Mac Pro 4,1 won't boot after failed Airport Card Install

[Jigga Beef]

Hopefully, this is going to be something simple.

I tried to replace my airport card today as Mojave won't see the current airport card that is in my mac pro.

I bought a card on eBay and started what I hoped would be an easy project.


I had a hard time getting one of the screws out that held the card down and it was so stripped I had to pull the card out.

The piece holding the screw came off but I don't think that's a huge problem.

I got the new card in and connected the antennas


Now my Mac Pro will power on white light" but nothing displays on the screen. I don't hear a startup chime and it just sits there with the light on.

I tried booting it with no Wifi Card in and plugged into ethernet and i even tried installing the old card.


I assumed it might be something simple so i made sure my video card was pushed in all the way and the trey with the processor with the RAM is going in smoothly. But nothing has helped.

The only thing I can think is when I was pulling on the antenna wires something else may have come loose.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jigga Beef]

I think its an issue with the processor trey, I've made sure its going in smoothly and I've tighten all the visible screws.
How can I tighten the heat sinks or make sure that they are not loose?

 

[crjackson2134]

I had a hard time getting one of the screws out that held the card down and it was so stripped I had to pull the card out.

The piece holding the screw came off but I don't think that's a huge problem.

It’s really hard (for me anyway) to diagnose this without CLEARLY seeing thr result of your “pulling” the card out, and any possible damage to the LB by forcing and/or breaking the boss that holds the standoff in the blurred pic here.

I worry that you may have caused more damage than you think. I could be, and hopefully AM wrong, but I really can’t even take a good guess based on the information available here.

 

[Jigga Beef]

It’s really hard (for me anyway) to diagnose this without CLEARLY seeing thr result of your “pulling” the card out, and any possible damage to the LB by forcing and/or breaking the boss that holds the standoff in the blurred pic here.

I worry that you may have caused more damage than you think. I could be, and hopefully AM wrong, but I really can’t even take a good guess based on the information available here.

Totally get it. I will try to be more clear.

When I pulled the card with the stripped screw it took off the piece that the screw goes into with it, which is what I am holding in the photo. I do hope this damage isn't too serious but can see that it may have broken something else.

I decided to take a break from the troubleshooting tonight.

After some more research, I am going to try and re-install the Original GPU and replace the PVRAM battery.

My biggest worry is in "transit" the processor trey had something damages it or move it. While I was careful when I moved it, it seems like the issue is coming from the tray rather than the Airport Card missing.

 

[crjackson2134]

Totally get it. I will try to be more clear.

When I pulled the card with the stripped screw it took off the piece that the screw goes into with it, which is what I am holding in the photo. I do hope this damage isn't too serious but can see that it may have broken something else.

I decided to take a break from the troubleshooting tonight.

After some more research, I am going to try and re-install the Original GPU and replace the PVRAM battery.

My biggest worry is in "transit" the processor trey had something damages it or move it. While I was careful when I moved it, it seems like the issue is coming from the tray rather than the Airport Card missing.

Okay, you see all the new information you just added? Original GPU, System in transit, etc...

You need to have all that information, and include when it was last working, and at what point did it stop working. What leads you to hypothesize CPU tray damage?

Take a break, come back, and then put some history and detail to all this.

 

[Macschrauber]

Provide more photos of the area you ripped things out.

 

[Jigga Beef]

I have attached a picture of the damaged area inside the tower.

To Be clear about my issue last night.

My In transit I mean moving the processor trey it and out of the computer several times yesterday.

The video card is RX580, It has worked for 2 years.

The computer was working fine until I attempted the airport card removal.
[doublepost=1538310402][/doublepost]As of right now the power to the computer seems fine, white light is solid.

All the Fans are trying including the fan on the video card.

HDDs are fine work in another computer.

 

[Pressure]

Did you connect all the antennas? If not did you cover it in electrical tape, so it didn’t short anything?

 

[Jigga Beef]

Did you connect all the antennas? If not did you cover it in electrical tape, so it didn’t short anything?

I did not do that, I will try that!

 

[Jigga Beef]

Put electrical tape around the 3 antennas

Tried re-seating both processors.

Still won't boot.

One red LED blink on startup on the Processor tray,

When I hold the DIAG light in front of the top fan down I get 1 sold green LED.

 

[Pressure]

Well, it could be either the processor or tray is dead (the red LED on the processor board) or the antennas shorted something.

Download the Mac Pro (Early 2009) Apple Technician Guide and follow the steps outlined from page 28 and onwards.

Strip it down to the minimal configuration for testing and follow the guide. In worst case you may need to strip it down to take a look behind the backplane board to examine any damage there from the lost connector.

 

[LugubriousHaddock]

Did you find a solution to this issue? I seem to have run in to the same problem, the difference being I didn’t have any trouble getting the old card out. I did however loose one of the two screws down behind the processor case and I’m worried I may have disconnected something while prying it out. The symptoms are exactly the same.

 

[LugubriousHaddock]

Just wanted to quickly report back that for me it was a case of a bent pin on the interconnect that the CPU tray slots into. This was blindingly obvious after I’d had some sleep and added a bit more light. I managed to very gently (and nervously) straighten it and everything appears to be working fine now. Lesson learned!

 

[Jigga Beef]

Just wanted to quickly report back that for me it was a case of a bent pin on the interconnect that the CPU tray slots into. This was blindingly obvious after I’d had some sleep and added a bit more light. I managed to very gently (and nervously) straighten it and everything appears to be working fine now. Lesson learned!

I ended up getting a new machine (5,1). I think for me the antenna on the removed airport card shorted my logic board. Lack of sleep let me to think my processor became unseated so I took that apart and re-seated it, which is really beyond what I should have done.

So now I have a 4,1 that doesn't work. Someday I may replace the logic board to try. Lesson learned for me as well, stop opening up my machine. A USB dongle could have fixed my wireless issues.