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Mac Pro 3,1 advice

DearthnVader

DearthnVader

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Original poster
Dec 17, 2015
2,207
6,392
Red Springs, NC
I picked up a 3,1 on the cheap, listed as non-working with a broken battery connector.

It hasn't arrived yet, but as I've never owned a Mac Pro I don't no the ins and outs of troubleshooting a non booting system.

Would a broken off battery clip keep the system from booting?

I wouldn't think it would, so I maybe in for a logic board swap. From the pictures it just looks like the metal piece that connects to the top of the battery has been broken off.

When I get the system, if it powers on, but doesn't boot chime, what cpu has to be installed for the 3,1 to boot?

Meaning I'll likely try and swap the cpus around and swap the ram around, and I'm just no sure if CPU A or CPU B is the one needed to boot.

If the system doesn't power on, how can I check the PSU, are there pins on the PSU connectors I can short to power on the PSU so I can see if the logic board is not tripping the PSU on, or the PSU itself is bad?

Thoughts, advice?

Thanks
 
Here is the pic of the battery clip in place. Don't know if the left side is just embedded in plastic or is connected somehow. Someone else may chime in with that info.
The top left section (where the dvd's used to be) against the wall are the black connectors that go to the PSU. Right top section houses the PSU
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Pro+First+Generation+Power+Supply+Unit+Replacement/32222

1. When you get it check for HD's in slots 1-4. Non-booting and non-working can be anything from no OS installed to a host of things. Based on being on the "cheap", the seller might of had gobs of apps and yanked the OS HD before shipping.
2. There might be a failed attempt at installing OS 10.12-10.13
3. Since the battery clip is broken you may have your work cut out for you. Meaning it sounds like someone was inside that had no business inside!

spring-cleaning-2-jpg.742032
 
OS6-OSX said:
Here is the pic of the battery clip in place. Don't know if the left side is just embedded in plastic or is connected somehow. Someone else may chime in with that info.
The top left section (where the dvd's used to be) against the wall are the black connectors that go to the PSU. Right top section houses the PSU
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Pro+First+Generation+Power+Supply+Unit+Replacement/32222

1. When you get it check for HD's in slots 1-4. Non-booting and non-working can be anything from no OS installed to a host of things. Based on being on the "cheap", the seller might of had gobs of apps and yanked the OS HD before shipping.
2. There might be a failed attempt at installing OS 10.12-10.13
3. Since the battery clip is broken you may have your work cut out for you. Meaning it sounds like someone was inside that had no business inside!

spring-cleaning-2-jpg.742032
Click to expand...

Thanks, I aware of how to troubleshoot as far as a system that boot chimes, but doesn't boot the OS, just looking for some how to as far as one that doesn't boot chime at all, but who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and the system will at least boot chime.

The seller didn't offer much info, but I didn't see how I could go wrong at $25, even if I have to replace the logic board or PSU.

Did the BTO single CPU systems come with only one memory riser?

It seems they would have, and as the seller didn't list it as a single or dual, I'm assuming it's a dual, do to the picture clearly showing both memory risers in place.

s-l1600.jpg
 
DearthnVader said:
Thanks, I aware of how to troubleshoot as far as a system that boot chimes, but doesn't boot the OS, just looking for some how to as far as one that doesn't boot chime at all, but who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and the system will at least boot chime.

The seller didn't offer much info, but I didn't see how I could go wrong at $25, even if I have to replace the logic board or PSU.

Did the BTO single CPU systems come with only one memory riser?

It seems they would have, and as the seller didn't list it as a single or dual, I'm assuming it's a dual, do to the picture clearly showing both memory risers in place.

s-l1600.jpg
Click to expand...

It came with two processor sockets and two memory risers, irregardless if it shipped in a single or dual processor configurations.
 
DearthnVader said:
Thanks, I aware of how to troubleshoot as far as a system that boot chimes, but doesn't boot the OS, just looking for some how to as far as one that doesn't boot chime at all, but who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and the system will at least boot chime.

The seller didn't offer much info, but I didn't see how I could go wrong at $25, even if I have to replace the logic board or PSU.

Did the BTO single CPU systems come with only one memory riser?

It seems they would have, and as the seller didn't list it as a single or dual, I'm assuming it's a dual, do to the picture clearly showing both memory risers in place.

s-l1600.jpg
Click to expand...
Seems no harddisks present but caddy/with the screws are. Did you notice that almost all logic board screws are missing? Another thing, almost all original 2600XT are now broken, lead-free solder problem.

Power supply usually works fine, logic board problems are a lot more common. Battery clip seems ok to me.

Missing AirPort, antenna wires are there. Bluetooth module present.

So you need: harddisk, screw-set, logic board and probably another GPU.
[doublepost=1529358801][/doublepost]
DearthnVader said:
Would a broken off battery clip keep the system from booting?
Click to expand...
No, still boots.
 
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tsialex said:
Seems no harddisks present but caddy/with the screws are. Did you notice that almost all logic board screws are missing? Another thing, almost all original 2600XT are now broken, lead-free solder problem.

Power supply usually works fine, logic board problems are a lot more common. Battery clip seems ok to me.

Missing AirPort, antenna wires are there. Bluetooth module present.

So you need: harddisk, screw-set, logic board and probably another GPU.
[doublepost=1529358801][/doublepost] No, still boots.
Click to expand...

Thanks @tsialex, good eyes there.

It maybe hard to track down the screw set for the logic board.

A new logic board and an airport card shouldn't be to hard to come by, tho maybe I just took on a money pit.:mad:

We'll see what we see when the unit arrives.
 
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Sometimes it's not about the money but the enjoyment of troubleshooting / restoring an old system. I bought an untested (code word for tested and not working but I'll pretend I didn't test) Apple //c which I decided to restore. Financially it makes no sense but I'm enjoying the process.
 
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MP arrived, total basket case, parts just tossed in.

It was the dual CPU model, so there is that, tho the tops of the CPU's are so burnt I can't figure what they are.

The logic board needs replaced, as not only is the battery clip broken off, but the power connector for the front fans is broken on the logic board, looks like from the seller just jamming the fan cage in all side wise before shipping.

System does power on, so I'm pretty sure the PSU is good, but no boot chime and the CPU's never get warm. The OT A and OT B diagnostic LEDs seem to stay on.

Maybe fried logic board and CPU's.

The hard part will be tracking down the missing 12 logic board screws, but at least they left me two of them, so maybe a tip to the HW store.

Anyone got a spare MP3,1 logic board they want to part with?
 
DearthnVader said:
MP arrived, total basket case, parts just tossed in.

It was the dual CPU model, so there is that, tho the tops of the CPU's are so burnt I can't figure what they are.

The logic board needs replaced, as not only is the battery clip broken off, but the power connector for the front fans is broken on the logic board, looks like from the seller just jamming the fan cage in all side wise before shipping.

System does power on, so I'm pretty sure the PSU is good, but no boot chime and the CPU's never get warm. The OT A and OT B diagnostic LEDs seem to stay on.

Maybe fried logic board and CPU's.

The hard part will be tracking down the missing 12 logic board screws, but at least they left me two of them, so maybe a tip to the HW store.

Anyone got a spare MP3,1 logic board they want to part with?
Click to expand...

For your info, The Apple "Service Source" for 2008 Mac Pro says only 11 mounting screws for the logic board.
Screen Shot 2018-06-22 at 08.13.13.jpg

And this is the spec (M3.5x7.5mm)
Screen Shot 2018-06-22 at 08.14.12.png
 
tsialex said:
Nice! BTW, you can install/boot a pre-installed disk of High Sierra if you set no_compat_check on nvram.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I had a bunch of SATA drives, so I tossed four of them in, one had Sierra, but I got the stop sign when booting from it. Anyway, I likely have FakeSMC on that drive, so I'll need to remove that and rebuild the kext cache.
 
Finally got an OS installed, some sort of bug in High Sierra where creating a USB installer of Mavericks or El Capitan results in the installer app on the USB drive getting corrupt.

I had to find an ISO of Snow Leopard, convert it to a RO DMG, scan it for restore, and restore it to a USB drive. That got me going.

I really lucked out on this deal, the CPUs are the top spec 3.2 Ghz X5482's, and my nephew had 6 GB of EEC DDR2, so I have a total of 8GB ram, tho it's only running at 667Mhz, rather than 800Mhz.

Time to pull off some hacks.:D
 
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DearthnVader said:
I really lucked out on this deal, the CPUs are the top spec 3.2 Ghz X5482's, and my nephew had 6 GB of EEC DDR2, so I have a total of 8GB ram, tho it's only running at 667Mhz, rather than 800Mhz.

Time to pull off some hacks.:D
Click to expand...

Wow! Really a score.

GPU is working 100%? It's the original 2600XT?
 
tsialex said:
Wow! Really a score.

GPU is working 100%? It's the original 2600XT?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's the 2600Xt, still seems to work fine, but I'm still installing El Capitan, so I haven't stressed it yet. Tho I'll be upgrading to a RX580 if I can get the drivers working for High Sierra. If not then I for see a trip to MacVidCards in my future.
 
DearthnVader said:
Yes, it's the 2600Xt, still seems to work fine, but I'm still installing El Capitan, so I haven't stressed it yet. Tho I'll be upgrading to a RX580 if I can get the drivers working for High Sierra. If not then I for see a trip to MacVidCards in my future.
Click to expand...

Maybe you could hunt an EVGA GTX680, flashes easily and works with native drivers, AMD do not work without SSE4.2 on High Sierra.
 
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My IO fan runs up to 2500 RPM and stays there, I can't seem to sort the issue, anyone have any idea why?

I assume the IO fan is the upper front fan that blows over the PCI bay?

Nothing seems to be over heating, and I can control the fan speed, but I'd rather figure the issue.

I reset the SMC a few times, but there maybe an issue with the fact I have no PRAM Battery.
 
Well, I spent a few days working on the holy grail, getting GOP boot screens for the cMP, and I didn't get very far.

One thing I did find is the GOP rom module does get mapped and loaded, it just reports that it is invalid, so that explains why the few people that got it to work with rEFInd and Clover were able to do it, even tho neither has any code to map or load the GOP rom.

As to the AMD graphics drivers for Sierra/HS, it seems it's the AMDRadeonX4000.kext and AMDRadeonX5000.kext that won't work on the 3,1.

I'm not real sure what the issue is, as they work fine without SSE4.2 on my Qemu machine. Maybe @dosdude1 could comment on what he found with the AMD drivers?
 
DearthnVader said:
Well, I spent a few days working on the holy grail, getting GOP boot screens for the cMP, and I didn't get very far.

One thing I did find is the GOP rom module does get mapped and loaded, it just reports that it is invalid, so that explains why the few people that got it to work with rEFInd and Clover were able to do it, even tho neither has any code to map or load the GOP rom.

As to the AMD graphics drivers for Sierra/HS, it seems it's the AMDRadeonX4000.kext and AMDRadeonX5000.kext that won't work on the 3,1.

I'm not real sure what the issue is, as they work fine without SSE4.2 on my Qemu machine. Maybe @dosdude1 could comment on what he found with the AMD drivers?
Click to expand...

I mailed him and he specifically mentioned the lack of SSE4.2 on Penryn being the reason, unfortunately.
 
DearthnVader said:
Well, I spent a few days working on the holy grail, getting GOP boot screens for the cMP, and I didn't get very far.

One thing I did find is the GOP rom module does get mapped and loaded, it just reports that it is invalid, so that explains why the few people that got it to work with rEFInd and Clover were able to do it, even tho neither has any code to map or load the GOP rom.

As to the AMD graphics drivers for Sierra/HS, it seems it's the AMDRadeonX4000.kext and AMDRadeonX5000.kext that won't work on the 3,1.

I'm not real sure what the issue is, as they work fine without SSE4.2 on my Qemu machine. Maybe @dosdude1 could comment on what he found with the AMD drivers?
Click to expand...

No matter what's the result, still want to say thank you that you willing to spend your time in this area.
 
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