MP 6,1 Mac Pro 6,1 Issue - Black Screen, won’t boot

[AlbertFinney]

Hi all.

I hope someone can help.

My trash can MacPro is acting up. Last night the system froze while I was working. I hard rest it, it booted back up, then froze again. I hard reset it again, then I got the Apple logo with a VERY slow progress bar. So i rebooted, same thing. Rebooted again, this time doing the PRAM reset (Cmd + Opt + R + P), it did its thing, and since then it’s been a black screen with nothing else.

The chime comes on when I switch it on, but then it doesn’t move off a black screen. I can’t get into Recovery or Safe Mode either. It just stays on the black screen.

Resetting the the PRAM / NVRAM does seem to do something as the machine restarts itself (so I at least know the keyboard is working), but then right back to the black screen.

I changed the CMOS battery this afternoon in hopes that would do it, but nothing.

The machine chimes when switched on, so as far as i know that means it isn’t something too serious? If it was the logic board or PSU, I wouldn’t have that chime, correct?

I’ve also tried booting without each ram card and taking out the SSD/NVME - No difference. Black screen.

Any ideas or advice would be incredibly appreciated.

 

[richmlow]

Hi all.

I hope someone can help.

My trash can MacPro is acting up. The chime comes on when I switch it on, but then it doesn’t move off a black screen. I can’t get into Recovery or Safe Mode either. It just stays on the black screen.

Resetting the the PRAM / NVRAM does seem to do something as the machine restarts itself (so I at least know the keyboard is working), but then right back to the black screen.

I changed the CMOS battery this afternoon in hopes that would do it, but nothing.

Any ideas or advice would be incredibly appreciated.

Hello AlbertFinney,


I'm sorry to hear of your current difficulties with the 2013 Mac Pro.

1. Is it possible that the monitor/cable is defective, as opposed to the computer?

2. Can you hook up the external monitor to another computer/laptop to confirm that the monitor/cable
is OK?

3. Can you hook up the 2013 Mac Pro to another monitor to confirm that the computer is OK?

I don't have any other useful advice. It might be a good idea to take it to an Apple Store and have
an Apple Genius look at the problem. Of course, this is assuming that there is an Apple Store near you!

I hope that you're able to get the problem resolved.


richmlow

 

[AlbertFinney]

Hi Richmlow,

Thanks for the response.

Yes I’ve tried all the above options with various monitors. All the same. I’ve also tried hooking up via different thunderbolt ports as well as the HDMI port, but had no luck.

Some other info I should have mentioned; Last night the system froze while I was working. I hard rest it, it booted back up, then froze again. I hard reset it again, then I got the Apple logo with a VERY slow progress bar. So i rebooted, same thing. Rebooted again, this time doing the PRAM reset (Cmd + Opt + R + P), it did its thing, and since then it’s been a black screen with nothing else.

I really hope I don’t have to take it into the store. We don’t have an official Apple store on this side of the world, only resellers, which are a complete rip off.

The machine chimes when switched on, so as far as i know that means it isn’t something too serious? If it was the logic board or PSU, I wouldn’t have that chime, correct?

 

[ogiphone02]

Maybe bad SSD?

 

[AlbertFinney]

Maybe bad SSD?

I thought perhaps it could be that, but wouldn’t I then at least get the ”? Folder” on boot?

 

[tsialex]

I thought perhaps it could be that, but wouldn’t I then at least get the ”? Folder” on boot?

Very easy to confirm or disprove. Remove the Apple blade from the GPU B 12+16 connector, it's just one Phillips Torx screw.

If the storage is really the culprit of your Mac Pro woes, with the Apple blade removed you will see the question mark folder on the display after a minuter or two since powering on (disconnect any external disks).

If the blade is dying/corrupt and causing POST problems, you won't see the question mark screen.

 

[AlbertFinney]

Very easy to confirm or disprove. Remove the Apple blade from the GPU B 12+16 connector, it's just one Phillips screw.

If the storage is really the culprit of your Mac Pro woes, with the Apple blade removed you will see the question mark folder on the display after a minuter or two since powering on (disconnect any external disks).

If the blade is dying/corrupt and causing POST problems, you won't see the question mark screen.

Thanks for the reply tsialex. I've tried booting with the blade removed, no change. The Mac chimes when turned on, the screen comes on, but just stays black.

 

[eternalpeasant]

Have you opened the Mac Pro to see if any dust has accumulated?

 

[AlbertFinney]

Have you opened the Mac Pro to see if any dust has accumulated?

I have yes, there was quite a bit. Someone recommended I take out the GPUs, inspect them and redo the thermal paste. Could that help?

 

[krakman]

Thanks for the reply tsialex. I've tried booting with the blade removed, no change. The Mac chimes when turned on, the screen comes on, but just stays black.

Are you using HDMI or DP cable?

It might be worth trying a mini DP to DP cable and plug it into each of the thunderbolt ports each of the thunderbolt ports can support video out.

If this doesn’t give you video out then it could be I/O port card or the GPU card that is faulty

 

[AlbertFinney]

UPDATE:

Someone suggested I use an older display. I had a 23” Cinema Display lying around so plugged that in. At first, nothing, but then booted again without the internal NVME and I got the “? folder” icon. Rebooted again to try and get into recovery mode holding cmd + r, and it worked. So I guess the NVME has packed up or is in the process of packing up.

 

[eternalpeasant]

UPDATE:

Someone suggested I use an older display. I had a 23” Cinema Display lying around so plugged that in. At first, nothing, but then booted again without the internal NVME and I got the “? folder” icon. Rebooted again to try and get into recovery mode holding cmd + r, and it worked. So I guess the NVME has packed up or is in the process of packing up.

I'm glad to hear it was NVMe related and not the GPU! Keep us updated when you have changed the drive, I would also say yes regarding the dust as the machine is like the xbox 360 in terms of dust accumulation

 

[AlbertFinney]

I'm glad to hear it was NVMe related and not the GPU! Keep us updated when you have changed the drive, I would also say yes regarding the dust as the machine is like the xbox 360 in terms of dust accumulation

Thanks so much!! You and me both!! What a relief!!!!

I’ve just hooked up a new SSD via my OWC Thunderbay Mini and am doing a clean install of Mojave to it. I’ll boot from that for now, until I get one of those OWC Aurora replacement drives. Will have to import one by the looks of it, so going to have to use this SSD as my OS drive for at least a few weeks.

 

[krakman]

Until I get one of those OWC Aurora replacement NVMEs. Will have to import one by the looks of it, so going to have to use this SSD as my OS drive for at least a few weeks.

you can fit a standard NVME SSD with an adaptor. I have a Western Digital 850 2TB SSD installed in my Mac Pro. the adaptor is £10 You can order the parts from Amazon.

Note: you must use Monterey installer to update the firmware to the latest version of your MP first. Once you fit the new SSD you can use network recovery to download, format and instal the latest Monterey OS.

 

[Energybutton]

you can fit a standard NVME SSD with an adaptor. I have a Western Digital 850 2TB SSD installed in my Mac Pro. the adaptor is £10 You can order the parts from Amazon.

Note: you must use Monterey installer to update the firmware to the latest version of your MP first. Once you fit the new SSD you can use network recovery to download, format and instal the latest Monterey OS.

I've fitted a standard NVME drive in the last week, Sintech adapter from Amazon and a Crucial P2 2TB drive. Although I wouldn't recommend that drive since they quietly moved from TLC to QLC NAND, it does works perfectly in Mac OS and Windows via bootcamp.

 

[AlbertFinney]

you can fit a standard NVME SSD with an adaptor. I have a Western Digital 850 2TB SSD installed in my Mac Pro. the adaptor is £10 You can order the parts from Amazon.

Note: you must use Monterey installer to update the firmware to the latest version of your MP first. Once you fit the new SSD you can use network recovery to download, format and instal the latest Monterey OS.

I've fitted a standard NVME drive in the last week, Sintech adapter from Amazon and a Crucial P2 2TB drive. Although I wouldn't recommend that drive since they quietly moved from TLC to QLC NAND, it does works perfectly in Mac OS and Windows via bootcamp.

Interesting. I think this Sintech adaptor route is the way to go. Are there any specific drives you would recommend then, if not the Crucial?

Will this work with Mojave, or only Monterey?

 

[Energybutton]

Interesting. I think this Sintech adaptor route is the way to go. Are there any specific drives you would recommend then, if not the Crucial?

Will this work with Mojave, or only Monterey?

I used this thread to decide but you can reference this thread too, which is specific to Mac Pros.

Support for NVMe drives was added in High Sierra so any version of Mac OS after that should be fine.

 

[krakman]

Interesting. I think this Sintech adaptor route is the way to go. Are there any specific drives you would recommend then, if not the Crucial?

Will this work with Mojave, or only Monterey?

this is my experience:

WD NVME MP6.1

You need to use that latest Monterey installer to auto update the boot rom firmware. After which you can reinstall Mojave.

Monterey is end of life so its unlikely there will be any further firmware updates.

 

[AlbertFinney]

this is my experience:

WD NVME MP6.1

You need to use that latest Monterey installer to auto update the boot rom firmware. After which you can reinstall Mojave.

Monterey is end of life so its unlikely there will be any further firmware updates.

Thanks very much for the info.

Rifght now im not booting from an internal NVME. There's nothing in that slot currently. Im booting from an external SSD via an OWC Thunderbay Mini.

Would this work:

Could I unplug my current boot SSD (the one with Mojave), plug in another empty SSD and install Monterey via USB to that. Once installation is done, shutdown, take that Monterey SSD out and go back to booting with my previous Mojave SSD? Will that process still update my 6,1's boot rom firmware?

 

[tsialex]

You can't update the MacPro6,1 firmware booted from USB, only works from a internal disk.

 

[AlbertFinney]

You can't update the MacPro6,1 firmware booted from USB, only works from a internal disk.

Thanks tsialex. So I'd have to install a new NVME internally, then install to that? That will update the 6,1's firmware?
Can Monterey be installed from a USB or is there another way?

 

[tsialex]

Thanks tsialex. So I'd have to install a new NVME internally

I'm curious as to why you always refer the MacPro6,1 internal SSD as NVMe. It's a PCIe AHCI 12+6 blade, not NVMe unless already replaced previously.

then install to that? That will update the 6,1's firmware?

Yes, if you have already have EFI firmware/System Firmware (part of the BootROM image) newer than around 132.0.0.0.0, you won't need to install an AppleOEM AHCI blade to upgrade the MacPro6,1 firmware.

The current EFI firmware is 470.0.0.0.0, since Monterey 12.6.1:

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:    Mac Pro
  Model Identifier:    MacPro6,1
  Processor Name:    6-Core Intel Xeon E5
  Processor Speed:    3,5 GHz
  Number of Processors:    1
  Total Number of Cores:    6
  L2 Cache (per Core):    256 KB
  L3 Cache:    12 MB
  Hyper-Threading Technology:    Enabled
  Memory:    16 GB
  System Firmware Version:    470.0.0.0.0
  OS Loader Version:    540.120.3~22
  SMC Version (system):    2.20f18
  Panel Illumination Version:    1.4a6

Can Monterey be installed from a USB or is there another way?

Monterey can be installed to a USB disk, but the Mac Pro firmware will not be upgraded.

With very old EFI firmwares you can have problems running Catalina/BigSur/Monterey, the EFI APFSJumpStart is incompatible with modern APFS implementations, even if you can boot at the first look normally, you will corrupt your APFS disk.

 

[tsialex]

Monterey is end of life so its unlikely there will be any further firmware updates.

Apple constantly release firmware updates for Macs that run still supported macOS releases.

Monterey will be supported until around September/October 2024, so, it's very reasonable to expect more firmware updates in the future.

 

[AlbertFinney]

Monterey can be installed to a USB disk, but the Mac Pro firmware will not be upgraded.

With very old EFI firmwares you can have problems running Catalina/BigSur/Monterey, the EFI APFSJumpStart is incompatible with modern APFS implementations, even if you can boot at the first look normally, you will corrupt your APFS disk.

Interesting. How would you suggest I install it then, and get the firmware upgraded, if not from a USB?
Just to clarify, the USB in question is only for installing Monterey. The installation, from that USB, will then be made to a new internal NVME (I'll be using a Samsung together with a Sintech adaptor).

 

[tsialex]

Go to SystemInformation/HardwareOverview and see the current BootROM/EFI/System Firmware Version (the name of this field changed a lot between different macOS releases), should be something like this below:

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:    Mac Pro
  Model Identifier:    MacPro6,1
  Processor Name:    6-Core Intel Xeon E5
  Processor Speed:    3,5 GHz
  Number of Processors:    1
  Total Number of Cores:    6
  L2 Cache (per Core):    256 KB
  L3 Cache:    12 MB
  Hyper-Threading Technology:    Enabled
  Memory:    16 GB
  System Firmware Version:    470.0.0.0.0
  OS Loader Version:    540.120.3~22
  SMC Version (system):    2.20f18
  Panel Illumination Version:    1.4a6

After you get the current version installed, I can suggest something that will work.

Anyway, booted from USB will never upgrade your Mac Pro firmware, the disk needs to be INTERNAL. Some people says that you can also upgrade from TB connected drives, but I never personally succeeded with a TB disk.