MP 1,1-5,1 How to invoke Diagnostics on Mac Pro 5,1?

[haralds]

I was trying to diagnose an issue on my cMPro 5,1 with howling fans that turned out to be bent pins on the backplane.

As part of trying to debug, I failed to be able to invoke diagnostics. I set the startup volume from EFI OCLP to Mojave and tried booting with

• Depressing "D"
• Depressing Opt-Cmd "D"

Neither of these invoked diagnostics. What is the proper sequence? The Apple Support site is general and not specific to platform.

 

[tsialex]

Only MacPro6,1 and newer Mac Pros have "native" diagnostics, downloaded from Apple servers automatically much like Internet Recovery. Once you formatted the factory macOS install of a MacPro5,1, the factory installed Apple Hardware Test (AHT) is gone forever since it's not part of a standard macOS install.

To reinstall it or create a USB key with AHT, follow the steps on this article:

GitHub - upekkha/AppleHardwareTest: Apple Hardware Test Download Links

Apple Hardware Test Download Links. Contribute to upekkha/AppleHardwareTest development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

For an early-2009 cross-flashed to MP5,1 EFI, you need mid-2010 AHT version.

 

[h9826790]

I was trying to diagnose an issue on my cMPro 5,1 with howling fans that turned out to be bent pins on the backplane.

As part of trying to debug, I failed to be able to invoke diagnostics. I set the startup volume from EFI OCLP to Mojave and tried booting with

• Depressing "D"
• Depressing Opt-Cmd "D"

Neither of these invoked diagnostics. What is the proper sequence? The Apple Support site is general and not specific to platform.

Unless your cMP's Mojave was updated from the factory installed OSX (or update from the OS that from the recovery CD). Otherwise, there is no AHT in the OS. Therefore, Hold D to boot won't work.

When you performed a clean installation NOT from the restoration CD, you will need to manually install AHT by yourself.

If possible, you may consider to use ASD. IMO, that's a more user friendly tool than AHT.

Besides, you will need a graphic card that has boot screen. Otherwise, neither AHT nor ASD will be displayed on the screen. Since you are running Mojave, that graphic card can't be the original Apple card, you have to make sure it meet this requirement.

Last but not least, any non original hardware (including your own SSD, or the upgraded graphic card) may generate error in AHT / ASD, due to both of them are designed for very specific hardware.

 

[3DXmac]

Only MacPro6,1 and newer Mac Pros have "native" diagnostics, downloaded from Apple servers automatically much like Internet Recovery. Once you formatted the factory macOS install of a MacPro5,1, the factory installed Apple Hardware Test (AHT) is gone forever since it's not part of a standard macOS install.

To reinstall it or create a USB key with AHT, follow the steps on this article:

GitHub - upekkha/AppleHardwareTest: Apple Hardware Test Download Links

Apple Hardware Test Download Links. Contribute to upekkha/AppleHardwareTest development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

For an early-2009 cross-flashed to MP5,1 EFI, you need mid-2010 AHT version.

It seems when you download the DMG file, there is no /System/Library/CoreServices/.diagnostics folder inside to replace.
My MacPro5,1 started to reboot out of nothing, have no idea what's causing the problem, but it is hardware related. I was wondering if this test would help?

 

[tsialex]

It seems when you download the DMG file, there is no /System/Library/CoreServices/.diagnostics folder inside to replace.

Forget installing inside macOS, too much things can go wrong and you don't have access to /System/Library/CoreServices/ folder with macOS releases that have Signed System Volume security (SSV) - BigSur and later releases.

Make a bootable AHT USB-key following the Github article instructions I've linked here previously.

My MacPro5,1 started to reboot out of nothing, have no idea what's causing the problem, but it is hardware related. I was wondering if this test would help?

If is something non-intermittent, AHT will probably catch it. Nothing to loose running it. Btw, check if this Mac Pro is not overheating (broken northbridge heatsink push-pins).

Best and most cost effective solution for the push-pin problem is showed on this post:

clip (snap rivet) for Northbridge heat-sink on 2009 Mac Pro 2X2.26

Just my 46 cents, here. I have just finished completely refurbishing 2 Mac Pro (5,1 - 2010-2012) CPU trays (and am about to do a third) and have had to deal with this problem. In both cases, the original plastic rivets and springs were intact but, after reading numerous reports of failure over...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[3DXmac]

Hi tsialex,

Thanks for your support. I did a quick run test, and it reported having no issue with the hardware. Now I'm running the extended testing. What's curious about that? It has been running for almost 30 minutes with no reboot so far. Usually, the computer will reboot within 10 minutes. I have no idea how long it is going to take, but the progress bar seems to be stuck.

Ah, forgot to mention: northbridge heatsink push-pins are fine.

 

[3DXmac]

That's pretty weird, I shut it down for a weekend, and then when I turned it back, it started to behave like that.

 

[tsialex]

Could be that the Mac Pro is stuck, sometimes this happens.

My advice is to remove all DIMMs but one, and then run the extended test one time for each one of the DIMMs. Pay attention to the behaviour, if one reboots, or the test fails, you got your culprit.

 

[3DXmac]

I am unable to complete the test in extended mode, the tool is freezing. I put my hand on the heatsink of the first tower and it was very hot compared to the second. Something is wrong. When it restarts, we hear a "tek", as if it were a relay disarming. It seems to me that the north tower has a temperature of around 78 degrees Celsius.
Do we have another tool for testing so we can try it out?

 

[tsialex]

Do we have another tool for testing so we can try it out?

You can try ASD EFI, use the search in the Mac Pro forum for earlier posts, MacRumors forum rules do not allow linking to internal Apple tools anymore.

 

[3DXmac]

Things got worse, It can't hold more than one minute now. I have no idea what's causing it to restart. Might be some board issue? PSU? That's unbelievable!

Afterward, I stopped to think about it more, and here's what happened. I had turned off the machine and removed the boot disk, then I turned on the computer without the disk. At first, I thought it could be something related to the system. But I have an SSD with Mojave that is native to this machine, and the problem persists.

 

[tsialex]

Things got worse, It can't hold more than one minute now. I have no idea what's causing it to restart. Might be some board issue? PSU? That's unbelievable!

Afterward, I stopped to think about it more, and here's what happened. I had turned off the machine and removed the boot disk, then I turned on the computer without the disk. At first, I thought it could be something related to the system. But I have an SSD with Mojave that is native to this machine, and the problem persists.

It's a 11 to 15 years old Mac Pro, you could have a defective PSU/CPU tray/backplane. Start testing each component with a known working Mac Pro.

 

[3DXmac]

It's a 11 to 15 years old Mac Pro, you could have a defective PSU/CPU tray/backplane. Start testing each component with a known working Mac Pro.

If there is a problem with the board, I can find it by testing the components. But my heart hurts, this machine is wonderful.