MacPro Restart Woes...

mehdi

I did a quick search, but did not notice any posts related to this issue, so here we go:



I picked up my new MacPro 3.0 GHz with 4 Gig of RAM, and 500 Gig HD, Nvidia 7300GT and 23" Cinema HD Display last Friday. The only change made at the shop to the factory configuration was the addition of a bluetooth module. I have not installed any apps on this machine, so there is no non-Apple-provided apps on this machine yet. I did use the software update to get all the available updates, including the EFI and the SMC Firmware updates.



The problem is that most of the times, when the machine is restarted using the Apple Menu's "Restart" command, the machine cannot start up the OS. The apps are properly closed and the system reboots, but it does not get past the DVD drive initialization. The DVD-RW drive starts clicking and does not finish the start up sequence... A power cycle is the only way to get out of this situation. There doesn't seem to be any specific sequence of events and/or program that contributes to this issue. This is truly annoying!



Is (has) anyone else experiencing this problem? Any suggestions?



Thanks,



-- Mehdi

MacPro 3.0GHz, 23" Cinema HD Display

kishan

this sounds a little like what happened with my new iMac:



http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=66973



Give the Applecare guys a call, if you are within 30days of your purchase, they might be able to help you.

lundy

You will need to reset the SMC, to see if that fixes it:



Another way to reset the SMC on a Mac Pro computer is:



From the Apple menu, choose Shut Down (or if the computer is not responding, hold the power button until it turns off).

Open and remove the metallic outer door.

Press the SMC_RST switch that is located slightly below and to the right of the row of diagnostic LEDs. Use a non-metallic, non-conductive object, such as a wooden pencil.

Replace the metallic outer door.

Press the power button to start up your computer.

Unlike models of Power Mac G5 or Power Mac G4 computer, the Mac Pro computer does not have a PMU. This functionality has been replaced by the SMC.

mehdi

Kishan: I am certainly within the 30 days, and to top it off, have AppleCare Protection Plan. I will call them one of these days.



Lundy: I tried your suggestion, as it makes a lot of sense to reset the SMC after a firmware update. Unfotunately it did not solve the problem... The very first Restart after the machine was booted was unsuccessful!



Thanks guys!

oldcodger73

mehdi, was the MacPro booting normally before you installed the EFI and the SMC Firmware updates? If so, you should download the restore firmware CD and run that and see if it fixes the problem.



If that fails to help call either call Applecare or, if you bought it from an Apple Store make an appointment and take it in and let one of the wizards play with it.

mehdi

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldCodger73


mehdi, was the MacPro booting normally before you installed the EFI and the SMC Firmware updates? If so, you should download the restore firmware CD and run that and see if it fixes the problem.

The problem was there before the EFI and SMC upgrade. I was hoping the EFI upgrade would take care of it, but it did not.



To be sure, I am not the only one with this issue. There are several other folks in the Apple Support MacPro Discussion Forum with various configurations (2.66GHz CPU, ATI vs. Nvidia, various RAM sizes) who are also reporting this same behavior.



Here are two topics, neither of which have been answered by Apple:



http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=3040563

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=3139282





I'm worknig from home tomorrow, so I will call AppleCare to see what they can do.