Help, my mac pro 5,1 not booting up

[zen94]

Hi guys my mac pro 5,1 can not boot up now, does someone have any ideas?
It's fans are working, but no chime nor video signal, I got some photos of the diagnose leds below.
The whold story: I just bought this machine today and when I'm going to install high sierra, the system tells me to upgrade my firmware by holding the power bottom for few seconds, I did, but there was nothing on the screen(according to some other threads, efi mode does not support 4k monitor? ) so I shutted down the computer. After that I found that I cannot boot up. The optical driver will pop out if I hold the power bottom about 10 seconds. I then removed most of the parts and the battery on the board（not sure if this will reset the smc setting）. Now I can't get to that "holding bottom mode" again... I guess I need to get in that mode for rewriting my firmware... What shall I do...Seems I made so many mistakes...
Any hints will be appreciated.
(Apologize for my poor English.)
[doublepost=1525453382][/doublepost]Btw, the power light is not blinking, possibly not RAM issue.

 

[ColdCase]

until someone jumps in here that knows what he is doing, you could try reseting PRAM (restart computer while holding down Command-Option-P-R keys until at least second boot tone chimes).

 

[h9826790]

So, even you put the CPU, RAM, GPU, HDD, battery back in, you still can't press and hold power button to get the super drive tray out? (The tray pop out which is actually for firmware restoration)

If you have a 4K 60Hz monitor, set it to Display Port 1.1. Otherwise, boot screen won't work. And it may stop the Mac to boot.

 

[zen94]

until someone jumps in here that knows what he is doing, you could try reseting PRAM (restart computer while holding down Command-Option-P-R keys until at least second boot tone chimes).

Thanks for your reply, but that doesn't works, I tried that and still have no response.
[doublepost=1525456169][/doublepost]

So, even you put the CPU, RAM, GPU, HDD, battery back in, you still can't press and hold power button to get the super drive tray out? (The tray pop out which is actually for firmware restoration)

If you have a 4K 60Hz monitor, set it to Display Port 1.1. Otherwise, boot screen won't work. And it may stop the Mac to boot.

Yes, that 4k monitor was exactly the reson of this tragedy..
No, it used to pop out at the first time when I still don't know what that means, but now it make me feels like a fool.

 

[HumidSting]

Oh man, I just went through this.

If you tried to do an EFI update, and you shut it down before it finished and chimed again, you may have a bricked backplane.

Try this for me: turn the system completely off. CPU tray in. HDDs out. Original GPU in (if you still have it). Turn the machine off. Immediately press and hold the DIAG_LED button on the backplane, to the left of the PCIe fan. Keep holding it. If the EFI_DONE led turns on for a second, then turns off, then turns on again, and repeats, you may have a bricked backplane. That's what happened to me. Good news is you can get one off ebay pretty easily. Bad news is that it may be expensive, depending on your financial situation. It cost me $150 plus shipping.

Let me know what you see!

 

[zen94]

Oh man, I just went through this.

If you tried to do an EFI update, and you shut it down before it finished and chimed again, you may have a bricked backplane.

Try this for me: turn the system completely off. CPU tray in. HDDs out. Original GPU in (if you still have it). Turn the machine off. Immediately press and hold the DIAG_LED button on the backplane, to the left of the PCIe fan. Keep holding it. If the EFI_DONE led turns on for a second, then turns off, then turns on again, and repeats, you may have a bricked backplane. That's what happened to me. Good news is you can get one off ebay pretty easily. Bad news is that it may be expensive, depending on your financial situation. It cost me $150 plus shipping.

Let me know what you see!

Hi bro thanks for your reply. Yes, that efi done led turns on when I start the machine, but it just turns off after a second and never repeat. Does that means a bricked backplane as well?
The psu pwron, 5v stby, sys pg keep on as the machine is on though, do you know what that mean? I can't afford a try that doesn't work so I need to figure out what exactly the problem is.
[doublepost=1525493481][/doublepost]When searching backplane board, I got two options, one with a broken cmos battery terminal(that little metal panel on the battery is gone) for 120 AUD, the other is a fully functioning one for 330AUD, I don't want to pay that much as the whole machine costs me only 600AUD...Any suggestion on this?
And how is the difficulty for replacing a backplane?

 

[expede]

Hi!

Here is a link for deeper reading [Apple Technician Guide] ;

https://mega.nz/#!O9FxzJya!JoXOsZGMMIR7uH54nRfYd-a9aplaQ1Ekgjw5Fp7EezI

Best regards

/Per

 

[zen94]

Hi!

Here is a link for deeper reading [Apple Technician Guide] ;

https://mega.nz/#!O9FxzJya!JoXOsZGMMIR7uH54nRfYd-a9aplaQ1Ekgjw5Fp7EezI

Best regards

/Per

Thanks for that, this is really helpful!

Hi!

Here is a link for deeper reading [Apple Technician Guide] ;

https://mega.nz/#!O9FxzJya!JoXOsZGMMIR7uH54nRfYd-a9aplaQ1Ekgjw5Fp7EezI

Best regards

/Per

Thanks for that, it is very helpful!

 

[HumidSting]

Hi bro thanks for your reply. Yes, that efi done led turns on when I start the machine, but it just turns off after a second and never repeat. Does that means a bricked backplane as well?
The psu pwron, 5v stby, sys pg keep on as the machine is on though, do you know what that mean? I can't afford a try that doesn't work so I need to figure out what exactly the problem is.
[doublepost=1525493481][/doublepost]When searching backplane board, I got two options, one with a broken cmos battery terminal(that little metal panel on the battery is gone) for 120 AUD, the other is a fully functioning one for 330AUD, I don't want to pay that much as the whole machine costs me only 600AUD...Any suggestion on this?
And how is the difficulty for replacing a backplane?

How long did you hold the button for? If it doesn't turn off and on over the course of a minute, than it might be a little different than my issue. However, you basically did what I did when I bricked my board, and a new backplane did fix the issue.

Disassembling it wasn't difficult, but it depends on your technical proficiency and access to tools. I've built computers for 5 years so I know my way around one, and I had access to an iFixIt Pro Toolkit. But with the Technicians Guide and a cheap $20USD toolkit off Amazon you could disassemble it.

But give it a couple days unplugged and try to get close to stock OOB config as possible hardware wise and see if you can get it to chime. Check processor, RAM, etc. If not, you should save up for a backplane.

Just out of curiosity, which 2010 cMP did you get? for ~$450USD a 2010 cMP is a great deal, and is probably skewing your view of the cost of the backplane. I bought the backplane for $150USD for a 2010 cMP that was ~$650USD.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for your reply, but that doesn't works, I tried that and still have no response.
[doublepost=1525456169][/doublepost]
Yes, that 4k monitor was exactly the reson of this tragedy..
No, it used to pop out at the first time when I still don't know what that means, but now it make me feels like a fool.

I suspect you actually accidentally shut down the Mac when the firmware was updating. No boot screen, but may be working in the black. Especially the super drive tray pops out was a sign that the firmware upgrade procedure may be activated properly.

If you kill the firmware, and unable to get the firmware restoration mode activate again, I believe that you need to acquire a new logic board to fix your cMP.

There may be a way to force flash the firmware chip with proper tool. But I never see those info. May be no relevant info available outside Apple.

Hi bro thanks for your reply. Yes, that efi done led turns on when I start the machine, but it just turns off after a second and never repeat. Does that means a bricked backplane as well?
The psu pwron, 5v stby, sys pg keep on as the machine is on though, do you know what that mean? I can't afford a try that doesn't work so I need to figure out what exactly the problem is.
[doublepost=1525493481][/doublepost]When searching backplane board, I got two options, one with a broken cmos battery terminal(that little metal panel on the battery is gone) for 120 AUD, the other is a fully functioning one for 330AUD, I don't want to pay that much as the whole machine costs me only 600AUD...Any suggestion on this?
And how is the difficulty for replacing a backplane?

Buy a whole cMP (MUST be a genuine 5,1), move all the working parts to the “new” one, then sell the remaining parts to recover the lost. It usually cost you less in this way (but more work to do).

How long did you hold the button for? If it doesn't turn off and on over the course of a minute, than it might be a little different than my issue. However, you basically did what I did when I bricked my board, and a new backplane did fix the issue.

Disassembling it wasn't difficult, but it depends on your technical proficiency and access to tools. I've built computers for 5 years so I know my way around one, and I had access to an iFixIt Pro Toolkit. But with the Technicians Guide and a cheap $20USD toolkit off Amazon you could disassemble it.

But give it a couple days unplugged and try to get close to stock OOB config as possible hardware wise and see if you can get it to chime. Check processor, RAM, etc. If not, you should save up for a backplane.

Just out of curiosity, which 2010 cMP did you get? for ~$450USD a 2010 cMP is a great deal, and is probably skewing your view of the cost of the backplane. I bought the backplane for $150USD for a 2010 cMP that was ~$650USD.

Yes, and make sure the firmware restoration disc is ready. Just in case able to get the super drive tray pop out again. Don't miss the chance.

 

[zen94]

How long did you hold the button for? If it doesn't turn off and on over the course of a minute, than it might be a little different than my issue. However, you basically did what I did when I bricked my board, and a new backplane did fix the issue.

Disassembling it wasn't difficult, but it depends on your technical proficiency and access to tools. I've built computers for 5 years so I know my way around one, and I had access to an iFixIt Pro Toolkit. But with the Technicians Guide and a cheap $20USD toolkit off Amazon you could disassemble it.

But give it a couple days unplugged and try to get close to stock OOB config as possible hardware wise and see if you can get it to chime. Check processor, RAM, etc. If not, you should save up for a backplane.

Just out of curiosity, which 2010 cMP did you get? for ~$450USD a 2010 cMP is a great deal, and is probably skewing your view of the cost of the backplane. I bought the backplane for $150USD for a 2010 cMP that was ~$650USD.

Thanks HumidSting, I will order a new backplane, but I'm now unable to get the smc version of the processor board, if the smc versions of the new backplane and processor board doesn't match that would be terrible...
I would give it a try thanks to expede's link to the manual which tells me all the steps to pull the backplane out.
And I got this machine in an ebay bid, I also used a ebay 10％ off everything voucher to get it at 600AUD. It's a 2x2.4ghz quad core processor, 16gb 1066 ddr3, 4t hdd, radeon hd 5770(The original one with efi). I would be very proud of this deal if I had not made this mistake..
[doublepost=1525579845][/doublepost]

I suspect you actually accidentally shut down the Mac when the firmware was updating. No boot screen, but may be working in the black. Especially the super drive tray pops out was a sign that the firmware upgrade procedure may be activated properly.

If you kill the firmware, and unable to get the firmware restoration mode activate again, I believe that you need to acquire a new logic board to fix your cMP.

There may be a way to force flash the firmware chip with proper tool. But I never see those info. May be no relevant info available outside Apple.



Buy a whole cMP (MUST be a genuine 5,1), move all the working parts to the “new” one, then sell the remaining parts to recover the lost. It usually cost you less in this way (but more work to do).


Yes, and make sure the firmware restoration disc is ready. Just in case able to get the super drive tray pop out again. Don't miss the chance.

Thanks for your advice, h9826790.
I really did considered buying another whole machine, but my driver licence was suspended yesterday night so I can't get a new one now(every cMP here sells in local pick up only)
I've got a dvd r/w driver, hope that would help.