Mac Pro/HD3 boot-up problem

[Howardk]

"What version OS are you running? What version of PT?"

I am running OS X 10.4.9 and PT 7.3.1 cs5. However I doubt either of these are pertinent as the computer probably does not wake up enough to involve the OS and certainly not the PT version.

[Durka]

The MacPro intel Xeon 3Ghz computer that took a dive from the startup boot issue was Tiger OSX 10.4.10 ProTools HD 1 Pcie software 7.3.1cs5. It appears the new computer shipped with the same Tiger OSX 10.4.10 but shipped with Leopard disks as well.

Also another thing to mention is that all Applications ran perfect on this computer with no crashes so their appeared to be nothing wrong with the computer based on the performance of the Applications them selves.

Also I did all the following as well as Trashing Digi Prefs etc etc clearing the PRAM reparing disk permissions... Also the Hard drives appeared to be Ok and Digitest came back as passed before this issue ended the computers short life.

[Howardk]

Digi

You mentioned you don't have a computer exhibiting this problem. . . Why not take a batch of HD3 PCIe systems to a local Apple store, install cards and try to Startup. Buy the machines that does not start reliably(Besides, I would think someone at Digi knows who to call at Apple to work together on this). . . It will not take long to find some culprits (might be version related to HD Cards or the MacPro so the sample has to have the right mix, just ask us the right questions and that should get your there).

The other thing to do is send HD3 PCIe cards to some users seeing this problem and see what happens. I would be willing to swap out the cards and see if it makes a difference. I will start a log of my startups to track this thing.

There are users going to considerable expense (I think I read one person that ended up buying an extra Mac Pro to kill the problem) and we do not have .01% of the resources. I have been involved in high-tech electronic design and manufacturing where we spared no expense to quickly nail down these problems (including plane rides, sending out extra hardware with many FedEx bills) because it was less expense to get it done quickly than it was to let it brew and proliferate. It has been 7 months since the problem was identified.

Lets kill this thing!

[mgrimm]

Just wanted to bump this thread. I'm having the same boot issue, although no Kernal Panics yet.
Mac Pro 2 x 2.66 dual-core
2 gigs of ram
10.4.9
PT 7.3.1 cs5

[rattledaddy]

Hey all.... PT 7.4 and OS X 10.4.9 installed stable for four days and at least a dozen boots. The problem is gone at the moment (knock on wood).... This is very strange indeed. It happened very frequently before the upgrades. It would be cool if anyone else with a 2.66 MacPro HD 2 that is having the boot up issue can move to 10.4.9 and PT 7.4 to see if it goes away. Any takers?


Scot

[mgrimm]

Hey all.... PT 7.4 and OS X 10.4.9 installed stable for four days and at least a dozen boots. The problem is gone at the moment (knock on wood).... This is very strange indeed. It happened very frequently before the upgrades. It would be cool if anyone else with a 2.66 MacPro HD 2 that is having the boot up issue can move to 10.4.9 and PT 7.4 to see if it goes away. Any takers?


Scot

I've got this same system. My biggest issue with this is that 7.4 is still a bit buggy. Is it possible to install 7.4 and revert to 7.3.1 if the problem persists? (BTW, I'm not willing to nor do I have the time at this point to install my OS on a different drive to try to run 7.4.) If it's as simple as installing 7.4, then if the problem persists uninstalling 7.4 and installing 7.3 I'm a taker.

[mgrimm]

Digi

You mentioned you don't have a computer exhibiting this problem. . . Why not take a batch of HD3 PCIe systems to a local Apple store, install cards and try to Startup. Buy the machines that does not start reliably(Besides, I would think someone at Digi knows who to call at Apple to work together on this). . . It will not take long to find some culprits (might be version related to HD Cards or the MacPro so the sample has to have the right mix, just ask us the right questions and that should get your there).

The other thing to do is send HD3 PCIe cards to some users seeing this problem and see what happens. I would be willing to swap out the cards and see if it makes a difference. I will start a log of my startups to track this thing.

There are users going to considerable expense (I think I read one person that ended up buying an extra Mac Pro to kill the problem) and we do not have .01% of the resources. I have been involved in high-tech electronic design and manufacturing where we spared no expense to quickly nail down these problems (including plane rides, sending out extra hardware with many FedEx bills) because it was less expense to get it done quickly than it was to let it brew and proliferate. It has been 7 months since the problem was identified.

Lets kill this thing!

Also just wanted to say yes please do this!! I'm sure the tech department has a budget they have to adhere to, but this problem is certainly worth putting that extra $$ in to fix. Also, I'm not sure your customer support dept is hip to this issue. I called them yesterday before finding this thread and they didn't mention anything. I only mean this as an fyi.

[Futurist]

I also have the same system, and doubt that upgrading from 7.3 to 7.4 would have any effect on the boot problem; which is in my opinion hardware and/or firmware related. I do plan to upgrade to 7.4 pretty soon anyway. Let us know if you have a bad boot.

[mgrimm]

Sorry, don't mean to rant, but wanted to add one more thing. So far I've had %100 success booting my cpu with my 96 turned off but with the digilink cable still connected. (I've only had this system for a week or so.) What might be the consequences of constantly turning my interface on AFTER I've turned my computer on?

[rattledaddy]

There are so many variables it is impossible for me to determine exactly what is happening. I can only say that since the upgrades no issues at all. I booted the system 3 times today... all good. I wonder if this could have something to do with the graphics startup/PCIe start up sequence. Isn't it possible the OS upgrade changed something? One on the behaviors I noticed when the system would hang (I use two monitors) is that sometimes only one of the monitors would display. Couldn't an OS change effect the entire system?

I'll keep you posted.

Scot