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2nd mac pro issues????? oh man.

T

thedommer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 13, 2008
178
4
sooooooo got home. there was my new mac pro. brought it upstairs. removed the old mac pro (by old I mean 3 weeks old). then put my hard drives from the old mac pro into the new one. added my ram to the 1st 2 slots then put the new mac pros apple ram to the second 2 slots. then booted.

everything went fine. then I checked ram. only 4 gigs was showing up. (first slot on each ram card)

shut down. removed all ram. put apple ram in first 2 slots. mine in second 2. reboot. only 2 gigs shows up(2 1 gig sticks).

removed all my hard drives. put the one that came with it back in. booted into the fresh new OSX. still only 2 gigs.

Im at a total loss here people. anyone have any idea what to do? is this one defective too????
 
just tried the ram from the older mac. tried the dimm cards from the older mac. tried a ton of different configurations.

Dimm 2 on both cards wont show up in the new mac.....
 
How are you placing the RAM configurations?? I know that you need 2 matching on each board of the same gb for it to pick up under osx. Say you have 1gb then 2gb next to each other on a board, that's not going to work.

It has to be 2gbx2 on top riser both slot 1 and 1gbx2 on bottom riser both in slot 1.. is this how you configured it?
 
What was wrong with your "old" MP anyway? Are you the guy that had the Kernel Panic problem (and 2 guys were fighting over how to solve the problem - clean install or not)?
 
thedommer said:
sooooooo got home. there was my new mac pro. brought it upstairs. removed the old mac pro (by old I mean 3 weeks old). then put my hard drives from the old mac pro into the new one. added my ram to the 1st 2 slots then put the new mac pros apple ram to the second 2 slots. then booted.
Click to expand...

By the second 2 slots do you mean the
first two slots on the second riser?

I'm just a little confused here :)

Thanks.
 
It's like this:
First you'll see Apple put one RAM stick in each riser. Like this:
2366431218_7a41c3b671.jpg


You have to take one of the Apple RAM sticks from one riser and pair it up on the other riser. Then add you new RAM to the other riser in a pair.

1st pair: Riser A
2nd pair: Riser B
(both risers are the same so it doesn't matter which one you call "A" or "B", as long as your "A" goes on the top.)

Like this: One matched pair on each riser.
2366431220_1512016097.jpg


Now if you were to add two more pairs you would do it like this:
3rd pair: Riser A
4th pair: Riser B
 
yes I know ram has to go in pairs....

I tried configurations using the apple ram from the old mac, apple ram from new mac, and my third part ram.

I also tried the sliders (dont know what you call them) from the old mac.

every time I added ram I did it in pairs. BUT just so you know, it will show up if you dont put it in pairs. Im pretty sure it just wont use the ram effectively. however I did do it exactly as shown in the pictures by the last poster.

and yes I know where each dimm spot is. when I put 3 sticks in each slider ( in pairs - one stick on each slider) the second dimm doesnt show that any ram is there. however dimms 1 and 3 on both sliders show ram.

oh and I ran apple hardware test with 2 sticks in and it passed. I ran it with 4 sticks in and it doesn't make it to the hardware test. it freezes at probing.

yes im the one who had the very unstable mac pro last time where the thread turned into a battle between my tech support :) the last mac pro was just unstable so I lost countless hours trying figure out what was wrong with it and how to get it to work properly. this one has obvious hardware errors. kinda wish this was the 1st one i got. would have saved lots of time.
 
You see any error lights on the riser? Each dimm slot has a corresponding LED that lights up on initial boot then turns off after a correct POST. One of my risers was bad and would show the LED on regardless of which ram I put it in it.
 
djjclark said:
You see any error lights on the riser? Each dimm slot has a corresponding LED that lights up on initial boot then turns off after a correct POST. One of my risers was bad and would show the LED on regardless of which ram I put it in it.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info! Ill check that out when I get home. either way its definately defective. if its crashing the mac hardware test there has to be something wrong!
 
definitely not the ram. I tried 3 different pairs in it and no matter what pair I put in it didn't show up in OSX(when in the second dimm) and it crashed the mac hardware test (when in dimm 2). Im 100% certain its the logic board....or at least something hardware related that isn't the ram.
 
Sorry to hear about all your problems, Man!

Wish you lived closer... I'd come fix that damn thing for you ;-)
 
... wouldn't that void my warranty? :)

anyways. if its the logic board I dont want to fool around with that. Im going to keep going at this until they send me one that works! I paid for it so I will get it.
 
Just sign up for a spot at the Genius Bar at an Apple Store; let them know of your problem & bring the ram.

If you needed to get your logics board replaced, it should only take a few days. All the repair parts are usually shipped next day.
 
anthonyjr said:
Just sign up for a spot at the Genius Bar at an Apple Store; let them know of your problem & bring the ram.

If you needed to get your logics board replaced, it should only take a few days. All the repair parts are usually shipped next day.
Click to expand...

there is no way I'm getting a mac repaired that arrived at my house yesterday! repairs are for when its not brand new. Apple will have no issue sending a new one. I want to start out with a stable system. then Ill deal with repairs as needed in the future. but hell no! not right away! a damaged logic board could mean it was dropped or hit around to hard in transit. so I fix the board..but something else might go next.. Its much safer to start off with something thats stable instead of patching something thats not! Then as the machine gets older there will be other repairs but those are ok and should be expected.

to the question is apple going to send you a third one... I will be talking to my rep tomorrow but obviously they will. there is no way that they would say "well we tried twice and obviously you just cant get a good one. so sorry you have to go get it repaired." It their fault. They will deal with it. They have reasonable customer service.

greg - wow. four! well done :) I really hope thirds a charm. The computer is pretty much the core of my work and music. So not having a stable system really causes a lot of trouble. Goooooooo Apple QC! YAY!
 
thedommer said:
yes I know ram has to go in pairs....

I tried configurations using the apple ram from the old mac, apple ram from new mac, and my third part ram.

I also tried the sliders (dont know what you call them) from the old mac.

every time I added ram I did it in pairs. BUT just so you know, it will show up if you dont put it in pairs. Im pretty sure it just wont use the ram effectively. however I did do it exactly as shown in the pictures by the last poster.

and yes I know where each dimm spot is. when I put 3 sticks in each slider ( in pairs - one stick on each slider) the second dimm doesnt show that any ram is there. however dimms 1 and 3 on both sliders show ram.
Click to expand...

Just to double check, the setup with 3 sticks on each riser is to prove that there's something wrong? I ask because no valid memory config according to the instructions ever leaves you with 3 sticks on each riser. When you have only 1 pair (2 sticks) as the default config has you put one stick in each riser (slider). When you have more than 1 pair then the ordering changes and each pair goes on the same riser.

So you have Pair X and Pair Y of memory to go on Riser A (top) and Riser B (bottom). Pair X would go in Riser A with stick X1 into the first slot on A and stick X2 on the second slot. Pair Y goes on Riser B with stick Y1 going into the first slot on B and stick Y2 going into the second slot on B.

If the picture attached in a previous post, the first pic shows one stick from the one pair in each riser. When a second pair is added, one of the original sticks moves to the other riser (notice the stickers on the memory) and the other, now empty riser, gets the new pair.
 
you guys are absolutely right! thanks for pointing that out. I didn't read it correctly. that was stupid. anyways for the 1st mac pro thats irrelevant as i only have the apple ram in the proper config.

for the second mac pro I'm pretty sure its irrelevant to because even if the ram is installed wrong it will still show up. I did at one point missmatch ram while testing by mistake and it still showed up just fine. Ill try again tonight to verify.

also in my old mac pro when I did have all for sticks in briefly they all showed up. So while this is good to know information it doesn't solve the problem. Although once I get a mac that works I'm sure it will help with the speed. thanks guys.

dom
 
just a quick update in my fun switch to mac.

sent the second mac pro back march 31st. still waiting for the third.... Ill be really pissed off if I finally get a working mac pro about the same time they do some new update :( (like bluray)
 
I spoke too soon. My fourth mac pro just died. It worked fine for 3 weeks now it's just died for no reason at all. I used it yesterday, shut it down as normal, went to bed, got up this morning and pressed the power button, and nothing. Absolutely nothing. No light, no HD motors, no fans, nothing. Acts as though the power button is not even connected to anything. Tried other power sockets, tried SMC resets, still nothing. I had not moved it or touched it in between it working yesterday and being dead today. There can't have been a power cut or surge or anything like that during the night because an older mac was running all night from the same outlet and was still running in the morning.
This is just getting ridiculous. How much more of my time is going to be wasted by mac pro 2008 problems?
Is there anything else I should try doing to resurrect this machine before I get in the queue for an Apple genius? I see there is a button marked reset on the logic board above and behind the pci express slots. What does this reset and is it worth pushing it?
 
GregPacker said:
I spoke too soon. My fourth mac pro just died. It worked fine for 3 weeks now it's just died for no reason at all. I used it yesterday, shut it down as normal, went to bed, got up this morning and pressed the power button, and nothing. Absolutely nothing. No light, no HD motors, no fans, nothing. Acts as though the power button is not even connected to anything. Tried other power sockets, tried SMC resets, still nothing. I had not moved it or touched it in between it working yesterday and being dead today. There can't have been a power cut or surge or anything like that during the night because an older mac was running all night from the same outlet and was still running in the morning.
This is just getting ridiculous. How much more of my time is going to be wasted by mac pro 2008 problems?
Is there anything else I should try doing to resurrect this machine before I get in the queue for an Apple genius? I see there is a button marked reset on the logic board above and behind the pci express slots. What does this reset and is it worth pushing it?
Click to expand...


Almost all electronic failures happen when the device is first turned on. So, theoretically, you could prolong the life of the machine by just never turning it off ;)

So, with your next system (#5) just turn it on the first time, and then never reboot or turn it off again. Should be fine :D

I've actually seen cases of computers that were left on for 10 years or more without ever being turned off. Then, someone shuts it off, and it dies when turned on again. Was 100% reliable, and then dead.

In all seriousness, I would consider that perhaps the new Mac Pro just isn't for you. Perhaps you're getting a rather subtle hint and you're just not supposed to get a new Mac. Maybe Karma is just catching up ;)

Either way, I'd take it back. Either write off the whole deal, and move on. Or, get another one and hope for the best.

Sometimes life sends us little hints, and we just have to accept that it isn't going to work for us. Perhaps you're destined for PC's :D O.K., who's gas tank did you put sugar in??? :D
 
GregPacker said:
I spoke too soon. My fourth mac pro just died. It worked fine for 3 weeks now it's just died for no reason at all. I used it yesterday, shut it down as normal, went to bed, got up this morning and pressed the power button, and nothing. Absolutely nothing. No light, no HD motors, no fans, nothing. Acts as though the power button is not even connected to anything. Tried other power sockets, tried SMC resets, still nothing. I had not moved it or touched it in between it working yesterday and being dead today. There can't have been a power cut or surge or anything like that during the night because an older mac was running all night from the same outlet and was still running in the morning.
This is just getting ridiculous. How much more of my time is going to be wasted by mac pro 2008 problems?
Is there anything else I should try doing to resurrect this machine before I get in the queue for an Apple genius? I see there is a button marked reset on the logic board above and behind the pci express slots. What does this reset and is it worth pushing it?
Click to expand...

whoa... man sorry to hear... its so weird how there are problems with 4 mac pros in a row!! Only thing to say to you is just keep on exchanging until you get a non lemon and make sure to buy applecare!!
 
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