Mac store cant find problem with mac pro

[sebassttiann]

the mac
mac pro 2.66 dual core
5gb of ram.
3 hardrives (1 250 2 750 gb)
everything else stock.
used for video editing and motion graphics.

OK long story short.

mac pro freezes all the time and crashes.(screen goes dark and says i need to turn it off) When it does this, computer cannot be turned back on right away i have to wait a good 15 minutes if i dont computer will physically turn on but nothing will appear on screen. Along with cd rom drive makes a ticking sound. i cannot determine any coicidences when it freezes. it freezes while running just about any of my daily used programs (fcs, adobe suite, itunes) or when im using computer or browsing a finder. it also comes and goes itll act up for a week then chill out for a month, however the past 2 months it has been rather continous with its problems.

Another problem. One local mac specialists store and the apple store CANT find anything wrong with it. Both stores ran diagnostic test and their own tests on the machine (i am not aware of what any test done by both stores entails of) and they both cannot find anything wrong with the machine. SOOO apple care wont do anything cause technically they say its in perfect working condition but ITS NOT!!! i tried to work on the computer while i was in the store and guess what it didn;t want to freeze up on me. I got the machine back yesterday from mac store and have been out of a machine for over a month with no solutions and it froze within ten minutes of being in my office :-(
apple store said it could be logic board,processor, ram, hardrive, or video card. well thanks for narrowing it down maybe its the case!!!


i have tried the following things which all resulted in freezing.

disconnecting any periphials(sp) usb, fire wire.
installing more ram.
removing apple ram and leaving after market
removing after market and leaving apple ram
fresh install of operating system 2 times.
taking notes of each freeze in relationship to programs running and freezes while running various programs and sometimes NONE.
installed new super drive.
created new user profile
disk permissions cleaned

what i plan on doing.
installing operating system onto brand new hardrive.
purchasing new video card.

after this i dont know what is really worth doing :-( other then buying new computer. it keeps me from working and is a royal pain in the ass.

If anybody knows or has an idea please feel free to let me know.

 

[yeroen]

My first inclination is to point the finger at an overheating graphics card (I don't believe in store diagnostics would catch that). You said stock configuration, so I'm assuming a 7300GT.

This may prove to be irrelevant, but how are you connecting your Mac Pro to the power outlet? Straight into the wall, through a surge protector, or a UPS?

 

[sebassttiann]

yes its the stock video card.
its plugged into a surge protector but i will try plugging into a wall. never know....

 

[yeroen]

The reason I asked about your power supply was because I recall there were some discussions on the Apple forums about people experiencing trouble with their Mac Pro's that (conveniently) were never reproduced at the Apple Service Center. Some of these were traced to circuit breakers being intermittently tripped by the power hungry Mac Pro which sent the box into a panic.

However I still think it's dying video card, given the symptoms. Remember, the 7300GT is basically a crap card that's bound to overheat. Before I upgraded to the X1900 (and soon to the 3870) I always experienced graphics corruption and stray pixels with my 7300, even doing light innocuous tasks like web surfing and email. Is the Apple store willing to lend you another graphics card to see if that solves the issue? I'd definitely ask.

 

[Infrared]

the mac
mac pro 2.66 dual core
5gb of ram.
3 hardrives (1 250 2 750 gb)
everything else stock.
used for video editing and motion graphics.

OK long story short.

mac pro freezes all the time and crashes.(screen goes dark and says i need to turn it off)

That's a kernel panic screen? If so, are there any crash logs?

 

[sebassttiann]

i am unaware of how to obtain that. i did mention the idea of a crash log to apple people and was told it would be looked into....

 

[Infrared]

i am unaware of how to obtain that. i did mention the idea of a crash log to apple people and was told it would be looked into....

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106228

 

[sebassttiann]

Update to this thread!!

I STILL NEED HELP.


Since my original post. I have replaced the cd rom drive. I have installed 8 gigs of ram in addition to the 1gb it came with. I have installed a ati radeon 3870. IT STILL FREEZES randomly.

It did chill out untill about a week ago. I also have been using a backup computer so I was fine. However this problem has not gone away in the year ive owned the computer. Applecare will not do anything.

I dont know what to do. The only thing left i think i can do is insall the operating system on a brand new harddrive. I have reinstalled the OS twice but on same harddrive it came with. After that i feel like ill be replacing parts that it would just be better to buy a new machine. Read first post and if anybody has any insite or needs additional info please let me know.

 

[yellow]

Ticking sound?
What does the SMART status report for the HD?
What do the kernel panic logs say?

 

[Mackilroy]

Yeah, when I had a ticking sound it was a hard drive eventually failing. I had nothing that wasn't easily replaced on it, but still, losing data can be annoying.

 

[synth3tik]

After the video card I would have checked on the system hard drive and then the PSU.

 

[sneezymarble]

I just helped a friend of mine fix his PC. His computer was making a ticking sound and it was the result of a failing hard drive. That'd be my guess.

 

[4JNA]

those sometimes problems are a bitch!

i also thought the 7300 video card might have been it, as mine caused all kinds of trouble with the same machine.

i'd look at anything left from the original setup that would be easy to pull and/or replace. sounds like the original hard drive and the original memory are still in the system. i'd first pull the original 1gb of memory and then see what happens. if you still get a crash, i'd move/ghost to a new hard drive or just load from scratch to also eliminate possible software problems.

if you are comfortable inside a computer, then would also recommend a once through the case to re-seat, re-plug, and look for loose connectors. have had a few systems that would crash like mad until i reseated the odd cable or wifi/bluetooth card, etc. just my two cents after building/fixing computers for 20 years.

problem, problem, problem, no problem. there's your problem!

best of luck.

 

[sebassttiann]

The ticking was coming from the cd rom drive. It was replaced and has since no longer ticked. I figure since this has been doing it for a year the hard drive would have failed by now. But I'm gonna reload OS on a new hard rive and see what happens. Other then that I have replaced A LOT and still acts up. thank you everybody for your support i will be posting the logs once i get to the computer in a day or two and maybe that can help.

 

[emt377]

It might be worth trying a power conditioner. Also, do you have radio transmitters or such nearby? Maybe a high powered motor on the same circuit (HVAC?)? It might also be worthwhile having an electrician over to inspect the wiring, maybe your ground wire is floating and picking up RF noise.

 

[sebassttiann]

It might be worth trying a power conditioner. Also, do you have radio transmitters or such nearby? Maybe a high powered motor on the same circuit (HVAC?)? It might also be worthwhile having an electrician over to inspect the wiring, maybe your ground wire is floating and picking up RF noise.

The computer has been pluged into my home and two separate office and yielded same random results.