MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro refusing to leave home

[ashleykaryl]

OK this is a bit ironic, but I was preparing the Mac Pro 5.1 for sale by secure erasing the old SATA drives with disk utility and left it running overnight.

Not long ago I figured the drive being erased was likely to have finished, so I pressed the power button on the sleeping screen, which then showed the login window. I tried typing in my password from the wireless keyboard, but it wasn't working for whatever reason and then there was spinning ball.

Eventually I tried a forced shutdown, followed by resetting the PRAM and SMC from a wired keyboard. That all seemed to go smoothly, yet there is clearly no video signal now and it seems so strange when I had a login window only a minute before. If I plug in the HDMI cable the light goes blue for a second indicating some kind of connection, then goes orange again. This is with an RX560 card.

As a test I then changed back to the original video card with another cable and monitor but no change. The computer appears to start normally with the usual bong in Mojave but no image ever appears on the screen and I've been unable to boot into recovery mode either. Clutching at straws I just changed the CR2032 battery on the board as well.

Any thoughts on what could be wrong here?

 

[ashleykaryl]

I managed to get it started with a screen from an external usb drive with a cloned OS, so it's pointing towards the SSD having problems.

 

[MarkC426]

If your wiping it for sale, did you erase the system disk...?

 

[ashleykaryl]

No that wouldn't be possible, since I was running disk utility from that SSD and it wasn't in recovery mode, so it would only allow me to erase other drives. In any case disk utility does not allow secure erase on SSD drives I gather.

I have since looked around and found a SATA drive with a cloned copy of the OS from a few months back and it boots fine from that one, so I'll try adding the SSD again and see if I can learn more.

 

[ashleykaryl]

Update here: If I start up from that Mojave backup on the SATA the PCIE SSD drive fails to mount or even be recognised as existing by disk utility, so it looks like the SSD has failed completely.

I guess I could pick up a cheap new SSD then install the OS and put it on sale like that.

 

[MarkC426]

Or just sell it with Mojave on a HDD if you have one wiped, for what it's worth.
How is the Mac mini in comparison?

 

[ashleykaryl]

Yes that's an option I suppose. I am not sure what it is worth and figured any prospective buyer would want an SSD these days.

 

[MarkC426]

I wasn't downgrading the value, sorry (being a cMP user myself).
Bad use of wording.....

 

[ashleykaryl]

Sure I understand. I see some of the pricing on eBay that looks a bit optimistic to me but these are still good workhorses, especially if you need to run some older software.

I like the mini on the whole and it's generally faster than the Mac Pro, though video graphics is obviously a weak point on the Intel mini. You also have to deal with the plethora of external drives and cables that can be messy. The big plus point for the Mac Pro is that you can generally diagnose and fix problems like this when they arise. Any other Mac is more problematic.

 

[MarkC426]

At least with the intel mini you can add some nice eGPU's these days.

 

[ashleykaryl]

That's true, but I don't think they make sense economically, unless they have come down in price a lot recently. My basic plan was to keep going with the mini for a while and see what comes out soon with silicon. The current mini could then remain as a usable backup for a few more years.

My background is in photography, but for a few years it's mainly been web design. Now the plan is to expand with more services, including video, so it will probably mean a couple new machines before long.

I am still perplexed about what happened with that SSD on the Mac Pro. It was five years old, but still strange how it suddenly went like that and shows why you always need backups on hand.