[geeks] Dead Mac Pro

[shannon at widomaker.com]

On 10 Nov 2007 at 23:48, Mark Benson wrote:

>  Was it you who mentioned your fans were running loud too? 

No, they were not running loud enough, or rather, not fast enough.

They would stay at 600rpm even when the machine was getting hot.

Of course, that could be the problem right there.

I've not said much about the machine since I got it because I've been very 
busy, but it has not been a good experience.

I get frequent application crashes with kernel errors, machine crashes, SMC 
won't keep the temperature down, etc.

When it works right, it is wonderful, and for the last week and a half it 
seemed like everything was 'fixed'.

I was even thinking of bring it in to Apple just for a test to make sure it 
was OK, and Friday afternoon it died and forced the issue.

> I also have not heard many negative vibes about them through the usual 
> Apple channels, 

Lot's of people complain about the same small set of failures, one of which 
is the one I'm having. 

If you filter out the noise, which is obviously excessive and mostly 
bullshit, there are a small set of issues that show up a lot:

- Mac Pro arrives DoA
- Mac Pro dies in 1-2 months, with symptoms close to mine
- Mac Pro SMC controller doesn't run fans fast enough to stay cool
- x1900 graphics card dies in 4-6 months

The last one has been fixed it seems.  Apple ships the new cards with better 
fans and some other fix I can't remember.

The SMC issue can usually be fixed with a small program where you can speed 
the fans up to keep it cooled off.  smcfancontrol I think.  Apple needs to
fix this on the board though.

Also, some people report as you have, that on some units the SMC controller 
just doesn't work at all, or dies.

> whereas the iMacs have raised regular issues with Bootcamp totally
> destroying machines (back when it was a v1.1 beta), and now with them just
> freezing up at random after high GPU load. 

The new iMacs are dying even when idle.  Lot's of people in the Apple store 
and CompUSA are coming in and they are *very* ticked off.

> The Mac Pro is based off the same reference hardware Intel use for servers 
> - you'd kinda hope it was pretty tough. 

I'm sure it is a fine machine, they are just having some issues.  For what it 
is worth, what I read and am told suggests that Mac Pro failures occur very 
early in their life if they are going to happen.

> You get a bad one in every batch though - I think maybe you were just
> unlucky. I would insist in a new PSU, new mainboard and RAM and RAM risers
> at the very least, and hold out for a new Mac if they are wavering that way.

Yeah... I remember reading a lot about issues with the Mac Pro before buying 
one.  I remember thinking that all machines have a certain failure rate, and 
the odds of my getting a bad one were pretty low.

I should have not tempted fate by thinking about it at all... :)

I want the machine replaced, period.  This thing cost $2500, and is only a 
month old.  

> make more orthodox desktop-class machines. But less face it - computers
> generally just aren't what they used to be, neither are cars, appliances or
> anything else...

Agreed.  Apple needs a real mid range anyway, and they need to put focus on 
reliability.

The fancy designs don't mean jack when your machine dies on you.

For the average home user, no big deal, but some of us make a living with 
these machines...

I talked to a guy who buys lot's of machines, thousands at a time, and he 
sais that Apple's failiure rate is now higher than Dell and IBM.

I hope that changes, because I have some old Apple machines that are still 
running like they were brand new.

Right now my Mac IIci is a hell of a lot faster than my dead Mac Pro... :)