Is my MacPro Dual-Core Intel Xeon on its last leg?

stanw · Jul 28, 2013

I have an older 2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon with 3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM.

It always seems kind of loud, though sometimes out of nowhere, the fans kick on real loud, like a plane is about to take off, and out of nowhere the screen goes black or it freezes and I have to cut the power and reboot.

Also, one of the drives I have inside of it does not mount, it did this previously and I had to unplug it and reconnect it and it showed up.

I am also getting some random lines that appear on the screen and go away.

1. Anyone have any ideas what is going on? Am I having hard drive failure? Graphics card failure?

Thanks!

brand · Jul 28, 2013

stanw said:
one of the drives I have inside of it does not mount, it did this previously and I had to unplug it and reconnect it and it showed up.

Did you plug it into a different hard drive bay?

stanw said:
Am I having hard drive failure?

Did you run the hard drive manufactures diagnostics utility or Apple Hardware Diagnostics? Both of those would be a good start.

stanw said:
Graphics card failure?

You didn't even mention the graphics card you have.

stanw · Jul 28, 2013

brand said:
Did you plug it into a different hard drive bay?

No, I will try that.

What is Apple Hardware Diagnostics?

I have a ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512 MB

Thanks.

pastrychef · Jul 28, 2013

It certainly sounds to me like the hard drive and graphic card are dying. The X1900 was one of the worst graphics cards I ever owned. It ran extremely hot and mine died within the first year.

brand · Jul 28, 2013

An invaluable tool for hardware diagnostics is SpinRite.

stanw · Jul 28, 2013

pastrychef said:
It certainly sounds to me like the hard drive and graphic card are dying. The X1900 was one of the worst graphics cards I ever owned. It ran extremely hot and mine died within the first year.

I guess I should be happy that it has made it for the past 6-yrs!

MacVidCards · Jul 28, 2013

Thin little horizontal lines are standard failure mode for X1900XT.

It will very soon refuse to show any display at all.

I would replace BEFORE this happens.

DPUser · Jul 28, 2013

Problems could be heat-related. Have you ever cleaned the beast out?

sirio76 · Jul 29, 2013

dpuser said:
problems could be heat-related. Have you ever cleaned the beast out?

+1

DanielCoffey · Jul 29, 2013

jj91171 - this is a discussion about heat in a Mac Pro, not a MacBook Pro.

If you have a look in the MacBook Pro laptop forum you may find the information you need.

stanw · Jul 30, 2013

I took a small handheld vacuum to the inside and very gently sucked up some dust . It seemed to pick up what I could see, though I didn't want to try to hard because I was concerned with breaking something. I just turned it on and was working with it for about 30 minutes before the screen turned off and the fan seemed to get louder .

1. Can I replace the graphics card with one of these?http://m.cnet.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-7950-gt/32065026

2. Before replacing the graphics card, is there anything else I should try?

Thanks!

bist · Jul 30, 2013

stanw said:
2. Before replacing the graphics card, is there anything else I should try?
Thanks!

I've seen 2 of this cards dying in less than 3 years: Their heat dissipation system is crap.

Before throwing it away (It may already be too late), you can try to :
- Change it's cooling system: Arctic made an "Accelero X2" (Probably hard to find today).
- Or simply replace the thermal paste.
It's easy to do.

666sheep · Jul 30, 2013

stanw said:
1. Can I replace the graphics card with one of these?http://m.cnet.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-7950-gt/32065026

2. Before replacing the graphics card, is there anything else I should try?

1. No, this one won't work.
2. Even if you'd resurrect it somehow it won't last long. Get a new card.

You'll find many threads about cards for 1,1 on this forum. Choose one for yourself depending on what OS you're running, whether you need/don't need bootscreen, apps you use the most.

stanw · Jul 30, 2013

I am running 10.7.3 and am going to buy a new iMac or MacPro in the fall and want to spend as little as possible, to extend the life of the MacPro to that time. Right now, I am honestly using the Mac for light web surfing and photo management in Lightroom.

From looking around, it seems like this card will work:

http://compare.ebay.com/like/271242353808?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

1. Is it a bad idea to buy a used card?
2. Based on my stated intentions, anyone have any other card replacement advice?

Thanks.

666sheep · Jul 31, 2013

5770 will be fine for your needs. IMO buying used cards isn't bad idea at all, as long as they're working, model you're buying is known as reliable and price is right.

stanw · Aug 1, 2013

I just remembered that I have an old PowerPC MacPro in storage, though I have no idea what type of graphics card is in it.

What is the likelihood that I could take that card out and put it into the MacPro in question?

Thanks!

DPUser · Aug 1, 2013

stanw said:
I just remembered that I have an old PowerPC MacPro in storage, though I have no idea what type of graphics card is in it.

What is the likelihood that I could take that card out and put it into the MacPro in question?

Thanks!

I'm going with Unlikelihood.

Only the last gen PPCs were PCIe. Beyond that, as a complete non-GPU expert, I have no idea, but doubts are running high.

Tesselator · Aug 1, 2013

666sheep said:
Get a new card.

Agree! They're not that expensive either. I got my 3-fan GTX570 Gigabyte card for $90 and I see similar cards on e-bay for $120 to $150 regularly. Such a card can follow you to any platform you might later choose as well. If you choose something like a GTX570 it'll be considered upper-middle class fast (comparatively) for a few years yet.

brand · Aug 1, 2013

stanw said:
I just remembered that I have an old PowerPC MacPro in storage, though I have no idea what type of graphics card is in it.

What is the likelihood that I could take that card out and put it into the MacPro in question?

Thanks!

There is no such thing as a PowerPC MacPro that was ever released to the public. It is more likely that are talking about a PowerMac.

666sheep · Aug 2, 2013

stanw said:
I just remembered that I have an old PowerPC MacPro in storage, though I have no idea what type of graphics card is in it.

What is the likelihood that I could take that card out and put it into the MacPro in question?

It's equal 0. Even if you'd have Late 2005 G5. PowerPC Macs use different firmware on their graphics cards, incompatible with Mac Pros.

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