Bizarre Mac Pro problem

[dogbait]

My Mac Pro sits under my desk. Anytime I bump into it with my knee it crashes with the "You need to restart your computer message...".

The slightest tap sets it off.

I had a hunch that perhaps a hard disk was sensitive to vibration and have taken out all four hard disks and connected only an external firewire disk but the machine still exhibits the problem.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

 

[seisend]

I would check if every hardware component is plugged in correctly. Shut down the Mac Pro and disconnect it from the Power source. Disassamble and reassamble all parts that can be disconnected (HDD,PCI-E,CPU board,RAM,etc.) Maybe check some intern cables on your logic board too.

 

[dogbait]

Thanks for the tip. Spent some time tapping the internals of the machine until I found the culprit. The problem was a RAM card which also had a DIMM light lit red on it. After reinserting the suspect DIMM and then reinserting the card the Mac seems fine.

 

[gotzero]

For future reference and searches a problem like this almost always going to have to do with loose RAM.

 

[Keniff]

My Mac Pro sits under my desk. Anytime I bump into it with my knee it crashes with the "You need to restart your computer message...".

The slightest tap sets it off.

I had a hunch that perhaps a hard disk was sensitive to vibration and have taken out all four hard disks and connected only an external firewire disk but the machine still exhibits the problem.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

Ah Yes! I know the answer to this one.
Move it out from under your desk, so you'll stop bumping into it!

That's be £45 pounds please - I do take PayPal btw