My 2009 mac pro won't communicate with the connected monitor

my mac pro desktop was bought roughly in 2009.its running the latest os that this model can run with tiger.the problem used to be intermittent,now it is very hard to get this thing to communicate with the external monitor.the led on the mac shows that its on but it won't chime as it starts up.whenever it did cut on,it would stay on for a moment then a dark tint would scroll over the screen desktop from top to bottom and everything freezes.i then have to turn off the computer from the button.A side note:This computer never functioned properly from day one when i was using it to run my protools music recording DAW.i could barely complete songs as it would run out of cpu and processing power.the computer has 14 gigs of ram,and quad core processing.i took it to apple store for tech support but they found nothing.now i am solely trying to run my serato dj software with it.based on these symptoms,what is wrong with my computer? is it software problem or is it a bad graphics card,bad cpu,is there any parts i can buy to inexpensively overhaul this computer?

it won't chime as it starts up.
Then it has a Hardware problem. Macs run a Power-On Self Test, and the chime is generated in software when the first part of the test has passed, and if a suitable source of software can be found, booting is likely.
Is the power light flashing in a pattern? That indicates "not enough working RAM to start up."

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I have remote locked my mac using find my iPhone app via my iPad - I am unable to enter the unlock code as the mac keyboard won't pair with the mac - I guess that will teach me for playing...any ideas?

Thought so - ace - find my phone really needs an unlock function. - another £40...

My Early 2009 Mac Pro won't restart after installing Mavericks

I have installed Mavericks on my Early 2009 Mac Pro and all seemed to install just fine but when I restart the Mac then it won't get past a grey screen with Apple logo. It seems that it does get reasonabley far into the startup, it gets passed the grey screen with cricling progress thingmy under the Apple logo, then it flashes very quickly and after that it is a grey screen with the Apple logo and no further.
I did try installing Mavericks when it first came out and I had this problem so I just abandoned and reinstalled Mountain Lion from my Time Machine backup. However I thought that with Mavericks now at 9.1, maybe it would work okay this time but no change. However this time I do want to get it working because the lastest Final Cut Pro X requires Mavericks and I do a lot of video editing.
Here are the things I've tried which have made no difference:
Removed all peripherals, so that now nothing is plugged in except the original Apple Keyboard, my Apple trackpad and my Eizo monitor.
I tried starting it in Safe Boot mode but this made no difference.
I started it up in Recovery mode and it will start in Recovery mode. While in Recovery mode I checked the startup hard drive with Disk Utility, the drive is fine, as and I repaired disk permisions which made no difference.
I zapped the PRAM.
I connected it to my MacBook Pro in Target Disk mode and used ProSoft's Drive Genius 3 to check over the startup hard drive again and check disk permissions and all is well.
It still will not startup
I would be most grateful if someone could assist.

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 3
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 4
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 5
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 6
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 7
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 8
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 9
Repeat Step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 10
This step applies only to older Macs (not current models) that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery. Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 11
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

My mac pro won't pair with my magic trackpad.

I'm posting in this forum because I am using a Mac Pro, what we used to call a "tower," and my Magic Trackpad isn't recognized & won't pair. This has been an increasing problem over the past year, and I actually blamed the trackpad and bought a new one -- and of course it doesn't work either. My MacBook Pro (actually two of them) use the same latest version of Mountain Lion and they pair up just fine, never dropping the connection. I'm an old-timer with 25 years on the Mac, and I'm stumped. The support forums here confirm that this is a common problem -- MT not pairing -- and I have tried every suggestion I can find. Booting in safe mode, repairing permissions, trashing the bluetooth prefs file, VRAM and SMC resets, moving computer away from any possible interference, and probably two or three more I can't recall. I don't have any exotic apps installed (there's one that has something to do with Windows that can cause this problem, but I don't have it), nothing on the tower that's not on the two laptops running the same OS X version. For the record, I have a 2x2.8 Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM, all the original Apple installation. OS X is 10.8.4. I've tried three different brands of alkaline batteries. For a time the problem was intermittent (the dreaded "dropped connection") but now it doesn't pair up at all, i.e. neither of my two trackpads pair up. I've let the "searching" function run for as long as 30 minutes, including some restarts of the trackpad...you get the picture. Although this has been addressed in other places in support, I am posting here because so far I don't have a solution. Any ideas? I really appreciate the forum, have been here a long time, and hope that someone has that next good idea that's going to help me. Thanks in advance!

I had the same problem as you with Bluetooth stuff. It was suggested to me that I buy an external BT dongle
as the bluetooth reception in the stock Mac Pro was spotty at best.I did so- iogear 421 (the 521 is supported but ONLY in Mountain Lion, so I was told) and bluetooth works just fine. Of course it might be that the cables for your Bluetooth/Airport card in your Mac Pro could have been installed incorrectly (just google bluetooth in Mac Pro help) but...if they have been, then the dongle might be your best bet, or some kind of external antenna
(the G5 had one, as you may know, but we don't......)
I see by your posting you have tried every suggestion you possibly could, and it's not software related
and it's not a simple one-shot-done fix...
that's the best I have for now. I think I paid about $25 for the dongle and it was easy as pie to install
John B

New Mac Pro Won't Work With Old Studio Display

Hi,
Just got a new Mac Pro Desktop 8-core only to find out my old Apple Studio Display 17" won't work without a $100 adapter. We're thinking of just buying a new monitor instead. My question is will other brands now work direclty with the new Macs - or would they also need adapters? Is a DVI port the same as a DVI-D port?
Thanks for any info...

Thanks so much for the response, Malcolm, I really appreciate it! My old monitor is an LCD, but what we decided to do is since the adapter we found (and HAD to get from Apple directly) was going to cost $99!! We went and bought a brand new Dell monitor instead for $238 - it's fully compatible with the new Mac, and it's 23" (my old one was a 17") - so all's good!
Thanks again,
Jacki

MacBook Pro won't communicate with wireless HP6500 printer

My MacBook Pro late 2011 will not communicate with my HP6500 Officejet all-in-one. I have tried everything imaginable to fix the problem. My iPad mini works wonderfully with the same printer.

Hi there sailor ricky,
You may find the troubleshooting steps in the article below helpful.
Troubleshooting printer issues in OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3147
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2009 Mac Pro Won't Boot after adding RAM (Crash-Keeps rebooting)

So I recently added new RAM that I purchased from OWC into my Mac Pro 4,1. It kept rebooting over and over and it gives me this error screen when it does. It doesn't get past the boot screen. I've since removed the RAM and replaced it with my old sticks (I discovered that the new sticks were the wrong speed 1333MHz vs 1066MHz). Still nothing.
This is incredibly urgent. Does anyone have any insight?

The hexadecimal stuff all over the screen is NOT a RAM panic. It is complaining about a USB problem and a caldigit driver.
The box near the center of the screen is saying you have the modules installed in the wrong slots.
Take it slow and simple. Install one module in the lowest-numbered slot on each side and work your way up on the RAM modules. You want to end up with the biggest modules in the lowest-numberd slots.
Remove all your USB devices for now to avoid that kernel panic.

Mac Pro won't recognize Cintiq 21UX DVI monitor

The Cintiq works ok when connected, but is listed in the sysytem profiler and monitor preference panel as just "VGA display". It is hooked up to the mac with a DVI cable and the switch on the Cintiq is set to DVI.
I have a feeling I'm getting poor resolution from graphics apps (esp. Photoshop CS3) as a result of this.
Can anyone tell me why the Cintiq isn't recognized for what it is?

Malcolm, thanks so much.
I was just having this problem with the Cintiq as VGA monitor, and would NEVER have looked in the box for that adapter. And even looking at the adapter in my hand, I could not really see what was particularly different about it. But I used it and, as reported, it worked like a charm.
The funny thing was that I had been using the Cintiq on my Power Mac G5 for about a month, with no problems, EXCEPT when I pulled the computer out of Sleep, and then suddenly the Cintiq went VGA on me. I'd reboot and all was corrected. BUT the real problem came up tonight, I am just setting up a new Mac Pro, and the Cintiq was just VGA all the way, boy was that frustrating. I was dumbfounded. It's Sunday night, and where the heck am I going to find a clue about all this. Well, the Discussion Forum wins again!
Thanks again
Todd

I upgraded to lion and now my 2009 MacBook pro won't boot after the grey page.

Hi,
I just upgraded to lion, my computer restarted, and I was able to use it for quite some time with the new software. It was upgrading the display pad software and when it finished required a reboot, which it did. Upon restarting my Mac is now stuck on the grey screen which is supposed to show login info and a place to type in your password, but it doesn't. All I see is grey.
I'm currently reinstalling lion, so hopefully that will help. Any suggestions? I want my computer back!

Does anyone know how to get the version for Lion?
I just asked that in another thread:
Does Safari go the way of MobileMe?
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15790649
The Safari download page specifically says the version is for Snow Leopard, and only offers this version, and when I try to install it, the routine gets blocked complaining that it needs Snow Leopard.
I also tried to simply remove the app in order to use Software Update. But this is blocked as well.
http://www.apple.com/safari/download/

Does the Mac Pro REALLY still come with the old white plastic keyboard?

Just looking through the Apple Store and it seems it's the old version of the keyboard included. Mind you, it also says it includes iLife 06. Would be disappointing to get the old version - worst of both works - wired AND nasty quality. Our 2 Macs have both had the white keyboards failing in the last 2 years.

All of the pages on the UK site say iLife 06 including http://www.apple.com/uk/macpro/specs.html and the online store.
I get on ok with the white keyboards but they're really poor quality. My wife's F key stopped working within 24hrs, then my Eject key stopped working, then my replacement arrived with several keys loose in the box. Mind you, never before have Apple keyboards been so cheap to buy - they really are cheap enough to be disposable now (especially the wired versions). It's a bit of a pain to be with a faulty keyboard when you have important work to do - I really would rather pay a little more for better quality. That's what Apple used to be about.

Early 2009 Mac Pro FireWirenot working with Hitachi/SimpleTech DuoPro drive

So I've got an early 2009 Mac Pro that is loaded with Bootcamp and Vista64. I am looking for an external raid option that works for Windows and didn't have any luck with any eSata PCIe card so I thought I would just use a firewire device. So I picked up a 2TB Duo Pro drive by SimpleTech.
My firewire ports work fine with other devices, but not with this drive and not with either operating system. It works fine though USB, but just doesn't do anything with either firewire 400 or 800.
Any thoughts?

I have an early 2008 iMac and I have the exact same drive by Simpletech, 2TB Duo Pro. It does work on FW800 but connects at 400 UNLESS you power the drive on and plug it in while OS X is up and running, then the connection will be 800. Anyhow, I would make sure you have a good FW cable and also try the FW400 cable that came with it. I bought a FW800 cable and it worked fine so unless the Mac Pro and iMac use different FW hardware, I think it IS compatible.

New Mac Pro - won't boot up with SSD drives attached

I have a new Mac Pro. It came with the stock 1TB HD. I installed two OWC SSD drives in the two optical drive bays. I booted up and the MacPro saw the two new drives. I set up the two new drives into a RAID0 setup with Disk Utility which worked fine. Then I cloned the 'Macintosh HD' drive so that I could use the two new SSDs as my boot drive.
When I removed the stock 1TB drive the machine will not boot up. I am stuck on the gray startup screen and it never even makes it to the Apple logo.
Even worse, when I reconnect the stock 1TB drive the machine will still not boot up if either or both of the SSD drives are connected. When I remove the SSD drives the machine boots fine.
Very weird - must be some weird RAID stuff going on.
Any ideas?
David

Hi dschamis
Just out of interest, what application did you use to clone from your HDD to the OWC SSD?
I had the same problem, but I was using only one SSD, when I cloned from a VelociRaptor 300GB HDD to an OCZ Agility EX SSD in December 2009.
The SSD "bricked", and when I contacted OCZ they told me that they did not recommend cloning from a HDD to a SSD. In fact they definitely advised against doing so.
I had used SuperDuper to clone from the HDD to the SSD.
When I received the replacement SSD ( OCZ sent me their top of their range Vertex EX), I didn't take any chances, and I did a clean install of the Mac OS and all my applications.
Everything was 100% OK, and I have not had a single problem with the SSD since then, but I never clone to it or from it. I just use Time Machine to back up to a WD My Book SE II 2T external drive, but I do have the original 640GB Apple (WD) HDD as a backup/emergency system boot drive in an external enclosure.
I have just ordered, and received, an OWC MercuryExtreme Pro RE SSD, which I will be using as my system boot drive solely for my photography related applications, and I will use the Vertex EX for the remainder of my applications.
However, I am not even going to risk using SuperDuper to clone the OS or any of the applications from the Vertex EX to the OWC SSD, although OCZ said it was OK to clone from SSD to SSD, and I will do a clean install of the Mac OS and the photography related applications on the Mercury Extreme Pro RE SSD.
Hope all goes well when you receive your replacement SSD.
If in doubt do a clean install of the Mac OS!
Regards,
Bill

Boot Camp, Vista Ultimate x64 SP1, 2009 Mac Pro Quad 2.93, ATI 4870 HD

Hello All,
I’ve run into a problem installing Boot Camp with Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 on my early 2009 Mac Pro Quad 2.93 with Apple’s ATI Radeon 4870 HD (the one with one DVI and one mini-display). I followed the instructions from the Boot Camp Installation and Setup Guide, and everything was going great until I hit page 12 of the Guide (Step 3). The Boot Camp drivers installed without error, and prompted me to reboot. Upon rebooting onto the newly installed Vista x64 partition, the screen went black after the chkdsk screen appeared. I can boot into Vista safe mode, but booting into Vista normally results in the black screen. On a hunch, while in safe mode, I uninstalled the ATI video drivers installed by Boot Camp. I was then able to boot Vista normally, but only with the standard VGA adapter. Then I tried installing the latest 9.4 ATI drivers from the chipset vendor, AMD, http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx. Booting normally after the ATI chipset drivers were installed left me with a mostly black screen, and a few swizzles of horizontal color, but not enough to make out any sort of image. Once again, I was able to boot normally by first booting into safe mode and then uninstalling the ATI driver, leaving me with the standard VGA driver.
The displays I have tried so far are 1) Apple Cinema HD 23”, and 2) Apple Cinema 20”. Also, I have tried all 6 permutations with the ports on the Apple version of the ATI Radeon 4870 HD with both displays (using the mini-display to DVI adapter), 2 permutations with both displays, and 4 permutations with single displays. All permutations result in the same black screen after installing Boot Camp drivers.
Am I missing something? It seems to me that there is a display driver that needs to come from Apple that will work with the Apple version of the ATI Radeon 4870 HD in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 attached to an Apple display. I’ve installed Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 and many other operating systems in the past 27 years of working with computers, and typically with video cards I’ve had to get the drivers from the vendor that shipped the card, not the chipset vendor. Sure, occasionally the opposite is true, and I don’t mind spending a few days to figure out what works best for me as long as I believe I am making progress.
Has anyone else run into this problem with his or her early 2009 Mac Pro Quad 2.93 with Apple’s ATI Radeon 4870 HD? I’m posting this in the Boot Camp forum as I think this problem is rooted in the Boot Camp drivers, specifically for the Apple ATI Radeon 4870 HD. Please let me know if I should post elsewhere.

You are the second person I think I've seen with trouble using Mac Pro and ATI drivers (other was on Mac Pro forum).
When updating graphics, there are extra steps that insure you get the best working drivers.
I've always found Apple to be behind the curve on Windows support. Drivers that come with a card from the vendor ususally means ATI or Nvidia, and even then, you go to the web and download and install the latest tested / beta / qualified drivers. Some people try a variety of driver versions to find the one that works best.
Apple has not been updating Boot Camp drivers for Late 2008 and on Macs. Boot Camp 2.1 is now over a year old. What is on your OEM Leopard DVD is the only drivers I would use - if at all! try without is what some do, and then see if you can selectively install. Under Windows 7, I don't need or install, and now with the RC/7077 version of 7, Microsoft 'blocks' installing Apple Boot Camp drivers as known to cause problems.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unistall the various Apple services, drivers, startup items that you can live without or until you narrow it down. iTunes 8.1+ in Windows can break and prevent ability to even use optical drives and devices for instance.
Some tips for upgrading drivers, one from eVGA forum but should translate.
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=396474
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1655

SuperDrives are backwards (Early-2009 Mac Pro)

Greetings:
I have two SuperDrives installed in my Early-2009 Mac Pro. When I hit the eject button the bottom tray comes out, option + eject brings out the top tray. When I burn things in Disk Utility the OS refers to the physically located bottom drive as "Upper SuperDrive".
I know it's not a huge issue, but I'm wondering if its an easy fix?
I popped the side panel off and checked the SATA/Power connections. Since that cable is pretty tightly wrapped the connectors can only go in one way (the little extended one has to go on the bottom drive).
So I figured the coonnectors on the motherboard are probably backwards.
Are they easy to get to? Or is this a huge pain and not worth it?
Thanks!
- D

It does. Initially I thought I could reverse them, but they're so tightly bundled that they won't reach that way.
- D

Calendar on Macbook Pro won't synch with iCloud

Calendar on my Macbook Pro won't synch with the Calendar on iCloud. I tried a number of times to delete Calendar from iCloud in System Preferences then restart the laptop. I also switched the 'enable' function on and off in Calendar Preferences. I restarted after every attempt and also refreshed. It looks as if it's updating but then nothing happens and the triangular, exclamation mark appears, grayed out, next to the iCloud icon in Calendar. I saw an answer in the Apple Support troubleshooting section regarding this about the server having to access port 80 or 443. Could this be the problem and if so then how would I make any port accessible to the relevant server? I'm not having this problem with my other devices or computer.

Hello Wateru,
Thank you for providing the details of the calendar issue you are experiencing with your MacBook Pro. You have taken some really good troubleshooting steps already. I recommend continuing with the steps in the sections titled "General troubleshooting" and "Troubleshooting on OS X" in the following article:
iCloud: Troubleshooting iCloud Calendar
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3999
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

My 2009 mac pro won't communicate with the connected monitor

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