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Mac Pro 5,1 Issues

ximi

ximi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 2, 2019
6
0
USA
Hi everyone just made an account because i could not solve the issues i was having with my mac pro 5,1 , i have done extensive research and still cant seem to fix my issues maybe someone can help me with my new machine purchased a month ago.

Machine Purchased :
Mac Pro 5,1 2010
2 x 2.4 quad core intel xeon
12 Gb Ram
Ati Radeon HD 5870

Issue 1 : When i push the power button on the computer it does not power on it only powers usb keyboard and mouse etc and turns off. When i push the power button for a second time it turns on normally. is this normal?

Issue 2 : CD Drive opens on start up every time i have done a pram reset and it still does the same thing .

Issue 3 : I successfully have put windows 10 onto my mac pro , and everything works except the fact that i have an issue with booting other than the " option method " . i have tried the following

1.booting from system preferences boots into black screen

2. tried this bless command from :
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/bootchamp-what-are-the-other-alternatives.2036710/
and i still get a black screen

3. tried a pram reset still nothing

4. gave bootchamp a try ( yes i did disable sip and redisabled after pram reset ) still get a black screen on boot

5. tried boot runner . ( getting a gpu upgrade so i was going to buy it anyway thought id give it a try under 14 day trial ) it restarts my mac when i hit windows and it goes back to boot runner menu asking me to choose the drive again so pretty much it does the same thing when as if i were to turn my mac pro on. but when i click my mac drive it boots into osx normally.

6. disabled fast start up on windows 10

also id like to note that under terminal my start up disks show up as
  1. /System/Library/CoreServices
  2. /Volume/BOOTCAMP/WINDOWS
( Mac Drive is a Samsung SSD in drive bay 1

Win 10 is on a 1TB HDD in drive bay 2 )

just like superparati mentioned on his thread. but under my option boot menu it shows up as Efiboot
dont know if that matters or not but every other mac i used boot camp on it shows up as windows on boot menu option on start up. also under windows 10 my bootcamp restart into mac osx works flawlessly it boots back into osx when i do that.

I appreciate the time taken to read my thread

Thanks again
Ximi
 
You did not indicated what version of MAC OS X is in the system, if any.
You did not indicate if you can boot MAC OS X.
Mojave OS X is not supposed to be used with the ATI 5870 so the issues you experience would not surprise me.

The CD tray opening is inviting you to boot OS X from a CDROM.
It shows you have an OS X boot problem.

The power button issue you are experiencing does not make sense.
Are you sure you are holding the button down long enough to properly boot up.

You did not indicate if you are getting the hardware chime after boot up.
If not, you have a hardware issue too and not just a software boot issue.
 
lie2me said:
You did not indicated what version of MAC OS X is in the system, if any.
You did not indicate if you can boot MAC OS X.
Mojave OS X is not supposed to be used with the ATI 5870 so the issues you experience would not surprise me.

The CD tray opening is inviting you to boot OS X from a CDROM.
It shows you have an OS X boot problem.

The power button issue you are experiencing does not make sense.
Are you sure you are holding the button down long enough to properly boot up.

You did not indicate if you are getting the hardware chime after boot up.
If not, you have a hardware issue too and not just a software boot issue.
Click to expand...


I apologize i did not mention,

I am on high sierra and yes i do get a chime , and yes i am sure i am holding down the power button long enough and yes it does boot into high sierra after i push the power button twice .
 
This may seem to be from out of left field but how old is the coin battery on the logic board that powers the PRAM when the Mac is off? I had my MP start having problems when that battery was no longer providing adequate power. Replacing it fixed several issues I had. The old battery had probably been in there since it shipped.
 
rpmurray said:
This may seem to be from out of left field but how old is the coin battery on the logic board that powers the PRAM when the Mac is off? I had my MP start having problems when that battery was no longer providing adequate power. Replacing it fixed several issues I had. The old battery had probably been in there since it shipped.
Click to expand...

Honestly do not know I'm assuming its been in there since the MP was built as well only thing that has been changed on it from whoever had it before me was the ram by the looks of things. Replaced the thermal paste and did some tlc on the inside to clean her up a bit So its probably safe to say that battery has been in there for a very long time. I will definitely replace it .
 
How frequently should that PRAM battery be replaced?
I bought my MacPro5,1 in 2012 and have never thought of replacing the battery.
I just reset the SMC/PRAM a week ago and the MP had problems booting up and switched to the back up clone drive instead. No problems after that, but maybe that was a battery issue.
What's best practice?
 
mavots said:
How frequently should that PRAM battery be replaced?
I bought my MacPro5,1 in 2012 and have never thought of replacing the battery.
I just reset the SMC/PRAM a week ago and the MP had problems booting up and switched to the back up clone drive instead. No problems after that, but maybe that was a battery issue.
What's best practice?
Click to expand...

The battery should be replaced when the voltage drops from over 3,2V to 2,6V. Below 2,5V and the clock circuit start to have problems.

BR2032 battery is the model used by Apple with desktop Macs and is a battery with different chemistry formulation from CR2032. BR2032 in a Mac Pro can keep the clock for 6 or 7 years, but this varies with the temperature where the Mac is installed, higher temperatures equal less battery life and if you live in a colder place, battery life is longer. Hot GPUs can make the battery die sooner too.

PRAM is a incorrectly used term for Intel Macs, relic of PowerMac era. The BR2032 battery in a Mac Pro only keeps the clock circuit. No parameters beyond the clock and clock related like time elapsed since boot are kept by the battery charge. All configuration and parameters are stored in a SPI flash memory, the same that stores the BootROM. That part of the BootROM is called NVRAM.
 
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That startup problem does indicate something is not as it should be ... certainly change the pram battery and reset the pram with the keyboard. Also blow any dust out of the machine and reseat the ram and cards. It may be an issue with the backplane board but lets hope not. When I have seen 4,1s that did not start it has been the backplane rather than the power supply. But until recently I did not see any similar 5,1 issues.
 
Isn't that whats its called ? The CR 2032. ? I dont think it will help but its worth a shot :)
 
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