Why does my intel Mac Pro boot with multiple 'good' boot tones?

My 8-core Xeon Mac Pro, running Snow Leopard, has an 'odd' behavior.  Every time it boots, I hear the initial successful boot tone, followed by a delayed series of 4 quieter, abbreviated but similar boot tones.  The machine boots normally and operates normally that I can tell.

The following apple doc refers to multiple boot beeps
Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2
But what is confusing is your description about when the beeps occur, i.e, after the normal boot chime.  So that doc may be unrelated.
Try disconnecting all your periphials and see if the problem continues.
Try smc reset too.
See if it occurs if you boot in safe mode.

Similar Messages

  • Why does my new MacBook pro retina with 16gb ram keep randomly freezing

    Why does my new MacBook pro retina with 16gb ram keep randomly freezing

    Hi ..
    A new Macbook Pro should not randomly freeze.
    You have 14 calendar days  from the time your items are delivered to initiate a return as noted here.

  • Does January 2008 Mac Pro boot into 64bit?

    Hello,
    Although it says here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3770 that early 2008 Mac Pro can boot into 64bit, though not by default with Snow Leopard, I'm wondering if my January 2008 quad 2.66 model is just too early?
    Machine Profile (Micromat) shows 'processor bitrate 64 bit, EFI bitrate 32 bit, Kernel bitrate 32 bit'.   So should I give up on the '64 bit kernel and extensions' option for this machine?
    Thanks...BC

    I just thought I would share my Mac Pro 1.1 experience. I recently had to replace a failed memory riser card  by buying a pair from ebay (they both failed a month apart) and took advantage of the opportunity to replace my Mac Pro 2006 with the 2008 model for $700 and inserted my drives and upgraded to 10.8.5. Just holding off on Mavericks for now...  Bought a Radeon 5770 and graphics are just peachy (i'm not a gamer). Then I put a samsung ssd 512gb in as the system drive and a 3tb for data so that machine is going fine
    What to do with the 2006 Mac Pro?. No one wants it on ebay so I thought i'd try it on Windows. Windows 32bit loads via boot camp once you figure out how to  recognise the sata bus (depends on your windows 7 dvd version i think) but under 32 bit you only get 2gb usable ram ! something , not just video is addressing 2gb so that *****. You cannot boot off the 64bit dvd (try it) so i installed 64bit windows 7 on a clean drive on my core2dou pc then put the drive in my 4core xeon mac pro. It booted fine and installed alot of drivers for the xeons automatically. Then I got some drivers from 64bit bootcamp and sound drivers from the realtek website. Then , I upgraded to 64 bit windows 8 pro and everything still works. Then, I downloaded the free windows 8.1 pro update and everything still works..... As PCs go, this is still a pretty fast machine, and gives little away to , say an i5 or i7. If you put in an SSD and gamers video card it  would fly, but i dont need that....

  • How well does a new Mac Pro work with Adobe Premiere CC 2014

    I'm trying to spec out a new Mac Pro so I can edit 4K footage from a RED camera. I currently edit using Premiere CC 2014. I've heard all kinds of bad stories with the new Mac and Premiere and was wondering if anyone has had a good experience. These are the specs I'm looking at for the mac. Thanks in advance.

    Those AMD Dxxx and drivers as well as it may take a product cycle for Adobe if they are interested in the 6,1 customer base.
    Dual AMD PCIe 7xxx and above even in dual setups, or of course you can throw one or two nVidia GTX 7xx into those silver "oMP" 2009-2012s (the 2008 just lacks good decent PCIe GPU performance with good graphic cards).
    Also the way the nMP will 'share' and throttle to limit itself to 450W and its thermal design so that both GPUs and the processor are not both given full reign (they do when running Windows 8.1 natively - 8.1 because that is the "oldest" version supported with drivers and booting via Apple).

  • Why didn't the Mac Pro come with Front Row?

    I have absolutely loved my quad-core mac pro. It's been one of the best-performing computers I've ever owned, but this issue has somewhat annoyed me for quite some time: Why didn't this computer come with Front Row?
    I wouldn't imagine an IR port would be difficult at all to install into the case, so why wasn't it? I suppose I could rationalize its omission as this being a computer aimed at professionals--but then again MacBook Pro has Front Row as well... so what gives?
    Is there any aftermarket ways of having Front Row work with your Mac Pro?

    Indeed, I'm going to try the Wii remote approach as soon as mine arrives.
    It will also usable as a MIDI controller in Logic
    Anyone know if it's easy to redirect the DVD player output to a second DVI card? I have two monitors on the X1900 and I have a 7300 spare which I could use to drive my projector.

  • Why does my 2006 Mac Pro 1,1 crash on startup?

    Hi, folks--
    My 2006 Mac Pro is regularly crashing on startup with a kernel panic. It will chime on startup and usually show me the Apple startup screen with the spinning wheel-- but after that, I get the multi-language "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again" message. Sometimes it doesn't even get there-- the spinning wheel just freezes, and stays frozen. Every once in a while, the Mac will start up, but the mouse will be so unresponsive that it takes me several minutes to mouse over to Restart so I can try again. (I've checked the mouse on another computer and it works fine.)
    Additional info:
    • I have one SSD startup disk with Lion, and two HDD startup disks with Snow Leopard. Starting up with any of these three disks results in the problems described above. This suggests to me that it's a hardware problem, rather than a problem with a specific startup disk.
    • I tried starting up from my Snow Leopard Install disk. It was able to start up successfully. All the data on my hard drives seemed to be intact, including Lion Install, so I tried re-installing Lion on my SSD. It showed the blue progress bar for a minute. Then it said it would restart my computer in 30 seconds-- at which point, I once again got the multi-language "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button ETC" crash. If even the install disk is crashing, this again suggests a hardware problem.
    • I set the Mac Pro to target mode, and used it as a startup disk for my wife's Macbook. It functioned just fine and there were no crashes. Again, confirmation that it is a hardware problem with my Mac Pro.
    • I have zapped the PRAM. I have also run Disk Utility, repaired permissions, and verified the disk. This did not fix the issue. (Not surprising if it is a hardware problem.)
    • HOWEVER:  I put in the install disk that came with the computer originally and was able to complete the Hardware Test. I chose the most thorough option. It did not find any problems.
    • This started happening three days ago. I'm not aware of any recent changes to the system that could have caused this. The most recent change I made was installing a Radeon HD 5770  graphics card and an SSD drive, more than a month ago. There was no sign of trouble after I installed either of them (except for some problems putting the Mac Pro to sleep, which is apparently a known issue with the Radeon 5770 in this model Mac Pro).
    • Weirdly, after I fiddle with the Mac Pro for an hour or so (run diagnostics, reboot it repeatedly, etc) it seems to start working. If there is indeed a hardware problem, then perhaps something works better when it's warmed up.
    Is there anything you'd suggest I try? Or am I stuck lugging it to the Genius Bar? I don't have a car, so this is a bit of a pain…
    Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

    Thanks, The Hatter. I'm working through all the links you've provided and see if I can narrow down the problem.
    And, Grant, thanks as well-- I really appreciate the specific information. You've enabled me to track down the panic log -- but they are indeed baffling. I'm pasting one below, in case somebody wiser than I can interpret it for me.
    Wed Mar  6 11:25:26 2013
    panic(cpu 2 caller 0x2ceabf): Kernel trap at 0x00baf978, type 14=page fault, registers:
    CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x8da19000, CR3: 0x00100000, CR4: 0x00000660
    EAX: 0x7db19000, EBX: 0x07eb6004, ECX: 0x0ff00000, EDX: 0x0ff00000
    CR2: 0x8da19000, EBP: 0x4469bc38, ESI: 0x0ff00000, EDI: 0x08feab04
    EFL: 0x00010206, EIP: 0x00baf978, CS:  0x00000008, DS:  0x00000010
    Error code: 0x00000000
    Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
    0x4469ba98 : 0x2203de (0x6b08cc 0x4469bab8 0x229fb0 0x0)
    0x4469bac8 : 0x2ceabf (0x6bd9e0 0xbaf978 0xe 0x6bd989)
    0x4469bb78 : 0x2e5564 (0x4469bba0 0x4469bb88 0x4469bb98 0x22cbbb)
    0x4469bb98 : 0xbaf978 (0xe 0x44690048 0xff1b0010 0x10)
    0x4469bc38 : 0x1547167 (0x8ad2c04 0x7eb6004 0xff00000 0x7eb6004)
    0x4469bc58 : 0x153e35c (0x7eb6004 0x8feab04 0x0 0xff00000)
    0x4469bc88 : 0xcb6c56 (0x7eb6004 0x9465004 0x4469bca0 0x0)
    0x4469bd38 : 0xd27c8a (0x7eb6004 0x9465004 0x8971c14 0xff)
    0x4469bdc8 : 0xd2933e (0x7eb6004 0x8a97c04 0x0 0x0)
    0x4469be28 : 0xd2b46a (0x7eb6004 0x8a97c04 0x8 0x2)
    0x4469be58 : 0x1562269 (0x7eb6004 0x8a97c04 0x0 0x0)
    0x4469be88 : 0xd2b589 (0x7eb6004 0x8a97c04 0x0 0x0)
    0x4469bed8 : 0xb9eb05 (0x7eb6004 0x0 0x0 0x0)
    0x4469bf68 : 0xb5362c (0x7eb6004 0x1 0x7c637f0 0x7c63be8)
    0x4469bf98 : 0x23e4ae (0x8af4400 0x7eb6004 0xfa6d03 0x7eb4028)
    0x4469bfc8 : 0x2c7d0c (0x84ad60 0x0 0x10 0x92f8410)
          Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
             com.apple.NVDAResman.G7xxx(7.0.4)[6581C9F3-3221-4530-BEB4-627CB8D602AE]@0xb4c00 0->0xe41fff
                dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.7)[8087C029-833E-4B62-A8C3-2B074B4C55F7]@0xade000
                dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3.4)[393829BA-614C-4ED7-B4AD-CE577A41C683]@0xb3 b000
                dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3.4)[EE3F8FBE-3457-4F0E-A3A3-B9B1A44DCF6B]@0 xb07000
             com.apple.nvidia.nv40hal.G7xxx(7.0.4)[C61073DF-524F-472B-A19F-3B80B884F6C5]@0x1 4b2000->0x15bdfff
                dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman.G7xxx(7.0.4)[6581C9F3-3221-4530-BEB4-627CB8D602AE]@0xb4c00 0
    BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
    Mac OS version:
    11G63
    Kernel version:
    Darwin Kernel Version 11.4.2: Thu Aug 23 16:26:45 PDT 2012; root:xnu-1699.32.7~1/RELEASE_I386
    Kernel UUID: 859B45FB-14BB-35ED-B823-08393C63E13B
    System model name: MacPro1,1 (Mac-F4208DC8)
    System uptime in nanoseconds: 37415286581
    last loaded kext at 10244857365: com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor          1.9.5d0 (addr 0x3125000, size 28672)
    loaded kexts:
    com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouseUSB          8.2
    com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouse          8.2
    com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftKeyboardUSB          6.2.2
    com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftKeyboard          6.2.2
    com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor          1.9.5d0
    com.apple.filesystems.autofs          3.0
    com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver          2.2.5a5
    com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC          1.59
    com.apple.driver.AppleHDA          2.2.5a5
    com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver          1.0.2d2
    com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient          3.5.9
    com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl          1.0.33
    com.apple.kext.ATIFramebuffer          7.3.2
    com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet          1.0.0d1
    com.apple.GeForce          7.3.2
    com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager          4.0.8f17
    com.apple.GeForce7xxx          7.0.4
    com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X          7.0.0
    com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver          1.2.3
    com.apple.driver.AppleMCEDriver          1.1.9
    com.apple.ATIRadeonX3000          7.3.2
    com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin          5.0.0d8
    com.apple.driver.ApplePolicyControl          3.1.33
    com.apple.driver.AppleLPC          1.6.0
    com.apple.driver.CSRUSBBluetoothHCIController          4.0.8f17
    com.apple.driver.CSRHIDTransitionDriver          4.0.8f17
    com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient          3.2.1
    com.apple.driver.XsanFilter          404
    com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless          1.0.0d1
    com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib          1.0.0d1
    com.apple.BootCache          33
    com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage          2.1.0
    com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI          4.9.0
    com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43224          501.36.15
    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPIIXATA          2.5.1
    com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort          2.3.1
    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub          5.1.0
    com.apple.driver.AppleIntel8254XEthernet          2.1.3b1
    com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM          1.6.1
    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI          5.1.0
    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI          5.1.0
    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons          1.5
    com.apple.driver.AppleRTC          1.5
    com.apple.driver.AppleHPET          1.7
    com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS          1.9
    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC          1.5
    com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC          1.6
    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient          195.0.0
    com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall          3.2.30
    com.apple.security.quarantine          1.4
    com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet          8
    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement          195.0.0
    com.apple.kext.triggers          1.0
    com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib          2.2.5a5
    com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController          1.0.10d0
    com.apple.iokit.IOSurface          80.0.2
    com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily          10.0.5
    com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP          2.2.5
    com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily          1.8.6fc18
    com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib          1.3
    com.apple.driver.AppleSMC          3.1.3d10
    com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy          5.0.0d8
    com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal          7.3.2
    com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl          3.1.33
    com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController          2.2.5a5
    com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily          2.2.5a5
    com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI          1.0.10d0
    com.apple.nvidia.nvGK100hal          7.3.2
    com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily          5.1.1d6
    com.apple.kext.ATI5000Controller          7.3.2
    com.apple.kext.ATISupport          7.3.2
    com.apple.nvidia.nvGF100hal          7.3.2
    com.apple.NVDAResman          7.3.2
    com.apple.nvidia.nv40hal.G7xxx          7.0.4
    com.apple.NVDAResman.G7xxx          7.0.4
    com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport          2.3.4
    com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily          2.3.4
    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBBluetoothHCIController          4.0.8f17
    com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily          4.0.8f17
    com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver          13
    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver          5.0.0
    com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite          5.0.0
    com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice          3.2.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily          1.7
    com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily          1.7.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily          1.7.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport          3.0.0
    com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily          3.2.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily          4.4.8
    com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family          420.3
    com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily          2.5.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily          2.0.8
    com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily          2.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient          5.0.0
    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily          5.1.0
    com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime          1.6.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily          1.7.1
    com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily          1.1
    com.apple.security.sandbox          177.8
    com.apple.kext.AppleMatch          1.0.0d1
    com.apple.driver.DiskImages          331.7
    com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily          1.7.2
    com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore          28.18
    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform          1.5
    com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily          2.7
    com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily          1.4

  • Does the current Mac Pro come with OS X Lion?

    I want to buy a Mac Pro and was wondering if it has OS X 10.7, aka Lion installed already.

    They were initially selling new, old stock with 10.6.8 installed and a free upgrade (based on serial number or invoice number) to Lion via download.
    In the extremely unlikely event that you buy a Mac that was in a box at the local store before the July release date of Lion, you will get a free downlaod of Lion, just as before. You may want to perform that at the store, where they will show you how to download from their Server, much faster than at home.
    By now, all the old stock should have been sold and every Mac you buy (including refurbished from the online store) should have Lion pre-installed, but NO DVD in the box. To recover/re-Install, you need Broadband Internet or take it back to the Store and use their Internet.

  • Mac Pro 2008 with 8800 GT, hard freezes with screen savers/OpenGL. You too?

    I have been experiencing random intermittent hard crashes of my "early 2008" model 8-core Mac Pro. Now I have finally found an easy reproducible test case (see below), and hope others will try it and post the results. This is a video-driver related crash that I have now duplicated with two different video cards.
    The symptom is that my screen randomly freezes. The mouse moves, but there's no way to use the Mac[1]. Holding the Power button to force the Mac to shutdown is the only way out.
    Usually, this occurs when I get to my office in the morning, or after the gym. That's because the screen saver is running. I found that the screensaver, other OpenGL/3D type applications, are what triggers this bug.
    The bug seems to be with the graphics driver. Immediately before the freeze, messages like this are printed in the system log:
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception!
    status = 0xffff info32 = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 0000000c
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 00200000 0000502d 00000470 00000000
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 00000482 000002ac 00000003 00000003
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 01be0003
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception!
    status = 0xffff info32 = 0x3 = Fifo: Unknown Method Error
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 0000000b
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception!
    status = 0xffff info32 = 0x3 = Fifo: Unknown Method Error
    Other errors like these also appear (the actual log output volume is too large for this forum):
    Mar 26 21:15:15 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception! status = 0xffff info32 = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error
    Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception! status = 0xffff info32 = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
    Anyway, finally I found on another thread about a similar issue[2], a recommendation to run Folding@Home program to trigger the freeze. They were talking about another Mac model, but sure enough, it triggers my problem every time. I downloaded the client[3], installed it, and then launched the app which gets put in the Applications folder. It doesn't even finish bouncing once in the dock before the Mac Pro freezes.
    This is not a bug specific to Folding@Home; juding from the log messages and the effect, this is exactly the same crash that is intermittently triggered by the default Mac OS X screensavers (I use Arabesque, but I think any OpenGL screen saver does it). It's just that running Folding@Home is an easier way to trigger the bug than leaving your screensaver running for hours.
    So, that is pretty unfortunate, right? I mean, not only can my new Mac Pro not sleep without losing all unsaved data (yes, I have the reboot-instead-of-wake problem[4], too, but that is another issue...) but it also crashes at random whenever the screen saver runs for a while, or somebody uses OpenGL programs. I have set my machine to never use the screen saver, but still.
    So, first and foremost, my question for other 2008 Mac Pro owners with the 8800 video card is: does your Mac puke all over itself when you launch Folding@Home?
    I just found it a little bit hard to believe that every Mac owner of the most expensive new Mac and the higher end video card will have these crashes. It could be, but it seemed far-fetched. So I tried some troubleshooting:
    a
    1.) I considered that I had a bad video card, so I got another GeForce 8800 GT and installed that. Still crashed.
    2.) I disconnected my second monitor, and tried it with only one monitor. Still crashed.
    3.) I booted from the pristine boot disk my Mac shipped with (10.5.1). Still crashed.
    4.) I reduced the resolution on my 30" Cinema display to 800x600. Still crashed.
    5.) Just to stave off the usual chorus of "try zapping your PRAM" posts, I zapped the PRAM. Of course, this did nothing (I don't think this has really fixed a problem since the 1990s...). Anyway, it still crashed.
    6.) In doing all these tests, I disconnected all USB/FireWire peripherals.
    7.) My Mac is totally up-to-date with Software Update as of Thu, Mar 27, 2008. Mac OS X 10.5.2.
    I don't want to return this Mac to Apple; it is wicked fast and that really helps me with my work. But, the frequent crashing really is a productivity-killer.
    So: does every 2008 Mac Pro owner with an 8800 GT have this problem?
    (Note: there are lots of similar problems with other Macs and the new Mac OS X 10.5... I hope to specifically address this particular model and crash in this thread.)
    If not, I will go to the next extreme step: pulling out some of my RAM. I have 12GB of RAM, and it all seems to work fine, no parity errors or anything. But I know sometimes problems don't happen unless there's "too much" RAM, "too high" resolution, and so on. But I would like to hear from others before I go banging on my precious DIMMs and riser cards.
    Thanks for any information!
    The next step will be to determine if this is just another unfortunate defect that affects ALL 2088 Mac Pros (in which case I would want to keep my fast Mac and wait for fixed drivers), or if perhaps just a subset of them have defective video cards that cause the driver to crash in this way (in which case I would want a replacement).
    ---------- NOTES: ----------
    [1]: I can connect via SSH on the command line to the Mac. However, the GUI environment seems borked; opening apps or trying to gracefully quit them via AppleScript either does not work or really hard freezes everything, such that SSH no longer works either.
    [2]: A similar (but perhaps different) issue affecting notebooks is discussed here, and there are some people with Mac Pros, too: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6786960
    [3]: The Folding @ Home client, which can be used to trigger this bug, can be gotten here: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download
    [4]: The severe defect affecting many (most?) 2008 Mac Pro machines' ability to sleep without losing data is discussed in this other thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1353551

    Hello guys, thank you for the replies.
    I do have more data at this point.
    ujeezy: Those posts on MacNN and others like them did give some clues.
    Jon BWFC: I think you are (partly) right that it's (partly) an issue with the driver. But I have confirmed with a fair degree of certainty in my case that it is a hardware issue too, likely with the video card and not the Mac Pro itself.
    cmcom: I think it sounds like you problem is different than the one we're talking about (although who knows, the driver could be causing that too). The freeze we are seeing locks up the whole Mac, and no application crash report is produced.
    I had another GeForce 8800 card, so I went through some exhaustive troubleshooting. I tested each card, installed in each of the 16x slots, booting from either my normal 10.5.2 boot disk or a clone of the pristine virgin system disk that shipped with the Mac, and tried to see if the Mac would crash.
    Unfortunately this was harder than it seems, because:
    a.) both my GeForce 8800 cards appear to be defective, but in different ways (see [1] and [2] below)
    b.) In my testing, I thought I was seeing the crash sometimes, but later I discovered that there are different ways to make the Mac crash like this. That is, there are bugs in Mac OS X 10.5.x (probably in the NVIDIA driver) that cause similar crashes, and these bugs occur on all Mac Pro units and even other Mac models, without any hardware defects. Unfortunately, the Folding@home exercises one such bug.[3]
    So the upshot is, all those times I was using Folding@home to test this issue were bogus, because Folding@home crashes any Mac Pro with the NVIDIA card, and crashes MacBook Pro machines with NVIDIA chips as well.
    Argh! So I had to retest. It took a couple of days but I found another reliable way to crash my Mac Pro, more quickly than just leaving the screensaver on for a day or two: run this OpenGL virtual fish tank simulator[4] for 2-3 minutes. Unlike the Folding@home test, this did not crash any of my other Macs, and after exhaustive testing I found that it ONLY crashed the Mac Pro with one of the GeForce 880 cards installed, and not the other one. This was regardless of what slot it was installed in or what boot disk was used.
    Whew! So, I concluded that indeed, there is a hardware defect in one of my GeForce 8800 cards which causes the machine to lock up. [2]
    What made this problem much harder to deal with was the fact that Mac OS X (specifically the graphics driver parts of the OS, perhaps NVIDIA-specific) crashes with these same symptoms in other cases too. Like when you run Folding@home, or in some of these cases people are talking about with their MacBook Pro machines.
    So, when there is a bona-fide hardware defect, it is really hard to isolate. (It took me like four days.)
    The thing is, the defective NVIDIA card that crashes the Mac[2] was a REPLACEMENT card for the 8800 card that shipped with my Mac. I called Apple about the video artifacts I was seeing and they replaced the card.
    I am now running the original card (and suffering the ugly video artifacts, but no crashes). At my own expense, I ordered an ATI card (the RADEON HD 2600 XT) and I will install that.
    I hope someday to have my Mac work without graphics glitches or crashes. For now, operating (mostly) without crashes will have to do.
    The original problem with this Mac continues, though: the video doesn't work correctly; it starts displaying visual artifacts after 1-72 hours of use[1]. That could either be because:
    a.) a hardware defect in that video card
    b.) a software problem with the driver/OS
    c.) a hardware defect in the Mac itself
    I strongly suspect A, but hopefully my buying a different card and testing with that will help further isolate what is wrong.
    I am marking this thread "solved" because the specific issue I originally posted about has been resolved: the GeForce 8800 card causing the crashes is defective, and using another card fixes that issue.
    [1]: The original GeForce 8800 card that shipped with my Mac Pro exhibited annoying-but-not-deadly video artifacts, which can be seen here: http://masonmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/bogusvideoartifacts.jpg
    [2]: Apple replaced the video card, and that is when my deadly video-corruption-plus-frozen-Mac crash problem began. A screenshot example of that problem can be seen here: http://masonmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/crashedmac_pro_akashitball.jpg
    [3]: The red herring in this case was the Mac OS X bug (seemingly specific to NVIDIA-equipped Macs including Mac Pro and MacBook Pro) that causes a very similar full system crash. This bug can easily be triggered by running the Folding@home version "6.10beta2" demo application. That is a serious bug, and since my employer is a Mac software company I reported this bug to Apple via the official channel. It is Apple bug number 5830772.
    [4]: The OpenGL fish tank simulator I found, which would trigger the system crash caused by my defective 8800 video card (but would not crash any other Mac, or crash my Mac Pro with the other 8800 video card installed) can be found at: http://uri.cat/software/Fish/

  • My recent purchase of QuickTime 7 Pro for Mac OS X upgrade doesn't do "screen record" on my Intel Mac Pro with system 10.6.8. Apple won't accept responsibility and refund my money.

    My recent purchase of QuickTime 7 Pro for Mac OS X upgrade doesn't do "screen record" on my Intel Mac Pro with system 10.6.8. Apple won't accept responsibility and refund my money.

    QuickTime 7 doesn't offer that, but the built-in QuickTime X Player does. You may find another use for the key.
    (109709)

  • Why dont the Mac Pro's with Retina Displays have a CD/DVD drive?

    Why dont the Mac Pro's with Retina Displays have a CD/DVD drive? Will Apple eventually stop producing CD/DVD drives?

    Gethin R wrote:
    Why dont the Mac Pro's with Retina Displays have a CD/DVD drive?
    Because Apple did not put one in there.
    Will Apple eventually stop producing CD/DVD drives?
    We can't really answer that, but it would not surprise me. More and more of the computers being produced by Apple lack an internal optical drive. If you really need one, get an external such as LowLuster suggests.
    Best of luck.

  • First generation Mac pro booted into utilities and HD recovery, any idea why?

    Hi,
    My first generation Mac pro booted into utilities and HD recovery when I restared after installing Autodesk sketchbook pro. This isnt the first time this has happened but last time I was not trying to install any software. Fortunatly, I have time machine backups and therefore have managed to recover the HD to a recent date and I intend to do a complete system check when it has finished. The first time this happened I didnt think much of it but now it has happened a second time i'm becoming a little concerned, any idea why this has happened?

    I did this the first time it happened so I know that its not that i have the wrong startup disk selected. However, after the recovery had completed I tried the installation again and this time everything went smootly. so as of right now I dont have a problem. Thank you very much for your time and help.

  • Why does my I MAC boot but shows no display and fan is loud?

    Why does my I MAC boot but shows no display and fan is loud?

    Reset the SMC a couple of times and then post back. Instructions are:
    Shut down the computer. 
    Unplug the computer's power cord and all perihperals.
    Wait fifteen seconds. 
    Attach the computer's power cord. 
    Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

  • Why does the new MacBook Pro 13 no longer come with a graphics card?

    Why does the new MacBook Pro no longer come with a graphics card?  Or at least make it so you can opt for one.

    I know how you feel. Your MacBook Pro has integrated graphics 384 MB or 512 MB. If you are a gamer, creative professional or just want more VRAM get a 15 inch MacBook Pro with up to 1 gig of VRAM or a windows gaming laptop with up to 16 gigs of VRAM (a ridiculous amount!). If you get a windows pc, you can always install virtual box. There is no point in buying a 13 inch MacBook Pro unless you need a lightweight laptop with all of the extra "goodies". There is also no possible way to change the graphics unless you know how to "unhook" the card from the processor and install a new one. Sorry for the inconvenience.

  • Does my new mac pro retina come with antivirus. And, for how long

    does my new mac pro retina come with antivirus? And, for how long?

    Yes it does.
    It's called OS X Lion - fully updated.
    There are no known viruses for MAC OS.
    Your current OS is your best protection
    If however, you want to feel more secured, download ClamX AV and do a scan once a week to give you peace of mind.
    Good luck

  • Monitor goes dark on 2008 Mac Pro Tower with ATI Radeon 5870 Card

    I have a 2008 Quad Core Intel Mac Pro Tower running 10.6.8.
    The original graphics card had trouble with HD movies of any kind and eventually my screen would sometimes not turn on (stayed black) when the computer was turned on.
    So I replaced the graphics card for both reasons to a ATI Radeon 5870 PCIe with a GB rather than the 256 that came with the machine.
    The problem was solved. I got a new monitor, one that is like the latest ones and all has been working great for a few years.
    Then recently the monitor started going dark while the computer was on. (no screen saver or anything like that, I can be in the middle of work on a photo or video).
    Trouble shooting I have tried.
    A forum said drag the mouse to the hot corner for a while and then back. Well, I tried, assuming I was dragging the mouse to the corner. Didn't work.
    I tried using the keyboard commands to shut down the computer. It didn't work.
    I tried plugging the keyboard into other USB ports and tried to shut down the computer. No luck.
    The only thing that works is shutting down the computer with the power button.
    on start up the monitor is back on.
    Sometimes it works for days like this, other times the monitor stays on only minutes.
    The monitor is fine. Tested my old monitor on the computer to make sure it wasn't my new monitor.
    So the questions are:
    Can it be over heating?
    is it worn out, toast, done and or dead and dieing?
    Should I buy a replacement graphics card VS finally upgrading and getting a new computer (lots of $$$$ but then I do work in HD Video so....)
    any help is appreciated
    thanks
    john

    Replacing FBDIMMs would be today inexpensive and worth doing.
    No one knows if heat is an issue without your using thermal sensor monitor. Probably want to up the default fan speeds while at it.
    And because you don't have Lion+ then even more reason to setup a small maintenace volume on another drive with OS X basic system for repairs. In fact you should always have a bootable backup or two  you can rely on.
    Restarting may work, or it  may be you have now new issue with corrupt fies or directory that a safe boot even is no guarantee of fixing.
    When in doubt, try a clean new OS install on another drive.
    And FBDIMMs: $25 for a 2x2GB set on Amazon.com
    You want to get  the most out of what  you have, a small investment  in RAM,  maybe recycle those drives for 2-4TB units. And an SSD will have system responding better and perform better.
    My guess, the 5870 wasn't needed and was overkill and a 5770 for almost  half would have been more than adequate.

Maybe you are looking for

  • How do I convert a group summary average from seconds to DD:HH:MM:SS

    I am new to Crystal Report XI.  I have a column with seconds as values.  I grouped the column to get an average seconds value per group.  How do I convert the grouped average seconds to DD:HH:MM:SS? Thanks, Mike

  • Correct way to Extend JDialog?

    Hello, I have a custom JDialog in which I would like to be able to be ran by the following code: AddRecordsDialog a = new AddRecordsDialog(this, data); if (a.showDialog() == AddRecordsDialog.Return_Type.Accept)    //do some stuff. }I'm obvously not d

  • Printing Problem in InDesign – Resolved in CS3/4 ?

    With InDesign CS and CS2 it was not possible to print to a non-Postscript printer at a resolution greater than 300ppi – thus rendering text and graphics with less than smooth edges.  This was a limit imposed by the way InDesign CS/CS2 sends the docum

  • Some photos in iPhoto do not transfer to iPod?

    I created a folder which is set to sync with my 5G iPod but only 12 pics sync. The other 80 or so do not. Any ideas why this is?

  • How can I change the color on an image in illustrator?

    I am creating my wedding invites in Illustrator and downloaded a banner to add at the bottom. The banner is very colorful and I want to change the colors to white. Is there a way to do this? This is the banner: Thanks in advance!!!!!