Mac Pro shows black screen with white stripes, stops at 40%

I have a 2012/3 MacPro (cylinder shape with the latest possible system) which is now suddenly showing a black screen with some evenly spaced white stripes down the screen. Progress bar gets to about 40% and stops there. Nothing else.


Suggestions or prognosis?

Without yet a service, any idea if the data is retrievable?


cheers 👍

Posted on Nov 12, 2025 3:57 PM

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Posted on Nov 12, 2025 7:17 PM

that does appear to follow the computer, not the display.


try safe mode, as I described above.

Because it does not load the accelerated display drivers, it MIGHT complete startup, and allow you to enable File Sharing or Screen Sharing to another Mac.


if safe mode does not complete startup, on an older machine like the 2013 Mac Pro, you can still invoke Target Disk Mode, which is implemented in the older Mac's ROM, and does not require MacOS to boot up.


Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support




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Nov 12, 2025 7:17 PM in response to attidude

that does appear to follow the computer, not the display.


try safe mode, as I described above.

Because it does not load the accelerated display drivers, it MIGHT complete startup, and allow you to enable File Sharing or Screen Sharing to another Mac.


if safe mode does not complete startup, on an older machine like the 2013 Mac Pro, you can still invoke Target Disk Mode, which is implemented in the older Mac's ROM, and does not require MacOS to boot up.


Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support




Nov 28, 2025 10:10 PM in response to attidude

Those pictures look like either a bad GPU/video card or bad memory.


Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected.


FYI, the GPU/video card on the Mac Pro (Late 2013) "trashcan" model had a very high rate of failure. If it is the GPU, then don't bother repairing it. Personally I don't think it is worth spending any money on it at all for multiple reasons.

Nov 12, 2025 7:22 PM in response to attidude

<< So plugging into a working newer Mac might work, but I still have data on the internal Mac HD. Which could come from Tine-machine? >>


The Internal drive in a 2013 Mac Pro is a proprietary SSD, which will be difficult to move to another enclosure. but if you have Time Machine backups, you don't need the original.


if you have been backing up, a copy of your data is on the Time Machine drive, and could be restored all-at-once to a different Mac, or you could restore individual files or folders.



Nov 12, 2025 4:13 PM in response to attidude

"Mac Pro shows black screen with white stripes, stops at 40%: I have a 2012/3 MacPro (cylinder shape with the latest possible system) which is now suddenly showing a black screen with some evenly spaced white stripes down the screen. Progress bar gets to about 40% and stops there. Nothing else. Suggestions or prognosis? Without yet a service, any idea if the data is retrievable?"

-------


Retrieving Data from a Mac Pro:

Seems your display may be failing. So, do you have access to another external screen, from a monitor to a projector? If so, connect to it, and mirror your screen to it, through use of you keyboard. Try Either of the Following:

  • [Command + F1]
  • [Command + FN + F1]

Nov 12, 2025 6:49 PM in response to attidude

"So plugging into a working newer Mac might work, but I still have data on the internal Mac HD. Which could come from Tine-machine?"

-------


Thanks for clarifying all of that.


Recovering this:

I'm not so certain you could remove the hard drive, but, if you could, purchasing a Hard Drive Toaster may allow you to get this data --if not erased nor failed. From Amazon: hard drive toaster

Nov 29, 2025 6:45 AM in response to attidude

<< Then just stops like before at the 30% mark… for hours…. >>


That MIGHT be what is actually happening.

But it is just as likely that the software changes to a different screen buffer, but the display hardware never switches. so you see the same screen, but the software might have finished loading and you have no way to tell and no way to tell it to straighten up and refresh the display.

Nov 29, 2025 12:01 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant,

Yes I thot that might be a possibility. Some type of screen driver error.


Amyway, something interesting )or strange) - I chose a different wi-fi internet connection (hotspot from my mobile phone data) just to see if there was a difference. And errr the internet OS install seems to complete. The screen went black then totally white and about 30 seconds later the Mac Pro restarted. And fully started up past the progress bar (don’t ask me why or how).

So I immediately did a disk utility check and there were some errors which I guess it repaired?! 🤷‍♂️ screen went funny a few times (pixelated and froze etc) Checked a few other items and disks. Seems ok.

restarted few times more and seems ok except: it’s now just logging in with no account or user credentials check.

I opened the user account system to uncheck and recheck all the user login attributes but it still seems to bypass the user account validation… hmmm.


Now starting to investigate to now migrate and or backup all data.

(oh and the disk utility shows errors on the Time Machine- elements folder hmmm)


Thanks all.

Nov 12, 2025 6:10 PM in response to TheLittles

Yeah it’s been on a surge protector its whole life. All devices are disconnected. I have/had Time Machine backing up to separate drive.


Seems I can’t even get to select a boot disc?


Can I boot or connect to the Mac HD from another Mac?


looking to anything here…


been so reliable up to now. Working fine one day - next day this. No warning at all.


Sorry about all the questions.. been a while since I had to get into the nitty gritty or restore and recover.


Thanks for help so far…


Nov 12, 2025 6:34 PM in response to TheLittles

Im assuming I need to recover the OS.

OR boot up from somewhere else so I can access my drive ( I only have an older iMac which has its own issues.


You might be right, but I made no config changes or downloads recently (apart from auto Mac system updates).


So plugging into a working newer Mac might work, but I still have data on the internal Mac HD. Which could come from Tine-machine?

And I need to buy / get another Mac ($$$!!)


Mac Pro shows black screen with white stripes, stops at 40%

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