Mac Pro Blue screen on Startup

I am having an issue with a 2008 Mac pro 2.8 quad core booting to a bluescreen. I can boot the computer in Safemode and it works fine however whenever I try and load it normally all I get is a blue screen. I have tried most everything I can think and what other people have suggested but to no avail. so far I have replaced the hard drive and loaded with new operating system and account logins. I have replaced Logic board, swapped ram with another mac here, went through trouble shooting guide that I found online, took it to Apple store and spent 40min with a genuis, replaced DVD drive, and multiple other testing hardware an so on . Right now I just don't know what to else to do. I am hoping that there is something simple that I am overlooking that can explain what is going on here. thanks in advance for your suggestions.

G'day and welcome to the forums.

What operating system is on the Mac Pro? If you have OS X.5 and the original discs that came with the computer, boot from disc one and run Apple Hardware Test. What you are describing seems a hardware issue.

If you have updated to Lion or later, boot into Recovery and run REapir Disk and see what is reported.

They gave up on it at the Apple store? What did they tell you?

Yes I have tested the hardware multiple times. Even at the Apple store the mac genius tested the hardware. They said it was either a software corruption or a harddrive error even though they scanned the harddrive and logs and couldn't find anything wrong. they said at last resort to change out the Logic board. all of these things I have done. new hardrive with new login accounts from scratch. replaced logic board with used but working board with different 2.8g processors. And still getting the exact same problem. If it is hard ware issues what else could be causing this? Power Supply? Hard drive cable. ETC?

Sorry I forgot to add I was running leopard but when I reloaded the new hard drive I put on snow leopard.

Maybe the graphics card. Try removing it, cleaning the terminals, reseating firmly and rebooting. Have you tried booting from your system DVD?

If it's ok in safe mode but fails otherwise I'd definitely be thinking graphics card

I Think I tried swapping the Graphics card with another one just like it on a working Mac but I can't reminder for sure. and yes even when we boot from CD it still blue screens. I will try swapping the graphics cards again and see it that help it. Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

Keep us posted.

Okay, You guys are awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!. I could have sworn I tried swapping the Video Card with it's twin (I have 2 Identical Mac pro's) earlier on but maybe not. It appears that the video card is the problem. Now what is weird is that on when switched the defective card to the machine that was working it took a long time to load but finally did. now you can tell it is struggling freezes up some but it still boots and it has 2 monitors verses the original machine that only had one. So now what video card would you recommend to replace this card. The card I have now is ATI Radeon HD 2600 256mb. This machine is used in graphic design in a printing environment with a 1 or 2 screen setup. Also another issue that I created is that when I was swapping out the dvd drive I accidentally shorted out a power converter cable from the original IDE power to Sata Power. I replaced the converter cable and even the Sata DVD drive. But if I have it plugged into the computer Power when you turn on the Mac you don't here the chime and after about 20 to 30 seconds the Fans kick on full speed and just sits there like that. when I unplug the DVD Drive it boots just fine. So I am assuming I messed up the DVD power supply channel when it shorted out. not a big deal as I can get a external drive but wanted to know your thoughts.

Just mail in a carton of beer.

An ATI Radeon 5870 Mac Pro card would be a much better option. In my Mac Pro days when I used to swap CPU's, SSDs, gfx cards etc etc etc I liked the HD4860 flashed PC card with 1GB of memory purchased from a Hong Kong dealer. The 2600 is a pretty flat, wimpy card. Let me give you a hint about that 'thought I did'. The old memory is as good as it is ever gonna get jbone!!!


http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATi-Radeon-...753?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item3ce341d369

Hi I don't know if I need to list a new thread or not. However I have tried 2 of the Ati Radeon HD 4870 512mb Both time it seems to work for a little then sometimes the screen will go blank and the fan on the graphic card will scream at full throttle. the only way to reset it is to power down and reboot the Mac. is it possible I got 2 bad Video cards or is there something else going on causing this. Is this card compatible with my machine.

Thanks in advance for you help

Hi I have a 2008 Mac pro 2.8 quad core
I have tried 2 different cards of the Ati Radeon HD 4870 512mb Both times it seems to work for a little then sometimes the screen will go blank and the fan on the graphic card will scream at full throttle. the only way to reset it is to power down and reboot the Mac. is it possible I got 2 bad Video cards or is there something else going on causing this. This card is compatible with my Mac right.


Thanks in advance for your help

Oh And I am running 10.5.8 . I have seen some comment about needing to be above 10.6 can somebody confirm that.

Thanks

@jbone:

Let's keep this thread all in one place. No need to start a new one. Everything has been merged here.

No, OS X.5.6 and later if a genuine Mac Pro version of the card. With a flashed PC card who knows?