Is it still possible to replace the logic board in my 2012 12 core Mac Pro? If so, WHERE can I have it done?

mgraffeo wrote:

I am purchasing a USB with 14 Mac OS operating systems on it. My 2012 was running High Sierra, which is on this USB. Should I wait for it to arrive (from Ebay)?

Careful there. Although Apple once sold USB drives containing Lion, and USB drives containing Mountain Lion, Apple never sold USB drives containing installers for 14 versions of macOS.

That means that whoever is selling this USB drive is selling unauthorized copies of Mac OS X / macOS, and that there might be some risk of these copies having a few unadvertised "features" (i.e., bundled malware).

A safe place to get many old copies of Mac OS X / macOS is

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

although you will need a working copy of the operating system to use these installers, and may need the help of another Mac or PC to download them if your current operating system is too old to access modern https sites.

the symptom you describe does NOT correlate with bad bankplane Board. That the computer shuts off could indicate that the image on the drive is damaged, but the computer is likely working fine to determine that.

But someone who fixes only laptops all day might think so. Most of the logic in these Macs is on the slide-out processor shelf.

there are MANY more 'moving parts' in a Mac Pro 42 lb tower. replacing the backplane board is only a solution to ONE issue that comes to mind -- bad temp sensor.

The side door is not interlocked. you can remove it completely and find out exactly what red light is blinking.

also, does the power indicator light blink or on solid?

You CAN'T delete MacOS Base System, and a disc does not contain ONLY MacOS Base System.

It is not on any ordinary drive. it is mounted as a RAM disk when needed.

What is supposed to be on those DVDs is a Bootable Installer. That means when it starts up, it will likely say Recovery, or possibly just Installer.

If all that was offered as a place to install was MacOS Base System, you did not properly initialize your drive yet. Choose Disk Utility off the Utilities menu in the Installer. You may have to back up, or possibly even reboot to get the Utilities menu to show. answer only the 'What language' question, and wait a minute for the Utilites menu to show up.

Choose Disk Utility.Select the proposed Install destination drive, by its immutable manufacturer-given name, and give it a name you like or Macintosh HD, and choose ERASE. You want GUID partition Map and MacOS Extended (journaled) format.

please tell us about your symptoms.

The Mac Pro 2012 42 lb tower is only RARELY in need of a backplane board, and although that is possible, it is NOT likely to be the solution. The backplane board has very little of the system logic on it.

I’d suggest having a look at the mac pro technician guide available at http://tim.id.au ( go to Laptops section) .. otherwise seek out an AASP in your area… if you can’t find one, go to apple.com, pick your country then go to support , then “repair” then find an AASP. I’ve found this link which says it’s from Greenvale, NY : https://www.casey-computer.com/local-repair-greenvale-ny, i’d give ‘em a call/contact them first. Doesn’t look like they offer in-home repair though

John B

so what you likely need to fix this is a different drive from which to boot. Then you can use the full power of MacOS to try some rescue software to retrieve files off the current Boot Drive.

The other alternative (if you had been making backups all along) is the Erase that drive and install a new copy of MacOS on it. Erasing the drive bring it back into being Mountable, but discards all the files on that drive.

the bigger issue is that Mac does not have Recovery Utilities in its ROM.

Do you have a 10.6 release DVD?

Do you have another Mac?

do you have a backup drive?

do you have a pre-made Bootable USB-stick installer?

You’re welcome, mgraffeo… if you do have to take your mac pro in for service… i’d recommend a dolly, a moving blanket and a few bungie cords… put the blanket on the back of dolly, move the mac pro onto it, wrap it with the blanket and secure it with the bungie cords..

john b

<< However...if the Mac Pro won't stay on for more than - maybe - 3 minutes, what can I do with what I have? >>

you are mis-understanding what is happening.

YOU DO NOT need a new backplane board. The guys who told you that were mistaken. Your Mac is working perfectly, but its boot drive is corrupted, so it can't boot.

I won't stay on any longer than that because the drive you told it to boot from is incapable of booting, so it shuts off under Program control to avoid wasting power when it can do nothing more.

Your Mac Pro has four SATA drive bays inside, any of which can accept an additional drive. It can also connect to USB or FireWire external drive enclosures. ANY drive over about 50 GB will suffice for testing. (NOT USB-sticks, they are far too slow to RUN MacOS, but fine for installing.)

With one of your DVDs, you should be able to install a new copy of MacOS on a different drive. That would get your Mac working and demonstrate yes it CAN run for far longer if you give it work it can do.

I did not say SSD drive. Any drive with a SATA interface you have lying around will likely do the trick. A SCSI drive will not do. That drive can be installed in a bay or in an external enclosure. Again, whatever is already at hand.

The best to install in 10.11 El Capitan, because that is the oldest MacOS that can make an internet connction.

to install, you first need to run Disk Utility and erase the disk. Then install MacOS onto the newly erased disk.

if any of your discs are Installer discs, they should have Recovery as well, and can run Disk Utility.

MacOS Base System, often on a disk image under 2GB in size, is the completely stripped MacOS that runs Recovery and Installer. you will see it often, but its drive is not a place you can install anything.

Once you have ANY macOS running, you can get 10.11 El Capitan off the Internet. Then you can download any of the others.

<< Thanks for the info on the Base System - I won't use it. >>

Au contraire, you HAVE to use it. The ONLY way to install MacOS is by using MacOS Base System -- as the system you are temporarily running, just not the install destination.

don't wait for anything -- get to work with the tools at hand!

FULL MacOS does NOT run off a DVD. A DVD contains ONLY Installer and Utilities (powered by MacOS Base System) which you can use to Install MacOS onto a drive you have prepared.

You need to have a drive ready to accept a new copy of MacOS, which any of those discs SHOULD be able to Install when you boot from one of them.

Full MacOS requires about 9GB of additional drive space (not counting about 15GB of stuff installed) just to start up. That is way bigger than a DVD.

<< I have put both Mac OS 10.10.5 and 10.11 on my (previously erased) Samsung 2TB drive. >>

so do you have a running MacOS now?

You are supposed to hold the Option key at startup while you BOOT from one of those DVDs, and when you do, they are supposed to come up with an Installer screen and allow you to install.

As I said earlier once you can get ANY version of MacOS running off a drive, you can get access to the rest in a few more steps.

mgraffeo wrote:

The progress bar got within a ¼" of finishing - and the computer shut down.

it is completely ordinary expected behavior that at about that point, the mac does a software-induced RESTART.

If it shut down instead, try starting it up again, and it may finish the install.

mgraffeo wrote:

I have put both Mac OS 10.10.5 and 10.11 on my (previously erased) Samsung 2TB drive.

What exactly did you put on the SSD? The downloaded DMG file? That won't help you at all unless you can have a working host Mac generally from 2007-2015 where you can run the included .pkg file to extract the real installer app into the Applications folder of the host Mac.

Here is an Apple article for downloading various versions of macOS installer including multiple steps needed for extracting the real macOS 10.10 & 10.11 installers from the .pkg/DMG into the Applications folder so that you can use the Terminal commands to actually make the bootable USB installer.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Also, my 2016 MacBook Pro says that it cannot download older versions of OS and stopped the download! Now, I will try my 2009 Mac Pro!

The 2016 MBPro should be able to do download both the macOS 10.13 and 10.14 installers.

However, you cannot run the installer app after the download completes if you have a later version of macOS installed. And running the installer app is not necessary since you only need to use the Terminal commands once the full installer app has been downloaded into the Applications folder.

Make sure the size of the downloaded installer found within the Applications folder is about 6.x GB in size. If it is only about 25MB in size, then it is only a stub installer. Let us know if this is the case since we will need to offer you instructions for using the command line to download the full 10.14.x installer.

Edit: Forget my reference to macOS 10.15 Catalina since a Mac Pro 2012 can only run up to macOS 10.14 Mojave. However everything else still applies. I've edited my response accordingly.

Edit 2: Changed reference of 2007-2025 to 2007-2015 since there is no way a 2025 Mac can run 10.11.