How to remotely shutdown Mac Pro via LAN

I just bought a new screen for my MacPro ('09). I had it running a few audio apps. After I hot swapped the screens, I couldn't get a signal on any of them. The video feed seems to have cut off. I need to power down my tower remotely using my laptop, LAN cable and Terminal, but I don't have remote access enabled in the system preferences and I don't know it's IP address.

What can I do?

DaftBro said:

I just bought a new screen for my MacPro ('09).

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A point of clarification. Are you talking about a "Mac Pro" or "MacBook Pro"?

Mac Pro = desktop computer
MacBook Pro = laptop/notebook computer

- Nick

hey nick, it's a 2009 Mac Pro quad-core tower computer running OS X 10.6.8

DaftBro said:

hey nick, it's a 2009 Mac Pro quad-core tower computer running OS X 10.6.8

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Thanks for the info. The reason why I asked was…a display on a Mac Pro desktop computer (as with any desktop computer)…should operate independently of the computer it is attached to. And should not effect the operation of the computer or the installed apps (from a remote access perspective).

"Hot Swapping" of the screen/display may not be a good idea…since the computer may need to be rebooted to properly detect/sync with the display.

I'm a bit confused as to your physical access to this computer. Are you saying you have no physical access to this computer? When the display was hot-swapped (I'm assuming by you)…and the display was getting no video signal...how come no fresh reboot was done when this was experienced (no video on the hot-swapped display)? Especially since the issue mentioned should have been noticeable immediately after the hot-swapped display.

I'm not "judging"…just trying to understand the situation better.

- Nick

thanks for the reply Nick. I really should have have rebooted or better have shutdown the Mac before swapping displays. Silly me...

I plugged out the "old" display who was connected via VGA adapter to the Mini-DVI port and connected my new Samsung screen via HDMI adapter to the same Mini-DVI port. The computer didn't recognize the new screen, so I plugged the old one back in. Yet the old screen won't get any signal now either (I really don't get that part since it was already in sycn but what the ****).

I really need to shut my Mac Pro down clean, since it's my work machine and I depend on it. I am very cautious with it, which is why I rarely connect it to the internet (almost never). It does have a Wi-Fi antenna, but at the moment is not logged in to my router. Nor did I set it up to remember the network.

What I could to is shut it down via ethernet cable with my MacBookPro using ssh command, yet I don't know the Mac Pro's IP address.

Is there a log in the Library folder (which I can grab from the backup) that mentions it?

DaftBro said:

I really should have have rebooted or better have shutdown the Mac before swapping displays. Silly me…

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No problem. Stuff happens!

DaftBro said:

...and connected my new Samsung screen…

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Ughh…don't get me started with Samsung ("Samdung") products. I've had nothing but problems with most Samsung products I owned.

DaftBro said:

Yet the old screen won't get any signal now either (I really don't get that part since it was already in sycn but what the ****).

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This is confusing…but maybe a reboot would help.

DaftBro said:

I really need to shut my Mac Pro down clean, since it's my work machine and I depend on it.

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You didn't answer my above question. Do you have no physical access to your Mac Pro? If you don't have physical access to it…is this a temporary thing (you will have access to it within 24 hours)…or a long term thing (such as you are traveling on business & won't be near the computer for days or more).

DaftBro said:

What I could to is shut it down via ethernet cable with my MacBookPro using ssh command, yet I don't know the Mac Pro's IP address.

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Are you able to connect to your Mac Pro remotely at all at this point? if not…it's going to be pretty hard to connect to a computer remotely if the computer can't be "found". Such as with an IP address.

- Nick

Yes I can connect to the MacPro physically. Otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned the cable procedure

DaftBro said:

Yes I can connect to the MacPro physically. Otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned the cable procedure

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The ethernet cable procedure detail was not clear (at least not to me). This is why I was asking. You know what's going on…but I don't since I'm probably 100's or 1000's of miles away, and can't see what's gong on. The ethernet cable procedure could be done locally (standing next to the computer) or remotely (1000's of miles away).

Ethernet cable is a communications "pipe". It can locally be connected directly between two computers…or an ethernet cable can be used in California (connected to the internet via a router, switch, cable modem, etc.) to connect to another computer in New York City. The posts did not make thing clear where you & the computer are located (next to each other or at a great distance).

Anyways…if you are physically in the same location as this Mac Pro computer (can see, smell, and touch it)…why in the world are we talking about connecting to this Mac Pro remotely with a laptop to power it down with a LAN cable and Terminal?? If you're standing right next to this Mac Pro…just press & hold down the power button…or worst case scenario…pull the power plug. Then reboot the computer.

No need to confuse things by talking about connecting externally with a laptop, using a LAN cable, IP address, using terminal, etc. The way the posts were presented up to this point…made it sound like you were at least miles & miles away from this Mac Pro…and needed to connect remotely because you weren't in the same physical location as the computer.

Just connect the old (working) monitor to the Mac Pro…and reboot it!!!

- Nick

ok, sorry for the confusion. I must have have articulated myself poorly.

I am within reach of my computer. I could force it to power down by holding down the power button, yet since I have a lot of processor intensive apps running, I will do more damage than good. If I force it to power down that way, it will refrain from writing crucial logout files which in my experience leads to heavy fragmentation. All computers which I've worked on that needed occasional forced shutdowns didn't last very long. Since this is the workstation that I make a living from, I have to find another way (which I am sure there is...)

and just to speak clearly: No monitor is working. No matter which monitor I plug in (old or new) I get a black screen

DaftBro said:

ok, sorry for the confusion. I must have have articulated myself poorly.

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Again…no problems. Sometimes what we write on an internet forum makes sense to us…but not to others reading it. I'm certainly guilty of this from time to time.

DaftBro said:

I could force it to power down by holding down the power button, yet since I have a lot of processor intensive apps running, I will do more damage than good. If I force it to power down that way, it will refrain from writing crucial logout files which in my experience leads to heavy fragmentation. All computers which I've worked on that needed occasional forced shutdowns didn't last very long. Since this is the workstation that I make a living from, I have to find another way (which I am sure there is...)

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You of course know what's best in your situation. So I'm certainly not going to suggest anything that would cause loss of data or a hardware issue. But…computers can occasionally freeze up for no reason…or have a kernel panic…forcing a "hard shutdown" as I described. I've many times done a hard shutdown…without any harmful results (but I do know that sometimes hard shutdowns can cause issues). But again…you know your setup best…and you know what risks you may have.

Not trying to "rub salt in the wound" or anything. But if this system is this important & sensitive to hard shutdowns…hot swapping the display probably wasn't such a great idea.

If this computer is on a network (LAN or WiFi)…it may be possible to log into your networks router to get the IP address of the Mac Pro. But if all network settings are off on the computer…then this probably isn't possible (either remotely or locally).

The only other thing I can think of suggesting is…keep trying to connect display's to the computer until you at least get something (some sort of video signal…even if it's not the best resolution setting). Then shut down each app that's open…and do a software "restart" of the computer.

Good luck,

- Nick

DaftBro said:

and just to speak clearly: No monitor is working. No matter which monitor I plug in (old or new) I get a black screen

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Ok.

Just as an FYI (in case you didn't know). Some monitors have "hidden" OSD (On Screen Display) settings that may need to be adjusted to communicate properly to display the video signal coming from the computer. Something to try/look into.

- Nick

thanks Nick! I'll give it a try