Mac Pro 1.1 only starts in "safe mode"

[billbob]

I would appreciate help.

I got an old not working mac pro 1.1 (xeon 2.66) in 2007.

Config:
NVIDIA 7300 GT
2G RAM
320GB disk

Here's the symptom:
start with the logo loading and after a black screen (in early tests the screen was white ...) with the mouse pointer in the top left. normally there should the login window.
Strange thing is that it starts properly in "safe mode".

The person who gave it to me told me that originally there was a problem with fan disconnected and so he assumes overheating.
When I've had this computer, the fan CPU was not working. So I handed the connections correctly. And now fan works.

I removed the RAM, graphics card, disk, plug everything and I had the surprise to see it working normaly. it reboots 2 times and after that the problem appear again (without touching anything more).

I reseted the PRAM
did a hardware check (with the original CD) and all is OK

When I try to reinstall Mac OS:
Original Mac OS: start correctly on the CD and then the beautiful screen "kernel panic" of mac. nothing more, not the first window of the install.
Mac OS Snow Leopard: start correctly on the CD and then nothing, blank screen.

In safe mode, I did some test with Me is TechTool and surprise, when I test the video memory I released a huge number (like 130 tera B). Is it normal when we are in safe mode ?

When I start in normal mode, when I'm stuck on the screen black (or white before) with the pointer, the system is still functional (except the graphics)
So I can connect to remote SSH over the network and get control of the machine.

so I got these following logs:
kernel.log
Oct 6 08:54:02 Mac-Pro-de-BOB kernel[0]: 00000069
Oct 6 08:54:02 Mac-Pro-de-BOB kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x3 = Fifo: Unknown Method Error
Oct 6 08:54:02 Mac-Pro-de-BOB-jules kernel[0]: 00000069
Oct 6 08:54:02 Mac-Pro-de-BOB kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x3 = Fifo: Unknown Method Error

system.log :
Oct 6 08:51:32 Mac-Pro-de-BOB loginwindow[39]: Login Window Started Security Agent
Oct 6 08:51:32 Mac-Pro-de-BOB loginwindow[39]: Login Window - Returned from Security Agent
Oct 6 08:51:32 Mac-Pro-de-BOB loginwindow[39]: USER_PROCESS: 39 console
Oct 6 08:51:32 Mac-Pro-de-BOB com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[98] (com.apple.ReportCrash): Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
Oct 6 08:51:38 Mac-Pro-de-BOB com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[98] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[122]): Exited with exit code: 1
Oct 6 08:51:42 Mac-Pro-de-BOB warmd[30]: [fetcher_open_file:936] open("/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64") => -1 (errno: 2)
Oct 6 08:51:42 Mac-Pro-de-BOB warmd[30]: [fetcher_open_file:936] open("/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_i386") => -1 (errno: 2)
Oct 6 08:52:03 Mac-Pro-de-BOB mdworker[133]: sandbox cache error: database disk image is malformed
Oct 6 08:52:19 Mac-Pro-de-BOB sshd[135]: USER_PROCESS: 138 ttys000
Oct 6 08:52:42 Mac-Pro-de-BOB com.apple.coreservicesd[21]: ThrottleProcessIO: throttling disk i/o


windowserver.log :
Oct 06 08:51:25 [76] Server is starting up
Oct 06 08:51:27 [76] CGXMappedDisplayStart: Display0 : no display alias property
Oct 06 08:51:27 [76] CGXMappedDisplayStart: Display1 : boot screen
Oct 06 08:51:27 [76] CGXMappedDisplayStart: Display1 : no display alias property
Oct 06 08:51:27 [76] GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x0102240c, GL mask 0x00000003, accelerator 0x0000310b, unit 0, caps 0x00000003, vram 256 MB
Oct 06 08:51:27 [76] GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x0102240c, GL mask 0x00000003, texture units 8, texture max 4096, viewport max {4096, 4096} extensions 0x0000000f
Oct 06 08:51:27 [76] agc_attach: Couldn't find any matches
Oct 06 08:51:31 [76] CGXPerformInitialDisplayConfiguration
Oct 06 08:51:31 [76] Display 0x745dd881: MappedDisplay Unit 1; Vendor 0x9d1 Model 0x76c3 S/N 26688; online enabled (0,0)[1024 x 768], Rotation 0, base addr 0x107200000
Oct 06 08:51:31 [76] Display 0x3f003c: MappedDisplay Unit 0; Vendor 0xffffffff Model 0xffffffff S/N -1; offline enabled (2048,0)[1 x 1], Rotation 0, base addr 0x107200000
Oct 06 08:51:31 [76] Display 0x745dd881: MappedDisplay Unit 1; ColorProfile "BenQ FP202W" (MD5 ee2f787a8ff3d5d4cd50f769b37a60c1)


I do not think processors are dead because it starts in safe mode and I can see 4 cores.
I also think that even in case of overheating of processors, the motherboard is smart enough to stop everything before to burn the logic board or processors. Which is not the case of the graphics card nvidia 7300 GT which has burning without even noticing. There are also brown color near the graphics card on the metal of the memory location due of the graphics card.

I orient myself quite heavily on a graphics card problem but I wonder if you think about something else or if I forgot to do something.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Giaguara]

Launchd and window server crash.
The system can't recognize the display properties, and that's probably because that system was installed on another Mac and that hard drive later swapped.

After you removed NV* and GeF* from /System/Library/Extensions, does the system look correct now, graphically that is? Can you log in and use the Mac for now with that?

You listed above the graphics card NVIDIA 7300 GT.

Snow Leopard (which I assume from the other logs not seen here) lists these as out of box supported cards (and Lion even newer):

NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GTS, Geforce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130.
ATI Radeon 4850, Radeon 4870

While the Mac Pro computers that shipped in 2007 and later may not have initially had supported graphics chipsets for OpenCL, but they do contain PCI Express v2.0 expansion slots so you should be able to upgrade their graphics cards to take advantage of the new technologies. Apple released a GeForce 8800 upgrade kit for the Mac Pro that can still be purchased at some retailers (such as this option at B&H Photo and Video). The Apple part number is "MB137Z/A", so you should be able to search for that if needed. Unfortunately, Mac Pro computers shipped before 2007 had PCI Express v1.1 slots, which means that while upgrade cards that need v2.0 slots may still work, they are not supported and there might be bandwidth problems resulting in lower than expected performance in some situations.

It should also be noted that there may be ways to enable OpenCL on unsupported graphics processors, just like there were ways to enable the AGP-only "Quartz Extreme" enhanced interface on PCI Macintoshes when OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" came out. If there is no such option, however, iMacs, Mac Minis, and MacBooks that do not have the proper GPUs will not be able to use OpenCL.

 

[billbob]

thanks for your help Giaguara,

Yes my system was installed on a second mac pro (5.1). I didn't know but the logs help me to know that is done.

But I can't install the mac OSX with DVD or with a custom USB key. It still freezing in state of the language proposal.

I think it's because af the Nvidia "drivers" loading.

What I did in for normal boot :

I moved NV* and GeF* from /System/Library/Extensions

NVDANV40Hal.kext:
Contents

NVDANV50Hal.kext:
Contents

NVDAResman.kext:
Contents

NVSMU.kext:
Contents

GeForce.kext:
Contents

GeForce7xxxGLDriver.bundle:
Contents

GeForceGA.plugin:
Contents

GeForceGLDriver.bundle:
Contents

GeForceVADriver.bundle:
Contents


And now my mac start normaly.

I still think about nvidia problem.

How can I include files I moved ? a simple copie don't work.

What do you think about the ATI Radeon HD 5770 ? I read in forums that it works with MAC PRO 1.1.
I'm about to buy this card.

thanks for your help Giaguara.

 

[Giaguara]

The card you have, 7300, is older than what's supported (without tweaks) for 10.6. There's essentially the problem. The drivers that are available for the installer lack the ones you would need. And it'd be quite some work to dig inside the installers to replace that driver.

As you don't have the cards that would be served by the drivers you re/moved, the lack or misplacement of those drivers should be fine for your system. If a card is not present, the driver or kext for it shouldn't be used either.

I'd think the GeForce 8800 upgrade kit might be a better solution, if you can find those.
I haven't tried ATI Radeon HD 5770 with that configuration, but that model isn't listed on the supported ones either. If you can buy that from a place where you can return it if it does not meet the needs for your system that would be one option. That way if you can get that card to help you get the system install properly you are set, and if it doesn't want to co-operate, you could always go to search for that other card.

 

[billbob]

Ok, great.

I'm gonna try this card (5770) and if it don't work i Will sell it and look for the card you sugest me.

Tanks a lot,

 

[Giaguara]

Please let us know if the 5770-card solved it. I'm sure you are not the only one who's upgrading Mac OS X on that model of Mac Pro to Lion.