My 2008 Mac Pro is no longer recognizing memory in the B card. Is it simply a defective card or should I look elsewhere for an answer.

My 2008 Mac Pro is no longer recognizing memory in the B card. Is it simply a defective card or should I look elsewhere for an answer? It was working unntil sometime early this year. Thank you for any enlightenment you can provide.

I'm not sure I understand. You swapped the A and B modules. The B module does not show up in the A modules slot? That would indicate the module is bad. If the A module doesn't show up in the B module's slot, then the slot is bad.

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  • I need a 1TB SATA HD for my 2008 mac pro - recommendations?

    I am running out of space on my mac pro and want to add in 1TB.  There were apple 1TB HDs in the mac store that were compatable with my 2008 mac pro not so long ago, but in my lackluster approach I have returned to buy one and they are no longher listed in the store.  Are they still avaliable and if not can anyone recomend an alternative.  I've not got the buget to go solid state for the whole TB so looking for old school HDs.
    Thanks guys, this forum has helped me consistantly throught the last 6 years!

    Never buy a HDD from Apple. Amazon or Newegg or any place has more and better price and options.
    You have 4 drive bays, don't put anything on the boot drive except the system (and apps)
    Buy yourself a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD $144
    Move all the media and data to a 1-2TB WD Black
    (Use your existing drive now as backup)
    500GB SSD are now $299 but you only need about $82 for 128GB
    I would never use a HDD for the system  And your 3,1 never felt or ran so well as it will
    System / media / backup / scratch / user
    You can even put a drive, esp SSD's, in the lower optical drive bay.
    http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Cache-Desktop-WD2003FZEX/dp/B00FJRS628/
    http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3 W1726/

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro and the 5870

    Several sources has stated that this card will work in the Early 2008 Mac Pro, but I am having issues.  The card tests as bad and on restart the card is not seen as being installed.  I can Screen Share and verify through System Profiler that the card is not seen by the system.  Is anyone else having this issue, or is it just my luck?

    and this is an Apple version card, right? not a PC.
    What other video card did you have etc?
    Apple ATI 5770 and 5870 work with 10.6.4+ in all Mac pro models.
    ATI Radeon HD 5870 Upgrade
    Radeon 5870 vs 5770 GTX 285 4870

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro + ATI Radeon HD 4870 = Not working

    Just took delivery of my new HD 4870 video card today. I installed it in my Early 2008 Mac Pro and booted up. I got a picture no problem on one monitor, but nothing on the other. Furthermore, the display perfpane was missing a lot of controls, like Arrangement and Detect Displays and whatnot.
    I did a bunch of rebooting and swapping of cables, and determined that both the mini-display port and the standard DVI connection will drive a monitor. However, if both are plugged in, the only active display is the one plugged into the mini-display port, and there's no option to setup the secondary display.
    So I booted into bootcamp, and it automatically recognized both display ports, and mirrored my desktop on both monitors. I downloaded and installed the latest windows drivers, rebooted the machine into windows once more, and was able to configure a multiple monitor display with no problem.
    This tells me it's not the card and it's not the motherboard.
    Booting back into mac OS, I discovered that it doesn't even recognize that the card has video ram. It thought I had no video ram in the system.
    So, this all leads me to the conclusion that Apple shipped me a card that it has not yet provided driver support for.
    Hey Apple, can I have my 4870 display driver now?

    Hi again,
    It was funny to read all your answers on my iPhone while away from my computer. I could have reply on the iPhone but I preferred to wait to give you all the procedure I used to install the beta driver successfully this morning.
    To start, I found this link:
    http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=155477
    and followed the "4870 INSTRUCTIONS", starting like suggested by doing the "First, follow the 4850 INSTRUCTIONS above"... (See the link)
    I would like also to specify that I did this without having installed the card physically yet. So I kept my HD 2600 in the computer, followed all the steps excepted for the step 3:
    3. Reboot with -f -v (kextcache/verbose mode)
    There is no -f nor -v switches available for the reboot command at the shell prompt. I simply rebooted as usual "Pomme -> Redémarrer".
    After the reboot, all my software was still working as expected with my HD 2600 card, meaning that these steps are specific and active only for the HD 4870 when it's detected at boot-up.
    You may have to Google for the string "Kext" in order to get the application to install the file ATY_Motmot.kext. For your information, ATY_Motmot filename is the same string as the one found under "System Information ->PCI cards" under "Name".
    I get:
    ATI Radeon HD 4870:
    Name: ATY, Motmot
    The article is not clear regarding where to find the OpenGL.framework to backup before installing the downloaded one. I found mine under:
    /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.5.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework
    After having shutdown the computer, just after the reboot that proofed everything was ok, I removed the original HD 2600 card and put back the new HD 4870 and boot up...
    Then I check the "System Information" and found both "Quartz Extreme" and "Core image" supported!
    I launched Aperture, got it!
    I launched Final Cut Express, got it!
    I launched Starry Night Pro Plus, got it! Then I checked the OpenGL settings in Starry Night Pro PLus and activated both options:
    Use shaders where available
    Use AllSky shader (Not compatible with all hardware)
    When I was doing these actions with my original HD 2600 card, the software was giving me a warning that my hardware did not support these options and that it could crash.
    This time, with the HD 4870, it accepted my settings and give me back a very beautiful blue sky with much more shades!
    So in conclusion, it works very smoothtly with my system and I am writing this with two monitors, having bought the MiniDP to DVI adapter this afternoon
    I am happy!
    P.S.: A girl from Apple support called me back this afternoon regarding my problem. She was very happy two when I told her that I did apply the beta driver and that it was working very well...
    Good luck and best regards...

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro + nVidia 8800: Never going to work?

    This forum is littered with threads about early 2008 Mac Pros with the nVidia 8800 card - none of them positive.
    I was unfortunate enough to wait for Apple to release such a machine and buy it. Graphics performance is dire given the hardware available. The machine routinely crashes with the window manager hang problem (the user interface just locks up, yet network services etc. still work), in the way familiar to anyone blighted by this particular bug; just run the Folding@Home client on your machine if you want to experience the joy. Or screensavers, sometimes, so I've had to turn those off. And I've had to turn off monitor power saving too, because I too suffer from the 'monitors sometimes don't wake up' bug. And of course I can't sleep the machine either, because firmware upgrade or not, it's still not reliable. And after all this, still the machine crashes.
    SSH to the machine; try to restart cleanly; even 'sudo reboot' won't restart it. Apple have achieved something I've never seen out of any Unix or Unix-like operating system, ever; the kernel is unable to kill its own processes.
    There have been no indications from Apple that I've seen on these forums over several weeks that the problem is even being acknowledged, let alone tackled. Latest reports indicate that even the 1st gen Mac Pro owners are suffering if they install the 8800.
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1460752&tstart=0
    My machine rarely makes it through the day without a forced reboot due to the window manager hanging. I can't do any work on it. I can't rely on it. I can't enjoy it. I can't even use it for web browsing without fear of it hanging.
    There seem to be no facts about this at all. So all I can ask for is opinions. Does anyone have any offering of hope that early 2008 Mac Pros might ever work properly with 8800 cards? Y'know, little things, like actually being able to handle graphics? Or sleeping the monitors? Or, heaven forbid, sleeping the whole machine? Or should I just send it back as unfit for purpose?
    Yours, tired and exasperated... :-/

    I posted this in some other blog (forum), I should have posted this here also but I hope this gives you and all with these problems hope!! I also ran some fish tank test some else posted to get the folding problem to happen and I can not get it to happen at all now, and since my 8800 went in I get NO LOCKUPS, SCREEN FREEZES, shaky blurry video when I boot, so far NOTHING, IT JUST WORKS!!!!!!!!
    Now that I think about it the person who said to use the fish tank program had a bad 8800 and maybe you do also!! here is the link to that:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6965475&#6965475
    I purchased my first mac pro early 08 2 months ago (amazon.com).
    2 quad core 2.8's, 2 gig apple 4 gig OWC total 6 gig ram,2-WD raptors (1st mac 2nd boot camp winxp 32 bit), apple care.
    I had all my problems with the ATI card (I always purchased ATI, never Nvidia, for all the PC's I built) a couple of times I bought the first ones out, these had all kinds of problems until good drivers that actually worked were released (usually 6-12 months after the release of the card).
    So I try not to buy routers, graphic cards, etc.. for at least 6-12 months, but back to my 2600 card!!
    When I received my mac the graphics would freeze, I did a lot of online reading only to find out the ATI 2600 was the problem, the cure was to hook up 2 monitors to the card (and that worked!!).
    Then they came out with the firmware update, now my main monitor would after 2 days on a reboot be scambled (samsung syncmaster 213t, NEVER had ANY problem with it before on any PC I had, so I knew it was not the monitor) to fix the problem I had to either turn power off to the syncmaster or resetting PRAM (worked for a couple more days, then the same problem).
    I called apple and they sent a tech out within days to replace the ATI card, the replacement did the same thing after a couple of days, so I called Apple back and they took a bunch of info from my computer (BTW not much at all loaded in the mac side) and said to call back in a week, so I called back a week later and they said they were going to exchange the card for either another ati 2600 or the Nvidia 8800, I said 8800 and a day later on a saturday I received it, swapped the card and NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS at all!!
    So I don't know if the ATI card has problems with certain monitors or they are just poorly made (maybe AMD is mad with Apple that Apple did not use AMD processors).
    I have read others that swapped with the 8800 and their problems went away also!!!!
    Maybe some have no problems with the 2600, but I would not recommend it to anyone, if you can avoid the 2600 GO WITH THE 8800, the drivers will get better (and the 8800 will eventually outperform the ATI)and you will not be sorry.
    Apple is awesome, they are 2nd to none, their is no other company like this anymore that I have dealt with in a long time (not just because they gave me a 8800), like I said in the beginning of this post I always purchased ATI cards and would have kept it if it would have worked but 2 doing the same, ATI [AMD] has lost my support until they prove otherwise.
    I recommend Mac's to everyone now!!
    good luck and let me know it any of this has helped!!!!!!!!!!

  • 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 RAM burning up - running hot

    Problem: 2008 Mac Pro Tower running hot.
    Possible causes: Power Supply? Fan not working? Machine has 667 mhz RAM not 800 mhz.
    PSU was chirping like a cricket a few weeks ago. I pulled it out, air cleaned it (and the entire Mac, vacuumed all the dust) and left PSU out for 12 hours to static discharge, etc. When I put the PSU back in, it was working and the chirping was gone.
    Successfully used the MAC for a few days, no probs other than 2 DIMMS went bad. I went away for 2 weeks, tried to start-up the Mac yesterday and it wouldn't power on at all, no light. I unplugged it, tried different outlets, power cords, etc. Then I removed any changes that I had made previously (i.e. installed diff HD and 2 new RAM DIMMs to replace the ones that burned up) before going away. I removed PSU and let it sit while I cleaned the 2 DIMMs that had seemed to overheat before I went away. Put it all back together (PSU, old DIMMs which were cleaned and left HD #3 out) and it powered up. I then noticed that I was down from 32 GB RAM to 16 GB very quickly. The machine had also "shut down because of a problem" during that time then restarted and ran for a bit. I repaired the 16 GB RAM by cleaning it, brought it back up to 32 GB again and within minutes it was back to 24 GB. I pulled the RAM cards out and they were hot. The last 8 GB to go were likely the only DIMMs I haven't cleaned yet. I don't know how long that fix will last. Seems like we have a pattern of over heating.
    Any ideas? Is it the 667 mhz RAM? The PSU? The fan? (How do you test a fan?)
    Thank you for your time.
    2008 Mac Pro 3,1
    2x Quad Core 2.80 Ghz Intel Xeon
    32 GB RAM (667 mhz)
    3 HD's
    10.9 OS Mavericks
    Logic Pro X

    First the RAM must be made for your computer as determined by Apple:
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6413
    Thus you have an early 2008 Mac Pro if it is a Mac Pro tower and not a MacBook Pro notebook.
    The RAM must be either preinstalled by Apple, or from a place that sells lifetime warranty early 2008 Mac Pro RAM.
    Just because you got PC6400 DDR2 ECC 800 Mhz FB-DIMM with 256 bit wide memory architecture, as the specs call for,
    does not mean the RAM is compatible.  Only RAM stated to be for "early 2008 Mac Pro" is compatible with those towers.
    http://www.macsales.com/ (OWC) http://www.datamem.com/ and http://www.crucial.com/ all sell RAM by stating the time of year and model name.
    Do not buy ValueRAM.   If after doing that it doesn't work, some directions for other interior repairs exist on http://www.ifixit.com/ and http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/
    Check to make sure the circuit your machine is on is giving off the full amp called for by specs and that current is not split to other devices, and you have either a UPC or surge protector power cord that can handle that ampere. If there is any chance the machine was plugged in during a lightning storm, your power supply may be fried even with a surge protector or UPC being there.  No surge protector is 100% lightning foolproof.

  • Where and what type of solid state drive should I buy for my early 2008 Mac Pro Desktop??

    where can I buy and what type of solid state drive should I use to upgrade my early 2008 Mac Pro Desktop??

    Rick,
    When you get a chance.... DSLReports is off line: their SQL server decided to take its indexes and access to data. Power. Not enough of the right kind of UPS. Same happened to StorageReview's "Drive Reliability Database" about 8-9 yrs ago.
    dslreports.com is offline
    Fri Apr 20 09:05:55 EDT 2012
    SSD: Loading CS5 plus other little monsters might matter.
    Lots of small I/Os
    latency of 1/100th where nanoseconds replace those "long" milliseconds
    System: Small and fast.
    DLLoyd even goes for short-stroking drives to get and maintain highest I/O
    The new 10k VRs hit 200MB/sec - I still use them and still find them useful, long lasting, feel responsive with whatever I ask of them. I know they get criticized and "cost too much"
    Just bought a new WD Black and yes it is better than the 2008 model I was using.
    600GB 10K $200 vs $150-220 for WD Black. your choice
    I can destroy a 7.2k drive, I have brought ever 10K drive back after a simple WD Extended Test in Lifeguard.
    I don't really care about $$/GB or I wouldn't have just bought Intel 128GB $149
    Database: the pros put the index in memory and page fix (virtual volumes in memory; cache; hold disk drive index in memory). Caching storage has been around for almost 40 yrs.
    Today you can use SSDs as front end cache to hold DB indexes and frequent data for web servers and such adn use slower secondary storage.
    SSD + SAS + 4TB storage
    Separating the system from data: #1 must
    Having data on array: been what I use
    I put a large photo library on 2 x 10K VRs vs SSD and couldn't tell much difference (SSD is soundless of course) But my WD Blacks make as much noise and run 15*C hotter than those 10K (not what you expect?)
    While 10K and 7.2K are in the 140-180MB/sec range, they are in 3.0 to 12.0 ms seeks, not  0.01 ms.
    People wonnder why shrink a drive to 2.5" (or why not go down to 1.8".
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    It uses one step to find the "zip code" and then another DSP to find the "house."
    True of any high density perpendicular recording mechanism.
    And of course while the Raptor-X tried to find a home with famers, Cheetah buyers, the WD 10K line has more of a home where servers and small form factor drives - and 100s of them - can fit in a rackmount server I imagine.
    Anyway.... if SR and DSLReports can drop out of site due to power and hardware failure and loss... we can learn some and hope to protect our own data and investments.

  • Problem on my early 2008 Mac Pro

    I had this problem with my early 2008 Mac Pro which started last week.
    Some background; I'm using 8GB RAMs, using Snow Leopard and bootcamp Windows 7 and 3 days before the start of the problem, I had replaced the original 320GB HDD for 640GB HDD and reinstalled both OSes.
    While I was playing some videos in Windows 7 last week, it displayed the blue screen with memory dump message and restarted on its own. Thereafter, I was unable to load Windows 7 and SL respectively, both hung before they can be loaded. In SL, I noticed that there were some faint red dots in the Apple logo and subsequently, the entire screen started to flicker with some random black and white strips. In Windows 7, it frozen at the Windows logo with a 640x480 resolution. My default resolution was 1920x1200. However, I managed to loaded into the safe mode of Windows and extracted my work.
    I tried to re-install SL and it hung again at the Apple logo followed by the flickering.
    I sent it to my local service centre and the technician removed my video card, RAMs and memory risers and cleaned the contact, ran the stress test overnight, AHT3A152 and ASD3S123 tests and concluded that he found no issues with the hardwares and the problem did not occur again.
    The Mac Pro was sent back to me today and earlier, I started up with no problem and decided to remove the Windows partition and I restarted it again to confirm everything was ok. However, at the next startup, the problem re-surfaced and I could no longer start up my Mac Pro in SL.
    I tried to swopped back the original 320GB HDD, but the problem still persists. Before I send back my Mac Pro to the service centre tomorrow, I would like to have some 2nd opinions. Based on my description, what is the likely cause of this problem, is the newly replaced 640GB be the root cause?

    Do you keep Windows on its own hard drive?
    I would have kept the 320GB while using Windows WD Lifeguard to test, zero, run extended tests and slow long format of the new WD 640. Then just cloned system to new drive.
    Casper 6.0 seems to be great utility if you want to avoid reinstalling 7, though I've found 7 to be fast and easy to install even with dozens of programs to add.
    Are you using the current / latest graphic driver for 7? I don't notice you even list which card.
    RAM - there is no perfect test, AHT finds some while Memtest takes time and may find others.
    Windows may be more sensitive to weak hard drive sectors and memory than Mac OS or than HFS+.
    Do you have any 3rd party devices? PCIe? Cables etc?
    And you can't boot off Windows 7 DVD or Safe Mode?
    Windows should automatically offer to boot in Safe Mode.
    Also, try restore from last good restore point.

  • Will OSX support Adaptec PCI Express scsi cards in an early 2008 Mac Pro?

    I need to move my scsi interface scanner from a G4 machine and the old PCI Adaptec AHA 2930 CU card won't fit.  I was using Snow Leopard on the G4 unit - it still supported the Adaptec card and all was good.  My 23" Cinema display then bit the dust and I replaced it with with a 24" Cinema display with the mini display port connector.  I purchased an adapter from Kanex to make it compatible, but the adapter was defective - so I returned it.  Their reviews aren't very good - seem to have a lot of D.O.A. adapters - not sure I want to deal with the frustration, but it would be the least expensive option.
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    Thanks in advance for any info.
    Message was edited by: Jakob Richardt
    Changed name of display adapter manufacturer.

    Thanks for the response - I guess the question I should have asked is "Will OSX support scsi cards in an early 2008 Mac Pro and if so, which ones?"  I didn't realize Apple and Adaptec weren't working together - my G4 tower arrived with an Adaptec card in it when I bought it in 2000 (from a third party vendor, not directly from Apple).  It came with either OS 8.* or OS 9.  When I updated to OSX, everything continued working, so I didn't think much about it until I pondered using the Mac Pro for the scanner - at some point the G4 is going to stop working - need to have a solution before that happens.  The manuals I've been reading refer to the slots in the G4 machines as PCI.  The manual for the Mac Pro refers to the slots as PCI e.  These slots have fewer connectors, so I thought that the "Express" part of the name referred to this particular card configuration when compared to the longer card connectors in the G4 type of machines.
    Can you tell me what scsi card brands will work in the Mac Pro?  I'd still like to pursue this option.  As I mentioned in my original post, buying a new scanner isn't in the cards right now - it costs more than the computer, so, although pricey, the card option is still less expensive.
    Thanks!

  • Hi everyone,I am new to this so please forgive me any mistakes I may make.Early 2008 Mac Pro desktop installed ML ok but next day nothing, reinstall ok restart same problem ML installer remains on my  snow leopard disk. Any help appreciated.Kind regards

    There I go first mistake straight off. I was wondering how to fit my big long problem in. My fault I am sure but if anyone can help please.
    Early 2008 Mac Pro Desk Top, 2 hard drives 1)snow leopard, 2)lion.
    I have downloaded Mountain Lion usuing disk 1,selected no.2 as my destination, installed ok everything fine, set my startup as no.2 in preferences, switch off. Next day start up - nothing, my only way to get moving was physcally remove disk 2, and let snow leopard restart.
    Reinstalled, everything fine, then same problem on restart next day, remove disk,and so on.
    The mountain Lion installer remains in the snow leopard dock.
    I know the problem is me, so if anyone is kind enough to be able to offer a solution it needs to be in easy speak (press button a, press button b) because I am not that savvy.
    my best regards to all, and thank you.

    Where did you get Mountain Lion? Did you download the 4+ GB file from the App Store? If so, then I would try doing the following:
    Drive Partition and Format
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your second drive on which Lion is installed (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  SMART info will not be reported  on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    Install Mountain Lion
    Double-click on the Mountain Lion Installer application in your Applications folder. Follow instructions to install Mountain Lion on your old Lion drive - Drive 2. When the installer finally finishes it will restart the computer automatically from Drive 2. At this point there is no need to change the Startup Disk unless you want to boot from your Snow Leopard drive.
    You will startup to the Setup Assistant in which you will configure your own admin account. You can, if you want, omit that part and instead choose to migrate your Home folder and other data from the Snow Leopard drive. I would recommend you do that unless you wish to do it manually at a later time. In this case create your new admin account using the exact same username and password that you now use on your Snow Leopard system.

  • Got Early 2008 mac pro - What kind of power do I possess?

    Hello,
    To whom it may concern, for a long time now I have been with powerpc and finally made the jump and transition to the mac pro. The machine I currently have is a Early 2008 8-core 3.0ghz machine. I'd like to know what kind of real power I have here. Also, how do I set up a regular raid setup using either disk utility or a 3rd party program?
    My hard drives are as follows: 2 320GB hard drives, 1 1TB hard drive w/32MB cache, and 1 250GB hard drive. I also am going to get the ATI Radeon 4870 HD so that I can use the mini-display port with a new 24 inch ACD.
    Bear in mind as of right now, I am not much of a heavy graphics or pro-app user, though I plan to delve into imovie and creating my own movies of my family. I also plan to learn a little bit about high definition encoding(really don't know what this is), and possibly maybe a little bit of the other video apps.
    I got the mac pro for mainly being able to stick with the intel technology, as I realize now that Intel is the way to go. Also, got the mac pro due to its powerful expansion capabilities.
    So, my question is this: What options are available for my machine? I am aware that the max memory is 32GB, though will I ever need to use that much? What is optimal or the sweet-spot for my mac pro to be fast?

    I got the mac pro for mainly being able to stick with the intel technology, as I realize now that Intel is the way to go.
    Wow! After all your Intel bashing thru the years! Man!
    Also, got the mac pro due to its powerful expansion capabilities.
    Same here.
    So, my question is this: What options are available for my machine? I am aware that the max memory is 32GB, though will I ever need to use that much? What is optimal or the sweet-spot for my mac pro to be fast?
    It is fast and sweet now!
    Nadav, you mean you really don't know where to find this information? You've been using Macs for years and have been posting and reading posts here since 3/31/05. Please, if you need help for a real issue we are here to help....but please don't waste our time with these beginner like posts.
    You have the knowledge!
    Dale

  • Best 2008 Mac Pro Graphics Card

    Hey guys, running windows vista on my 2008 mac pro, just got a ati radeon 5870 but far cry 3 is painfully slow on highest settings. Does anyone know what the most powerful for games graphics card i can get that's compatible with mountain lion?
    Many thanks
    Andrew

    Odd that you would use Vista instead of the later and better 7 or 8.
    I assume you know how to setup Windows, but it sounds like you didn't go to ATI and install their graphic driver is all.
    MacRumors has more on their forum. Yes 10.8.2 (not Windows issue, Windows you can use any PC card you want) the GTX 570 or 670 as long as you use cards with only a pair of 6-pin power connectors.

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro crashes when slight bang happens nearby

    Hi All,
    Yes, my reliable workstation is no longer reliable.
    If I put a drink down on my desk the Mac will shut off.
    It's a 2008 Mac Pro and sits next to my desk.
    I don't have any way of testing the hardware that I can see. I downloaded ASD but it says won't run on my model.
    I tried reseating the RAM but no change.
    Please advise.

    The Mac Pro uses an AC power cable that is very unusual in that it has a huge block of rubber around the contacts. If inserted in a normal fashion, it sometimes does not continue to make proper contact. If you have this problem, you will get sudden uncontrolled power-down, not crashes.
    My traditional solution has been to remove the AC Power cord at the Mac, then jam it back in as hard as you can using Tremendous Force. You can also substitute a standard IEC power cord that does not have the Huge block of rubber to interfere with proper insertion.
    Readers who have crashes (but not power-downs) have sometimes had success removing and re-inserting their PCIe cards, including graphics card, taking care to assure that all are properly seated in their slots. Also remove and re-insert the aux power cord(s) [BOTH ends] to the graphics card, if so equipped.

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro - worth bothering with?

    Hi,
    Someone in my building threw out an early 2008 Mac Pro with no hard drives.
    I put in a spare that I have lying around and it seems ok -- but a bit slow. I'm now in the process of installing Mavericks on it.
    I'm curious if this computer is worth bothering with? If so, what are some essential upgrades that would make this hum? I'm assuming an SSD? Should I bother finding extra ram for it (it has 4gb now).
    What would be some good uses -- I already have an apple tv and a htpc in the living room.. I suppose I can use it in the bedroom? Can this be a functioning secondary computer for my wife who doesn't game but does use iPhoto/Word/Netflix etc? And if so what should I add?
    Thanks everyone for your help!

    alphaace wrote:
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