Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > hard drive bays 3 & 4 don't work (Mac Pro early 2008)

hard drive bays 3 & 4 don't work (Mac Pro early 2008)
Thread Tools
JDubya
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2007
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 9, 2012, 10:54 AM
 
It has been this way since it was new but the person who had it originally only used two drives so he never bothered to get it fixed. Have any of you heard of this happening? Is it an easy fix? I already tried reseating the cables but that didn't do anything
     
SierraDragon
Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Truckee, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 9, 2012, 11:05 AM
 
I would suspect software. What does Disk Utility have to say about it?
     
JDubya  (op)
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2007
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 9, 2012, 11:07 AM
 
Originally Posted by SierraDragon View Post
I would suspect software. What does Disk Utility have to say about it?
Nothing at all. It shows that I have two drives installed but there are actually four.
     
Waragainstsleep
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 9, 2012, 12:05 PM
 
Have you checked the SATA cables are properly seated on the logic board?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
JDubya  (op)
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2007
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 9, 2012, 12:14 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Have you checked the SATA cables are properly seated on the logic board?
I reseated everything I thought was related to the hard drives. Do you have a photo pointing out the relevant cables and connectors?
     
OreoCookie
Moderator
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hilbert space
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 9, 2012, 01:48 PM
 
Do the drives spin up?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
Waragainstsleep
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 9, 2012, 05:45 PM
 
The drive bays are wired to the board via a harness which has two connectors at the logic board end. One for power, one for data. The data connector can be seen on the very edge of the board in the top left corner of this image.



Its the big chunky connector with the metal clip mounted flat to the board immediately above the IDE socket for the optical drives.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
mrh63061
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2011
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 15, 2012, 08:30 PM
 
Have you tried What About This Mac ?, (aka System Profiler) and see what's in Diagnostics, and also Serial ATA, you should show at least a list of intel ICH10 AHCI ports both empty or occupied.
     
l008com
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Stoneham, MA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 16, 2012, 04:40 AM
 
My best guess is that your wire harness is faulty. I've seen that before. Unfortunately, it is not an easy fix. You have to gut the ENTIRE machine to get at the harness. It might be easier to just throw a PCI sata card in there, if you can figure out a way to plug into them.
     
chipchen
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2002
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 19, 2012, 12:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by l008com View Post
My best guess is that your wire harness is faulty. I've seen that before. Unfortunately, it is not an easy fix. You have to gut the ENTIRE machine to get at the harness. It might be easier to just throw a PCI sata card in there, if you can figure out a way to plug into them.
Ditto on this. Cheapest and easiest fix.
     
Waragainstsleep
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 19, 2012, 12:49 PM
 
I assume that if you have tried switching one of the dead drives with one of the functional ones just to test?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
JDubya  (op)
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2007
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 9, 2012, 06:54 PM
 
Turns out it was the wire harness. I took the computer in to the Genius Bar and they fixed it for about $100.
     
cgc
Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Down by the river
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 10, 2012, 01:32 PM
 
Originally Posted by SierraDragon View Post
I would suspect software. What does Disk Utility have to say about it?
Why do you say that? Nothing in the OP led me to think it was anything except what the OP checked (e.g. cables were reseated so that wasn't the issue, could be anything else).
     
Waragainstsleep
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 10, 2012, 01:58 PM
 
$100 is a very good price considering its a monumental pain in the butt to swap out one of those.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:04 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,