Help, Mac Pro 4.1 8 core black screen boot loop.

[tsialex]

Mh, tnx I just wished there was a way to know for sure that if I got a new tray it would be the solution...

If you can't find any damaged pins or any other visible damage, your next step is to test your tray with another Mac and your Mac with another tray.

If you don't have anyone locally, the cheapest will be to buy a 2009 single CPU tray, around $50~$70 on US eBay, I don't know your country prices.

 

[caronte23]

If you can't find any damaged pins or any other visible damage, your next step is to test your tray with another Mac and your Mac with another tray.

If you don't have anyone locally, the cheapest will be to buy a 2009 single CPU tray, around $50~$70 on US eBay, I don't know your country prices.

They go for a bit more than that around here (UK), tnx, I found a friend with a 2009 single cpu mac pro, but he-s scared I might break his... is it plausible? Or would it be 100% safe to try the swapping trays test?

 

[tsialex]

They go for a bit more than that around here (UK), tnx, I found a friend with a 2009 single cpu mac pro, but he-s scared I might break his... is it plausible? Or would it be 100% safe to try the swapping trays test?

I would test his tray into your backplane, it's the safest.

 

[caronte23]

I've finally SOLVED this! You won't beleive how dumb I've been!
Basically I had an old Bootcamp partition that had become corrupted and I hadn't been using for over a year, however I never went ant erased it..
What was happening, and here is where my dumbness has no end, is that i had the wrong monitor plugged in (i have dual monitors) and I wasn't seeing the windows boot screen XD which consequently failed and started a reboot..
Well, it was a rough week, glad it was nothing!

Now after all this I'm not too discouraged from upgrading the CPUs again XD
However as I said I broke one trying to delid it, is it ok to buy another x5680 and pair it with the good one I have, or do I have to use a matched pair?

 

[tsialex]

I've finally SOLVED this! You won't beleive how dumb I've been!
Basically I had an old Bootcamp partition that had become corrupted and I hadn't been using for over a year, however I never went ant erased it..
What was happening, and here is where my dumbness has no end, is that i had the wrong monitor plugged in (i have dual monitors) and I wasn't seeing the windows boot screen XD which consequently failed and started a reboot..
Well, it was a rough week, glad it was nothing!

Now after all this I'm not too discouraged from upgrading the CPUs again XD
However as I said I broke one trying to delid it, is it ok to buy another x5680 and pair it with the good one I have, or do I have to use a matched pair?

X5680 only have one revision, all non ES models ever produced are matching pairs.

 

[caronte23]

X5680 only have one revision, all non ES models ever produced are matching pairs.

Great, finally the upgrade is done! Running dual x5680s at last!
Next is gonna be a RAM upgrade, as I understand with these new cpus in I can go up to 1333mhz DDR3s right?
Also I red somewhere that leaving slots 4 and 8 empty somewhat improves performance? So would the maximum upgrade in that case be 48 GB? Or can you use larger sticks?

 

[tsialex]

Great, finally the upgrade is done! Running dual x5680s at last!
Next is gonna be a RAM upgrade, as I understand with these new cpus in I can go up to 1333mhz DDR3s right?

Yes, you need to clear NVRAM after installing 1333MHz memory. Most Mac Pro came from factory with 1333MHz, btw, and just need a clear NVRAM after processor upgrade.

Also I red somewhere that leaving slots 4 and 8 empty somewhat improves performance?

Yes, Mac Pro is tri-channel.

So would the maximum upgrade in that case be 48 GB? Or can you use larger sticks?

Most 16GB dual rank DIMMs work, then you can get 96GB with the maximum throughput. Please note, some applications work better with more memory, others with faster memory.