Mac Pro screen issue

Hi all,
my mac pro shows the apple logo at start up and the users available.
Then, either the screen goes crazy with lots of moving thin grey lines or I get to
login in under my account and then the finder has lots of artifacting on the screen
- black blocks in the finder window or parts of top bar displays overlapping text. I've
had some odd black triangle across some of the finder windows too.
If I log in to the guest user (safari only mode) the screen is fine.
Is this a graphics card issue or something else?
p.s. I have tried installing 10.8 but alas, my mac is just one model out from being suported.
Cheers,
Steve
Mac pro
2x 2.66 GHx Dual-Core Interl Xeon
10.7.4

The 7300 as I said could be on its last legs also.
10.6.3 DVD is your best bet probably.
And it isn't that hard to setup and install and be back up and running.
But I would invest in a ATI 5770 regardless, you have 6 yr old system
ATI Radeon 5770 or Nvidia 8800GT
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC742ZM/A
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-ATI-Radeon-5770-MC742ZM/dp/B003Z6QH6M
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/726537-REG/Apple_MC742ZM_A_ATI_Radeon_HD_5 770.html
How To Install and Remove Memory Mac Pro
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4433
WD Black Caviar
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $54
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
Hardware Monitor
http://www.bresink.com/osx/HardwareMonitor.html
UPS
http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Compatible-1500VA-Tower/dp/B00429N 19W/
Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac 500-Watt 0.75-HP Electric Duster 120-Volt
www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW/

Similar Messages

  • Mac Pro Display Issue

    Mac Pro Display Issue - Unexpectedly Sleeps and Freezes
    Just since a couple of days my Mac Pro desktop has been having display issues. Unexpectedly the screens go into sleep mode, it turns black and freezes, the computer doesnot respond to the keyboard or mouse.
    At first I thought this was related to Chrome, and switched to Firefox, but the computer is still having the same issue. I have to shut down and restart each time it gets stuck.
    I even went into preferences and changed the energy saver settings to "Never" allow display or harddrive to sleep. But this problem is stil happening.
    Does anyone have the same problems? Or a solution?

    I cleaned out my mac with compressed air, it was dusty, but the display flickering happened again.
    So I followed your advice and installed:
    Temperature Monitor
    http://www.bresink.de/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
    Which showed that my memory module 1B and 2B were 70 - 75'C(160 -167'F). There was no reading for the graphic card so I couldn't tell if that was over heating.
    Then I installed:
    smc fan controller
    http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol
    and increased the memory_cpu fan speed which lowered the temperature of the ram to 60'C (143'F).
    I even changed this ram's placement and put it in different slots.This ram was the same temperature in the new placements.
    Also this is the kingston 2gb ram without heatsinks. Ive used it for 1.5 yrs, and this is the first time its giving me these problems.
    Do you know how I can check if the graphic card is over heating? or is the problem just with the ram?
    Thank you for all your help!

  • My mac pro screen has vertical lines... How much does it cost to get it fixed?

    My mac pro screen has vertical lines... How much does it cost to get it fixed?

    When you fail to give information on the exact model MBP that you have, how do you expect anyone to provide you with any specific information?
    I suggest that you go to the iFixit.com and Powerbookmedic.com and look for parts and prices.  That naturally assumes that you know what parts are defective and need to be replaced.
    Ciao.

  • Mac pro screen goes black at login

    mac pro screen goes black at login

    Congratulations. I think this is very hard to do.
    However, this is a forum devoted to video editing. You want one associated to the MacPro.
    x

  • I am a brand new mac user...trying to figure out how to switch from the Mac Pro screen to my external monitor.  Appreciate any help.

    am a brand new mac user...trying to figure out how to switch from the Mac Pro screen to my external monitor.  Appreciate any help.  thanks

    In Finder... goto Help... In the Search Window type in Displays...
    Lots of Useful Information there...
    You may find these Links Useful too:
    http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/
    http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/
    Cheers,

  • Thin purple vertical line appears on my Mac Pro screen

    A few days ago I started getting a thin purple line running vertically on my Mac Pro Screen. It comes and goes.

    It is probably a hardware fault. Make and appointment with your Apple Store to have it checked.

  • My Mac Pro screen went grey ?

    My Mac Pro screen went grey ?

    Aamirfrom,
    boot your MacBook Pro into Recovery mode by holding down a Command key and the R key as it starts up. Once the  OS X Utilities menu appears, select Disk Utility. On the left-hand side of the Disk Utility window, select your internal disk’s boot partition (typically called “Macintosh HD”). On the right-hand side, press the Verify Disk button if it’s not greyed out; if it is greyed out, or if it reports that errors were found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu to restart in normal mode. Is your display still grey?

  • Mac Pro Boot Issue

    Mac Pro - "Quad", 2 X 2.66Ghz; 5GB RAM; OS X 10.5.6
    Mac Pro will not boot. It powers up to the grey Apple logo screen. The progress circle spins for about 3 seconds, then powers itself off.
    This past week I came back from two weeks off. The first morning back I noticed my Mac was sluggish at times and freezing for a few seconds here and there. When Time Machine backups would kick in, the whole system would be unresponsive for minutes at a time. After turning off all other equipment in my office, I could detect a tell-tale "click click, spin" type noise coming from one of my two internal drives (one for OS and a second for backups).
    I tracked the noise to the boot drive and guessing it was about to go out, I ordered a replacement Samsung Spinpoint 750GB. Good thing, because the next day when I came in to work my machine was having worse problems. IF it would boot, it would hang after a few minutes of use. If it would not boot, it would power up to the grey Apple logo, the progress circle would spin a few seconds, the power itself off.
    I waited another day and the new drive arrived. I pulled the old OS drive, installed the new one, then dumped our standardized clone image on the drive (using CCC). After the clone was complete, I booted up on the drive, tested it out for a couple of hours and verified that it was working as expected. Next I copied data over to my drive from my backup drive. Everything looked fine.
    Three days later, I come in to find my Mac will no longer boot. Grey Apple logo, spinning, etc.. I power off and boot from my external diagnostic drive (OS X 10.5.5). It will not boot. I remove both internal drives and try another boot from the external diagnostic drive. It boots up fine. Shutdown. Remove the backup drive (drive bay 2) and try to reboot from the diag drive once again. It will not boot. Remove the OS drive (drive bay 1) and it boots to the diagnostic drive fine (note: no internal drives are installed at this point). Shutdown. Install the OS drive into drive bay 2 and it then boots to the diagnostic drive just fine.
    So now I have booted to my external diag drive and can see that the OS drive is showing on the Desktop; however a pop-up error stating there is a problem has appeared. I try to verify the OS drive using Disk Utility and it stops about 2 seconds into the process with a "Filesystem verify or repair failed" error. The OS drive will then not mount.
    I restart booting back to the external diag drive. The OS drive shows up on the Desktop with the same pop-up error message as before.
    I run Tech Tool Pro from the diag drive and it comes back with a File Structure error of "Type List Offset Is Invalid" and "No method for Tech Tool Pro to repair a corrupt file". I have a surface scan and drive hardware test running now, but on a 750GB it will be a WHILE.
    So here is my predicament... I can understand my original OS drive having problems. It was at least 3 yrs old and has been run quite hard. But what are the odds that I would replace it with a brand new drive running a verified to be good cloned disk image AND have almost the exact same boot issues on the new drive that I had on the old one?
    I have taken my original OS drive and hooked it up to external cases and sata-to-usb adapters to make sure that it was actually dead and it is. It will not spin up properly and makes lots of clicking noises. However, having a similar boot issue with a brand new drive has me worried something may be wrong with the Mac Pro hardware also. The new OS drive ran fine for a few days and only had these problems today.
    Any guesses?

    Here is my own "cookie cutter" template to this type of problem.
    Insure your UPS is working properly and that you have 1300VA to start with.
    Run Apple Hardware Test of course.
    CCC has been updated so make sure latest (it auto checks probably already).
    Do you have Windows? run diagnostics from there, much better.
    I settled on WD drives and use WD Diagnostic and has saved a drive.
    Avoid Barracudas, seems even their 1TB is also suffering early failures (the 1.5TB was suffering from firmware problem).
    Check for reviews and drive upgrade DB on AccelerateYourMac.
    http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/
    I know the F1 got a lot of early praise but they aren't compatible with Apple Pro RAID card and may have other issues.
    If you want a fast low-cost drive, WD Cavair 640GB $69.
    http://www.barefeats.com/harper14.html
    Hitachi E7K1000: http://techreport.com/articles.x/16130/10
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-terabyte-1tb,2077-8.html
    I have seen more than a couple of similar stories from people going away for 1-2 weeks and coming home to system that won't work properly. Hopefully people shutdown and unplug, or shutdown and have UPS, but it is strange to say the least.
    Resetting SMC is a good idea but best done with 2008 model by leaving it unplugged for a full night 8-12 hrs. and not just 5 minutes. contrary to Apple tech article. For yours, there is a small physical button accessed by pulling drive tray #4 (easier to see if it is on its side and you have flashlight!)
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1806
    http://www.apple.com/support/macpro/

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro boot issue

    I'm having what seems to be a hardware issue with my Mac Pro on booting. The MP boots to either a blue screen or a chunked grey screen (http://gallery.me.com/dwphoto#100036/IMG_1401) and hang. So far, I've tried booting from multiple clones (from 10.5-10.6.6) as well as the Snow Leopard install DVD, reinstalling SL, removed all 3rd party cards and usb/firewire externals, zapped the PRAM, repaired permissions, verified disks. It will boot into Safe Mode without problem. If it hangs on normal boot, all the drives are visible and active over a network. I'm pretty stumped.

    They were reluctant? I hope you printed out the Apple article. Unbelievable.
    What I would like would be a link at the top of this forum and more direct access (and we all want better organized and search results to KB articles).
    There ought to be "newest changes KB" and a Warranty category
    http://www.apple.com/support/macpro

  • Mysterious Mac Pro Power Issue

    Model Name:          Mac Pro
      Model Identifier:          MacPro3,1
      Processor Name:          Quad-Core Intel Xeon
      Processor Speed:          2.8 GHz
      Number Of Processors:          2
      Total Number Of Cores:          8
      L2 Cache (per processor):          12 MB
      Memory:          4 GB
      Bus Speed:          1.6 GHz
      Boot ROM Version:          MP31.006C.B05
      SMC Version (system):          1.25f4
    I recently moved my MacPro to a new building. Almost immediately it started taking a long time to boot. Twice it hung on the blue screen for approximately 10 minutes before continuing to the login screen. Problems were intermittent, sometimes it would boot fine. Then it started having trouble powering on at all. It would click and the light would turn on and off in less than 5 seconds. I took it to a different building: no powering on. I took it twice to the Apple store for the same problem, it turned on both times so I had to take it back with no help. Back at the original building, the computer turns on sometimes after leaving it unplugged overnight. I suspected an issue with the power in the building so I plugged it into a UPS. Initially it was only on a Surge Protector. On one recent occasion I accidentally nudged it with my knee and it powered down and back up. On another occasion I was sitting still watching a video and it powered down and back up with no intervention.
    This will not reproduce at the Apple store. Each time it is there it has booted up perfectly using both my power cord and Apple’s power cord. Don’t know what to do next.
    Any thoughts on what to try before replacing power supply and power cable? Is it possible this is not a power-related issue?

    make sure to use something in 1000VA or better for your UPS and that it can support your system. May seem like $200 is a lot but then they work and give you adequate shutdown or to ride out a 5 minute power issue.
    UPS
    http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Compatible-1500VA-Tower/dp/B00429N 19W/
    you don't need to nor is it that effective to leave unplugged over night or something.
    hit the power on for 10 seconds while every cord and device is unplugged though.
    Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) 
    https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

  • Mac Pro Display Issues

    I am trying to use three monitors with a Mac Pro with a default Radeon 5770 graphics card, but I am coming across many issues. First, I had to find out that you needed two dual-link DVI adapters if you want to add three monitors. After purchasing one adapter from StarTech for a 30" Dell monitor however, the display is having many issues.
    When I first turn the computer on, the display shows "snow". I have to turn the display on and off, but sometimes even this does not get rid of it. Also, the screen will not wake up when the computer wakes up from sleep, although the other DVI monitor attached works perfectly. Finally, the screen will often go into periods of complete black. I can still move the mouse on the other screen, but it jumps around and skips when I move it.
    If I want to resolve this issue, should I:
    1) Go with Apple's dual-link adapter instead of the StarTech one I am currently using
    2) Upgrade the Mac Pro graphics to either the dual 5770 or the single 5870
    3) Replace the large dell monitor with an Apple Cinema Display
    Or, would none of these solutions even help if this is an unsolvable problem.
    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks!

    That is not quite right. Strictly speaking, it is not three dual-Link adapters that are required, but all adapters must be ACTIVE, POWERED Adapters.
    Apple's solution requires their Daul-Link adapters because those are the ones with a USB lead to pick up even more power.
    Your initail query tlaks of wanting to connect three monitors, but you have only provided connection details for two.

  • 2007 Mac Pro Graphics issues

    Hey, I've got a 2007 Mac Pro, with the ATi X1900 XT, and since upgrading to Leopard, have had some odd graphics corruption and system hang ups.
    While using any particular application, random horizontal lines will spontaneously appear across the particular application like so.
    Safari:
    http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/8757/picture1pr4.png
    Evernote:
    http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/3186/picture2ca9.png
    I'm certain this is not a display related issue, since I can move the application, and the artifacts move with it. Hiding, closing, or scrolling up and down repeatedly are somewhat effective at removing the artifacts, but only temporarily.
    In addition to that, square 'swatches' or blue, yellow, or pink spontaneously appear in isolated instances, although those disappear whenever I shift focus to another application, or activate Expose.
    In addition, the computer will randomly freeze up when coming out of screen saver, or while using Expose or Spaces, although I am still able to move the mouse. I can still SSH into the computer as if it was fully functional, however, any attempts to 'unfreeze' the desktop are in vain.
    This sounds vaguely similar to some issues with the Early 2008 Mac Pro with the nVidia card, however, I am unsure if there is any correlation between the two.
    I'm running Leopard, with all available updates, and have applied to firmware update for the X1900 XT ( http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/atiradeonx1900xtfirmwareupdate.html ), although nothing has helped.
    Anybody here ever experience anything similar to this, and / or have any advice on what to do?
    Thanks in advance,
    Noah

    <Edited by Moderator>
    I got a replacement for my 1900XT that is the newer version but even with keeping it dust free and using smcFanControl it still has issues after extended periods of use. I'm hoping the 8800GT that just came out for 1st gen MPs doesn't start giving people problems, because if not I plan to get one this summer.

  • Mac Pro Sleep Issue

    Hi, my Mac Pro apparently goes to sleep whenever I leave it for a significant amount of time, i.e. to go to sleep at night. When I come back to it, I hit the spacebar to wake it up. The computer makes noise like it is waking, the screen comes on long enough for me to open an application like Entourage then it immediately shuts back down. In the beginning when this problem happened, I could touch the space bar and it would just come on, now after so many times of that happening, the problem has graduated.
    Now nothing works to wake it back up. I know that it hasn't shut down because the light is on on the computer. However, the keyboard doesn't work at this time, the mouse has no effect, nothing will bring my display back up. I even touch the power button on the monitor and the monitor appears to be working properly, but it cannot show me my display screen. The only things that fixes the problem is if I hold the computers power button until it powers off then power it on again.
    The fact that it wasn't doing this when I first got it tells me there is something seriously wrong with it. Does anyone out there know why this is happening? I'm afraid that eventually one day I will hold the power button and power it off and it won't come back on.
    BTW, I searched the discussion forums and didn't find the exact problem discussed.

    Hey Will. It's interesting you are having the same issue. May I ask what generation your mac pro is? Mine is a 2006.
    As I said in another thread, I have been in a game of troubleshooting phone tag with an apple specialist for about a week and a half now with almost nothing to show for it. Today he suggested I try plugging my computer in without going through a surge protector. Although the protector I have is brand new, I tried anyway and the machine still shutdown on a wake attempt when plugged directly into a different outlet.
    Like you, I am getting VERY fed up with this issue. Although it's intermittent, it's serious enough to cause significant problems and it's not something I am willing to live with.
    My instincts say the problem is with the power supply or possibly the SMC on the logic board. However, until apple is willing to fix the machine, I seem to be stuck trying to prove to them there is actually an issue. All in all it's shutdown on wake at least 20 times now, which should be more than enough to warrant a service visit in my opinion.
    The truly discouraging thing is I submitted the console logs (the platform failure ones) to the tech specialist and he forwarded them to the apple engineers. I had high hopes the seemingly important logs might shed some light on the cause and therefore allow a fix to occur. Instead, when I spoke with him today, he said the messages didn't indicate a cause of the issue. (Again, this is according to the engineer who looked at the logs.)
    So, as it stands, I am being told to try all sots of stuff to narrow down the root of the issue. I even tried a re installation of snow leopard to no avail.
    I'll post again if anything new comes up.

  • Mac Pro power issue...

    Wondered if anyone else had this issue. I have a Mac Pro from mid 2008. Recently, it has done the following:
    - From a 'cold' start, it will power up for 3-4 secs and then power off again. It will not reach the grey screen.
    - It will only fully power up after about 30-40 attempts...
    Also, it will now sometimes just power off completely without warning.
    Anyone else had these issues? It doesn't seem to be a graphics card issue.

    Some more info on this problem, hopefully someone can help.
    More system details:
    Early 2008 Mac Pro
    No extra memory or internal installations - just 2gb ram.
    I found another thread which describes my problem completely....
    "Problem 1: In the morning when I turn it on, on some occasions it will power on for 5 or so seconds, then power right back off again. Sometimes this happens after 5, 10 or even 20 seconds (right in the middle of OS X or Windows boot). The only thing I note is that if it can get as far as the boot selector (hold alt at boot) screen, it won't cut out at that point, only sometimes after I wait a moment then select a boot option. This can sometimes happen 10 or 20 times in a row before it will eventually turn on and function normally.
    Problem 2: Random power cut off, sometimes at idle, sometimes while browsing, or using any other app. I can't pin it on any one particular function. I know it's not a temperature problem, I have temp monitors on my menu bar and as far as I can see it's been fairly stable in that regard. Most of the time, I can power up the computer again but very occasionally it will revert to what I described in problem 1.
    I have run the apple hardware test, with no errors being produced, and have had the local apple reseller/service centre take a look, with their tech reporting no issues. (He referred to something called ARD being run on a cycle of 20 or 30 times with nothing indicating a problem) I've taken off every non essential piece of hardware, tried with only the stock ram - and the newer ram to no avail of my issues. The only thing that I can still suspect myself is a power issue, however there is another PC in the room that has not had any issues what-so-ever."
    Needless to say I'll be soooooo disappointed if this 'top-end' machine has only got hardware to last 2.5 years. My pitifully power-less Dell has lasted longer.
    Any advice please...?

  • MAC Pro hardware issue

    Mac Pro starts up and shuts down before loading the login screen. Any ideas what could cause this? It's about 4 years old and never gave any problems before.

    Sounds like there is a rash and run on 2008's with issues like this now.
    And SMC RESET doesn't help?
    And you have backup system disks?
    You or I or we should collect all the threads about this and 2008 and general maintenance and troubleshooting steps.
    Whether PSU, PRAM, dust, issue with incoming power that over time affects those PSUs, or even faulty graphics (2600XT, 4870, other?) and FBDIMMs do stress and age from heat when not kept cooled to below 70*C.
    General Helphttp://pondini.org
    Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac 500-Watt 0.75-HP Electric Duster 120-Volt
    www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW/

Maybe you are looking for

  • Opinion of 256Gb SSD?  Worth it?

    I don't know why Apple has the 320GB at 5400 rpm as their standard config, when the 320Gb at 7200rpm is only $45 more (for educators it is). If I want the 7200rpm drive I would have to order it so that got me thinking about getting the 256Gb SSD driv

  • How do I acquire a translation tab to move from Dutch--English?

    In Facebook, I receive a number of messages in Dutch, which I do not speak/read--and want to translate them to my own language--English. I am not a sophisticated computer user, so need clear and simple directions to do this! Appreciate any help, and

  • General doubt about devices and java applets

    I have one general doubt abt devices. Do all devices come with an SDK so that any language can interact with them?. Whats does it mean if i say that i need to build a CAB file for the devices and use them in my html object tag. Can programming langua

  • I tunes store won't open on my pc

    after downloading the most recent itunes, i can't get the store to load on my pc?

  • AUC asset class

    Hello Gurus, Can anybody help me Below Issues, 1. what is the different between  normal asset and AUC 2..without any integration with  SD  MM  and CO  can i do AUC   asset class Regards Sri