Mac Pro/HD3 boot-up problem

[DigiTechSupt]

how can you say that i have not had any errors at all rock solid system


but i do have the same problem than everyone else in this thread so you should really look into this


powermac quad 2.5
4.5gb ram
2 serial ata hd 160gb system 80gb recording drive
1 firewire hd 250gb backup
mac osx 10.4.6
protools hd7.1 cs10
hd accel 2 pcie



its really silly that even tough you dont know what is causing the issue you can still be abble to say that its only happenig to macpross

well this is not true becase it has happend to me and my system

LOOK INTO THIS!!

Carlos - I didn't say that there wasn't possibly a problem with G5's, what I said was if you are having a problem with a G5 you should put it into a different thread, as this one is SPECIFIC to bootup issued with MacPro's. They *may* be related, but the evidence we have so far does not indicate that and we're trying to keep this thread on topic for MacPro users. If it turns out that they are related we'll address that when the time comes. The architecture differences between G5's and MacPro's is significant enough that throwing them together doesn't make sense at this point. There is a method to our investigation and following our instructions is the best way to get to the fastest resolution.

So, if you're having a problem with a G5, I suggest you post it in the same thread as Guy, so we can keep those cases grouped together.

And shouting for us to 'LOOK INTO THIS!!' isn't going to make things happen any more quickly.

[nato7]

Hi.

Reading this post got me thinking about boot issues. I have had several computer's that have had boot issues when I've had USB devices present. An iPod was the big culprit. The computers would hang on the boot screen and not boot if the iPod was attached. No iPod and the computer would boot fine. Computers can boot from Firewire and USB devices so is it possible that external devices connected through these ports could be causing the problems? Maybe I'm wrong but I would imagine that Digi Tech Support has machines running on clean installs with minimal additional software and probably not much in the way of additional external hardware. This could explain why they can't duplicate the problem.

Maybe this is pure speculation but maybe if people experiencing the problems could elaborate on what external devices they have attached it could help solve the problem.

Nate

[peter99]

I have this boot up problem every 2nd or 3d time I startup..!!! it starts to drive me crazy...

[Futurist]

Hi.

Reading this post got me thinking about boot issues. I have had several computer's that have had boot issues when I've had USB devices present. An iPod was the big culprit. The computers would hang on the boot screen and not boot if the iPod was attached. No iPod and the computer would boot fine. Computers can boot from Firewire and USB devices so is it possible that external devices connected through these ports could be causing the problems? Maybe I'm wrong but I would imagine that Digi Tech Support has machines running on clean installs with minimal additional software and probably not much in the way of additional external hardware. This could explain why they can't duplicate the problem.

Maybe this is pure speculation but maybe if people experiencing the problems could elaborate on what external devices they have attached it could help solve the problem.

Nate

I have exhausted every hardware related option I can think of (except swapping logic board, and or power supply). One thing for sure is that no external peripheral devices effect this particular boot problem...only HD cards...at least in my case! I think Digi's support machines are booting well, not because of minimal additional hardware and software, but more likely, some hardware component variation in some Macs versus other Macs, or even some HD cards versuses other HD cards. Pinpointing that will certainly be a challenge, and I applaud Digidesign for showing interest in finding a solution.
By the way, I wonder if all HD Accel cards are absolutely identical.

[DigiTechSupt]

We've got plenty of USB and other devices attached via Firewire (sorry, no iPod though!), so I doubt that's it.

At first we were thinking it was the same PCI timing reset issue that some people were having with G5's, but this situation is such that the computer won't even boot. We experimented with different cards with no real insight, other than we know it's not the timing issue (or at least not related in the same way).

Again, if anyone having this problem is willing to send in your system for us to do some diagnostics, it would be greatly appreciated. We can make sure you have a working system to use in the meantime.

[nmiller79]

I just witnessed the boot problem on another machine.
Specs: Mac Pro 2.66ghz 2GB Ram 10.4.8 PT. 7.3.1, HD3. (we tried 2 sets of HD3 cards)

When starting up after being off ..no bong no video. The only way to get around this was to zpram
Restarts work fine.

When we pulled the cards out the computer works as it should

Unfortunately not in the position to send to Digi for testing hopefully someone will be!

NM

[nhaudio]

Odd little update:

After almost 2 weeks with NO issues on a MacPro 2.66 HD3 that was having this problem, booting just fine, we lost power today for about 20 minutes. So the machine wasn't shut down properly and the Mac Pro's power supply wasn't receiving ANY power for that time. When the power came back on and I tried to boot up, it did the thing... the annoying, bad thing... no chime, no video. It finally booted up on the 3rd try.

Our second studio (same Mac but with an HD2) booted up fine after the power outage. That machine has still never had the boot problem.

Does this shed any light on things? I'm curious to see how it behaves for the next few days. Will keep you informed...

nh

[Futurist]

Odd little update:

After almost 2 weeks with NO issues on a MacPro 2.66 HD3 that was having this problem, booting just fine, we lost power today for about 20 minutes. So the machine wasn't shut down properly and the Mac Pro's power supply wasn't receiving ANY power for that time. When the power came back on and I tried to boot up, it did the thing... the annoying, bad thing... no chime, no video. It finally booted up on the 3rd try.

Our second studio (same Mac but with an HD2) booted up fine after the power outage. That machine has still never had the boot problem.

Does this shed any light on things? I'm curious to see how it behaves for the next few days. Will keep you informed...

nh

Did you buy your two Macs at the same place, at the same time? HD cards at the same place, same time?

[nhaudio]

Yup. See post of mine in this thread on May 3rd. 2 new machines, same dealer, HD3 and HD2 Crossgrades, all through the same dealer, all at once.

By the way, other than this one oddity, these machines have been great... no crashes, no bugs I've noticed. Heavy workloads being handled well.

nh

[koko]

Hi,

excuse me if this may be off topic, but our 4 day old Mac Pro 2.66 refused to start after blowing fuses in a power surge filter, power conditioner and circuit breakers in our studio.

It had its power supply replaced today morning and we are going to thoroughly test this machine for another 4 days before even considering putting it back in the studio.

I wonder - faulty power supply....