# Computer failure HELP !!!! Hackintosh



## DanPhaseMusic

Hi

I know I’m asking for trouble by posting this but I’m desperate so here go’s...

I’m using a hackintosh ( I know )
and have enjoyed 2 years of good service until this morning. As of now I can’t get the computer to boot. In any normal time I’d take it to someone who might be able to help but at the moment I cannot leave my house so I thought I’d ask for help here.

a while ago I started getting a message that said

*chassis intrude please check your system fatal error...system halted*


If I turned the machine off and restarted the machine booted as normal.

In the past few weeks ( since I’ve been unable to go to my studio and brought my computer home ) I’ve been having a weird thing where the screens don’t come on when the clover boot loader comes up pre the system booting into OS X. I’ve found that pressing enter once has been enough to get the computer to get past the boot loader and then the screens activate when OS X boots up. This morning I turned the computer on and nothings happening. It powers on then just 2 black screens.

As I’m sure is obvious from this post I know nothing about computers and now I’m totally stuck. I can’t leave my house and I’ve got work due in the very near future.

I know as a professional I should probably sell my children to fund the cost of a real Mac Pro and that’s something I’m considering but I really need help to try and get this thing running now.
My 

My system specs are


*Asus X99-DELUXE/U3.1 Socket 2011-v3 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
5820k cpu*
G.SKILL Trident Z 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz Desktop Memory DIMM 288-pin
Fractal design r5 case sound proofed.
evga 650w psu high quality semi modular
evga gtx 750ti potential quad monitor

3 x 1tb sandisk ssd
1 x sandisk 40 ssd
4tb toshiba 6gb/s sata 3

Does anyone recognise this issue ? Can anyone help me ?

I’m very willing to pay for tech support over the phone if someone can help me that way.

thanks very much

Dan


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Hi thanks for responding. No nothing beeps when I power on but yes the fan starts. I’ve taken the side off and the graphics card seems to be firmly on. I’m not even sure how to check the ram but I’ll take the side off again and look. Am I just checking that it’s firmly in place ?
Thanks again


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

poetd said:


> Yeah, graphics cards are notorious for that, so give it a good FIRM push - not a shove or too hard, but good and firm.
> 
> Same with RAM, a lot of modern motherboards now only have 1 securing lever for the RAM - and while that side will be in place, often the other lever-less side can be not sat in properly.





poetd said:


> Did you build this yourself?
> Did you fit the motherboard speaker to the header unit (little tiny black speaker on a single cable comes with most motherboards) - might be worth checking that, as if you didn't fit it - the motherboard can't tell you whats wrong.
> Sits on the same headers you connected power switch and HDD LEDs to.


i didn’t build it. I’m trying to get hold of the guy that did. I’ve checked the graphics card and the ram and they both feel like there attached pretty firmly. I’m not a computer guy so I don’t really understand what your saying about the other thing.
I’m extremely grateful your trying to help though. Any idea what I could do next ?


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Thanks man I’ll give that a try


----------



## chrisr

Hi @DanPhaseMusic ,

Don't worry about the massively frightening "Chassis Intrude" message. I have that same motherboard in one of my machines and had exatly the same thing you're seeing a year (or two?) ago.

Sounds like you just need to replace your CMOS battery. Go and buy a 2032 battery (3v lithium watch batteries - probably in a pack of 4) - and google how to replace it on that board. 

It was very easy to do and solved the problem for me. If it's still not firing after battery replace you've more than likely just put battery in the wrong way round.

Pop to the shops now and I'll bet you can be back up and running without problems within the hour.

best,
Chris


----------



## chrisr

Oh and you can always just stop/switch off the "chassis intrude" message in the BIOS. People who know a lot more about computers than myself tell me that it's a bit of a legacy feature and not something that really needs to be on nowardays. I think I switched it off on my own machine.


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Thanks Chris. I’m not able to leave my house at the moment due to Covid. I’ll order a battery now. Is there anything else that can be done ?


----------



## chrisr

Try and boot into bios - if your machine is unresponsive at first boot leave the main power switch on (power supply) and just press the 'soft' power button at the front. Hit F8 (is it F8??? - or delete??) - or whatever appropriate key when you see the ASUS prompt to enter bios.

Find "chassis intrusion" in Bios - can't remember where but the board manual will tell you - you can download that from ASUS site if you don't have it to hand. - Switch that off (it's on by default I think). Reboot.

Also you may be able to just 'clear' the CMOS, without bothering to replace battery. Not sure how on the x99 deluxe, but google it - I suspect it will be quite straightforward - a button push or similar.

Sorry if this is patronising but 2 things to mention.

1 - If you're opening your machine to work on your board - have it unplugged (!) and have an anti-static band on (or hold the case) - so that you don't fry yourself or the board. Sorry if that's obvious but you said you're not techy.

2 - those batteries are notorious for harming young children who swallow them - you mentioned the kids.

good luck!


----------



## JohnG

poetd said:


> Put the ram back in by firmly pressing it in - if you have levers on both sides, push in until both lever sides lock - if only on one side, start by pushing in firmly on the side that doesn't have the lever then the other side until the lever clicks in to lock it.
> 
> Graphics card push in firmly until you feel it actually slip INTO the slot (not just sitting in it) then lock with the slide underneath and secure the metal plate to the case again.



This ^^ is very good advice. What @poetd suggests is what some call "reseating" the RAM and graphic (or any other ) card. Make sure you turn off the computer, unplug it, then press the power button one more time before digging around in there.

I am not convinced it's the battery although that is of course a possible problem. Tip: If you previously made changes to the BIOS you may have to repeat those changes if you pull the CMOS battery out.


----------



## robgb

DanPhaseMusic said:


> I’m using a hackintosh ( I know )


Don't "apologize." Some hackintoshes can be really great.


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

I’m currently trying to re seat the ram and the graphics card but I did wonder if changes in the bios are crucial to the way a hack works ? I can see the battery on the motherboard and I’ve read by taking the battery out and putting it back you can re set the cmos but am I gonna make things worse by doing that ? Not that it could be worse than the machine not working.

thanks so much for all the help 

Dan


----------



## chrisr

If you're able to get into the bios you can just save your current profile to a usb stick before resetting.

page 3-58 in the manual:



https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA2011/X99-DELUXE/E9504_X99-DELUXE_UG_WEB.pdf


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

I can’t see anything as I can’t get the screens to come on. I’ve re seated the ram and I’m gonna have try and re seat the graphics card even though digging around in there makes me very nervous...

I do know that the guy that built the machine overclocked it. If I take the motherboard battery out without saving the bios ( as I can’t find a way to see the bios ) I assume any setting the builder made will revert to factory setting ? Will it still work as a hack if I remove and replace the battery ?

i don’t get why the screens just suddenly stopped coming on ? Man I wish I knew more about computers...

thanks again for all the help I really appreciate it


----------



## chrisr

DanPhaseMusic said:


> I assume any setting the builder made will revert to factory setting ?



Think so, yes.



DanPhaseMusic said:


> Will it still work as a hack if I remove and replace the battery ?



Don't know I'm afraid - I've never built a hack and know nothing about them really. My machines are windows.



DanPhaseMusic said:


> i don’t get why the screens just suddenly stopped coming on ?



When it gets like that I revert to vga (analogue) signals - I think your card has dual dvi on it (?) which supports VGA via a little converter that came with the card? If so that's something you can try, risk free, to stop you pulling your hair out and feel like you're at least trying things. VGA out from graphics card to VGA monitor - least amount of things that can cause problems.

Get that up, boot into bios, save bios profile, reset CMOS/replace battery, boot into Bios, restore your fancy-pants profile, fire-up and cross fingers. If all the above work then you'd probably have to reset your display settings back to whatever they should be - but that's really easy, obviously.


----------



## chrisr

poetd said:


> Your motherboard should have its own onboard graphics



Nope - x99 chipset...


----------



## JohnG

If you have the ability to substitute a different graphics card, that might be worth a try. Process of elimination.

Another possible culprit might be one (or more) "bad" RAM sticks. So if reseating everything doesn't work, try booting with just one RAM stick. If that works, add another, one by one.

Also, when you reseat, good idea if possible to make sure there is no dust in the RAM slots or on the RAM sticks themselves.


----------



## chrisr

poetd said:


> But hearing those beeps after a fail is always reassuring, you know she's alive, just poorly and she's telling you what you need to do.



Oh and that is a good shout too poetd! I forgot to say, @DanPhaseMusic , that your board has a great little number readout thingy on the board that will give you 2 digit codes that will tell you exactly what the problem(s) - is/are. It's where I started when my own x99 deluxe was having the same problem. Have the manual to hand, which contains all the codes, and when you fire up it will tell you what's wrong. It's a really good system at times like these.


----------



## jmauz

I've seen this several times in the past and it was always bad hardware. Rip everything out, clean it all off real nice, start with minimal RAM. If you still get the msg, try different RAM sticks. If it persists, it's most likely a FUBAR motherboard. If not, add one peripheral at a time until the msg comes back. Bam, that's your bad hardware.

And Bob's your uncle.


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Thanks so much for all the info and help. I’ll go through all this tonight and almost certainly be asking more questions later.


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

chrisr said:


> Oh and that is a good shout too poetd! I forgot to say, @DanPhaseMusic , that your board has a great little number readout thingy on the board that will give you 2 digit codes that will tell you exactly what the problem(s) - is/are. It's where I started when my own x99 deluxe was having the same problem. Have the manual to hand, which contains all the codes, and when you fire up it will tell you what's wrong. It's a really good system at times like these.



thanks. I’ll take another look at the motherboard.


----------



## kitekrazy

poetd said:


> Nice chipset, odd ommission.
> 
> I try keep my builds with as much legacy built in, too many bad cards over the years.
> 
> And always connect your bios speaker people.
> Yes it's ugly dangling there on its little cable, and ruining the aesthetics of your awesome cabling efforts.
> But hearing those beeps after a fail is always reassuring, you know she's alive, just poorly and she's telling you what you need to do.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good shout.



I can't remember the last time those come standard on a board. Usually you have to buy those.


----------



## jcrosby

chrisr said:


> Hi @DanPhaseMusic ,
> Sounds like you just need to replace your CMOS battery. Go and buy a 2032 battery (3v lithium watch batteries - probably in a pack of 4) - and google how to replace it on that board.



It does appear to be battery related. Found video of someone resolving the same issue by replacing the battery. I'd also call ASUS (if even available currently?) since this sounds like a board issue more than anything else...


----------



## jcrosby

DanPhaseMusic said:


> Will it still work as a hack if I remove and replace the battery ?



No reason it shouldn't at all. You may have to reset your bios settings, this may mean some fiddling, but no reason why you shouldn't be able to find the correct bios settings for the board online somewhere, with little effort. And you may have to manually reset the boot volume. Again, easy as pie...

The OS/drive itself doesn't care if the battery died. The bootloader itself is on the OS volume so once you tell the board which drive is the boot volume Clover should take over and do its thing just fine... Even if you had to replace the board it would be fairly easy to resurrect. Since this isn't a mac you have full control over whether your hackintosh lives or breathes 

Do you clone your OS drive regularly? Definitely important regardless of it being a mac or a hac...


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

I do clone the drive regularly with ccc. I’ll try the battery tomorrow. I’d read that just taking in out, waiting a few minutes and then putting it back might do it ?

I’m absolutely clueless when it comes to bios tweaking so the prospect of trying to reset a hack fills me with terror.

Ive gotta call it a day now but thanks very, very much to everyone who’s tried to help today.

Dan x


----------



## jcrosby

DanPhaseMusic said:


> I do clone the drive regularly with ccc. I’ll try the battery tomorrow. I’d read that just taking in out, waiting a few minutes and then putting it back might do it ?
> 
> I’m absolutely clueless when it comes to bios tweaking so the prospect of trying to reset a hack fills me with terror.
> 
> Ive gotta call it a day now but thanks very, very much to everyone who’s tried to help today.
> 
> Dan x


Well as they say on the IT crowd.. "Have you tried turning if off and on again"? Really though there actually is some logic to that. Certain types of electronic components can hold a charge. Removing the battery for a minute or two _can_ solve an issue in the case of a hiccup.

THAT SAID.. since you mentioned you've seen this message multiple times vs being a one time thing it's more likely the battery's been close to failing and finally officially failed. It isn't any more complicated than changing a guitar string.... And there's no reason that fiddling with the bios should freak you out. Again this isn't more complicated than changing a guitar string. It's just part of life given your situation...


Once you remove or replace your battery: 

Your board should let you save your bios (Never owned an x99), save the initial bios state.

Then follow the steps below: https://nickwoodhams.com/x99-hackintosh-guide-asus-bios-settings/
(Mind you I don't have an x99 hackintosh! That's how prominent information about your machine is! you can totally do this...)

Once you make the settings in the guide save that as a bios setting and call it something like hackintosh. Assuming that guide is still relevant your machine should boot up again and that should be that.

If not visit any of the common hackintosh resource sites and start asking questions. (Maybe your bios has been updated since the guide I found). No need to panic, as the saying goes... GIYF.

Basically you have shell shock because your machine won't boot. I was there early on. And because you didn't build it yourself you probably feel like getting a hackintosh to run is some kind of voodoo when it's not.. The guy who built yours learned via the web too.... 

Finally remember that the error has no relationship to your machine being a hackintosh. A failing/failed battery doesn't care what OS you run. Unless your board actually failed It's totally resurrectable. (Even then ....... also resurrectable.)

Just take a breath, remind yourself that the machine is bootable, and roll up your sleeves once you feel like your ready to make/save bios changes.

Also don't forget that this forum is filled with people who build their own machines.. Aside from the OS being different there is *no* actual difference.. Like any PC you may need to make a bios adjustments, and there are many competent people here who've made bios adjustments...


----------



## jonnybutter

DanPhaseMusic said:


> I’m currently trying to re seat the ram and the graphics card but I did wonder if changes in the bios are crucial to the way a hack works ?



That's a very big 'yes'! When I had problems with my Hack, I often was able to fix them fiddling around with the BIOS settings. Good luck


----------



## chrisr

jonnybutter said:


> That's a very big 'yes'! When I had problems with my Hack, I often was able to fix them fiddling around with the BIOS settings. Good luck



Purely out of interest Jonny (I've never had a Hack) - what sort of problems, and what sort of Bios changes are we talking about here? - Are these just minor bios tweaks for performance related issues or big "the OS won't mount unless you do this" type show-stoppers?


----------



## jonnybutter

chrisr said:


> Purely out of interest Jonny (I've never had a Hack) - what sort of problems, and what sort of Bios changes are we talking about here? - Are these just minor bios tweaks for performance related issues or big "the OS won't mount unless you do this" type show-stoppers?



I can't remember now exactly what the settings were - it's been a few years - but yes, BIOS settings would change or get corrupted and the computer wouldn't boot into Mac OS at all. I found help at https://www.tonymacx86.com/ but I understand they aren't the only good resource anymore. Sorry I can't be more helpful, but MacOS bit of a moving target. This was 2014.

My general advice is to read the hack forums and docs and just try things. And it could be something else, like the battery or stuff others have flagged, so - trial and error. Good luck


----------



## chrisr

Thanks Jonny for the reply, a friend of mine has long been considering a hack and he'll be interested to know that sort of thing.


----------



## jcrosby

chrisr said:


> Purely out of interest Jonny (I've never had a Hack) - what sort of problems, and what sort of Bios changes are we talking about here? - Are these just minor bios tweaks for performance related issues or big "the OS won't mount unless you do this" type show-stoppers?


The bios has to be set a very specific way or the bootloader fails. That said the changes are typically vanilla stuff that shouldn't have much if any affect in Windows either... On my board its adjusting 10 or so "mandatory" settings on I believe 3 pages in total. Once set and saved the bootloader's happy and it runs like any other machine.

Basically about your comment above, if your friends interested they should search for, and start with a "golden build". These work exactly as if bought from Apple and are hardware specific. If they pick the right parts and follow the build guide to the letter it will boot macos without fail. The "hacking" part is where all the actual hard work is done... Everything else might as well be any PC..

The three biggest factors are the board, bios settings, and GPU. If you pick the right components, (Based on a build known to be solid and stable) then bios tweaks become the critical factor in getting it to boot macos the first time. A _golden build_ and a good guide should have them booting macos in a few days. For 1st timers the main thing they should be aware of is start easy and don't wander off the recommended parts list.


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Hi

So now I’ve tried re seating the ram, re seating the graphics card, putting the ram back in one stick at a time and changing the cmos battery. Still just black screens. Thanks very much for all the advice so far.

Is there anything else to try ?

Im now weighing up what to do next. I’ve found these guys on ebay


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/i7-9700K-8-Core-4-7GHz-32GB-3000MHz-500GB-SSD-8GB-RX580-Hackintosh-Mojave/262729459134?hash=item3d2be565be:g:JkMAAOSwOj5cn1bB
I’ve emailed the guy he seems pretty good. Anyone dealt with them ?

Of course there’s always Apple. I’m currently using 3x1tb ssd’s and 1 4tb sata 3 for sample libs. The price of the ram and storage on the new pros is eye watering to say the least. I’ve looked at black magic docks maybe instead of the larger internal storage...

Any more help or thoughts greatly appreciated...

Dan


----------



## KallumS

No offense but if you don't know much about computers a Hackintosh is not for you. They require a lot of fiddling around when setting up and updating - and Apple will force you to update eventually. As you've seen, when they stop working there's not much you can do if you don't know about the BIOS, or command prompt, or Clover, etc. You might upgrade to a new version of MacOS only to find the audio doesn't work, or USB ports aren't recognised. Then you'd need to look at the kexts and build guides to work out what's wrong.

You can buy an off-the-shelf Hackintosh and pay someone to support it, but I seriously think it would be cheaper and easier for you just to buy a Mac with AppleCare.

You can usually upgrade the RAM yourself in a Mac, check the model you're interested in. The storage I'm not sure about, but you can always check if an Apple certified shop will upgrade it for you or use external storage.

I'm surprised that your machine ran for 2 years without issue, Hackintoshs are a notorious pain in the ass.


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

After much trying I’ve decided my computer is dead. I need to be up and running quick and after much thought and not wanting to find myself in this situation again I’ve decided it’s probably time to go legit. Looking at it all I’m thinking it’s gotta be a Mac Pro. It’s not cheap but I’m doing this for a living so I can’t be in this position again.
So my final request for advice.....

My hack was an i75820 overclocked to 4.7 ish with 64g ram and I loved it. Massive trailer tunes, 150 tracks + and the thing never broke a sweat. Is the base level 3.5 8 core Mac Pro with 96g ram gonna be fine/better ? I can get one quick and just be done with it for the next 6 years instead of disappearing down the hack hole again.
Thanks again to everyone who chipped in with advice. I promise no more questions after this....

thanks again

Dan


----------



## jcrosby

DanPhaseMusic said:


> Hi
> 
> So now I’ve tried re seating the ram, re seating the graphics card, putting the ram back in one stick at a time and changing the cmos battery. Still just black screens. Thanks very much for all the advice so far.
> 
> Is there anything else to try ?
> 
> Im now weighing up what to do next. I’ve found these guys on ebay
> 
> 
> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/i7-9700K-8-Core-4-7GHz-32GB-3000MHz-500GB-SSD-8GB-RX580-Hackintosh-Mojave/262729459134?hash=item3d2be565be:g:JkMAAOSwOj5cn1bB
> I’ve emailed the guy he seems pretty good. Anyone dealt with them ?
> 
> Of course there’s always Apple. I’m currently using 3x1tb ssd’s and 1 4tb sata 3 for sample libs. The price of the ram and storage on the new pros is eye watering to say the least. I’ve looked at black magic docks maybe instead of the larger internal storage...
> 
> Any more help or thoughts greatly appreciated...
> 
> Dan



*EDIT*: Missed your last post...

If you go Mac Pro don't skimp on the CPU. The value per cost of the 8 core is very poor. The 12-16 core CPUs are the sweet spot for audio. Once you get past 16 cores single core speeds go down which is fine for rendering video and offline processing, but not ideal for a heavy real-time work load like running a bunch of VIs...

As far as arguing in favor of less expensive machines there's always a trade off with Apple. All-in-one machines like the imac or mini will never perform at their advertised maximum speed for extended periods of time without some kind of sacrifice. Either the machine just can't hold the advertised turbo boost, or the fans will spin up for long periods of time which isn't fun if the machine is next to or nearby you...

While the Xeons aren't as _fast_ as their i7/i9 little brothers the Mac Pro actually will achieve its maximum turbo boost without any sacrifices. The Xeon argument's basically a wash because of the thermal design of Apple's consumer machines. They're simply too small and/or too poorly cooled to hit and hold those turbo boost speeds.

Seeing that you run 150-ish track trailer templates I wouldn't go near the mini. It's really not much more than a desktop version of a macbook and you won't get 150 VIs playing in real time. Not to mention that the 16" macbook scores higher.

You should look at the Logic Benchmark on Gearslutz before deciding on any machine. That's a really solid real world indicator of how well one machine pairs against another. The mini for example shows no more tracks than the current MacBook.

*Mac Mini*: 80-88 tracks.
*16" MacBook core i9*: 102 tracks
*imac 9900k*: 144 Tracks
*Hackintosh 9900k*: 154 tracks.
*8 core imac pro*: 166 tracks
*16 Core Mac Pro*: 275 tracks










Anyone interested in my new benchmark to replace the dated Evan's test? - Gearspace.com


Hi... I have created a new benchmark with scultpure at 96K, playing 4 notes in sequence over 16 bars looped.. Very pleasant sound, just the default sculpture loads with, all volumes have been adjusted sensibly, and I have put a Logic limiter on the master



www.gearslutz.com


----------



## KallumS

DanPhaseMusic said:


> After much trying I’ve decided my computer is dead. I need to be up and running quick and after much thought and not wanting to find myself in this situation again I’ve decided it’s probably time to go legit. Looking at it all I’m thinking it’s gotta be a Mac Pro. It’s not cheap but I’m doing this for a living so I can’t be in this position again.
> So my final request for advice.....
> 
> My hack was an i75820 overclocked to 4.7 ish with 64g ram and I loved it. Massive trailer tunes, 150 tracks + and the thing never broke a sweat. Is the base level 3.5 8 core Mac Pro with 96g ram gonna be fine/better ? I can get one quick and just be done with it for the next 6 years instead of disappearing down the hack hole again.
> Thanks again to everyone who chipped in with advice. I promise no more questions after this....
> 
> thanks again
> 
> Dan



Before you put any money down it's worth shopping the different configurations on the Apple website. The Xeon W processor in the Mac Pro should perform better than the i7 5820k based on benchmarks, but it doesn't overclock as high. The base Mac Pro is actually quite weak for the price, things only get better once you start adding the very expensive upgrades.

For example, if you configure the iMac up to a decent i9 spec you can get a powerful machine for under half the price (£2649): 

3.6GHz 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz 
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory 
Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory 
2TB Fusion Drive storage (SSD is available, forgot to add it) 
The 2019 iMac allows you to insert up to 128gb of your own RAM.

Or, if you don't need to screen, the Mac Mini could be configured like so (£1,899): 

3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz) 
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 
Intel UHD Graphics 630 
2TB SSD storage 
However I would be worried about the weak graphics and heat for pro level tasks.

There's an argument to be had over workstation level CPUs (Xeon) over consumer CPUs (i7/i9) but I don't believe it makes too much of a difference.

Plus there's the iMac Pro, not sure how much value you get for that over the Mac Pro with similar configuration but it's worth a look.

The Mac Pro is incredibly expensive but I think Apple has priced it that way because of its expandability. If you want something that's going to last a long time (10+ years perhaps) that would be the one to get.

You could also try to get someone to look at your Hackintosh, it might not be completely dead. In fact, unless it was the PSU that went it's highly unlikely that all of your components are damaged.

Just some food for thought.


----------



## jonnybutter

KallumS said:


> The Mac Pro is incredibly expensive but I think Apple has priced it that way because of its expandability. If you want something that's going to last a long time (10+ years perhaps) that would be the one to get.
> 
> You could also try to get someone to look at your Hackintosh, it might not be completely dead. In fact, unless it was the PSU that went it's highly unlikely that all of your components are damaged.
> 
> Just some food for thought.



Agree with JCrosby and KallumS - and definitely, if you can, get someone to take a look at the Hack. Even if you decide to get a real mac anyway, you don't need to be rushed into it. Impossible to say for sure of course, but there's a good chance it's fine. The odds it's a software rather than hardware problem are very good.

EDIT: FWIW, I'm using a 6 core trashcan and am thinking about putting a 10 or 12 core CPU and more RAM in it. I'm running way fewer VIs than you, so that should hold me for a while. Or I'll build another hack.


----------



## jcrosby

DanPhaseMusic said:


> After much trying I’ve decided my computer is dead. I need to be up and running quick and after much thought and not wanting to find myself in this situation again I’ve decided it’s probably time to go legit. Looking at it all I’m thinking it’s gotta be a Mac Pro. It’s not cheap but I’m doing this for a living so I can’t be in this position again.
> So my final request for advice.....
> 
> My hack was an i75820 overclocked to 4.7 ish with 64g ram and I loved it. Massive trailer tunes, 150 tracks + and the thing never broke a sweat. Is the base level 3.5 8 core Mac Pro with 96g ram gonna be fine/better ? I can get one quick and just be done with it for the next 6 years instead of disappearing down the hack hole again.
> Thanks again to everyone who chipped in with advice. I promise no more questions after this....
> 
> thanks again
> 
> Dan


Btw there's a couple more things you should try before assuming all hope is lost. Removing the cmos battery and unplugging it and letting it sit unpowered for at least a few minutes fully unpowered. Like I mentioned some components can hold a charge, without getting into it there is absolute logic behind unplugging a machine for a few minutes then powering it back on, with a battery in the mix there's equally as much logic to pulling all sources of electricity and letting it sit unpowered... No harm in trying.

Also I don't recall, does you machine have a speaker and if so do you hear any beep codes?

And do you know how to check your bios to see if your boot volume is actually still selected?
(This above anything else is the first place to start.)

Finally any chance you updated the OS before the machine refused to boot?

Either way you should call ASUS before giving up hope completely. (Assuming they offer phone support currently?!) If not at least email their support. They may very well have an answer for you or at least be able to let you know if your board is more likely to have failed than not...


----------



## Thundercat

^^Excellent advice.

You will kick yourself if it turns out to be something easily and cheaply fixable, and then you drop a few grand...

Good luck!

Mike


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Thanks everyone. After talking to a few local computer places on the phone I’m thinking this ones dead. I think I’ve decided to invest in a Mac Pro but I’m not entirely which spec to go for. I can get the price down a fair bit by going for a 12 core with 32g of ram and the minimum internal storage. Getting another 32g ram from OWC and fitting it myself and then I’m a bit stuck on what to do for external storage. I’m looking on OWC at the thunder bay mini ? I don’t need a ton of room and I’ve already got 3 1tb ssd’s i could throw straight in that have the majority of my sample libs on. Do enclosures like this run just as well as internal storage would ?

thanks

Dan


----------



## jcrosby

DanPhaseMusic said:


> Thanks everyone. After talking to a few local computer places on the phone I’m thinking this ones dead. I think I’ve decided to invest in a Mac Pro but I’m not entirely which spec to go for. I can get the price down a fair bit by going for a 12 core with 32g of ram and the minimum internal storage. Getting another 32g ram from OWC and fitting it myself and then I’m a bit stuck on what to do for external storage. I’m looking on OWC at the thunder bay mini ? I don’t need a ton of room and I’ve already got 3 1tb ssd’s i could throw straight in that have the majority of my sample libs on. Do enclosures like this run just as well as internal storage would ?
> 
> thanks
> 
> Dan


My old cheesgrater didn't like mixing and matching RAM because of Apple's use of ECC memory. Granted I don't know much about the current Mac pro, but I'd at least look into it before ordering any additional memory. Check macrumors forum, someone there should have an answer for you.

Also be sure everything you'll need to run on the system volume fits on that 256 drive, (and account for the future!) as far as I'm aware the system drive can't be replaced by you due to it being tethered to the T2 chip. If you find it isn't enough space down the road you have to deal with Apple or an ASP and pay Apple's price, and pretty safe to assume some kind of service fee on top.

The thunderbay's expensive and not necessary if you don't need RAID, (part of its price tag..) Just get a couple 3.5" PCIe SSD host cards. the dual-drive one below's on the pricier side, you can find the same thing from another for about half the price with some digging. (Although the extra USB-c port's a nice touch.) Or you could buy three of the single drive cards.










Fusion Dual 2.5-inch SSD RAID (with hardware RAID controller and 10Gbps USB-C port • Add your own SSDs)


Dual 2.5-inch SSD PCIe 3.0 card with hardware RAID controller, plus 10Gbps USB-C port. Add your own SSDs.




www.sonnetstore.com





https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1213083-REG/owc_other_world_computing_owcssdacl6g_s_accelsior_s_storage_expansion.html


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Thanks for the advice I’m thinking the 1tb system drive might be a smarter bet. What do you think of the black magic docks for an external solution ?thanks

dan


----------



## jonnybutter

The Blackmagic dock is great, but it's Thunderbolt 2 only, if that matters to you. Mine has been running without a hiccup for 3 years.

EDIT: Wrong. The BM Dock is USB-C. Has been working very well for me though


----------



## jcrosby

DanPhaseMusic said:


> Thanks for the advice I’m thinking the 1tb system drive might be a smarter bet.


Definitely think it is. I blew way past 256 GB for a system volume several years back. If you can afford it there's nothing wrong with giving yourself room to grow.. Plus it's actually better for the drive. SSDs decline in performance once you start to get close to filling them up.


----------



## Thundercat

jcrosby said:


> Definitely think it is. I blew way past 256 GB for a system volume several years back. If you can afford it there's nothing wrong with giving yourself room to grow.. Plus it's actually better for the drive. SSDs decline in performance once you start to get close to filling them up.


^Utterly essential.

ive got a 500GB SSD in my Mac and I struggle with room. I got that Mac in 2013. Don’t do that to yourself.

hell if 2TB isn’t too expensive I’d consider that too.


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Yeah that’s all good advice. I’m just trying to weigh up the cost difference between going for the full 8TB onboard storage or going external. The 8TB would be enough for now but it is expensive. Having said that 8tbs of SSD isn’t exactly cheap in any format. I’m very tempted by having it all in one box . I only actually need one kidney...


----------



## jcrosby

One thing to consider is if for any reason the drive failed you'd have one hell of a restore to deal with.
Plus ALL of your content is tethered to the T2 chip. That means that the chip in your machine, (and your machine alone) is the only decryption key for that drive. If that T2 chip went for any reason and you didn't have something backed up it's gone *forever*, (along with $2600).

As someone who has a T2 MacBook, (and hates that ****ing chip ) you owe it to yourself to at least read through the links below:









What Does the T2 Chip Mean for Mac Usage? - TidBITS


Apple's custom T2 chip brings better security to recent Macs—and we all like security! But the T2 also makes Macs harder to repair or use with non-Apple operating systems, and it can create nightmares for DJs and musicians. So is a T2 Mac right for you?




tidbits.com







Can a MacBook or other Apple computer with broken T2 security chip be repaired?


----------



## DanPhaseMusic

Mmmm....doesn’t sound great but I’m not doing much live recording 95% is vi/audio playback so the t2 issues don’t sound like the end of the world.

In terms of storage what’s the difference between a black magic dock style solution and an internal PCI solution in terms of real time playback. I’ve currently got 3 1tb ssd internal drives and have more than happy with the speeds although I couldn’t say what they actually are...

At the moment I’m thinking the 16 core with 48g ram and a 4 tb drive. Then buy another 48g ram and a black magic dock, stick my 3 1tb ssd’s in that and get another 2tb drive to use for other stuff whilst using the internal drive for projects.

Back up the whole thing on Backblaze and time machine the main 4tb drive ?

Man there’s so much stuff to consider. I just wanna write something tunes....

Thanks again to everyone who’s helped. Without the good people here I’d have been a hot mess.

Thanks

Dan


----------

