Mac Pro, Freezing at Start Up.

[bolugle]

Hello, I am pretty new to Mac's so sorry for the stupidity. I tried doing a search but, couldn't find anything. I am terrible with forums, also. Anyway..

Recently i've had some serious issues with my Mac Pro. It started while I was using Boot Camp. I decided to install Boot Camp onto my computer to play games with some old school friends. (I normally use my computer for work / dinking around with photoshop.) Well anyway, I download a game (Team Fortress 2), start it up and instantly have graphical issues which make my computer freeze.

Once my computer froze I had to force a restart. The computer restarts fine and gets to the windows desktop, then without me doing anything instantly restarts all by itself, I had not touched anything. So I decide to start up in Mac OS.

Getting here I thought everything was fine. But then, after opening Safari to try and figure out what had just happened to my computer Mac OS freezes. The strange thing is, I was able to move my mouse around even though everything else was "frozen". I am forced to restart again. Except now when trying to restart my computer freezes while Mac OS is loading. (Grey Screen, "spinning dot circle" <--- awesome description?)

I've tried getting the mac OS to run in "safe mode" with out success.

I am fairly certain my computer is no longer under warranty. Have I just created for myself a very expensive doorstop?

I apologize for the long and grammatically flawed rambling. But, I am really at a loss. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[gugucom]

It sounds like you have a Mac Pro but even that is not clear from your description.

You better tell us what hardware and software you are using.

There are a number of things one can do to trouble shoot a Mac, but it is generally better to know what you have in detail.

Among other things there are resets to PRAM, repairing permissions, repairing disk volumes, re installing OS X from backup and starting the Mac in verbose mode to see what really happens. There is also a hardware test on your second grey DVD.

 

[bolugle]

I have already reset my PRAM and NVRAM this did nothing to help my problem. I am unable to open the CD Tray to use any CD's. (I've tried opening the CD tray with the eject button and attempted to start up the computer through the CD Drive by holding down C (I imagine this probably wouldn't work either way unless there was an actual CD in the drive ))

I do not really re-call the exact specs of my computer. It is however a Mac Pro.

When I was able to get into the Mac OS, I did run the hardware check of the Apple Protection Plan. Everything it tested checked out to be working properly.

I also ran OnyX and everything checked out there too.

What I am really looking for in question here, is what stupid thing I could have done. I understand this is a daunting task and probably asking way to much. Because I am really baffled at what I have done. I tried to take every precaution I knew of while working on the computer.

Programs I used while in bootcamp: Windows, Firefox, Steam. For virus protection I had AVG, which I ran daily. (Scan and Update) I also used Spybot. (Ugh I hate windows, why did I put it on my beautiful mac? )

Programs I used were noting out of the ordinary. Safari, iTunes, Photoshop, Illustrator, Word, File Maker Pro, other programs like that. No shady websites or what not.

I am really unsure of the exact specs my computer has, wasn't / isn't a huge priority to me. Something a long the lines of 4 gigs of ram, 2.66 Ghz Quad Core, a single HD: probably the smallest, geforce 8600.


Is it possible that I somehow got a virus and it affected my Mac partition as well? I am as I said previously quite computer-stupid.

Thank you again for responses.

 

[gugucom]

I'm not sure you did anything stupid. Usually people install Windows in their OS X partition but that didn't happen in your case.

Try starting in verbose mode which will perhaps give you a clue what is wrong. Also focus on getting the Leopard disk into your superdrive and start from it using your alt key.

You could disconnect your hard drive if you think it is causing trouble by virus. You should then be able to load the Leopard disk.

If your CD ejection does not work at all you could try to fit another optical drive.

 

[bolugle]

I restarted in Verbose Mode (i've never done this before). When starting in Verbose mode, it gets stuck randomly, just like starting up normally. It just has lines of text I do not understand

Thank you for trying to help

 

[gugucom]

Then it may be time to start it without hard drive. That should give you an opportunity to start from DVD.

 

[bolugle]

Well, I took the HD out, and was able to get the drive to open. I loaded the DVD in, it started to load and then froze again.

I am assuming it's some sort of hardware failure?

Thanks a lot for your help, at least I know it's not something I did.

 

[gugucom]

It could be a corruption to the firmware. It certainly sounds very strange. Perhaps an AASP will be able to diagnose this thing. I'm not sure how you replace a faulty EFI firmware.

Perhaps it is in the service manual.

Edit: wait I'm loading it up again

Edit: It should now download another 10 times. So hurry.

http://rapidshare.com/files/260312442/MacPro_Service_Manual.pdf.html


There is something on page 118:

LED EFI Good
Normally on when DIAG_LED button is pressed. Takes approximately 5 seconds after power up.
If this LED is on, it indicates that the computer has completed the on board Extensible Firmware
Interface (EFI) operations and the operating system is now in control.
Troubleshooting:
Check that LED 7 Power On LED is on.
Check that LEDs 2, 3, 4, and 5 are off.
Try removing any added hardware.
Try removing any added DIMMs.
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•
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If the Mac does not complete EFI start up, you may have corrupted it.