on the front):







2. A second method to identify the computers specifications is...after you remove the side cover...there should be a "gray identification strip" with the computers specs on it (see photo #2 above at the bottom)...it looks like that...and may be located somewhere on the back of the computer as well (the back is where all the ports & fan exits are).

HTH,

- Nick

OK dual doors means it is a Mac Pro, The original discs that came with the machine should be OS X.4.8 or later, depending on the model. If you are 100% sure the discs actually came with this precise machine, pop in disc one, reboot and hold down "D" to start Apple Hardware Test in the extended mode. Give it time as it is quite a slow operation, depending on the amount of memory installed.

If all goes well, again boot from the disk, this time holding down "C", go to Utilities in the Menua Bar, Disk utility and run Repair Disk and see what is reported. If all is well and good, format and do a clean install.

it looks more like piccy 3, but the lower section where the ram sits is a different setup....But definitely NOT like the G5 pics.

Looks like this.



So then, the mac pro that is here boots to the white/grey apple screen, waits an age then goes to a light blue screen with a mouse icon...

With an OSX Leopard disc it wont boot beyond the white then blue setup, with the OSX disc that came with the machine it wont boot past the whtie then blue screens.

Worth trying a different DVD drive? Why would it have suddenly happened with the boot HDD too... ?

slindborg said:

it looks more like piccy 3, but the lower section where the ram sits is a different setup....But definitely NOT like the G5 pics.

So then, the mac pro that is here boots to the white/grey apple screen, waits an age then goes to a light blue screen with a mouse icon...

With an OSX Leopard disc it wont boot beyond the white then blue setup, with the OSX disc that came with the machine it wont boot past the whtie then blue screens.

Worth trying a different DVD drive? Why would it have suddenly happened with the boot HDD too... ?

Click to expand...

Mac Pros have come in differing configurations since 2006...maybe yours looks more like this:



If the computer won't boot from the hard drive...then it could have a bad hard drive...or the hard drive needs a new install of the OS.

If you were able to boot the computer from an Mac OS install DVD...then you could run a program called "Disk Utility" which checks the disk for hardware problems & can repair some errors.

You said that the Mac Pro won't boot from the CD/DVD drive. What do the disc or discs you've tried look like...are they gray or black?

- Nick

p.s. Forget my photo...I see you attached one that looks like yours.

Hmmm.... To me it appears as though the Hard Drive failed. Based on the symptoms of the computer running very slowly, then not booting at all, even with an install disk. Another thing it could be is the logic board has died. Either way. It's probably gonna need some sort of a Hardware repair.

I've tried a grey and a black disc. Same result each time.... to the light blue screen with a mouse pointer in the corner.

The HDD 'works' as my friend took it somewhere and retrieved all the data off it.

I assume the logic board is to macs what a motherboard is to PC's?

I can format the disc up in a PC, is there a favoured format of choice, or will OSX just hammer its own one on at install?

slindborg said:

I assume the logic board is to macs what a motherboard is to PC's?

I can format the disc up in a PC, is there a favoured format of choice, or will OSX just hammer its own one on at install?

Click to expand...

Yes...I use both terms interchangeably .

You don't want to format the hard drive in a Windows computer. Mac OS formatting is different.

- Nick

so an osx install disc cant format a fat32 disc...... that bites a lot for an OS thats superior in most ways bar this simple one lol (yes I know in disc utilities it 'can' fat32 a drive.. although its ropey at best).

Might see if I can archive my Linux drive off and try that in the mac pro as they are satas