Mac Pro Blinking Question Mark

[adevejian]

I recently purchased the Mac Pro in my signature, and powering on for the first time (without installing the extra 1TB hdd and 16GB of RAM from OWC) brought up the infamous question mark. I've tried booting up by holding "c" and starting up from the CD. Raid Utility status is "good" but there are no drives available. I've also tried the Apple Hardware Test which passed without error. I then tried removing the 300GB SAS which came with the computer and installing the 1TB but that didn't work either. Any ideas? I also have Apple Care.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Well the SAS drive needs the RAID card installed. Do you have that? If you put in the other drive you need to install the OS onto it. The question mark means it doesn't see any drives with an OS on them. Put in the restore disc and try installing the OS onto the 1TB drive.

 

[adevejian]

I tried installing the OS on the 1TB but it didn't recognize it either. Shouldn't the RAID Utility stating the "good" status show that Apple installed a RAID card? (which I did add when configured the computer) Is there another way to see if there is a RAID card or how to test it other than what I've tried?

 

[sickmacdoc]

If the machine failed to boot starting right from the initial start, I would:

A- be pissed
and either
B- Be in an Apple store at the Genius Bar immediately
or
C- Be on the phone with Apple support immediately

If your brand new machine with those nice options does not boot I really think they owe you to take care of it right away!

 

[adevejian]

Yeah, it was such an anti-climax when i finally hooked up everything and pressed the power button for the first time..... and then the blinking ?. And I am kind of annoyed after spending roughly 10k on this machine.

I'll do Genius Bar / Apple Care tomorrow when they're open.

 

[adevejian]

Ok, so now my Mac Pro works.

After trying countless maneuvers to get my machine up and running I gave up and left it powered off. A few hours later I turn on my Mac just to try it out again and it magically recognized my drive and began installation of OSX.

Strange. Hopefully it will continue to recognize them.

 

[Virtuoso]

Keep an eye on the status of your RAID battery. When you first get your machine, it can take a couple of days before the battery is fully conditioned.

Was OS X not preinstalled on your Mac Pro? You shouldn't really have to install it yourself.

 

[adevejian]

I'm not sure if it was pre-installed, I'm guessing now that it most likely was by Apple. This is my first mac so I didn't know if OSX was on there or not. I think I had the CD in the case when I powered on and it auto-loaded the OSX installer so I just went with it.

 

[adevejian]

My new (small) problem I have now is that I have Detect Displays ever time I restart in order to get the resolution I want. I have a Dell 2405 FPW if that helps (getting an ACD as soon as the next gen comes out)