'Broken' Mac Pro 4,1; no boot; goes from grey to black screen

[QuakeProd]

Mac Pro A1289 (2009); 2.66 Quad; 16GB RAM; OSX Mavericks; 2TB & 640GB HD; GT 120 Vid Card & GTX 570.

I was formatting and installing my 640 hd for bootcamp. I did the craziest thing in the world; pulled my plug from the wall. Why, wtf was i thinking? I have my laptop plug there and was not even using my brain to determine the difference.

Booted up my MP again in the GT 120, it chimed, stalled on grey screen, went black then said 'not boot disk detected, please insert boot disk' or something of that nature. I couldn't open my tray because it wouldn't detect bluetooth (now i remembered why i hated bluetooth with my mac mini years ago). I don't have an apple corded keyboard. I used a regular cheap keyboard to try to boot into recovery/other drive by pressing alt; didn't detect anything, stayed on grey screen.

SO, I took out my drives [and my GTX just in case], but focused on my 2TB since i was going to use that primarily. Put it on my MBP, formatted and reinstalled Mavericks; even went so far as to set it up so when i plugged it back in the MP it would just work. Showed the home screen and looked pretty. So now i went to put it in my MP cause its ready to go....NOPE, something else is wrong and I don't know what. Booting in the MP, it loads the HD, chimes, goes to grey screen, then it goes to black. But Now the black screen shows an insertion line, but i cant type anything. it also pulsates in a subtle manner, like 1 time, 1 time, 3 times, 1, 1, 3, 1, 2, 1, 3...its repetitive, but random in its order.

Im going to format and try my 640 HD and see if that works. if it doesnt, I have no idea what else to do.
I read around that if i chimed, that means the Board is ok..so im trying to be optimistic that i just have to work on my HD's...but i dont know.. maybe remove and replace the battery?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[ybz90]

Take out the 640GB or put the Windows install media back in the DVD drive. I'm pretty sure everything is fine, it's just at the stage of the Boot Camp install where it needed to boot from the 640GB to do the actual the Windows setup. So basically, the 640 is set up as the priority disk in the boot order, except there's nothing bootable on it.

 

[QuakeProd]

Take out the 640GB or put the Windows install media back in the DVD drive. I'm pretty sure everything is fine, it's just at the stage of the Boot Camp install where it needed to boot from the 640GB to do the actual the Windows setup. So basically, the 640 is set up as the priority disk in the boot order, except there's nothing bootable on it.

Thank you for the quick reply.

But I was attempting to install the windows from a mounted ISO. After the mishap I wasn't able to get into my DVD drive, it wouldn't detect my keyboard so I couldnt even try Any kind of CD at all.
My only resort i can come up with is formatting the 640 and reinstalling the os to see if I can even get a complete boot since my 2tb isn't working.

 

[ybz90]

Thank you for the quick reply.

But I was attempting to install the windows from a mounted ISO. After the mishap I wasn't able to get into my DVD drive, it wouldn't detect my keyboard so I couldnt even try Any kind of CD at all.
My only resort i can come up with is formatting the 640 and reinstalling the os to see if I can even get a complete boot since my 2tb isn't working.

Just try booting without the 640GB first and then in System preferences, select your 2TB as the start up drive.

Although it's doable, I generally avoid using ISOs or USB drives to try to install Windows since it's a real pain in the arse with these older Mac Pros. Sometimes burning an old fashioned DVD is just easier.

 

[QuakeProd]

Just try booting without the 640GB first and then in System preferences, select your 2TB as the start up drive.

Although it's doable, I generally avoid using ISOs or USB drives to try to install Windows since it's a real pain in the arse with these older Mac Pros. Sometimes burning an old fashioned DVD is just easier.

I'm not even able to boot into the system. Tried booting with just the 640 and nothing showed. Tried booting with just the 2tb, Grey to black screen. Both have been formatted with fresh osx and neither will fully boot. I put both back in just to see and now it says the first message:
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press and key.
They both fully booted while connected to my MBP.

 

[Gav Mack]

Just try booting without the 640GB first and then in System preferences, select your 2TB as the start up drive.

Although it's doable, I generally avoid using ISOs or USB drives to try to install Windows since it's a real pain in the arse with these older Mac Pros. Sometimes burning an old fashioned DVD is just easier.

It is doable but more trouble than its worth messing with images with all the older Mac kit never mind only the Mac Pro's. Flatten the partition with bootcamp assistant and start over with a proper DVD. Having a wired keyboard on hand is essential too for troubleshooting. In fact I use a standard USB logitech mouse also too for the initial setup for bootcamp if you can't use the USB stick method and have to install the bootcamp drivers yourself manually.

 

[ybz90]

I'm not even able to boot into the system. Tried booting with just the 640 and nothing showed. Tried booting with just the 2tb, Grey to black screen. Both have been formatted with fresh osx and neither will fully boot. I put both back in just to see and now it says the first message:
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press and key.
They both fully booted while connected to my MBP.

Can you access the recovery partition? Remove the 640GB, put in the 2TB, and upon boot, hold the option key (or equivalent on your keyboard) to get to bootable volumes.

 

[QuakeProd]

Can you access the recovery partition? Remove the 640GB, put in the 2TB, and upon boot, hold the option key (or equivalent on your keyboard) to get to bootable volumes.

Yea I'm wayyyyy past that windows attempt.. In just trying to boot back into Mac.

But, it actually let me boot into volumes. I see recovery and my 640 ( kept switching and that was in there already)

I don't know if I got lucky or cause I (potentially) reset the board by taking out the battery for a little bit.

 

[ybz90]

Good, boot the recovery partition. Once you're there, use the Disk Utility and wipe both drives. Format the 2TB in HFS+ and set partition map to GUID. Wipe the 640GB and set its partition map to MBR. The drive file system is irrelevant since during Windows install, you'll have to make it NTFS then anyway.

Quit out of Disk Utility, then install Mac OS X as normal on the 2TB and recover via your backup.

Once that's up and running, try the Boot Camp install again but just use a DVD. As Gav Mack mentioned, on these Macs, it's not worth the effort trying workarounds.

 

[QuakeProd]

Good, boot the recovery partition. Once you're there, use the Disk Utility and wipe both drives. Format the 2TB in HFS+ and set partition map to GUID. Wipe the 640GB and set its partition map to MBR. The drive file system is irrelevant since during Windows install, you'll have to make it NTFS then anyway.

Quit out of Disk Utility, then install Mac OS X as normal on the 2TB and recover via your backup.

Once that's up and running, try the Boot Camp install again but just use a DVD. As Gav Mack mentioned, on these Macs, it's not worth the effort trying workarounds.

To say thank you doesn't compare to the amount of appreciation I have for you helping me get back running.

I also greatly appreciate Gav Mack for his input with bootcamp. I will bookmark your help and Gav's help for partitions for later.. Im just relieved to be up and running again.. Now onto backup!

 

[ybz90]

No problem, glad to hear you got things working again.