Mac Pro startup button issue

[Loren Miller]

Hm! For the first time, I depressed the startup button on the front of my Mac Pro (early 2009) and it starts the fan and drives whirring, then phhtt! goes out with a little red flash visible through the grating. Happened several times.

So I open the door and blow on the motherboard, in case a spider with metal legs got fused in there somewhere.

That must have been it-- started normally, but took extra long time on the spinning railroad tracks.

Should I be worried? Anyone else see this? Symptom of...?

Still under AppleCare.

[fracai]

Still under AppleCare? Bring it in. At the least, you'll have the issue documented in case it turns into a problem shortly after your AppleCare runs out.

The red flash could have just been an LED, though I'm not sure that there are any inside like that. That alone is enough to trigger warnings in my mind.

Taking an extra long time can just be an indication that it's checking the hard drive for errors after detecting an unclean startup / shutdown. Have you rebooted since? Does it still take a long time?

[Loren Miller]

No, after the first, bootup is normal. I did a TechTool Pro scan as well, everything passed.

Yes, I will take advantage of AppleCare as soon as current assignments are complete, assuming it doesn't become a recurring issue!

[Loren Miller]

Another weird moment where pressing the start up button on the tower starts nothing but the fan!

I open the door and I see a red light appears in one of the memory module trays.

I close up, shut down, press it again, it boots normally but invokes the Memory Slot utility-- the dialog pops up with the message "Memory cards are installed in the recommended configuration"-- to that effect.

* sigh *

[Loren Miller]

Whoa. Spontaneous shutdown in the middle of a YouTube video. Crap. My baby is ill. This has to go in. And naturally it's a holiday weekend.

Anyone else experience this?

[Loren Miller]

Changing thread title to Diary of a Dying Mac Pro.

I've followed Apple's procedure and reset the SMC (System Management Controller.)

I have also carefully vacuumed out dust building on the heat sinks.

On startup I get red LED flashes and shutdowns. and when it finally "takes" I get weird messages that my 6GB of RAM are not correctly installed- except that i have TWELVE in the three slots of each side of the dual Quad-Core-- half of which appear to be no longer recognized.

The tower is now starting up with red LED's lit on the motherboard near the power switch and on the RAM tray.

Hello, AppleCare. And just in time. I have two months left!!

[DeltaMac]

Have you tried reseating the RAM cards?
The memory LEDs are next to each slot, so begin with any that have a red LED. That may indicate that the memory may not be seated properly.

Please be sure that power is OFF, before attempting to reseat the memory cards.

[Loren Miller]

Thanks, Delta-

Good one! Did so but this seems more systemic-- no more LED on the RAM tray, now persistent by the power switch.

Machine is boxed and ready to go to the shop Tuesday. What the heck, you got AppleCare, it needs AppleCare.

I am communicating on my still-troubled G4 which, once I get in, it functions, thankfully.

Will report back any wisdom for the record.

[Loren Miller]

Apple authorized service center guy tells me the entire CPU tray is being swapped out. I told him look at the motherboard too, that's where the first red light came on.

Now my little white MacBook is ooing haywire. I guess I'll start another thread. Somebody must be bombing my home with microwaves or something. I'm going to start lining the place with tin foil.