# Mac Pro 6,1 hardware issues - anyone else have these?



## stevinn (Sep 10, 2015)

I bought a new Mac Pro back in April, 2015, and it's been nothing but headaches since day 1. I'm wondering if anyone else has these issues, especially #3. Here's what ails me:

*1. Graphic glitches across all three monitors.* - Usually soon after startup. Just short horizontal glitches that mess up the picture for a split second. It comes and goes. I took it into the Apple store for this a week ago and they replaced "graphics board A", and that changed absolutely nothing. 

*2. Crash + Kernal Panic* - Once or twice per week when I get up in the morning and the machine has been hibernating all night, I go to wake it and it crashes and restarts, and then gives me this kernal panic report: (Yes I know it's unusually short, but very consistently the same. I think I've gotten it maybe 10 times now)

*** MCA Error Report ***
CPU Machine Check Architecture Error Dump (CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1680 v2 @ 3.00GHz, CPUID: 0x306E4)
Core: 0 
IA32_MC20_STATUS=0xFE200000000C110A
IA32_MC20_CTL=0x0
IA32_MC20_ADDR=0xA0660080
IA32_MC20_MISC=0xA0FC381602802086
Core: 0 
IA32_MC21_STATUS=0xFE200000000C110A
IA32_MC21_CTL=0x0
IA32_MC21_ADDR=0xA0601440
IA32_MC21_MISC=0x88FC38160A802086
Core: 0 
IA32_MC24_STATUS=0xFE200000000C110A
IA32_MC24_CTL=0x0
IA32_MC24_ADDR=0xA0660040
IA32_MC24_MISC=0xB0FC385610802086​That's the entire thing, minus the machine specs at the bottom. Didn't want to crowd an already lengthy post. Last time it happened it also reset my screensaver to the default option. For some reason. 

*3. CPU idles at 25%* - Even when I have no open programs, all 8 cores are constantly going nuts. I know this because I have MenuMeters installed, but Activity Monitor confirms it. Screen shot attached in which you can see there are almost no programs using any CPU, like total it's less than 2%, and the system report at the bottom claims it's at 25% capacity. It never ever goes below that. The CPU temperature is always at least 140ºF shortly after startup and the fan is always running at about 1300rpms. 

*4. SMC resets *- Once or twice a month I wake up the machine and everything is running at about 1/1000th the normal speed. Literally. Even the mouse only refreshes about once per second. The only way to fix it is to shut down, unplug the machine and hold the power button down while it's unplugged to drain all remaining power from the unit, then restart. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

-Stephen

MacPro 6,1
OSX 10.10.5
8-Core Intel Xeon E5 3 GHz
Number of Processors:1
Total Number of Cores:8
L2 Cache (per Core):256 KB
L3 Cache:25 MB
Memory:64 GB (third party - OWC)
AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB
Boot ROM Version:MP61.0116.B15
SMC Version (system):2.20f18

Attached hardware: 3 thunderbolt monitors, 3 external hard drives( 1 USB, 2 TB), Audio Interface (USB), Mouse, Keyboard.


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## synthpunk (Sep 10, 2015)

This topic may be better put in the DAW forum but .....Man, sorry to hear. My 6 core 2013 MP has been near flawless (knock on wood). I would make a appt. at the Mac store and have the Genius's run diagnostics. Make sure you back everything up!!


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## creativeforge (Sep 10, 2015)

stevinn - Here is the DAW forum: http://vi-control.net/community/forums/your-daw-digital-audio-workstation.47/


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## samphony (Sep 13, 2015)

I run the 6core model with 64gb since 2014. My guess it's related to the thunderbolt displays. I'm running a 4k 40" display attached via displayport and a 29" ultra wide screen via hdmi. I don't have any issues at all.


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## jason.d (Sep 14, 2015)

We have 12 of these machines at my work, and about half of them do this. I think there's something weird with the hardware. I would ask Apple to swap your entire machine with a new one, if you're still under warranty/Apple care.


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## stevinn (Sep 14, 2015)

jason.d said:


> We have 12 of these machines at my work, and about half of them do this. I think there's something weird with the hardware. I would ask Apple to swap your entire machine with a new one, if you're still under warranty/Apple care.


Have you had them replace any of the graphic boards or do you just ignore it? I'm curious to know if they still do that after being "fixed".


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## stevinn (Sep 14, 2015)

aesthete said:


> This topic may be better put in the DAW forum but .....Man, sorry to hear. My 6 core 2013 MP has been near flawless (knock on wood). I would make a appt. at the Mac store and have the Genius's run diagnostics. Make sure you back everything up!!


I don't understand why I would post in the DAW forum... It has nothing to do with any DAW. It's clearly a Mac Pro hardware issue.


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## synthpunk (Sep 14, 2015)

*GEAR Talk Forum *
hardware mic preamps, compressors, limiters, synths, mics, amps, guitars, keyboards etc.

*Your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) *
Hardware forum. Share configuration tips and ask questions related to DAW hardware: Mac & Windows.

I think it's pretty clear ?... but if your comfortable that's great.



stevinn said:


> I don't understand why I would post in the DAW forum... It has nothing to do with any DAW. It's clearly a Mac Pro hardware issue.


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## jason.d (Sep 14, 2015)

stevinn said:


> Have you had them replace any of the graphic boards or do you just ignore it? I'm curious to know if they still do that after being "fixed".



So far we've been ignoring it because it happens for split seconds at a time. Some days it doesn't even happen.

One thing I've noticed though, is that it only happens on the thunderbolt 4k monitor, not the HDMI monitors. Not sure if it's a 4k thing or a thunderbolt thing yet (or a multi monitor setup thing).


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## kurtvanzo (Sep 15, 2015)

stevinn said:


> I bought a new Mac Pro back in April, 2015, and it's been nothing but headaches since day 1. I'm wondering if anyone else has these issues, especially #3. Here's what ails me:
> 
> *1. Graphic glitches across all three monitors.* - Usually soon after startup. Just short horizontal glitches that mess up the picture for a split second. It comes and goes. I took it into the Apple store for this a week ago and they replaced "graphics board A", and that changed absolutely nothing.
> 
> ...



Not sure if you fully shut down your machine regularly, but I've had issues in the past with Mac's and problems that build up over time when the machine is left on (even asleep), so I fully shut down each night. It seems to give me less problems in the long run. Probably won't help #1, but the rest might improve.


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