MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 2012 - someone help please?!

[Liger Megatron]

Hello there,

I'm reaching out to this community seeking some good advice and recommendations for restoring my 2012 Mac Pro to working condition. I've pulled it apart with the exception of removing the back-plane board and have given it a thorough clean.

Have also removed the heat sink from the processor board and cleaned out all the dust therein too.

Essentially - it won't power on. At first I thought it was a dead/dying PSU. But I've replaced it recently and there's been no change. When I press the diagnostic button on the board the 3rd or maybe the 4th? LED lights up amber. When I remove the power cable and plug it back in the first 2 led's briefly flash red.

I've also tried starting it without HDD's, Optical drives, video card, processor board + RAM to try and identify the cause. Have also replaced the CR2032 battery too.

Is it possible for a component to be dying - rather than dead? I kinda feel thats the case here - like something isn't quite dead and still is trying to work.....

I'm also coming to the conclusion that its possibly the logic/back-plane board....

But guesswork is expensive - as I found from just assuming it was the PSU. Hence my message to this community...

I know back-plane boards can still be purchased readily in tested and untested condition. Gotta feeling no one actually stocks a brand new board anywhere anymore though? And part of my dilemma too is freight to Australia.

Hoping someone here can offer some wisdom and good counsel please?

Kind regards to you all,
Liger Megatron

 

[Bigwaff]

Have also replaced the CR2032 battery too.

Not the problem but you should use BR2032 battery instead.

 

[tsialex]

Get another working Mac Pro, will be cheaper than buying piecemeal, to test everything one at a time and buy exactly what is defective, doesn't make sense to spend with guesswork.

You can even buy an early-2009 for the diagnostics, but is better to stick to mid-2010/mid-2012.

This sounds insane to read, but to test each part with a working Mac Pro is what even the most experienced people do even when we have all the diagnostic tools that an end-user doesn't have access, like MATT cards and loggers. The Mac Pro is too complex and sometimes the defect is intermittent and difficult to track, especially with the CPU tray and PSU, so you really need to test overtime.