Last year I bought two retired mac pro 3,1 from a studio, I am using one of them for everyday PS , AI and some web browsing nothing heavy. Another one have only one 4core CPU, and a broken case, so I leave it unplug and keep it save for spare. Every week , I would plug and boot up the spare mac pro, make sure it is still working. From here, let say the using mac pro is mac pro A(2 x 4 core CUP + AMD 5770 GPU + 32GB ram) and the spare one is mac pro B(1 x 4core CUP + Nvidia 8800 GT GPU + 4GB ram)

Few days ago, I bought a AOC 2236vw monitor from a second head market, which should replace the cinema display(with broken screen). So when I back home , I replaced the cinema display with the AOC monitor on the Mac Pro A. Later that night, I found that the Mac Pro A have serious fans noise and no response(black screen). I force the Mac Pro A to turn off by holding the power button. After that, I try to turn it on again but this time only have white light on the front panel, the fans do spin(no sound, not hight speed) ,also no boot chime. So I try to manual reboot again, this time I heard two "tick" sound from the power supply, the first "tick" happen when I push the power button(white light on), the other "tick" a few second later and the white light off. After a few manual reboot, the Mac Pro A keep stay like that.

At first I suspect the power supply go bad. So I replace the power supply for B to A,(before the replacement I boot up Mac Pro B to make sure the power supply of Mac Pro B is working) however nothing change. So I put the power supply of A to Mac Pro B, it works, and can boot into system. So it seem not the power supply problem. After that, I put the GPU、Ram to Mac Pro B(one by one) all for them are able to boot into system . So what left is the mother board, it must the mother board had fail, I think. So I replace the the mother board , however it keep being white light, again the fans do spin(no sound, not hight speed) ,also no boot chime . And when I put the motherboard form A to B, it boot... which does not make sense at alllllll. (all of the above test have no monitor attached)

At this point I also try to boot with the CPU one by one , no luck with that.

At this point, Mac Pro A have the power supply of B and mother board of B. So I also exchange the little board of them, which the power button is link to, and I also exchange to power button. Things stay the same, no boot of Mac Pro A , boot on Mac Pro B.

The next day morning I try to boot Mac Pro A again. This time nothing happen. No white light no sound no fans spin. It seem there is no electricity getting in to the mac. So, I again exchange the power supply of A and B(so, this time A and B are having their original power supply.) Guess what, this time B have no boot, the power supply is dead.( No white light, no sound, no fans spin, no nothing)

Well well, however Mac Pro A did boot into system, but just one time, after reboot it go back to the white light situation, no more success boot that day.

And the next next day, mac pro A did get boot into system sometimes, but it would fail if I try to reboot it. And a few hours late it might be able to boot or it might not. The power supply of B stay dead.

If I have a successful boot, the optical drive will make a noise .When boot into system, the mac pro A work normally, I put it in to the cinebench r23 test, it will finish the task. Sometimes if I leave it power on long enough, it will shut down by itself and not boot again.

I have no clue if the aoc monitor have anything to do with the fail. I do not think linking the mini display port could cause any of this, it should be just coincidence.

I do a lot of google search about mac pro 3,1 white light problem, no luck, I am running out of idea. Here is my last hope.

It seem that the mac pro 3,1 long white light problem have no systemic answer so far. I hope I provide enough detail for the community the know more about this. Hope we can fix this in the future.

this is the Logic Board Diagnostic LEDs when the long white light happen on my case. Some other people on the internet seems to have the same result of this.

Thank you for your attention, wish you good luck, keep healthy and keep happy.

⟐ Commented maggio 17, 2022 at 22:40 GMT-7

⟐ Commented gennaio 03, 2022 at 9:29 GMT-7

I decided to upgrade my Mac 5.1 mid 2010 to a metal supported GPU but having problems getting an image on the display.

I first tried to upgrade to RX580, when i turned on the computer it chimed twice but no image on the display. It may have been a faulty cable so I changed it but still the same problem.

Tried a few solutions that i read online but nothing worked. So i returned the RX580 as i thought it was a faulty card.

I then purchased Radeon Pro WX7100, after installing it, i ran into the same problem. Computer chimes twice then keeps on running but no image on the 27 inch Apple Cinema display.

I would very much appreciate if anyone has any answers.

Thanks

I have scoured the interwebs and settled on a solution to re flash the efi chip. My reasoning being the efi led does not light up at all when pressing the diag button after a minute or two or twenty… there are no other error leds presenting themselves.

My guess.. I would say the previous tech or diy’er failed in their attempt to update/hack the efi to get a newer OS on it.

My plan is to use one of these: SPI USB To TTL 24/25 Series USB Programmer EEPROM BIOS Writer CH341A SOIC8 Clip from ebay to restore the original firmware.

here is an image of the logic board:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0404/6...

Can anyone help in identifying which chip is the efi ? im having real issues with just me and my magnifying glass…

Any help is greatly appreciated.

⟐ Commented maggio 12, 2019 at 18:19 GMT-7

I've got 2009 dual CPU tray with JUST ONE pin broken (not bent - broken) :(

If there would be more of them I would not even ask nor attempt to fix - but juuuust one pin broken

I know soldering is NOT an option - I thinking just to put it in where pressure will do contact broken pin with spare one.

I've seen on YT someone is successfully removing pin from broken motherboard and put into motherboards to be fixed - but it was board/socket with less pins=bigger pins=easier to replace.

Definitely my broken pin is not visible = broken somewhere deeper

I wonder what chances are to remove pin from same 1366 motherboard (if it is easy - just pull out or while removing it - it will break easily (I've got over 1300 tries as so many pins will be in broken motherboard - so no problem with that)

Other question is - what other motherboard can have same pins as 1366 - as the cheapest 1366 motherboard is about £40 which is bit too much just to try (if that would be £5 _ I would try right away)

'''

⟐ Commented marzo 08, 2018 at 19:05 GMT-7

⟐ Commented gennaio 07, 2018 at 15:40 GMT-7

⟐ Commented febbraio 04, 2016 at 8:24 GMT-7

because my Mac Pro 3.1 (Early 2008) sometimes does not wake up fully after sleep mode I decided to test it with Apple Service Diagnostic. It gave me 2 errors which I don't know how to interpret.

1)

- Current (ICBC) - CPU-B core current (test 1)

- Sensor Reads Within Operating Range

- Check to ensure that sensor reads within operating range.

ERROR - 3 Sensor reading below low point - (1.61)

TEST FAILED

2)

Thermal Interface - Processor ProcessorB (test 4)

- TIM Test 75 percent Gardband

- Check that CPU heatsink is properly attached

using product spec theta dh + 75 percent guardband.

ERROR -47006 Processor power error - TEST FAILED

I would be glad if someone has an idea.

Thanks in advance.

⟐ Edited marzo 09, 2015 at 14:37 GMT-7

⟐ Commented agosto 20, 2019 at 20:21 GMT-7

Is this a worth the investment in 2018? What programs can be run? Is there anything about this machine I should know about before buying it? Should I max out the specs or should I keep the specs average?

specs = Hard drive storage, amount of RAM, GFX card

⟐ Answer edited marzo 28, 2023 at 18:16 GMT-7

⟐ Answered giugno 06, 2021 at 0:37 GMT-7

⟐ Answered marzo 01, 2020 at 18:15 GMT-7

works for a while then cuts all power to the the cpu, light stays on at the front and the graphics can fan goes into overdrive, but there seems to be no power to the main body , also noticed that the psu fan stops working. i have run apple hardware test and it all seems ok . sometimes it stays booted for hours other times it just cuts out at the end of a reboot. I have noticed that I can force it to happen by using lightroom or other Raw editing software , but it can just as easily happen when i'm browsing the internet.

I was thinking it might be the PSU but this seems to be the only thread i can find about Mac PSU problems. mouse scrolling activity does seem to trigger it more often then not.

⟐ Answer accepted agosto 21, 2016 at 7:30 GMT-7

At first there were kernel panic issues when I inserted a USB Keyboard, but that went away once I started using Apple Wireless Keyboard.

After I started installing Adobe CS5 and some other applications, there was one incident when it restarted itself, or would just take forever to boot to OS X.

Subsequently, it just refused to boot, with some luck, it gets to Safe Mode sometimes.

I've tried to isolate the issue and now it does not boot at all, it just stays on the grey screen and freezes with the turning gear.

It also has an orange flicker.

The following methods have been used to isolate the item in question:

1. Resetting SMC, PRAM and NVRAM

2. Removing all additional Hard Drives

3. Insertting a new hard drive

4. Booting up from Installation Disc - This leads to a messed up orange display on screen

5. Removing all but original factory ram

6. Removing all but 3rd party ram

7. Disconnecting all optical devices

8. Switching PCI slots for Graphic Card

9. Cleaning up the Nvidia 8800GT which apparently seems to be have overheating issues, or so I've read.

10. Moving to a space with better ventillation

The only items that I can see are not stock in the Mac Pro are the additional 1GB of RAM and the Nvidia 8800GT.

I've suspected that the issue could be the Graphic Card, but I've never thought that a graphic card could prevent a system from booting into the Operating System.

Before I spring another $200 on another graphic card, would anyone have encountered something similar and found a fix?

I'm just concerned that this could be a Logic Board failure and I've just screwed myself.

Would appreciate any help on this, thanks!

⟐ Commented agosto 15, 2016 at 8:15 GMT-7

⟐ Answer accepted dicembre 30, 2023 at 2:11 GMT-7

Was hoping to replace/update WIFI card of my Mac Pro Early 2008 (3,1). Screws were to tight and managed to strip both screws holding (original) card in place….

Tried the rubber band method, Gorilla Glue (it won’t stick) all with no luck… need to remove screws. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

JT

⟐ Answered marzo 18, 2023 at 23:18 GMT-7

⟐ Commented dicembre 05, 2021 at 16:04 GMT-7

Update: I have managed to opened up and fan and gosh, the amount of dirt accumulated is ridiculous. Managed to cleaned up all the dirt and now my fan is barely activating. i shall monitor it for a while to see whether it starts to heat up again before i change the fan.

⟐ Answer accepted luglio 24, 2021 at 18:54 GMT-7

for making use of music software. Machine started acting odd by screen sometimes not coming on and having to restart. It worsened until one day it just would no longer come on at all. I purchased a new Radeon HD 5770 because everything on the net said the card was most likely the problem. It is not the card. After replacing it, the machine chimes it is on, but screen remains black. I use the mini port with an adapter to HDMI. Checked the cable, it is good. Tried a different cable, same thing. Monitor works fine as TV screen. What do I look for next? Everyone has phones now. All the Mac fix stores are gone. I want to stay with the desktop. My screen is 32” big. I like it like that so I can see the music I write. Also the software demands 32G of RAM. A little pocket phone can not do the job. Please Help.

⟐ Answered luglio 12, 2020 at 12:14 GMT-7

I have a Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010) and I have months this problem with the fan’s spinning all the way to the max sounding really loud and annoying after a while.

I saw your screenshot from your fan speed’s and compared it with mine.

I checked inside my Mac Pro and every fan inside is spinning at high speed, but the fans that control my: Intake, Exhaust and PS are at 0? But they are spinning inside and with no issue.

The fan’s did have a little bit of dust but I already blew it away with an electric blower, and nothing changed after blowing away the dust.

Hope for some good tips!

Thanks in advance

@mayer @danj

The fans of the Boost A Boost B is now at maximum speed in TG Speed control. The mac is just turned on and there is no task running.

I did not do anything from yesterday on, this just happened after booting it up from yesterday

@danj

I ran the’ Quick Test’ and found one error.

4MOT/1/40000003 : PCI - 922

Thanks!

⟐ Commented marzo 19, 2020 at 3:38 GMT-7