# Mac Pro 2008 El Capitan Kernel Loop



## rickself (Apr 19, 2018)

Good morning - My Mac Pro 2008 decided this past weekend to become possessed with an endless loop of Kernel Panics. It reboots about 3/4 of the way and shuts down, attempts to reboot again, and same thing. I have been able to run TechTools ProTogo from a thumb drive just once and it found something in the boot sector that may cause trouble rebooting but then the scren flickers and it shuts down. So I try another HD with system on it and get the same thing. If I can get it to stay on long enough, opening HD's take forever. If I plug into the router, it goes down.
I am thinking either Ethernet card, video card or power supply but don't really know how to test these parts.
Here is the panic report..
______________________
Anonymous UUID:  64A4502A-2A30-F007-3BF7-D2E49190DF89

Wed Apr 18 21:48:57 2018

*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 3 caller 0xffffff7f96c16a7f): NVRM[0/2:0:0]: Read Error 0x00009410: CFG 0x060210de 0x00100406 0x92000000, BAR0 0x92000000 0xffffff90b0607000 0x092100a2, D0, P0/2
Backtrace (CPU 3), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff90afd2b180 : 0xffffff8015ed7b92
0xffffff90afd2b200 : 0xffffff7f96c16a7f
0xffffff90afd2b2c0 : 0xffffff7f96f2f8d8
0xffffff90afd2b300 : 0xffffff7f96f982d5
0xffffff90afd2b340 : 0xffffff7f96d95793
0xffffff90afd2b370 : 0xffffff7f96f799fb
0xffffff90afd2b440 : 0xffffff7f96f79785
0xffffff90afd2b4a0 : 0xffffff7f96d48161
0xffffff90afd2b4e0 : 0xffffff7f96d4c9c6
0xffffff90afd2b510 : 0xffffff7f96d4c5e5
0xffffff90afd2b550 : 0xffffff7f96d19f24
0xffffff90afd2b6b0 : 0xffffff7f96d1935f
0xffffff90afd2b6f0 : 0xffffff7f96d29546
0xffffff90afd2b750 : 0xffffff7f96d1d8b6
0xffffff90afd2b780 : 0xffffff7f96bffd2b
0xffffff90afd2b7a0 : 0xffffff7f96c00691
0xffffff90afd2b7e0 : 0xffffff7f96bffb75
0xffffff90afd2b880 : 0xffffff7f96bf287e
0xffffff90afd2b920 : 0xffffff7f96c1b235
0xffffff90afd2bb20 : 0xffffff7f96c1c382
0xffffff90afd2bc00 : 0xffffff7f96dbc083
0xffffff90afd2bc20 : 0xffffff7f96dbc903
0xffffff90afd2bcd0 : 0xffffff7f96bc769e
0xffffff90afd2bd60 : 0xffffff7f96bb6f58
0xffffff90afd2bde0 : 0xffffff7f96bb9f5c
0xffffff90afd2be20 : 0xffffff7f96b7e4a9
0xffffff90afd2be60 : 0xffffff7f96b7d566
0xffffff90afd2be90 : 0xffffff7f96b79569
0xffffff90afd2bef0 : 0xffffff80164b2176
0xffffff90afd2bf40 : 0xffffff80164affe1
0xffffff90afd2bf80 : 0xffffff80164b00d6
0xffffff90afd2bfb0 : 0xffffff8015fc6537
  Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
  com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[A360453D-2050-3C49-A549-AC0DD5E87917]@0xffffff7f96b6e000->0xffffff7f96ba8fff
  dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[1A48C605-D609-381F-90AB-C2547D2D0D12]@0xffffff7f9672c000
  com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.4.1)[4EB2843C-C821-3AD0-B333-575FD6ED6FB1]@0xffffff7f96bb5000->0xffffff7f96bc4fff
  dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[A360453D-2050-3C49-A549-AC0DD5E87917]@0xffffff7f96b6e000
  dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[1A48C605-D609-381F-90AB-C2547D2D0D12]@0xffffff7f9672c000
  com.apple.nvidia.classic.NVDAResmanTesla(10.0)[78C84D68-23A9-3597-9AFC-E91B44E5A5B5]@0xffffff7f96bc5000->0xffffff7f96e30fff
  dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[1A48C605-D609-381F-90AB-C2547D2D0D12]@0xffffff7f9672c000
  dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.4.1)[4EB2843C-C821-3AD0-B333-575FD6ED6FB1]@0xffffff7f96bb5000
  dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[A360453D-2050-3C49-A549-AC0DD5E87917]@0xffffff7f96b6e000
  com.apple.nvidia.classic.NVDANV50HalTesla(10.0)[07A95AE2-5869-3389-ACC8-A9675B47ACA4]@0xffffff7f96e3c000->0xffffff7f970e7fff
  dependency: com.apple.nvidia.classic.NVDAResmanTesla(10.0.0)[78C84D68-23A9-3597-9AFC-E91B44E5A5B5]@0xffffff7f96bc5000
  dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[1A48C605-D609-381F-90AB-C2547D2D0D12]@0xffffff7f9672c000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
15G1421

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 15.6.0: Fri Feb 17 10:21:18 PST 2017; root:xnu-3248.60.11.4.1~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 9B4679AF-7EE6-3BCE-9DD7-C30975A80BB3
Kernel slide:  0x0000000015c00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8015e00000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8015d00000
System model name: MacPro3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 66081728452
last loaded kext at 65232869108: com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor   1.9.5d0 (addr 0xffffff7f9818b000, size 36864)
loaded kexts:
com.avast.FileShield   4.0.0
com.dvdfab.kext.fabio   1
com.vara.driver.VaraAudio   1.0.3
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor   1.9.5d0
com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver   1.0.2d2
com.apple.filesystems.autofs   3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog   1
com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient   3.6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl   1.2.13
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver   274.12
com.apple.GeForceTesla   10.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA   274.12
com.apple.iokit.CSRBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport   4.4.6f1
com.apple.driver.AppleFIVRDriver   4.1.0
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC   1.70
com.apple.nvidia.NVDAStartup   10.1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC   3.1
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin   1.0.0
com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry   1
com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet   1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager   4.4.6f1
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X   7.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHV   1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking   4.0.0
com.apple.driver.CSRHIDTransitionDriver   4.4.6f1
com.apple.driver.PioneerSuperDrive   3.7.1
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient   3.7.7
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver   3.0.1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless   1.0.0d1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib   1.0.0
com.apple.BootCache   38
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage   2.8.5
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPIIXATA   2.5.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort   3.1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleIntel8254XEthernet   3.1.4b1
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI   5.5.4
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBEHCIPCI   1.0.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBUHCIPCI   1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons   4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC   2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET   1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS   2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC   4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC   1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient   218.0.0
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall   163
com.apple.security.quarantine   3
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet   8
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement   218.0.0
com.apple.kext.triggers   1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController   1.0.14d1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver   900.4.1
com.apple.nvidia.classic.NVDANV50HalTesla   10.0.0
com.apple.nvidia.classic.NVDAResmanTesla   10.0.0
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib   274.12
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib   525
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport   2.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport   4.4.6f1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI   1.0.14d1
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy   1.0.0
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily   6.0.0d7
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP   2.2.6
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController   274.12
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily   274.12
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface   108.2.3
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily   2.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily   11
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily   4.4.6f1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC   3.1.9
com.apple.driver.CoreCaptureResponder   1
com.apple.driver.corecapture   1.0.4
com.apple.iokit.IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily   1.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice   1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBAudio   303.3.1
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily   204.4
com.apple.vecLib.kext   1.2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice   3.7.7
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHub   1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver   1.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.cdc   5.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.networking   5.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice   1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice   3.7.7
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily   1.8
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily   1.8
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily   1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleXsanScheme   3
com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport   3.5.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily   3.7.7
com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily   2.5.3
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily   2.8.1
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily   3.2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub   900.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily   4.6.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBUHCI   1.0.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBEHCI   1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily   900.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily   1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties   1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM   2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime   2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily   2.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily   1.1
com.apple.security.sandbox   300.0
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch   1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore   2
com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity   1.0.5
com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager   1.0
com.apple.driver.DiskImages   417.4
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily   2.1
com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily   31
com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore   28.30
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform   4.0
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily   2.9
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily   1.4
com.apple.kec.pthread   1
com.apple.kec.corecrypto   1.0
com.apple.kec.Libm   1


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## DeltaMac (Apr 19, 2018)

rickself said:


> Good morning - My Mac Pro 2008 decided this past weekend to become possessed with an endless loop of Kernel Panics. It reboots about 3/4 of the way and shuts down, attempts to reboot again, and same thing. I have been able to run TechTools ProTogo from a thumb drive just once and it found something in the boot sector that may cause trouble rebooting but then the scren flickers and it shuts down. So I try another HD with system on it and get the same thing. If I can get it to stay on long enough, opening HD's take forever. If I plug into the router, it goes down.
> I am thinking either Ethernet card, video card or power supply but don't really know how to test these parts.
> Here is the panic report..
> ______________________
> ......



I would guess that multiple loop failures and shutdowns can eventually result in hard drive problems, particularly if the hard drive is a spinning hard drive. (An SSD might have the same difficulties, but may survive shutdowns more often than spinning hard drives might.
The reboot loop can often be a hard drive failure. You said you tried a different hard drive and still got got shut-downs. Did you remove ALL other drives from your MacPro when you tested that?
If you know the hard drive is working properly (test it in a different Mac), and still get the boot loops/shutdown, then I would suspect the power supply first. 
The simple way to test that theory is to replace the power supply.
If that doesn't fix the issue, try a different video card. Is your vid card the original for your MacPro? Or, is it a flashed card for upgraded video (and not originally an Apple graphics card)?


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## rickself (Apr 19, 2018)

Thanks, DeltaMac. I 'believe' I had all other drives pulled. 2 trays have a 2gb drive with OS partitioned into 2-1gb drives, a third is storage. ! will also try to boot from the TechToolProTogo from the thumb drive with no drives at all and see what happens.
In your opinion, does the monitor flicker relate more to a video card or power supply? It's a clean screen for a couple of minutes and then flickers, then reboots. The Video card is a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB.


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## rickself (Apr 19, 2018)

Also, when I plug in the wifi router between the Cox box and the Mac, the wifi and router goes down. Wifi is just for our iphones.


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## DeltaMac (Apr 19, 2018)

OK - lots of questions ... 

What exactly is a "Cox box"? Is that a modem, or router, or both? (which model of that Cox box?)
What wifi router do you have, in addition to the "Cox box"?

So, if I am understanding what you said, that you plug in an ethernet patch cable from your Cox box to your MacPro, then you lose your network. Does that mean that you also lose Wifi on your iPhone?
And, that only happens when you plug in the ethernet cable to your MacPro?
When that ethernet cable is plugged in, is that to your Cox box - or do you plug in ethernet from a port on your Wifi router?
Is there more than one ethernet port on either the Cox box, or the wifi router?
If both have multiple ethernet ports, is there any difference if you plug ethernet from the wifi router to your MacPro, and NOT Cox box to MacPro?

Do the lights on either the "Cox box" or your wifi router change at the time that you complete the connection with the ethernet cable

Are you using BOTH ethernet ports on the MacPro? or just one ethernet port? Did you try the other ethernet port to see if that makes a difference?

Finally - flickering on the monitor could just be a failing monitor.
But, if it seems to do that, then often reboots at that point, could be a video card. That might even be your full issue with the reboots.
And, another But - the flickering video may just be a symptom of a faulty power supply that is dropping power, and then loses stability, and drops out, causing a reboot.

Have you ever opened the side door, and looked for changes to the diagnostic LEDs on the logic board, and memory LEDs on each memory riser?


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## rickself (Apr 19, 2018)

DeltaMac said:


> OK - lots of questions ...
> 
> What exactly is a "Cox box"? Is that a modem, or router, or both? (which model of that Cox box?)
> What wifi router do you have, in addition to the "Cox box"?
> ...


Cox Cable, sorry


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## DeltaMac (Apr 19, 2018)

Thought that might be it. 
It will really help if you can say what model number box that is - and also what you are using for a wifi router. Perhaps that is a combined modem-router, and you don't have a separate wifi router, because the Cox box does it all (?)


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## rickself (Apr 19, 2018)

DeltaMac said:


> OK - lots of questions ...
> 
> What exactly is a "Cox box"? Is that a modem, or router, or both? (which model of that Cox box?)
> What wifi router do you have, in addition to the "Cox box"?
> ...


I remember on my previous Mac G5 that it had a series of diagnostic lights towards the front left side. I have not checked where these are on this Mac.
There are 4 ports on the wifi router. The Cox cable modem box goes to the router by ethernet cable and returns to the mac via ethernet. Last night, through the Cox.net website, I had to reset their modem as only a couple of lights were lit up. After resetting the modem (Cox box), all lights were back to normal. But when I plugged the ethernet back into the wifi router, the Mac went back to rebooting. I've tried both ethernet ports and yes, I lost wifi on the iphones also.
Lots of questions, troubleshooting, process of elimination.
I need to find a manual that shows the order of the lights. I think I saw one on MacRumors.
Thank you for help.


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## rickself (Apr 19, 2018)

DeltaMac said:


> Thought that might be it.
> It will really help if you can say what model number box that is - and also what you are using for a wifi router. Perhaps that is a combined modem-router, and you don't have a separate wifi router, because the Cox box does it all (?)


Ya, I have a Belkin wifi router between the cable box and Mac. The Cox cable box is not wifi.


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## DeltaMac (Apr 19, 2018)

The Apple service manual is easy to find: http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/macpro/macpro_early2008.pdf

Belkin currently sells more than a dozen different wifi routers, many other models that are still supported to some degree

Does the Cox cable box have more than ONE ethernet port on the back?


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## rickself (Apr 19, 2018)

Go


DeltaMac said:


> The Apple service manual is easy to find: http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/macpro/macpro_early2008.pdf
> 
> Belkin currently sells more than a dozen different wifi routers, many other models that are still supported to some degree
> 
> Does the Cox cable box have more than ONE ethernet port on the back?


Got it downloaded. Lots of good info there.
Odd that everything has been going no problemo for over a year and then pow.


DeltaMac said:


> OK - lots of questions ...
> 
> What exactly is a "Cox box"? Is that a modem, or router, or both? (which model of that Cox box?)
> What wifi router do you have, in addition to the "Cox box"?
> ...


Okay, looking into the side and have NO idea where these LED's are located. All hd's are pulled and booting off of thumb drive. Thumb drive came up but shut down after 2 or 3 minutes. I don't see the LED's.


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## DeltaMac (Apr 19, 2018)

?


> The LEDs are located on the logic board between the two DIMM riser card connectors


If you need to find those LEDs, you could shut down, then pull out both memory risers, so you can get a full view of that part of the logic board
I would say they are not easy to see, until you know where they are. Look for the DIAG_LED button, which will be within 1 or 2 cm of the row of LEDs.


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## rickself (Apr 21, 2018)

DeltaMac said:


> ?
> 
> If you need to find those LEDs, you could shut down, then pull out both memory risers, so you can get a full view of that part of the logic board
> I would say they are not easy to see, until you know where they are. Look for the DIAG_LED button, which will be within 1 or 2 cm of the row of LEDs.


 OK, I will pull out the memory risers and set up my camera on video so I can get a good view of what's going on when I reboot. The old eyeballs aren't what they used to be!


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## rickself (Apr 21, 2018)

DeltaMac said:


> ?
> 
> If you need to find those LEDs, you could shut down, then pull out both memory risers, so you can get a full view of that part of the logic board
> I would say they are not easy to see, until you know where they are. Look for the DIAG_LED button, which will be within 1 or 2 cm of the row of LEDs.


Is it necessary to remove the memory cage to see the LEDs?


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## rickself (Apr 21, 2018)

rickself said:


> Is it necessary to remove the memory cage to see the LEDs?


Found the reset button! YouTube is a wonderful thing. I will push the reset, restart and see what happens.


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## rickself (Apr 21, 2018)

rickself said:


> Found the reset button! YouTube is a wonderful thing. I will push the reset, restart and see what happens.


Powering up. No LEDs at all.


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## rickself (Apr 21, 2018)

rickself said:


> Powering up. No LEDs at all.


Sorry for all the updates. I'm doing this all on my iPhone. After reading that I need to hold the button while starting up, all LEDs appear normal. Then it went into reboot and LED#3 came on.


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## DeltaMac (Apr 21, 2018)

Your service manual has some good info about troubleshooting each LED error. There's multiple possible steps to try.


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## rickself (May 2, 2018)

I've kinda run into a wall on this. The LEDs read okay now - not getting the #3 to light up anymore. But when the mac is running for maybe 3-5 minutes, the screen flickers from the bottom up and the mac reboots. It then goes into a cycle of trying to go again, which may be 3 attempts, before I shut it down and unplug the power for a while. I can reboot into recovery mode, safe mode and with admin access and it will still do the same shut down.
I did some dust cleaning, taking out the front fan and blowing out the area. I removed the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT and did my best blowing it out. I'm hesitant to take the shell off the GeForce and make sure all is dust free as I can get it. Something about some type of glue that has to be applied when putting it back together? I'm close to trying what ever I need to do.
I've pulled the riser cards and switched top to bottom.
Seems like a power issue or overheating?


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## DeltaMac (May 2, 2018)

You could try one of the utilities that will display the various temps reported in your MacPro.
I use smcFanControl, but there's also Macs Fan Control - and a few others that I can't think of right now.

That can show you if the temps are spiking when you get your reboot. If the temps don't seem to change noticeably, and not really connected to the reboot, then it may simply be an issue with the power supply.


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## rickself (May 2, 2018)

DeltaMac said:


> You could try one of the utilities that will display the various temps reported in your MacPro.
> I use smcFanControl, but there's also Macs Fan Control - and a few others that I can't think of right now.
> 
> That can show you if the temps are spiking when you get your reboot. If the temps don't seem to change noticeably, and not really connected to the reboot, then it may simply be an issue with the power supply.


 I will check those out. I did use TechTool pro and it told me that the fans all operated at a proper speed.  I did not notice if TechTool pro checked the temperature or not. Thanks again for the help!


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## rickself (May 28, 2018)

Over the past couple of weeks, I have figured out that the computer runs for hours as long as I don’t go to the Internet. I worked in iTunes today, worked in Photoshop, did some work in Illustrator. Once I went to Safari, the Mac locked up, screen went blank, and went into reboot. Any ideas on what would cause this? Is my ethernet card a good bet to be the culprit?


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## Satcomer (May 28, 2018)

Have you updated Flash or cleaned your Internet cache by resetting Safari might help!


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## DeltaMac (May 28, 2018)

Does that lock up/reboot happen with another browser (Firefox would be a good choice for a test)?

Do you get lockups on a different user account? If you have only one user, this would be a good reason to create a new user, then log out of your present account, and try your internet in a different user account. Be sure to also try the other ethernet port on the back of your MacPro.

Did you ever try out a utility that will display the temps that are reported in your MacPro? Could be that when you go online, the temps spike for some reason. Worth checking on 10-year-old Mac hardware.


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## rickself (May 28, 2018)

I deleted the 5 .plist files for Safari and the one for Firefox. After a restart that I initiated, I launched Safari and it crashed. My next move was to launch Firefox but haven’t got around to that yet. I may do a new install of Safari to see if maybe the app was corrupted somehow. What led me to the Ethernet card is that I did use a different hard drive with another account and again the Mac shut down once I was on the internet. Both Safari and Firefox.


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## rickself (May 28, 2018)

Firefox has been running for 10 minutes so far and no lock ups - that's an improvement!
DeltaMac - I did run one of the the Fans apps you mentioned before. What app will help me monitor the temps? MacToolsPro checked the sensors and all were nominal.


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## rickself (May 28, 2018)

Well, I left the room for 5 minutes and came back and Firefox had locked up. The monitor was black across the bottom 2/3 and white across the top. I shook the mouse and the screen came back for a moment but then went black and white again. That was short-lived.


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## DeltaMac (May 28, 2018)

I use iStat Pro (a Dashboard widget) to look at system temps, I'm not sure if that is available anywhere for download.
I also use HWMonitor, I think it is called HWSensors now - https://sourceforge.net/projects/hwsensors/
Macs Fan Control will also display your temp sensors.


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## rickself (May 29, 2018)

HWMonitor is pretty slick. I'll install it when I get home and see if it can tell me what's going on. I like the fact it's on the desktop all the time and you don't have to switch over to Widgets to view. Thanks, DM


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## rickself (May 29, 2018)

Power Supply Consumption wavers between 138W and 200W, especially when I launched 
Firefox. My MacPro 2012 at work stands steady around 100W.
Power Supply Voltage holds around 12.125V.
Not sure what I should be looking for. I'll see if the user manual has a table of nominal settings.


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## rickself (May 30, 2018)

Hey DeltaMac, I’ve been reading about possibly speeding up the fan speed towards the rear of the Mac to cool down the video card. From what I’ve read it’s helped with the screen freezing and crashing. Any thoughts on this tactic?


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## DeltaMac (May 30, 2018)

Assuming that the freezes and crashes are caused by the video card (and not something else), then, sure do whatever you like with fan speeds. Your video card is an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, which has its own fan. You could pull the card out, and take a look at the fan to make sure that it is clean, take it apart to clean if it looks nasty to you.


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## rickself (May 30, 2018)

I did as much cleaning as I could and did pull the video card, got the outer shell off, and dusted pretty well around the fan and heat sinks with canned air.  I removed the fans, both front and back, and give them a good cleaning. I guess my concern with the readings I got from HW Sensors wasn’t as much the temperature around the power supply as it was the consumption that was peaking around 200W. I wish I could find a place that had a full listing of the normal operating temperatures for the system. Or maybe tomorrow I can get a screenshot of the readings and you could give me some feedback? I appreciate all of your input so far.


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## DeltaMac (May 30, 2018)

I think that the temps that you see are simply normal for your use. And, the power draw for the power supply likely just tells you that the 2008 MacPro is a relatively inefficient power user. It would be difficult to compare pure numbers for power from your older MacPro to the newer one, which tends to have lower power use on average.
What you want to know is what is happening when your system misbehaves.


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## Doctor X (Jun 2, 2018)

Have you checked your RAM?

Long ago, I had on a previous machine one of two chips go bad. This meant frequent kernel panics particularly when using applications that can use suddenly lots of memory like browsers.

The bad news is, back then, *TechTools Pro* consistently claimed the RAM was fine. A few tech savy recommended I not trust that. I tried the now old but still good "memtest" and it showed immediate failure. *TT* may be better at detection now.

If that is the case, your RAM may be under warranty--mine was.

--J.D.


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## rickself (Jun 2, 2018)

Thank you Doctor X. Definitely something I will take a look at. I’m running into dead ends and might just have to spring for having it analyzed at at MAC service center


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## rickself (Jun 2, 2018)

My panic report says panic(cpu 2 caller…). 
Is it cpu2 causing my problems?


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## rickself (Jun 2, 2018)

This is the HWMonitor just before carshing yesterday. I had raised fan speeds to see what, if anything, they may do if the back end of the Mac was overheating.


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## DeltaMac (Jun 2, 2018)

Yeah... What a mess!
I suspect that those "264˚F" are probably bogus, as that relates to about 129˚C, well above overheating point, with your fans showing barely above idle. The 264 value might be the highest number that the software will show, but I have no way of proving that, other than thinking that if that temp would be real, the CPU would trigger a shutdown.

I would suggest that you should adjust so the fans run at max speed for a few minutes, particularly if you have discovered any situation that "seems" to result in a crash. Watch for the same item's temperatures then!


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## rickself (Jun 2, 2018)

I turned all fans to max for maybe 5 minutes and did not see much change before and after.
I should mention that I only have 2 sticks of RAM so would those super high readings be coming from the empty slots? Don't know. Can a dual processor run with just one processor? Can I unplug the one?
Here is what Macs Fan Control screenshot shows after I reset all the fans back down to normal.


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## rickself (Jun 5, 2018)

Doctor X said:


> Have you checked your RAM?
> 
> Long ago, I had on a previous machine one of two chips go bad. This meant frequent kernel panics particularly when using applications that can use suddenly lots of memory like browsers.
> 
> ...


I stumbled upon Rember. I will run it tonight and see what I can find out. It’s supposed to have the same programming code as memtest and mentions Memtest in the documentation.


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## rickself (Jun 5, 2018)

Rember ran through and all RAM was OK. Now, is there a good app to check the Ethernet card? One thing at a time I (we) might get this figured out. 
One thing I have noticed is the system prefs need to be rebuilt every other day. I don’t have an El Capitan install disk to do a clean install. Could constant freeze up and shut downs be software?


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## rickself (Jun 9, 2018)

Breaking news! I found a couple of extensions that a trial VPN service had installed - tap.kext and tun.kext. Apparently they were auto loading something into the ethernet settings on every bootup. I removed these 2 kext files and have been running on Firefox, iTunes, TeamViewer for a couple of hours with no hiccups. Keeping my fingers crossed.


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## rickself (Jun 24, 2018)

I’d really like to close out this thread!
It seems the crashing is narrowed down to whenever I use either Safari or Firefox. I can be using illustrator, photoshop, indesign, whatever I need for commercial printing and design work. But once I get on the internet, give it maybe 3 minutes and bam! Lockup and shut down. I put in a new PCIe network card but waiting for tech support to get me a driver for 10.11.6. It came with drivers up to 10.7. Hopefully then I will know if it’s the Ethernet card or not.


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## Cheryl (Jun 24, 2018)

I would like to hear the final culprit, so let’s leave this open.


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## rickself (Jun 24, 2018)

Ah c’mon Cheryl. You’ve always had something to input. You’ve helped me out a couple of other times 
Tonight I was rebooting in Restore mode,  attempting to reset Home Directory Permissions and ACL’s. Figured with all this rebooting it wouldn’t hurt anything. The screen started flickering like it always does right before it freezes and attempts a reboot but this time only 3-5 minutes in. It’s so hit and miss when it decides to go. 
I’m trying to avoid an $80 diagnostic from the Mac tech but running out of ideas. 
Does anyone know of an app to test the power supply or graphics card?


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## rickself (Jun 26, 2018)

Figure this one out. I freeze up when using Firefox or Safari. But I’ve been on TeamViewer with my Mac at work for a couple of hours just fine.


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## Cheryl (Jun 26, 2018)

Extension or plug in problem???


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## rickself (Jun 26, 2018)

TeamViewer went just over 2 hours before I froze up and shut down. I was thinking of totally removing Firefox and Safari but now with TeamViewer locking up, I’m thinking maybe my system is corrupt. I may have to buy an El Capitan disk and do a clean new install. My nephew installed the system last time and is halfway across the country.


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## Cheryl (Jun 26, 2018)

You can download it from here:  https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht206886


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## rickself (Jun 26, 2018)

Thanks Cheryl.
I downloaded the file and the Mac wouldn’t stay running long enough to complete the install. I took a video with my iPhone that shows what the screen looks like when the freeze starts in but I can’t attach it here. Maybe that would give a clue as to what’s going on.
Maybe this Dropbox link will work 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fpu2j3ynd6jc841/IMG_0058.TRIM.MOV?dl=0


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## Cheryl (Jun 26, 2018)

Were you able to download the install file?  
Do you have another Mac to use to do the download and save it to a flash drive. Then restart the computer and hold down the Coomand and R for recovery mode. Run disk utility, then quit disk utility. You should be able to insert the flash drive and install to your machine from the flash drive.


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## rickself (Jun 26, 2018)

I will do that on my work Mac tomorrow.
Actually yes it did download.  Can I put it on a 16gb flash card with a USB card reader or does it need to be a thumb drive?


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## DeltaMac (Jun 27, 2018)

Copying the installer to a flash drive is not enough, you need to make it bootable.
There's several different methods to do that. The terminal is a good choice, if you are comfortable with that.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/09/30/create-os-x-el-capitan-boot-install-drive/


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## rickself (Jun 27, 2018)

Thanks, DeltaMac!
I thought there had to be a special process to get the thumb drive bootable.
That is easy to follow.


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## rickself (Jun 27, 2018)

Well, I have the thumb drive working as a start up install drive and my Mac still will not keep running long enough to install the system. I talked to a Mac repair man who said it may be the riser cards or the GPU. I guess I’m done fussing with it and it’s time to take it in for service.


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## Cheryl (Jun 27, 2018)

Bummer. But you did do a thorough job of trying to pinpoint the problem.


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## rickself (Jul 1, 2018)

Mac Service guy said could be the graphics card but most probably the Riser Cards.
I see on eBay I can buy 2 riser cards with some RAM for around $50. That's the cheapest way to start. Better than buying a graphics card for $150+ and find out it's the riser cards.


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## rickself (Jul 7, 2018)

Put the riser cards in today, also adding 8gb of RAM to the piddly 4gb I had. First noticeable difference was the Finder came right up instantly. Before, it took a good minute to open a folder or hard drive. Got the riser cards and RAM on eBay and they look absolutely brand new. 3 day delivery and $70 total charge, I feel good that this was the issue.


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## Cheryl (Jul 7, 2018)

So far so good. Give it a couple of test runs and get back to us.
(remembering when 8 mb was the cat’s meow)


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## rickself (Jul 7, 2018)

Damn!
Still freezes and shuts down.


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## rickself (Jul 7, 2018)

Hey, I had a 50-50 shot, just I took the wrong 50.
Posted the panic report to Apple (my wife may shoot me for not doing that earlier) and the report points to the NVIDIA graphics card.


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## Cheryl (Jul 8, 2018)

It is hard to diagnose exactly what is wrong, not onlyh with computers, but with any thing - even the human body. Next step: new graphics card.


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## rickself (Jul 16, 2018)

Graphics card did it. 
What a long haul! I shoulda sent the crash report to Apple in the beginning. They told me in 10 minutes it was the graphics card. 
Lessons learned.


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## Lovely K (Jul 26, 2018)

I suggest you to contact the Apple Software Developer 'cause your computer might be at risk and needs full program support. And it is also stated on your description that it come with an endless loop of Kernel Panics, so, try contacting them to be able to understand you computers' behavior.


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## rickself (Jul 26, 2018)

The Mac is 10 years old, full program support isn't an option. I have been on Macs since the Macintosh Plus in 1986 and can most of the time troubleshoot what's going on. This one threw me for a loop. Once I sent the panic report to Apple support, they pointed me in the proper direction and all is good.
It's all handled, thank you.


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