Mac Pro no boot, no chime, no keyboard

[juliuskrakow]

Recently purchased a 2009 Mac Pro 4.1 2.26 GHz for very cheap in a thrift store as a fun project.

At first it would turn on (not boot) but immediately turn off after a few seconds. This was helped by (I assume) the 3V battery charing a bit and later it would stay turned on. The 3V battery was also replaced.

Next issue was the red LEDs on the processor board that would stay on. This was fixed by replacing a missing rivet for the north bridge heatsink. Before that fix there was no video, after there is video but only a gray screen, no question mark or anything.

- I've never heard it chime so it's obviously not passing POST.
- I did the minimal diagnosis and it passed everything except the chime.
- CAPS on keyboard does not light up and the MP does not respond to PRAM-reset command.
- Fans work fine, do not ramp up to 100%.
- Bootable HDD tried in bays 1 and 2.
- I have switched out CPU A and B but no difference.
- Radeon GPU installed. Gray screen appears when connected to DVI, not when connected to MiniDisplay ports.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks for your time!

 

[pigoo3]

First…Welcome to Mac-Forums!

Second…very very lucky you…finding a Mac Pro cheaply at a Thrift Store (I never get quite this lucky)! But on the other hand…maybe there's a very good reason why the previous owner donated it.

Sounds like you've done quite bit of testing/troubleshooting so far. One other thing to consider could be the power supply. Since you said the computer would power off right away. Later you did say that the computer stayed on…just got the gray screen (no video).

Does the computer have any signs of physical damage (badly scratched or dented case)…or are any of the "feet/handles" mangled up, crushed in, or bent? If so…maybe this computer was seriously dropped…causing some major damage inside…and maybe that's how that heatsink rivet when missing (broke off).

Just some thoughts,

- Nick

 

[juliuskrakow]

First…Welcome to Mac-Forums!

Second…very very lucky you…finding a Mac Pro cheaply at a Thrift Store (I never get quite this lucky)! But on the other hand…maybe there's a very good reason why the previous owner donated it.

Sounds like you've done quite bit of testing/troubleshooting so far. One other thing to consider could be the power supply. Since you said the computer would power off right away. Later you did say that the computer stayed on…just got the gray screen (no video).

Does the computer have any signs of physical damage (badly scratched or dented case)…or are any of the "feet/handles" mangled up, crushed in, or bent? If so…maybe this computer was seriously dropped…causing some major damage inside…and maybe that's how that heatsink rivet when missing (broke off).

Just some thoughts,

- Nick

Thanks Nick!

There are no outer signs of physical damage. It was very dusty before I cleaned it though.
A lot of people seem to be having the issue with the rivets so perhaps it could have broken off without excessive force.
I guess the PSU could be the issue but since the 5V LED and the OVTMP CPU LEDs all light up as they should, and as the fans and GPU also have power I figured the PSU was OK.
I also read that if the 3V battery is low the computer can behave that way with powering down right after startup. After I changed the battery it hasn't done that again.

Btw, I've tried the keyboard in both front and back USB ports.

 

[juliuskrakow]

Update: I re-connected the Optic drive that had been out the whole time and now, after the gray screen, I get a message saying "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key".

What's going on here?

 

[harryb2448]

Sounds like it does not have an operating system o0n it as it would be logiical to wipe the machine before discarding. If you are experienced with Macs and have access to another, try downloading El Capitan. if not purchase a Snow Leopard DVD from Apple onlin for $20.00 and boot from that and see if an operating system will set up.

 

[pm-r]

Nice find!!

I didn't realize that model had such a range:
Pre-Installed MacOS: X 10.5.6 (9G3553) Maximum MacOS: Current*

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...eight-core-2.26-early-2009-nehalem-specs.html

But "…and press any key"??? Really??? I thought one needed to press the C key when the install disk was inserted.




- Patrick
======

 

[juliuskrakow]

All of a sudden USB works. I think after plugging in the optical drive (!).
Now installing El Capitan from a bootable USB, seems to be working just fine, knock on wood.

Thanks everyone!

 

[harryb2448]

Keep us posted.

 

[Quinten]

Dammit you are lucky! The 2009 MacPro is a wonderfull machine . Very interested to see how it turns out

 

[juliuskrakow]

Update:
Have been running pretty intense Ableton Live sessions for a few weeks and everything works fine performance wise. Geekbench 3 32-bit multicore just over 12000.
Have been to busy to open it up since I got it up and running but there's no Airport card recognized and Bluetooth doesn't work. I'll look into those but since I don't need either of them it hasn't been on the top of my priorities.

Next step is to install 3.46 Xeons. Will keep you posted on that! Until then, thanks for your time and interest.

 

[Laraine]

Congratulations! You deserve to have a lovely machine after all that hard work. I have a 2008 8-core 2.8 and even it can take El Capitan. However, it's not able to take MacOS Sierra. Not according to http://osxdaily.com/2016/06/14/macos-sierra-compatibility-list/ anyway.