Mac Pro/HD3 boot-up problem

[Futurist]

I am running HD3 Accel, Pro Tools 7.3.1 on a Mac Pro 2.66, OS 10.4.8, with 2 gigs of ram, and have observed an odd boot behaviour about 2 out of ten times. I press the power button, the light comes on, but no other computer activity. I then press and hold the button to force shut down, then I boot-up again, which 90% of the time will boot-up normally-(occasionally takes 2 or more times).
This ONLY occurs with the Digi cards installed. I spent 4 hours at a local Apple store with a tech recently, and we exhaustively tested everything possible, and the Mac is 100%, without the cards. The cards all check out perfect with DigiTest, but there is clearly a glitch happening somewhere. It also happens with any combination of 1,2, or all 3 cards. I'm not sure if it is worth sending back the cards for exchange, although it is likely. The Digidesign tech I spoke to had never heard of this before. Is there anyone else who knows of this?

[Pete Gates]

No consolation but I'm getting this too on my Quad 3GHz MacPro. I assumed it was the Mac, won't get a chance to pull out any cards till the end of the project I'm on but it sounds like exactly the same thing.

Pete

[Futurist]

Well, if you and I are experiencing this, there are bound to be others. Although it is mainly an annoyance, it has embarrased me a couple of times when cranking up my rig to show someone when, ...oops...please wait while I reboot! I'll bet you if I replace the cards, the problem may still exhist. The curiosity will probably get the best of me, and I will go for the exchange...what a drag. I am loving this system otherwise!

[Illusion Rake]

My MacPro is holding on forever when doing a restart...otherwise working fine. I´ve had a couple of times the cold boot-up problem too...

MP 2,66 / HD3

[nmiller79]

I have noticed this problem on a few machines and have even noticed without HD cards in it. In one specific instance a reset of logic board helped. I wish this problem was less intermittent as it would help narrow the problem down.

I'll post back if I find out something new

NM

Well, if you and I are experiencing this, there are bound to be others. Although it is mainly an annoyance, it has embarrased me a couple of times when cranking up my rig to show someone one when, ...oops...please wait while I reboot! I'll bet you if I replace the cards, the problem may still exhist. The curiosity will probably get the best of me, and I will go for the exchange...what a drag. I am loving this system otherwise!

[Futurist]

The randomness of it I find very confusing. I hope anyone having this problem reports it to Digidesign. I wonder, if some are experiencing this, and others aren't, could there be a possibe difference in components on some cards? I removed the cards and rebooted at least 40 times, and never had it happen. And then, with two cards in, it seemed to stop for a few days, at which point I thought it was a certain card, but it eventually showed up again.

[AAR]

I have 2 Mac Pro's quad 2.66 too, and they both do the same thing. One out of 3 boot-ups the switch light comes on and no chime, or it hangs on the grey apple boot up screen. At first I thought I had a bad computer but the second one we bought is doing the same thing. I noticed it happens almost every time if the computer a/c cord is disconcected and reconnected after a while. Definately scary, and not good in front of clients.

[AAR]

I forgot to mention that sometimes after replugging the a/c cord to the computer, it boots automatically without pressing the power button as if the power is trigerring the startup. I have seen it do this without the Digi cards in it on more than one occasion. My guess is the Mac Pro has a startup issue when it sees cards on the PCIe bus.

[ThomasPMusic]

2 things---
1, I notice that the computer (macpro 2.66) does not come on reliably when I hold the power button at all. I have to hit it quick, stacatto, for musicians...
If I hold it longer, no go sometimes,
2, The computer really peaks out my Furman power conditioner with amperage display. A very heavy start-up surge. About the same as an air conditioner, or vaccuum cleaner, really.
Could some people be experiencing power problems because of the spike? Would spike harder with a "load" on the PCI bus, right?
How many people with problems have more than 1 hard drive?
How many have 10k drives?
How many plug the mac into a voltage regulator that maybe can't handle the spike?
tp

[Futurist]

Strangely enough, I had that a/c cord power up happen to me one time, (cards in), and it was at the Apple Store, when the tech and I were trouble-shooting. We looked at each other like, what the hell?