mac pro shutting down/ restarting

[gigpiglet]

i seem to remember a conversation on here a while ago about a mac pro tower randomly shutting down and restarting
but cant find it.
well one of mine has just started doing it
did it once or twice a couple of days ago, and by the end of yesterday literally every 15 seconds
cant event get it running to clone a drive (though everything is backed up of course - but if i could get a clone of the systems drive right now, i would love to, throw it in another machine, and keep working asap)

can anyone remember the thread?
can anyone remember the problem?

thanks

[Ben M]

Hey G, was it this one?

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7641&p=63395&hilit=mac+power+supply#p63360

[Sammas]

There is a few things you can try:

Firstly I would try resetting the nvram by pressing Option-Command-P-R while the system boots until you hear startup sound a second time.

If that's no go, try holding shift while booting to see if you can load the system in safe mode. Try repairing permissions if you can get into the system. If this doesn't work, there is a way to repair permissions via single user mode.

Holding command + v during startup will boot it in verbose mode. What this does is show text list of exactly what is happening within the system as it loads. It might give you an indication of when, where or what may be causing the system to reboot.

See if those result in any success or indication. What model mac and version of OSx is it running?

[Sammas]

Another thing you can try is resetting the system management controller.
It does a lot of things including power management in a mac.

Simply turn the mac off, pull out the power cable and count to 20. Plug it back in, count to 5 and power it up again.

[gigpiglet]

hi all.
id tried most the suggestions above (before and after removing all the PCi cards and most the ram to run on the most basic/ stripped back set up i could
was still doing it with just ram and video card (and also tried a different vid card) in safe mode.

i did not try verbose mode (never been there!) but will now

its powered up at the moment - so im cloning the drive as a first step... then ill try that

when i look in the self test menu its passed its POTS

hmmm

[gigpiglet]

also - just to clarify - it DOES boot
gets started, and then stays running for a random amount of time, THEN reboots with no warning
ie: it all "works" and gets started.
like at the moment I'm cloning the drive
but who knows when it will reboot again!

[The Tasmanian]

Gareth - I had the problem with a G5 - it was dodgy power supplies.
I did lots of research at the time, but cut my losses and got another SH replacement to meet a number of deadlines.

But - There were a few people who had success running their various machines in low power mode.

Give that a try - if it works, then you know it is P/S related, and look for a spare parts machine, replace P/S.

[Drumstruck]

I'm tipping it's the video card - if you have another one to swap in it's an easy test

[Bent my VU]

Is there anything in the log that might hint at the problem? Usually shutdowns and restarts are power or heat related. I've seen it happen when the power-supply is full of dust as well.

[gigpiglet]

hi ian
i tipped the same (video card) it was one of the first things i swapped out
not dice

re the log... i couldn't keep it powered up long enough to read it!

anyway - to the shop
aaaaand - logic board it is
1100 repair... guess ill buy a new mac

anyone (sydney based, i sort of need it now) got a 3.1 build mac pro for sale?

[Bent my VU]

Ouch.

[Drumstruck]

Big ouch! Hope you had backups and didn't lose any work there Gareth.

[Manning]

anyone (sydney based, i sort of need it now) got a 3.1 build mac pro for sale?

I've got a 3.1 model that crashes 40 times a day. Keen?

not being serious, by the way

[gigpiglet]

no lost work
everything always backed up here!

just a matter of getting machines up and running to get jobs done!

have a 1.1 build (my backup machine) running now to get through the week..
and hopefully have a couple of new computers soon!

[rick]

I had that exact issue ( shut down ) and swapped the video card a cleaned the dust off everything
One of those things fixed it


Good thing because I have been known to fix computers with hammers
It's not a plan of attack that ever ends well for the computer .

[gigpiglet]

yeah i tried the video card as first bet.
and my computers dont have dust in the rick.... i keep them clean.
;-)

turned out to be the logic board
running the second room on the first rooms mixdown comp at the moment
two new towers on their way...

[rick]

christ i have dust on everything ..
thats one of the problems with having everything.