Resolved Log out crashes

[Apple2001]

Hi all,

Long time Mac user, short time Mac Pro owner. I have a 4,1 I bought used and upgraded (details below) and it is giving me some unusual behaviour. The problem has been intermittent the past month or so but now it has become a major issue. At random it will hang for a bit and then log me out. For the past month it would happen randomly while I'm doing light tasks, but I just started getting into unreal engine and I can't work in the program for more then 10 minutes without it logging me out and losing anything I haven't saved. When I log back in it opens everything back up and doesn't give me any warnings at all. For example, I was following along with a youtube tutorial fullscreen in my left monitor, and working on the main and right monitors and I'd click something in the interface and the video would freeze audio included and then I would suddenly be back on the login screen.

A different time, I was just checking email and browsing the internet and my main monitor went black, it showed no input and the computer wouldn't respond to any keyboard or mouse input. I unplugged the monitor that went dead and plugged it back in with no change. I unplugged my right monitor plugged into the 120 and both remaining monitors went black, I plugged it back in and all three turned back on - at the login screen.

I've tried closing all other programs, updating software, removing all hard drives except boot ssd, removing the 4 & 8 DIMMs, even creating a new user with no luck. I checked the log out after X inactivity and it's not on. I think I have SIP turned off. I have a feeling its graphics related but I can't take out the 1060 because unreal requires metal and the only other card I have is the gt120. I have the 1060 plugged in using a 6-8 pin cable, but the card works and hasn't given me too much trouble, and is flawless in windows aside from the driver issues while using both cards.

For the meantime, I have a windows 10 install on a 1tb hard drive which works, although I've been having trouble with the bluetooth and it lags and hangs sometimes (could just be used to an ssd), but hasn't crashed on me yet.

The computer runs 24/7 as a web/plex/VPN server with a windows 10 vm running- I use a hot corner to turn the displays off while I'm not in front of the computer. I have the computer in a DMZ and more open then I'd like to admit but I don't think that would have any effect on this.

I believe all the temps are okay, under load the heatsinks are 68 and 51 and the Northbridge diode is always around 77.

Are there any logs I can provide that would help? Anything else I can try to fix this issue?

Mac Pro 4,1 -> 5,1 (was originally a 2.26 base 8core)
10.13.2 (17C205) (did a fresh install in the end of November 2017)
2 x 3.06 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (X5667)
64 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 (8x8GB server pull)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (slot 1, mini6-8pin, MSI)
- 2560x1440 through DisplayPort as main monitor
- 1920x1080 through HDMI as left
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB (slot 3)
- 1680x1050 through miniDP-VGA as right/boot screen
USB 3 card in slot 4

Booting off a 240GB SanDisk ssd bought a year ago in the second optical bay

 

[bjar]

Hi all,

Long time Mac user, short time Mac Pro owner. I have a 4,1 I bought used and upgraded (details below) and it is giving me some unusual behaviour. The problem has been intermittent the past month or so but now it has become a major issue. At random it will hang for a bit and then log me out. For the past month it would happen randomly while I'm doing light tasks, but I just started getting into unreal engine and I can't work in the program for more then 10 minutes without it logging me out and losing anything I haven't saved. When I log back in it opens everything back up and doesn't give me any warnings at all. For example, I was following along with a youtube tutorial fullscreen in my left monitor, and working on the main and right monitors and I'd click something in the interface and the video would freeze audio included and then I would suddenly be back on the login screen.

A different time, I was just checking email and browsing the internet and my main monitor went black, it showed no input and the computer wouldn't respond to any keyboard or mouse input. I unplugged the monitor that went dead and plugged it back in with no change. I unplugged my right monitor plugged into the 120 and both remaining monitors went black, I plugged it back in and all three turned back on - at the login screen.

I've tried closing all other programs, updating software, removing all hard drives except boot ssd, removing the 4 & 8 DIMMs, even creating a new user with no luck. I checked the log out after X inactivity and it's not on. I think I have SIP turned off. I have a feeling its graphics related but I can't take out the 1060 because unreal requires metal and the only other card I have is the gt120. I have the 1060 plugged in using a 6-8 pin cable, but the card works and hasn't given me too much trouble, and is flawless in windows aside from the driver issues while using both cards.

For the meantime, I have a windows 10 install on a 1tb hard drive which works, although I've been having trouble with the bluetooth and it lags and hangs sometimes (could just be used to an ssd), but hasn't crashed on me yet.

The computer runs 24/7 as a web/plex/VPN server with a windows 10 vm running- I use a hot corner to turn the displays off while I'm not in front of the computer. I have the computer in a DMZ and more open then I'd like to admit but I don't think that would have any effect on this.

I believe all the temps are okay, under load the heatsinks are 68 and 51 and the Northbridge diode is always around 77.

Are there any logs I can provide that would help? Anything else I can try to fix this issue?

Mac Pro 4,1 -> 5,1 (was originally a 2.26 base 8core)
10.13.2 (17C205) (did a fresh install in the end of November 2017)
2 x 3.06 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (X5667)
64 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 (8x8GB server pull)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (slot 1, mini6-8pin, MSI)
- 2560x1440 through DisplayPort as main monitor
- 1920x1080 through HDMI as left
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB (slot 3)
- 1680x1050 through miniDP-VGA as right/boot screen
USB 3 card in slot 4

Booting off a 240GB SanDisk ssd bought a year ago in the second optical bay

I would start removing stuff until it works. Maybe remove one of the displays from the 1060, then the other one. Remove the 1060. Remove the usb 3 card. Put your boot ssd in a sled instead of in optical bay. Try a dual 6-8 pin. Etc.

 

[Apple2001]

I would start removing stuff until it works. Maybe remove one of the displays from the 1060, then the other one. Remove the 1060. Remove the usb 3 card. Put your boot ssd in a sled instead of in optical bay. Try a dual 6-8 pin. Etc.

THANK YOU. Tried a bunch of options but everything seems to work now. All I had to do was put the ssd into a sled. Everything seems snappier too!

 

[bjar]

THANK YOU. Tried a bunch of options but everything seems to work now. All I had to do was put the ssd into a sled. Everything seems snappier too!

Awesome glad I could help! Although sounds like you may have an issue with the SATA connections in the optical bay. Maybe something with the firmware upgrade to 5,1. I don’t know much about that stuff as I have a 5,1. I never put a boot drive in the optical bay though in case I need to pull it.

 

[Apple2001]

Back to square one. I called it too early and today it crashed twice in the span of about 10 minutes. I don't have time to pull everything again, but I'll try with less graphics cards, I might also try a fresh install on a different storage device. If anyone else has ideas please let me know!