HELP!! Have I ruined my X1900 ??

[colinet]

HELP!! Think I've ruined my X1900. I just fitted a Thermaltake AT1 cooler to my X1900 in my MacPro. Followed some instructions off the net to route the power cable to the spare 2nd DVD drive bay - pretty easy all went fine.
Turned everything back on (with side removed) 2 little red lights flashed on and off on the X1900 (+ loads on the ram cards etc) AT1 fan running beautifully - very quiet

BUT

No blank screen.

2 things I did -

1 - I rubbed a smudge of old thermal paste off the graphics chip with my finger before I fitted the AT1

2 - probable cause of problem - The bloody screwdriver I used to fit the 4 screws to hold the AT1 to the X1900 was one of those with a magnetic tip
AHHHHHH . . . .

Is all hope lost!! A new Mac X1900 in Australia - from the Apple store is over AU$600!!

 

[timb]

A magnet won't hurt solid state chips, so you're fine there.

Were you grounded before you touched the chip with your finger? You most likely zapped the chip with static electricity and fried it.

In future, buy a grounding strap and use it before touching ESD sensitive components.

Also, clean thermal paste off with a high concentration of isopropyl alcohol and a soft cotton cloth. Using your finger will just deposit skin oil on the chip and reduce thermal transfer.

 

[colinet]

God, this is an expensive upgrade!! Just to get a quieter and slightly cooler Mac!

Assuming I have fried the X1900, would I then nothing at all when I switch on? All that happens is the fans start going, but there is no startup chime and I can't link to my Macbook and start the MacPro in target mode. Am I right in assuming that the system checks the graphics card really erly on so if it's stuffed nothing else will work at all?

 

[timb]

God, this is an expensive upgrade!! Just to get a quieter and slightly cooler Mac!

Assuming I have fried the X1900, would I then nothing at all when I switch on? All that happens is the fans start going, but there is no startup chime and I can't link to my Macbook and start the MacPro in target mode. Am I right in assuming that the system checks the graphics card really erly on so if it's stuffed nothing else will work at all?

Yup. If the system can't initialize a graphics device, it won't boot.

Out of curiosity, are you sure you plugged the power back into the card?

Also, take the card out of the system and blow the PCIe slot in the Mac Pro out with canned air, or if you don't have any of that blowing through a drinking straw will work. (Just be sure to dry your mouth out as much as possible before blowing, the inside of straws condenses quickly and you'll end up filling the slot with spit of you're not careful.)

After that firmly reseat the card, hook the power back up and see if it works.

 

[colinet]

I've taken the card out and replaced the original fan - no luck - except it did run REALLY loudly - much louder than originally.
Put the AT1 cooler back on - no luck - beautifully silent running though.

Yes, I did plug the black plug back into the front outside of the board - I assume this is the power lead you're referring to as the only other lead was the tiny plug from the card to the original cooler which is now obsolete as the power for the AT1 is coming from the spare connector in the 2nd CD bay.

The card feels as though it is seated in properly, though it's hard to see. Haven't blown out the slot, but the machine is only a couple of months old and pretty clean inside. I'll give it a try, but I'd be surprised if that helps - still worth a try. I've got a little rubber bulb puffer plus I could suck any dust up with my mini hand held Dyson.

I think though it's off the the Apple online store.

 

[THX1139]

If your graphics card is bad you should still be able to boot your computer. You just won't be able to see anything on the monitor. My graphics card went out right after I bought my computer. I was able to boot up my computer and get into it with my laptop. The strange thing is that you aren't getting a startup chime so I think you have more serious issues. You'll need to take it in.

 

[colinet]

If your graphics card is bad you should still be able to boot your computer. You just won't be able to see anything on the monitor. My graphics card went out right after I bought my computer. I was able to boot up my computer and get into it with my laptop. The strange thing is that you aren't getting a startup chime so I think you have more serious issues. You'll need to take it in.

It was fine this morning. I took out the graphics card ( there's a bit of a loud click when it comes out which I assume is that plastic looking latch just in front of the card slot ) changed the cooling system, put the card back and nothing. I've the other 2 cards out (USB/FW800 etc), take 3 of the 4 drives out and still have the 'dead' problem. If I have to taken it in I better put the original cooling fan back. I can't really see what else I could have done to cause a problem.

Maybe it depends exactly what is wrong on your graphics card as to whether the machine will boot or not. Maybe if some of the ram collapses it will still boot but if the actual main graphics chip dies, then it won't. Anyone know?

 

[timb]

It does, if the card is actually dead then the card won't be able to talk to EFI, which will then refuse to boot the computer.

The other poster most likely had a bad DAC or something on his card, which just handles output to a display.

 

[gazfocus]

Put the original cooler back on the card, connect everything back up, and take the whole machine to your Apple Store and get a genius to look at it... The may even offer you a replacement card under warranty?

 

[Dark Dragoon]

A while back I put in some SATA cables from the free SATA ports to the optical drive cage so I could use some SATA optical drives. To do this I had to remove the graphics card (X1900 with Accelero X2 cooler), once I'd put everything back together the computer wouldn't start. The fans would run but there was no startup bong and the screen was blank.

After almost giving up I pressed both the reset buttons on the motherboard, not sure why but everything has worked fine after that.

 

[Madhawk]

Look on the bright side, now you can Upgrade to the 8800GT when available.

 

[cal6n]

Look on the bright side, now you can Upgrade to the 8800GT when available.

Funny guy...

 

[yeroen]

H
Is all hope lost!! A new Mac X1900 in Australia - from the Apple store is over AU$600!!

$659 AUD, to be exact. That's $112 AUD more than what you would pay for it if you bought it at the American store! Is there a colorful Australian term for getting screwed?

 

[colinet]

OK - where are the two reset buttons? Can anyone tell me exactly. Apple's site doesn't say there are two and just says there is one near the diagnostic leds - where are they and where is the other one? Googling hasn't helped!

 

[gazfocus]

OK - where are the two reset buttons? Can anyone tell me exactly. Apple's site doesn't say there are two and just says there is one near the diagnostic leds - where are they and where is the other one? Googling hasn't helped!

I'm guessing the diagnostic LED's are the red lights that you see on the logic board when you try and turn your mac on

 

[Dark Dragoon]

I've found 3 buttons though the two I've pressed are these ones:

Labelled RTC_RST and SMC_RST.

 

[colinet]

I've found 3 buttons though the two I've pressed are these ones:

Labelled RTC_RST and SMC_RST.

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

 

[colinet]

No luck. Pressed both buttons and the one below bay 4. Nothing.

But one of the row of red LEDs above the 2 buttons is on (red) all the time. It's the one labelled CPU B. Does this mean one of the processors is stuffed? I imagine it does.

I don't suppose I could have dislodged anything could I? In the old BBC computer days the processors were pushed into sockets!

I did notice the other day that some software I had installed ( can't remember the name) that shows the temperature reading of everything, sometimes showed no reading for one of the CPUs. So maybe it's been faulty for a while.

I think it means putting the original cooler back on the X1900 and taking it into my Apple dealer, who is not a very nice person and gets even less nice with equipment like this that I bought direct from Apple. Still it's all under warranty.

 

[timestamp]

If the CPU is dead, it should still boot. Now, if it is just having issues, it is possible that it won't boot. Let me look in the service manual.

 

[Topper]

HELP!! Think I've ruined my X1900.

If it's toasted like you think it is, send to ATI and they will fix it for free.
Yes, I know it's a pain.

Look on the bright side, now you can Upgrade to the 8800GT when available.

Nope, the 8800GT will not fit his Mac Pro.