MacPro Non Responsive (LED: CPU A and B FAIL)

[ryan3372]

I have a MacPro (intel based) roughly 2+ years old. Two days ago I attempted to start it up and every sounded normal (fans running disk movement) but no tone, no monitor activity and no mouse activity (no light). Since this I have zapped PRAM, removed all other devices, and hit the reset button inside the CPU. And still nothing, just sound of a working computer and the light white light (not blinking, as if everything was normal).

This morning I was looking at the LED diag. inside and noticed it read CPU A and CPU B had red lights on FAIL. Is there anything else I can try or is my computer a giant paper weight now? One of my friends said it was most likely a fired motherboard (if so can it be replaced?)

Thanks for any direction or advice!!!!!
Ryan

 

[pigoo3]

I have a MacPro (intel based) roughly 2+ years old.

All "Mac Pro's" are Intel based. Just to be clear...are we talking about a desktop "Mac Pro"...or are we talking about a "MacBook Pro" (laptop)?

Sure the logic board can be replaced (any part of a computer can be replaced)...but you don't want to know how much!

- Nick

 

[ryan3372]

Sorry, this is a desktop. If it is the logic board,how would I know for sure and where can I get one?

 

[pigoo3]

Sorry, this is a desktop. If it is the logic board,how would I know for sure and where can I get one?

Just wanted to be sure it was a desktop. Some folks erroneously call their MacBook Pro's (laptop) a Mac Pro.

- Can you tell use the specifications of the computer?
- Have you recently upgraded anything on it?
- Has anything physically happened to it recently to have caused a problem?
- Is it possible to boot from the gray CD's/DVD that came with the computer?
- Is it possible this computer is still under warranty?

- Nick

 

[ryan3372]

Thanks for the help

Thanks for the help, Nick!

It is a Mac Pro 2 X 2.66 GHz (it might actually be 2 x 3 GHz, I forgot which one I ended up getting.) Dual-Core Intel Xeon with 6 GB of RAM ,running 10.4.11, no recent upgrades, no new software. Unfortunately the warranty has expired. Nothing has happened to the computer at all. It did this same thing about three months ago, but I got it back up by using the internal reset button within a few hours. I have not tried booting from a DVD but I will tonight.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for the help, Nick!

It is a Mac Pro 2 X 2.66 GHz (it might actually be 2 x 3 GHz, I forgot which one I ended up getting.) Dual-Core Intel Xeon with 6 GB of RAM ,running 10.4.11, no recent upgrades, no new software. Unfortunately the warranty has expired. Nothing has happened to the computer at all. It did this same thing about three months ago, but I got it back up by using the internal reset button within a few hours. I have not tried booting from a DVD but I will tonight.

Thanks for the additional details. The reason why I asked about being able to boot from a CD/DVD is:

- this could help determine if there is a hard drive issue
- would allow you to run the hardware test program (contained on the gray disk(s) that came with the computer).

Let us know how it turns out,

- Nick

 

[ryan3372]

Just tried to reboot using the grey disk and still nothing. I could hear the disk spinning as if it were booting off of the disk. But no activity on my monitor or mouse.

I've had Macs all my life and never had a problem like this one. Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[pigoo3]

Just tried to reboot using the grey disk and still nothing. I could hear the disk spinning as if it were booting off of the disk. But no activity on my monitor or mouse.

I've had Macs all my life and never had a problem like this one. Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it.

Did you hold down the "C" key when trying to boot from the CD/DVD?

- Nick

 

[ryan3372]

yes I held down the C key and tried three times and still nothing.

 

[ryan3372]

Computer still not working with those LED lights still red. When I tried booting off CD holding down C it seemed like the keyboard wasn't even being seen. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

 

[pigoo3]

Computer still not working with those LED lights still red. When I tried booting off CD holding down C it seemed like the keyboard wasn't even being seen. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Not sure if you tried this...if not something else to try. Resetting the SMC:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

Scroll down & click on "Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro."

- Nick

 

[ryan3372]

Thanks Nick! I reset the SMC and still nothing. I finally made an appointment with the mac store tonight to see if they can figure it out. If they can I'll post what they say. But thanks for you're help and if you have any other thoughts, please let me know.

 

[pigoo3]

I will be very interested in what they find.

Good luck,

- Nick

 

[ryan3372]

Hi Nick-

Apple says it is a fried logicboard. They are replacing it now for 700 bucks (new board and labor). The tech told me we did everything we could have except remove the video card and restart, to see if the video card was the culprit.

Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it!

 

[pigoo3]

Hi Nick-

Apple says it is a fried logicboard. They are replacing it now for 700 bucks (new board and labor). The tech told me we did everything we could have except remove the video card and restart, to see if the video card was the culprit.

Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it!

Generally speaking paying for a logic board replacement isn't worth it. But on the much more expensive Mac Pro's...it's probably is.

Hopefully your Mac Pro will be running fine soon!

- Nick

 

[mikeneko]

--

Generally speaking paying for a logic board replacement isn't worth it. But on the much more expensive Mac Pro's...it's probably is.

Hopefully your Mac Pro will be running fine soon!

- Nick

Did you find an answer to your problem?
I had the same problem with my Mac Pro and solve my problem based on this web information. I hope it is helpful for your case.

Possibly recover from a dual CPU failure on a Mac Pro

When I tried to boot my Mac Pro recently, it failed -- all I got was a black screen and a chime. I opened the case, and on the motherboard, I saw two LEDs were red: the cpuA and cpuB failure lights.

My warranty is over, but here are the steps I followed to get it working again:
Turn off your Mac and unplug the power cord.
Remove the CMOS battery on the motherboard (just above the graphic card).
Wait 10 seconds -- I'm not sure if this is necessary, but it worked for me.
Plug the power cord back into the Mac.
Press the power button. The Mac should boot normally and give you the startup chime, but you want your CMOS battery back.
Turn off the Mac, then unplug the power cord again.
Put the CMOS battery back in.
That's it; boot and enjoy!

 

[bmxlee]

Whoever you are I need to send you a case of wine! You are my hero. I can't believe that worked! That's all I needed to do! You are the best!! Thank you so much!

 

[chscag]

It's always great when a post that's 3 years old can still help someone! Glad to hear you got your Mac Pro up and running again.

 

[bespoke_visions]

My warranty is over, but here are the steps I followed to get it working again:
Turn off your Mac and unplug the power cord.
Remove the CMOS battery on the motherboard (just above the graphic card).
Wait 10 seconds -- I'm not sure if this is necessary, but it worked for me.
Plug the power cord back into the Mac.
Press the power button. The Mac should boot normally and give you the startup chime, but you want your CMOS battery back.
Turn off the Mac, then unplug the power cord again.
Put the CMOS battery back in.
That's it; boot and enjoy!
[/QUOTE]

This worked a treat up to the point of removing the CMOS battery and rebooting perfectly.
Once I put the battery back in it stopped rebooting.
I replaced the battery with a new one and now it just gets stuck in a rebooting loop with the chime continuously going off.

Has anyone else come across this issue?
Would it be worth leaving the CMOS battery out and using the Mac without it if it seems to be booting without it??