MP 1,1-5,1 cMP 5.1 won't Boot. Hardware or Software issue ?

[Gohu]

Hello everyone !

After reading lots of threads and looking for days by myself I finally jump and ask you for help.
For almost a year I've been using an early 2009 cMP that I upgraded following the advices posted in this great forum.

My Install :
2x Intel Xeon X5690
64gb DDR3 (Hynix 8gb 2Rx4 PC3 - 10600R-9-10-E1)
NVMe drive : Samsung EVO 970 + Wings PX1 into PCIe x4
ROM version : 140.0.0.0.0
SMC version: 1.39f5 (system and cpu)
OS : High Sierra

I apologize in advance for the size of my post, I wanna be the most accurate possible.

Everything was working smoothly until a week ago when I badly used ONYX.
I was working on Cubase 10 (a music production program) using cracked additional plugins. One of those plugins generated a latency in Cubase10 so I decided to shut it down and reboot after cleaning with Onyx. I left for a moment and when I came back (I wasn't focused) I restarted the same program with the same bad plugin while ONYX was processing.. When Onyx finished, it rebooted and then my screens had no signals and my fans went totally crazy ! I waited a little but nothing new was happening so i shut it down with the power button. Since this episode when I press the power button the white led above it keeps blinking, I don't get any Boot Chime, signals in screens or power in the native USBs. Of course I can't access to any kind of boot, like Recovery for example.

PCies receive power cause my GPU fan spins, my USB3 card's LED is lighted IDEM for my Wing PX1's Leds. MP's Fans and CPU's Fans are spinning normally.

What I tried :
- Removed the GPU from Sapphire 580x / put the original NVIDIA GT 120 : no changes
- Removed the CPUs X5690 / put originals Intel Xeon 2,26 : no changes
- Removed the memory / put one bar in slot 1 of the original (2gb 2RX8-PC3-8500E-7-10-E0) : no changes
- Checked if the RB2032 coin battery on the logic board was still good. It is still above 3V, so It's good.
- Reseted SMC memory by pulling out the power cable etc... : no changes

DIAG LEDS' behaviors changed as I was swapping hardware elements. I don't know what to deduce from it. I don't have enough knowledge yet to understand their meanings.

First I got :
PSU PWROK : GREEN / 5V STBY : AMBER / SYS PG : GREEN / EFI DONE : GREEN / GPU OK : GREEN
Later GPU OK disappeared then it blinked for a while. SYS PG disappeared too.

I realized that when there is no CPUs installed the white LED above the power button stops blinking and stays solid.
For a reason I cannot explain this same LED stopped blinking at a point and stayed solid for almost a day as I was trying many configurations, swiping cpus and memory...etc.
I got lucky : I put one original CPU in Slot A + one bar of original RAM in slot 1 and It booted ! But the fans went crazy again ! I shut it down and put the second original PCU in slot B. It worked, both cpu being recognized and the fans behaving normally. From this point I was able to reset NVRAM. I got a BootChime back. I couldn't launch AHT by pressing D. I put 8gb of orignal RAM (Slot 1-2 & 5-6), It was still working so I decided to push my luck and to try the same process with one X5690 CPU in slot A. It didn't worked. Red LEDS woke up close to to my CPUs' slots. After few attempts I decided to go back to the set up that worked fine just before BUT... It didn't worked neither.
Even putting back one original CPU on slot A + 2gb of original RAM in slot 1 failed. The red LEDs stayed on. I kept changing CPUs thinking that I had to try with different screw pressure and different slot for the memory. Nothing good happened. At a point the white led above the power button started blinking again and I found myself at step 1.

Yesterday I got lucky again ! I first booted with no CPUs to get the solid white led above the power button then I randomly decided to put both originals CPUs plus 4x2gb of original RAM (slot 1-2 & 5-6) and it booted again ! One red LED is lighted close to CPU's B slot so I imagine that the only one working is the one in slot A. Since then I'm able to boot and switch off my MP when I want to. Right now DIAG LEDS indicate :
PSU PWROK : GREEN / 5V STBY : AMBER / SYS PG : GREEN / EFI DONE : GREEN / GPU OK : GREEN

I stopped touching the hardware. I thought that running AHT could help me to understand where my issues come from. But I don't have it installed and I have no original install DVD. I discovered this awesome post : https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest
From there I was able to download the good version of the AHT. Actually I wonder : If I'm using an cMP4.1 updated to 5.1 which version of the AHT should I download ?

I also found this interesting post : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7009577
I tied to extract the .diagnostics file by using Pacifist and putting it into my CoreServices File after disabling my SIP. but It isn't working. Booting while maintaining D still doesn't work.

So I tried to mount AHT into a bootable USB. I tried the process from GitHub's post I put above but I'm a real NOOB at using the terminal and there is definitely something I do wrong. I don't understand this step :

• "Copy the AHT to the USB stick and flag it as bootable"

Am I simply supposed to drag and drop it ? Or do I have to do something in particular ?

the next step is to enter this command in terminal :
cp -r /Volumes/AHT/System /Volumes/USBstick/
sudo bless --folder /Volumes/USBstick/ --file /Volumes/USBstick/System/Library/CoreServices/.diagnostics/diags.efi --label AHT

It is isn't working for me. I imagine it's because again I'm doing something wrong.
My USB should be named "USBstick" and the mount point of the AHT .dmg file named "AHT" right ? Both of them need to be on the desktop ?

I tried this process to make the bootable AHT USB key :

It went out exactly like in the video so I thought that I succeeded. But when I reboot while pressing option key my USB stick appears under the name "EFI BOOT". When I try to boot from It brings me back at my desktop.

What am I doing wrong ?
Any ideas of how I could correctly make this bootable key to finally use the AHT ?
And more generally what do you think could cause all of this to my computer ?
I'm wondering if my power block could be failing ? Maybe an element of my logic board is damaged ?
Or maybe my EFI is corrupted ?

Sorry again, I wrote a novel ! Any advice would be a huge help !

 

[MIKX]

1.
Have you tried doing THREE NVRAM / PRAM "CONSECUTIVE" resets = hold down Apple key + Option + P + R from a cold startup = wait until you hear the Happy mac CHIME three times ?

2.
Are your Northbridge spring loaded heatsink retainer rivets OK ?

3.
Which Mac OS do you have installed ? High Sierra ? Mojave ?

PS : I would never trust ONYX - had bad experiences with it in the past.
A lot of the so called " Mac Cleaners " create problems and can be difficult to UN-install..

=========================================================

l politely suggest that you go to your Macrumors member profile and make a "SIGNATURE" = a description of your cMP.

If you make a SIG it will appear in every post you make and assist members in helping you.

My SIG is at the bottom of this post as an example

You should include that you have a 4,1>5,1 ( flashed 5,1 Mac Pro )

 

[h9826790]

TBH, I don't think AHT can help in your case. If you can't boot, you can't boot AHT. If you can boot, then everything is fixed, no need AHT.

Anyway, very first question.

Are your X5690 delidded?

 

[Gohu]

Thanks for your responses

@MIKX :
1) I've tried THREE NVRAM / PRAM "CONSECUTIVE" resets but I cannot know right now if it has a positive impact. I would like to be able tu run AHT before touching my hardware setup again. I'm almost certain it won't boot even with my actual setup : 2 originals CPUs (SLOT B has its red LED on) + 4 bars of original RAM (in slot 1-2 & 5-6).
2) My Northbridge spring loaded heatsink retainer rivets are in good shape.
3) I have High Sierra installed.
PS) I've been using it for year and I really like. It was the first time I wasn't letting the procedure to finish in peace. Thank you for your advice, I made my signature

@h9826790 :
Yes I delidded my X5690 myself following this procedure :

Right now neither my X5690s or my 1333 DDR3 ram is installed. I booted by luck with the old CPUs and 8gb of 1066GHz RAM. I do need to run AHT cause if I changed my setup I most likely won't be able to boot at all.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

You’re using stolen software, it could have done literally anything to your system, who knows.

 

[Gohu]

Yes, you have a point here. I buy the softwares I need. Everything in music prod costs a fortune. I need to test before buying...

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for your responses

@MIKX :
1) I've tried THREE NVRAM / PRAM "CONSECUTIVE" resets but I cannot know right now if it has a positive impact. I would like to be able tu run AHT before touching my hardware setup again. I'm almost certain it won't boot even with my actual setup : 2 originals CPUs (SLOT B has its red LED on) + 4 bars of original RAM (in slot 1-2 & 5-6).
2) My Northbridge spring loaded heatsink retainer rivets are in good shape.
3) I have High Sierra installed.
PS) I've been using it for year and I really like. It was the first time I wasn't letting the procedure to finish in peace. Thank you for your advice, I made my signature

@h9826790 :
Yes I delidded my X5690 myself following this procedure :

Right now neither my X5690s or my 1333 DDR3 ram is installed. I booted by luck with the old CPUs and 8gb of 1066GHz RAM. I do need to run AHT cause if I changed my setup I most likely won't be able to boot at all.

My understand, "No boot" is either hardware for firmware issue.

It can't be software related (at this moment). Of course, software that can corrupt the firmware, or damage hardware exist. However, I still doubt if your case is software related (or particular related to that unfinished procedure).

The 2009 cMP is a 10 years old computer now. If that's been good for years, then it's good enough to prove the CPU was delidded correctly, and the CPU installation was good. However, it won't change the fact that the logic board, PSU, etc may die at anytime.

In your case, the three main suspects are

1) Logic board
2) CPU tray
3) PSU

All of them can cause the symptoms that you described.

Especially the PSU. If PSU partially failed, it may cause "occasionally can boot" condition.

Relatively, logic board or CPU tray, usually "just dead".

However, it's really no way to tell unless you have the parts for swap test.

TBH, if you can acquire a 2009 cMP for cheap, my suggestion is just get another one, put the dual X5690 tray in there. If that works, then use the "new" one.

Then if you have time, you may test the old parts one by one, then keep the parts you want, and sell the parts that you don't need.

My experience so far, if sell all the parts but only keep one. I can make some money from it (and get the free part I want).

AHT rarely can help anything.
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2nd question. You said "I booted by luck with the old CPUs and 8gb of 1066GHz RAM".

Is that means "the cMP can boot with this config, but depends on luck (no guarantee)"?