Repair a Mac Pro 2010 CPU tray?

[clay_9]

Hi all.
I have an early 2009 Mac Pro, flashed to 5,1 with a 2010 CPU tray with a dual 3.46 Xeon 6-core and 32GB RAM.

Well I did. It recently failed on me with a red LED light always lit and no chime on boot up. I was able to clarify it was a failure somewhere on the CPU tray as I popped it into a friends almost identical mac pro and it was the same story. Individual RAM tests also pointed to it being the board or CPUs.

I was in the middle of important work and I had to make a quick choice, I had to order a replacement tray with CPU, opting for the same model. I only lost 1 day in productivity, but I'm down a few £££.

Anyway to the question at hand. I have a RAM-less CPU tray which im now unsure what to do with. The company I bought the new one from said that if the CPU's are fine they could give me up to £100 back for it, buying it off me. A repair from them, if it's the CPU / RAM board that is faulty, would be £100 if I wanted to then look at a private sale, but would then need to make over £250 or so to make that worth it - but then the unknown of if and when it would sell. I have seen reference to the Northbridge chip failing and causing this issue? But I wouldn't know where to start with that.

I can't just sell the CPU's off as they are, because I can't sell them as working condition as I don't know where the fault is.

What would people suggest to do with it from here? I'm leaning towards the £100 quick sale, but just wondering if there's a better way to get some more value back. I see these trays with this chip going for £300-400 on ebay.

 

[pigoo3]

Hi all.
I have an early 2009 Mac Pro, flashed to 5,1 with a 2010 CPU tray with a dual 3.46 Xeon 6-core and 32GB RAM.

Not sure if you purchased your Mac Pro setup like this...or if you upgraded it yourself with the 2010 CPU tray. But do you still have the 2009 CPU tray?

If so...maybe you can take the CPU's from the 2010 tray...pop them into the 2009 tray...and see if the CPU's work. This will help in determining if the issue is one of the CPU's or the tray.

A 2nd idea. If your friend with the similar Mac Pro setup will let you...maybe you could swap your CPU's onto their CPU tray...then see if things work in their computer (your CPU's installed in their tray). Again...this will help you determine if the issue is your CPU's or your tray.

Of course another option is to put your friends CPU's into your tray. Since you know your friends CPU's are good...if the combination of their CPU's in your tray...installed in your computer...will tell you if your tray is bad.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[clay_9]

I don't have the old tray, but I had to buy a replacement CPU & tray immediately as I was in the middle of important projects and couldn't delay in seeking a fix.

So I have a new identical CPU tray. The obvious solution is to swap out the CPU's to check the ones from the old tray are good, but that is a little scary if I'm honest as I have no experience with this. Is it straightforward to do for a novice? If im able to check it myself then the re-sale value will probably be higher than £100 for a private sale wouldn't it? For 2 x 3.46 xeon cpu's that I can then confidently sell as used / working.

 

[pigoo3]

The obvious solution is to swap out the CPU's to check the ones from the old tray are good, but that is a little scary if I'm honest as I have no experience with this. Is it straightforward to do for a novice?

Here's a pretty decent Youtube video on how to do it...probably a lot more out there as well:

YouTube

You may need some of the tools necessary if you don't have them...and you will probably need some thermal grease when you reassemble things.

If you do decide to give it a go...and get stuck or unsure at some point (and the video doesn't cover it)...please post here what's up...and I'm sure someone will quickly chime in.

We are all novices at some point...if we don't try anything new...we stay novices.

Good luck,

- Nick