Mac Pro (ATI X1900) black screen at boot

Hey there,
I've been seeing some problems with my early Mac Pro when booting. Upon the first boot of the day, the machine sounds like it's starting up however the display remains black for upto 15 minutes before kicking in.
The problem used to happen occasionally but it's just been getting worse over the last 6 months.
It's got to the stage that if you put the machine into sleep mode, then come back 30 minutes later I'll have to wait for another 15 minutes before I can log back in.
If the machine has been running for a while and you perform a regular reboot, you can see the system booting and the login window comes up straight away.
I've tried a fresh install of Leopard on an external drive, problem still exists.
I also tried hooking up another display to the system just to check it wasn't the existing monitor and sure enough the problem remains.
Recently the display has been blanking for a few seconds when I've been using the system.
Searching to forums seems to suggest a whole bunch of issues with the ATI X1900 card, which is installed in this system.
Does anyone think the ATI card is the fault here?
In addition, I know the system is out of its initial years warranty but it seems like the ATI card has some known problems, so what's the likelyhood of Apple helping me out here?

You are chasing down the wrong rabbit hole is my best guess, as bad as the X1900 might be.
Rule out marginal RAM, Seagate drives, 3rd party USB/FW devices, controllers (other than X1900), even modem/router. All it takes is a bad USB or FW (or probably RJ45) cable.
No need to reinstall. Now that you have, clone your system for backup and testing with SuperDuper and run Disk Warrior, too, and try that. Might want to rerun the last combo update. And I always run the combo update from another drive than the system being updated.
SuperDuper forces the newly cloned system to rebuild all the temp files, logs, caches and such that are best done by itself when first booted.
Other things to try are reset the SMC RESET button on pre-2008 Mac Pro (on 2008 model, leave it unplugged overnight, no cables attached to clear or reset the SMC) and then zap NVRAM on cold boot.
See this article:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060131080021235

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Mac Pro, ATI X1900, Apple Cinema, and Boot Camp

Ok so I finally got Windows to install on to my Mac Pro. This is a long explanation because it includes a lot of information for users who may be having the same problems I had. My problem is at the bottom, but for those of you who are still stuck on the blank screen, READ ON!
Many have users been having problems installing Windows on Mac Pros with the ATI x1900 video card.
For Example, after running boot camp and loading XP the screen would go blank.
To get around this use the DVI to VGA addapter and plug a seperate monitor in, once the computer has finshed installing Windows, then install the drivers.
At this point my graphics card was still not installed correctly. I downloaded the driver off of the ATI website, however I kept recieving errors. So I unpakaged the driver and had the computer find a driver in that folder. Once this was done I went back and installed the remaining software without errors!
Now, currently I am still having to use a second monitor because my HD 23 inch was just showing a blank screen. To fix this I,
1. Installed the video card controller from the ATI website for the ATI X1900
2. Opened advanced settings and supported HD 1080i
3. Connected my HD monitor in the second DVI slot
4.exteneded onto that monitor
5. Switched that monitor to primary
And Perfect! It works
However, this is where problems began to arise. After customizing everything to my taste, I ran a test within this same program which sets all of your graphics card's settings to the optimal setting. I walked away because it was taking a long time, and when i came back my screen was totally messed up. It looked as if the settings had been changed and it had been moved up. With the top of the windows screen down where the dock is supposed to be, and then the dock right above that. I cannot correct this and it is extremely frustrating!
Is there anyway for me to correct this? It is normal in Mac Mode, but in XP i can't correct it. It just seems like there is one problem after another!

so did you install the bootcamp drivers?
because i had no luck with ati's drivers from their web site but apples drivers worked fine.

Mac Pro 3.1 black screen, loud fans

Hello community,
I have a Mac Pro 3.1, 2008 dual 2.8ghz computer. I bought it cheaply as the original owner claimed it had a problem where it would randomly sleep, and a hard reset was neccesary in order to restart the computer. On turning on the computer myself I soon saw what he meant, all of a sudden, quite randomly the screen would drop out entirely and about 8 seconds later the fans go on full whack. This could happen before the computer boots, or could happen 15 minutes later. Sometimes it would happen more often when say I watched a youtube clip on full size in 720/1080p. This shut down can only be stopped by hard resetting the unit.
Originally i thought it might of been the graphics card (Nvidia 8800 GT) which upon researching had found out there have been issues with this graphics card for other people in the past, however they speak of glitchy graphics, over-heating and 'baking' the card. I tested the temps on the gfx card and they were not abnormally high at all. Infact on monitoring all the temperatures when the computer was on i noticed no abnormality with any temps apart from maybe the north bridge which was max 62 C when idling. But my macbook pro hits 75 C on the CPU when using intensive software (logic pro etc). I also tested the gfx card in both available pcie slots aswell as cleaning out excess dust from the gfx card using compressed air.
The computer has a WD velociraptor 128gb 10k rpm HDD installed. I tested the computer with a 128gb SSD which i know worked. I managed to install snow leopard from a DVD onto it before a crash and the computer worked for maybe 20-25 mins then it blacked out again. Not the hard drive then. Tested all the ram (6gb), moved them around etc, no red dimm lights on either board. Not the ram.
The only main components left really are the power supply and the logic board. I have no red leds on the logic board lighting up, so no obvious failures. And when the computer is on it works a treat.
Does this sound like the PSU is dying/dead? I thought this could be an easy software fix, but am now chasing the hardware train....
Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!
Cheers!
Catro

I had a similar problem. Old mac pro and randomly the monitors would go black.
Replying to this incase anyone else has this problem…
Tried all the restarts under the sun, reset the board only to get temporary fix. It got to the point where the monitors would black out repeatedly after a few minutes of resetting.
My final solution (May not work for everyone): Remove the graphics card and check to see if the copper fins in the heat sink are "caked in dust". On my ATI card i can see this from the bottom end. I took the hoover and placed it at the opening and the bit of the hoover nozzle that stuck out I covered that with my finger for maximum suction, I repeated this process from the opposite side where the air exits, after a few seconds the suction was enough to clean out the heat sink and the fan started to spin with the power of the suction.
I have replaced the card and now my mac is running very quiet for the first time in years. On removing the graphics card I noticed the bay was very hot including the card. I'm guessing the card cuts out to protect itself from overheating.
Don't forget to wear an anti-static wristband or discharge yourself first. Using a hoover was a drastic last step. Don't think an air duster would solve the problem as well as suction.

Mac Pro Early 2008 - Black Screen problem

Set-up
Mac Pro 3,1 (Early 2008)
Processor 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 32 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
Storage 2 TB SATA Disk , 2 x 500GB SATA Disk , 128GB Solid State SATA Disk
Display LG 19LS4D-ZB
Operating System Mavericks (10.9.4)
Hi,
I received this mac yesterday from an eBay seller. Everything once booted is running well, I spent most of the day yesterday installing various softwares such as the Adobe Creative Suite (CS6). Then all of a sudden, after around 8 hours of using the machine and editing some video content on Premiere Pro, I get this black screen (with absolutely no warning). The computer didn't change tone or anything with the way it was running, it sounded the exact same as it was. It wasn't like there was no signal coming from the graphics card, there was a signal, it was just a black screen (no cursor or anything). Eventually, I had to turn off the computer using the button on the front.
I have messaged the person who sold me the computer about this, and he has said "The problem is very simple: VGA card goes to sleep. You can change the 'go to sleep time' as Windows system, but don't know where this is with a mac". I've googled to the end of the earth but can't seem to find anything on it!
I've attached these screen shots too just in case...
Any help would be greatly appreciated or happy to answer any questions,
Thanks,
Sam

Try booting to Recovery and repairing the the startup disk via Disk Utility.
OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
Next try resinstalling the OS
OS X Mavericks: Reinstall OS X

Mac Pro (early 2008) black screen after 2015-004 Mavericks security update

Hi,
My Mac Pro (early 2008) does not start up after 2015-004 security update last week. I can't
get anything on my monitors. I can hear it starts booting, but not sure if does so fully, because the screen
stays black. Have tried all the different booting options, e.g. safe boot, but no effect. Is there a way to revert
the update or even do a clean OS install, even if I can't see anything on the monitor?
I just noticed that Apple has released a supplemental update today for Yosemite 10.10.3,
"that will fix video driver issuesthat will prevent your mac from starting up when running certain apps that capture video"
I am wondering if this is my problem, even if I use Mavericks. Any thoughts?

Try booting to Recovery and repairing the the startup disk via Disk Utility.
OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
Next try resinstalling the OS
OS X Mavericks: Reinstall OS X

Mac Pro (Early 2008) black screen on startup diagnostic LED #3 lit (ERR B)

Hi All
I turned on my macpro this morning saw some bizzare lines on my cinema display and then I immediately tried to reboot and then my display went black. No video was being displayed. Keyboard and mouse are unresponsive. I have done some research and did all suggestions (resetting pram) resetting power/ unplugging etc. I finally opened up my computer and noticed that the red diagnostic light #3 was lit (ERR B). Which is as far as could find and instructional error.
I brought it down to the base configuration, removing extra ram and hard drives but still nothing. The computer does turn on, fans are whirring but no output to display no keyboard response nothing.
(The monitor works fine, I connected it to my laptop and it works, so I already ruled that out)
Unfortunately I don't have apple care and my warranty ran out as of last July. I'm about to take it in to apple store but I'm curious as to if anybody had a similiar experience and what it could be. My best guess is that it could be the video card (the stock ATI Radeon 2600XT) but could it be something more serious?
This computer is my lifeblood and work. And I have seen the service manual to find out what and why my diagnostic LED #3 is lit (ERR B)
Any suggestions or advice will truly be appreciated.
Thanks.
And also I cant even open the dvd drive to boot up from system disk or run diagnostics, or is there some other way?

Hi vkim125,
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
After some searching I've found that LED #3 is associated with video display. But could bevelop into a Logic Board error. (Which would mean you would have to replace the computer's motherboard.
Therefore.
I suggest you reset the System Management Controller (Which is reponsible for a number of core processes, video included.)
Follow the instructions from this Knowledge Base article.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1806
Hopefully that should help you resolve the issue> If not post again here; I'll look more into the issue and see if I can get you more detailed information.
Kind regards,
Peter.

Mac Pro intermediate black screen at boot after installing mountain lion

I have a 2008 Mac Pro tower, but since installing Mountain Lion I now get a random black screen at boot. Unplugging the apple cinema 20' power supply for 15 minutes seems to clear the fault. Have had no such problems with other OS until Mountain Lion, seems OK when booting to Snow Lepoard on my other drive?
Anyone have the same fault?

Thanks for trying the help! I tried every version of start up, but with no screen it was no good..
Finally solved the problem, it was the ATI HD 2600 XT graphics card that was dying a very slow death.
Replaced it this morning with a GT120 Nvidia.
Anyone with this card should Google it, as apple did a big recall on these..
http://www.itproportal.com/2011/02/21/apple-extends-warranty-mac-pro-video-cards /

Black Screen on Boot using mac pro os snowleopard 10.6.6

I get a black screen on booting my macpro with os 10.6.6 after the booting is done the screen activates automatic. i do hear the startup sound but dont get the startup screen with the apple logo.
also my mouse does strange things like not responding on a mouseover juming around the screen and pressing buttons i don't press. Never had these problems before until this morning whenn i booted my mac pro. Please help

Could be your monitor power supply is going. could also be 10.6.6 so first try to get back to a OSX which did not give you problems.

My Macbook Pro has a black screen when running in Bootcamp Windows 7. Since I updated the mac side my windows side now starts up with completely black screen - no prompt, nothing, Cap keys still light up as does mouse and DVD drive seems to run.

My Macbook Pro has a black screen when running in Bootcamp Windows 7. Since I updated the mac side my windows side now starts up with completely black screen - no prompt, nothing, Cap keys still light up as does mouse and DVD drive seems to run.
Will not show up in safe mode, will not show when started from Windows 7 DVD.
I suspect the Mac update wiped out my PC video drivers but can not think of a way to re-install?
Can see the PC volume from Mac side with files.
I've looked at all the online solutions so far and have tried most of them without success. Please help!
Specs:
2009 Macbook Pro, 3.06 GHz Intel 2 core, Max 10.6.8.
Model Name:          MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:          MacBookPro5,2
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          3.06 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          6 MB
Memory:          4 GB
Bus Speed:          1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          MBP52.008E.B05
SMC Version (system):          1.42f4
Serial Number (system):          7302300GANE
Hardware UUID:          B2D4B4B4-CD92-5C7A-BDC2-527D30DD8DF3
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State:          Enabled

EDIT: RESOLVED
For anyone else who finds their way here like I did, this link did it for me: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/527599/windows-8-issues-solved-please-r ead-if-you-39-re-having-black-screen-and-or-flickering-/
Specifically, the posts by Dunsany and valkyr did the trick. I booted in safe mode, uninstalled and deleted the Nvidia driver, disabled automatic driver installation, and restarted normally. I then manually downloaded and installed the previous Nvidia driver for my graphics card (which at the time of this writing was 335.23, rather than the latest which was 337.88), and everything is now bueno!
Two hiccoughs along the way: First, when I tried to uninstall the Nvidia driver the first time, when I restarted I got the login screen (which was a good sign), but it quickly went black again. I powered down, restarted in safe mode again, and repeated the uninstallation process, and it worked the second time. Second, when I started the manual install of the 335.23 driver, the computer played a sound similar to the one for disconnecting a USB device, and the screen went black. I'd seen a lot about trying to increase the brightness (though it hadn't worked up to this point; but if you haven't tried it yet, might as well); I tried it, and it worked! So far I'm back up and running. [/fingers crossed]
Hope this helps someone else!

Blue to black screen at boot up.

I'm running 10.6.8 Mac Pro and getting blue to black screen at boot up. I am only able to log in by safe mode only, please help...

Do you get:
Chime
gray screen
Dark Apple
Spinner
Spinner spins for the usual amount of time
screen goes blue or black at the point where you would normally login?
That is exactly when the graphics card is shifted to automatic. Although that also is the point when added kernel extensions have been loaded and are made active, users report this symptom often correlates with graphics card failure.
Safe Mode does not use the driver or automatic mode, so being able to operate in Safe Mode adds credence to graphics card failure.

Macbook pro-Freezes with black screen at start up.

Macbook pro-Freezes with black screen at start up. I've tried inserting the Mac OS X install disc to run the hardware test(Restart and hold down D), But it still does nothing. Just the black screen. Now I can't get the disc out. I've tried holding down the track pad key upon start up but that doesn't work neither.
What do I do??? Please help.

Remove the battery to find your serial number in the battery bay. Then you can look your MBP up on EveryMac.com:
http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/
That will give you all the information on your Mac.
This is assuming that you have the MBP with the removable battery and not the unibody. The unibody has different graphic chips.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: S.U.

Mac Pro display remains black after start up.

My 2008 Mac Pro display remains black after start up. It is plugged in properly and the light comes on, but the screen stays black. It first started doing this about a week ago, but after a manual restart or two, it would start up properly with the display working. Today the display has remained black every time I've tried to start up. Any suggestions for troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Safe Mode uses a very simple way of talking to the screen -- it does not even load the screen driver, and it uses a very common low resolution.
If it does not work that way, it simply does not work. You need a replacement graphics card.
User Tip: Mac Pro silver tower (2006-2012) Replacement Graphics cards

Black screen at boot MSI Z77A-G43 with HD7850

Hi,
I've tried everything You suggested in this topic. I've upgrade and downgrade bios (official 2.3, 2.4, 2.8, 2,9 / beta 256, 281,296) few times but still is black screen at boot. Now i'm on the newest beta bios 296 and still same issue on Sapphire HD 7850 with my Z77a-G43 board. I know for sure that sapphire working well because I've checked on other mobo with even worst PSU (400W instead 550W Volcano). Before hd 7850 I had gtx460 and swith those few times and always gtx460 works fine, so I don't understand anything right now.
Tried different slots, also clear cmos.
Board: MSI Z77A-G43
Bios: Version 296
VGA: Sapphire HD7850 1GB
PSU: Modecom Volcano 550W
Intel Core i5-3570k
MEM: Kingston 4GB 1600MHz
HDD: 2xSSD
Without OC
OS: Windows 7 64bit Professional
Can You help me somehow, maybe I did not check something else?

Quote from: The CPU Whisperer on 22-April-13, 16:06:05
Do you see the same problem on bios 2.90?
The Z77A-G43 seems the have difficulties accepting HD7xxx AMD VGA cards lately.
It seems that the problem is gone. I thought of it being an ATI driver issue ~ but not even the latest didn't fix it. But since I flashed to BIOS 2.9 I haven't encountered the problem anymore. So I believe something is fixed between 2.3 to 2.9.
However my problem was a bit different that the OP has.
Oh, and I said this on other thread so I say it here too: MSI and Asus 7xxx cards haven't faced the kind of issues Sapphires are having. I'm so glad to my choice... as I almost picked Sapphire but then read comments on Newegg which weren't in favor for Sapphire.

Mac Pro ATI 2600 card comparison -- with and without issues

Starting this new post to help keep the info organized. This is in relation to threads such as
[Mac Pro ATI 2600 Freezing Issue|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1365277&tstart=0] (looks like this got locked on Mar-1?...)
[Weird Mac Pro screen issue|http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=419100]
[Dual Quad-core Mac Pro reboots from sleep|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1353551&tstart=0]
[Reboot After Waking|http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=432869]
[2008 Mac Pro Owner Feedback|http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/2008mac_proreports.html#storytop]
This [post|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6724880#6724880] mentions the possibility that the ATI 2600 cards are manufactured on two separate lines, and that problem cards may be associated with just one of them.
Thought it might be helpful to start posting specific card info and see if a pattern emerges.
There are 3 main places on the bottom side of the ATI card where potentially relevant information is written. There is also info in System Profiler. Please include what you can but at least Part Number, Serial Number (mask the last few digits), and a brief summary of the problem symptoms you are seeing -- or that your system runs trouble-free. Feel free to copy/paste my text as a template.
Please continue placing general comments in the threads listed above, and help keep this one focused on the card info. Thanks.
====================
ATI Radeon HD 2600
-Green Sticker-
PN = 102B3610100
SN = 640752001xxx
RV630 256MB
China
-White Sticker-
ATI-102-B36101-00(B)
2005
D33A27
N136
-Bar Code on opposite edge from ports-
J5751094FYPVA 630T0021(630-8924) CN RV630
-System Profiler-
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-236
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.236
-Mac Pro Config-
Stock 2 x 4 core 2.8GHz, 2 x 1GB RAM, 320GB HD
Added 4 x 2GB OWC RAM, 1 x 320GB Seagate HD
Apple Cinema Display 20"
-Symptoms-
Started using January 16, 2008
First problem February 9, 2008 (24 days)
Graphics become corrupted, recovers gracefully = yes
Graphics become corrupted, requires hard shutdown = yes
Reboots on wake = unknown (sleep not used)
====================
Hoping something becomes apparent -sailhome

Good idea; here's my data (Reboots from wake, no graphics issues (touch wood):
====================
ATI Radeon HD 2600
-Green Sticker-
PN = 102B3610100
SN = 6407520069xx
RV630 256MB
Made In China
-White Sticker-
ATI102B3610100(B)
2005
D33A27
N136
-Bar Code on opposite edge from ports-
J5751094FYPVA 630T0021(630-8924) CN RV630
-System Profiler-
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-236
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.236
-Mac Pro Config-
Stock 2 x 4 core 2.8GHz, 2 x 1GB RAM, 320GB HD (Seagate)
Added 2 x 2GB OWC RAM, 2 x 500GB WD HD, 1 x 750GB WD HD
Apple Cinema Display 30"
-Symptoms-
Started using January 18, 2008
First problem (Unknown, within a few days of initial use)
Graphics become corrupted, recovers gracefully = No
Graphics become corrupted, requires hard shutdown = No
Reboots on wake = Yes
====================

Familiar Story - tx2000 - lights and fan on, but black screen at boot up

I've been reading around that there's a common problem with the 1000 series of tablets. After 1 1/2 years, the sucker gets a black screen at boot up, yet the lights are on.
Well, almost a week to my tx2000's 1 1/2 year date (and now out of warranty), I tried to take my tablet out of hibernation. The screen was black yet the lights were on and I could hear the fan.
I tried basic troubleshooting with the online tech, but to no avail. It doesn't work, and they tell me it'll cost about $400 for it to be picked up and repaired. Anybody got a viable solution, or do I just need to go ahead and start saving for a Mac?
Thanks HP for reselling such faulty merchandise.
http://www.mycheaplaptop.net/2009/03/never-buy-hp-laptop/

So this most likely does not apply to the tx1000 problem, but I believe the tx2000 recent problem is not related.
For those getting lights and fan on.. or perhaps on for a second or so but no boot screen or logo it maybe related to your video card driver.
Sounds crazy right? Well your video card driver controls how your computer goes into hibernation and sleep. If the drivers are incorrect the system may not handle this process correctly when you try to reboot it.
I'm not certain on how to get the system to boot up again, but I've done it quite a few times while trying to revive the machine.. pulled the battery.. the ram.. held the power button.. lots of cussing.. the solution seemed different each time, but eventually if you can get back into windows you'll find that either by not using hibernation/sleep or by loading the original video card drivers from the hp site, you'll avoid this problem again.
This problem started occurring for me after microsoft made available a driver update on windows update this past summer.. then suddenly everyone started having issues at the exact same time.. I've seen it blamed on simultaneous heat issues around the world caused by exactly 1 year and 2 months of dust collection on every tx2000 laptop... however I'm quite certain it's the new video drivers in combination with hibernation/sleep.
But don't take my word for it. For more information on how video drivers can affect the boot process check this site: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1046825.html

Mac Pro (ATI X1900) black screen at boot

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