Mac Pro 2008 not finding Drives

[Gothboy1]

Out of nowhere I'm getting the dreaded flashing file with ? when trying to startup my Mac Pro 3.1 2008. Won't startup in recovery or any other way. The data is not lost it's the machine doing this because I had a spare drive and it won't recognize that one either. I'm running Mountain Lion and I can't get into Internet recovery either.

 

[pastrychef]

That's strange... I'm assuming you've tried the standard PRAM and SMC? Have you tried booting while holding the Option key?

 

[orph]

if you have a second mac or can get to one it might be worth making installing a copy of osx on to a usb stick to see if you can boot from that.
do you still have your osx install DVD's, if so you can boot from them to.

if you can boot from something like that you might get an idea of what the problem is

 

[Gothboy1]

This happened after installing an optical mount https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MM352A52MP8/
I put the drive in the optical bay and couldn't boot the Mac after that...so I then took the drive out. Now no matter what I do I can't boot it.

 

[pastrychef]

Did you install following the directions that came with the kit? I remember those two extra SATA connectors were quite difficult to get to when I still had my MacPro3,1. The only thing I can suggest is to triple check the reinstallation to make sure all the connectors are properly connected.

 

[CapnDavey]

one easy thing to do replace the battery dead ones cause strange issues like this!

 

[Gothboy1]

To cap this thread I made use of the used warranty I purchased with the computer and sent it back. Thanks for the help.

 

[nigelbb]

if you have a second mac or can get to one it might be worth making installing a copy of osx on to a usb stick to see if you can boot from that.
do you still have your osx install DVD's, if so you can boot from them to.

if you can boot from something like that you might get an idea of what the problem is

You cannot boot a 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 from a USB stick.