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Dr. Nocturne

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2015
2
0
Hey guys,

new to the forums here. Done my fair share of reading but never any posting.
I'm really hoping someone can help me here. I'm about to go insane! This may be a long story so please bare with me. I'll thank you in advance for your time.

I have a mid 2010 Mac Pro 2.93 12 core. I use this machine to run my music production studio and it works great...until recently. About a month ago I noticed it after sleep mode I'd wake it and it would be frozen. The screen saver would go away and reveal my desktop as normal, my mouse would move (sometimes erratically), BUT it had frozen completely. I have to hard restart EVERYTIME. Sometimes the screen would look glitchy/spotty/pixelated.

Originally I chalked this all up to the original boot drive going bad after 5 years of use. So I replaced it, reinstalled 10.6.8, restored from my latest backup but still it freezes after sleep!
Can't be software related cause I essentially restored this thing down to default factory settings and hardware.

I've taken it to the Apple store 3 times and no one knows how to fix this. They ran the hard drive diagnostic tests which they all failed because they're not licensed Apple drives (still WD or Seagate). They have no idea how to fix this.

Here's a list of steps I have taken to resolve this:
-Repair disk permissions
-Reset PRAM
-Reset SMC
-Clean install of 10.6.8 AND 10.10.2 with no additional software
-Removed all other monitors
-Removed external drives and devices
-Removed 2 additional internal drives
-Removed 3rd party RAM
-Ran extended AHT (no errors)
-Unchecked "put hard disks to sleep when possible"

I've seen many posts like this but nothing quite as far gone with all the steps taken to resolve it.
PLEASE HELP! THANKS!
 

fastlanephil

macrumors 65816
Nov 17, 2007
1,289
274
Maybe install Little Snitch and see if you're being slaved. I use MacScan to check for possible critters.
 

Loa

macrumors 68000
May 5, 2003
1,723
75
Québec
Hello,

After everything you've checked it definitely looks like a hardware problem, in the CPU tray, logic or main board. If you have access to another 2010 MP, you could try switching CPU trays and see if it helps.

Only thing that comes to mind is try to install another OS, and see if the problem is solved.

Otherwise, just don't put it to sleep! :)

Loa
 

smallpotato

macrumors newbie
Mar 5, 2015
7
0
Mouse glitchiness in 2010 MP

For late model Pros especially, the graphics cards tend to overheat during sleep cycles. An overheat of a graphics card is known to cause slow UI and mouse movement, and would also explain why a restart would fix it. When restarting, the computer runs all fans at full speed (you might recognize that as the sound akin to a jumbo jet taking off). To fix this problem (I had it too with an ATI 4870 HD in my 2006) I just installed SMC Fan Control, which regulates the minimum speed of the fans. I set my PCI-e/Hard Drive fan to run at a minimum of 800 RPM even when sleeping. Since it is an inline fan, the sound really was not noticeable, and I never experienced the problem again.
 

pertusis1

macrumors 6502
Jul 25, 2010
455
161
Texas
For late model Pros especially, the graphics cards tend to overheat during sleep cycles. An overheat of a graphics card is known to cause slow UI and mouse movement, and would also explain why a restart would fix it. When restarting, the computer runs all fans at full speed (you might recognize that as the sound akin to a jumbo jet taking off). To fix this problem (I had it too with an ATI 4870 HD in my 2006) I just installed SMC Fan Control, which regulates the minimum speed of the fans. I set my PCI-e/Hard Drive fan to run at a minimum of 800 RPM even when sleeping. Since it is an inline fan, the sound really was not noticeable, and I never experienced the problem again.

I agree. If that doesn't work, do you have a spare video card you could try?
 

MCSN

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2012
103
0
Kayenta
sleeping beauty, great name for the problem.

you probably need something more on cooling like said above on video card or cpu
 
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