MacPro 1,1 - What is my bad part?

Dear community,

I am having trouble with my Mac Pro 1,1.

One day a short time ago, the display went dark and remained dark and the boot process would not start ever since. Everything still seems as always. LEDs on RAM slider flash on startup, LEDs on ATI Radeon X1900XT go on, GPU fan comes on, system fan comes on. But nothing else happens.

SETUP back then:


So I bought a used X1900XT on the internet for almost USD 100, oh my.
It did everything the same way the old X1900XT would do. No boot, no image onscreen, the GPU obviously wasn’t bad.

I am sure it is not the RAM. I checked the RAM thoroughly and I am sure all 8 bars are working.

But WHAT IS THE BAD PART?

The power supply?
The logic board?


In VIDEO 1 you see what happens when I switch on the Mac with 2 ATI X1900XTs installed. No boot, no image. Holding shift key does nothing. But the RAM LEDs flash, and both X1900XTs come on as if they were working. But no boot, no image onscreen.

In VIDEO 2 you see what happens when I switch on the Mac with 1 XFX NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 (old but fully tested and working 64bit GPU, supported natively in OSX).
This video card should work easily on this Mac.

SETUP is now:

My guess is the power supply. Why would it not at least fire up the GTX 285 in any sense? It just stays dead, as if there were no power at all.

PLEASE dear community, share your experience with me.
Thank you.

Over time…power supplies can get weaker & weaker to the point that the computer may not operate.

If you want to test the theory that the power supply is going bad…you need to remove as much removable hardware out of the computer that is putting demand on the power supply. For example:

- have only one storage device (remove all others)
- No 2x video cards. Just one video card…the lowest power one you got.
- remove all other PCI cards
- only install minimum ram (2 sticks I believe)

With this minimum setup…see if the computer boots.

- Nick

p.s. Also make sure the computer is clean…reduce heat buildup (especially the CPU heat sinks).

still nothing

pigoo3 said:

With this minimum setup…see if the computer boots.

- Nick

p.s. Also make sure the computer is clean…reduce heat buildup (especially the CPU heat sinks).

Click to expand...

I took out all RAM except 2 x 512 GB, one in each slider at position 1.
I unplugged the SuperDrive.

SETUP is now:

Apple MacPro 1,1
ATI Radeon X1900XT Mac Edition in PCIe Slot 1
1GB RAM (2x 512MB, one in each slider at DIMM 1 position)
OCZ Agility 3 SSD 240GB in SATA Slot 1

in USB:
Standard Apple Keyboard + Microsoft Standard Mouse
Kingston Data Traveller 3.0 16GB

Computer fires up RAM sliders, GPU fan and LEDs, system fan.

No boot, black screen.

Did you watch VIDEO 2 with the GTX 285? No power at all it seem...

Thanks...

Yes…I looked at both videos (actually video #1 contains video 2)…as you much be aware of.

Are you 100% sure your monitor/display & display cable are good?

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Yes…I looked at both videos (actually video #1 contains video 2)…as you much be aware of.

Are you 100% sure your monitor/display & display cable are good?

- Nick

Click to expand...

Yes Nick I am very sure.
I have tested all cables except the ones that are inside the mac.
But I also took apart the whole Mac just down to the full access to the logic board within the last 2 hrs.
Nothings seems welded, melted or otherwisely strange on neither logic board nor power supply.
Cleaned everything nicely, put all back together nicely without a flaw, like I have done with other Macs and Laptops dozens of times.

Still: no result.
The screen stays black.

How can the XFX GeForce GTX 285 can NO power at all, when the same power supply can seemingly fire up 2 X1900XTs?
This is a mystery...
I will order a power supply I think, it has a return policy in case.
Would you agree?

btw the videos are now correct... I uploaded the wrong VIDEO 1 earlier, the long version - now it is the short one...

If the power supply is returnable then give it a try. I guess I will throw this in too although you may have done this already - reset the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM.

Let us know what you find out.

Lisa

Yes, thank you Lisa. The hardware does not get far enough for NVRAM.
I found a refurbished power suppy for 150 Euros (from Germany) and will try it. I have a feeling I might succeed.
If otherwise, I will return the ps and get a identical motherboard (only non-returnable so far).
I will report afterwards.
Regards!

Have you checked the monitor with another computer at all? They do fail.

I see the Red Led's are on on the 1900xt's. Don't those indicate failure?