Mac Heads help please

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Sounds like the mobo could be hosed. You could probably get one for not too much money and then just swap everything not nailed down. I did that with a PC a few years back and I think I might still be using that machine today. Hard to remember. I have literally 8 machines within spitting distance of me right now.
 
If the fault shows on battery power just the same as on mains theres a fair chance you could discount both as the cause , 2012 laptop battery must have been replaced by now

Re-doing the heat-sink compound on the processor/graphics might be another thing worth considering . Ive virtually no experience with Macs , but I do have a Lenovo thinkpad T61 that had a very similar fault to what you describe , once I re-seated the heatsink/compound she's worked flawlessly ever since and I still run a 32bit os on it so I can connect via Usb to my Akai DPS24 for file transfers.
 
I run a Mid 2012 13inch Macbook Pro, I used it everyday in the last 10 years it's a great machine.
I never had the problem you describe but the first thing I would do if to format the system hardrive and do a fresh MacOS install.

I'm on Pro Tools 10 so I use 10.9.5 Mavericks on my machine, you have PT11 so just download from the web the last OS that works well with PT11. You can find the download links for the different OS in Torrent sites, if you need help for that send me a PM. As you need an older MacOS version probably is not available from the Apple store so you need to get it from a third party.

So do a fresh install and see if that solves it.
I hope it will because once you use a MAC you are not ever going back to a PC, I was a PC/Windows user for 22 years until I got my first Macbook and couldn't believe how simple life could be.
 
Before you change the power supply, motherboard or reformat the drive and reinstall the system (possibly all good suggestions) i would try what i suggested before. I have a mac pro 2008 that does exactly what you describe, after cleaning and reseating the cards it was good for a couple years. i have done this 3 times already and that old guy is still kicking.
 
IAs you need an older MacOS version probably is not available from the Apple store so you need to get it from a third party.

All older OSes are available from Apple. You can find the most recent ones here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683
I bet even System 4.2 is to be found on an old Apple FTP server somewhere ;-)

They're just well hidden. Apple would prefer you use the Appstore, of course. And if you've downloaded an older OS before, it should be available in the Appstore, provided you've logged in into your Apple account.

For some of these older OSes, it might be required knowledge to set back your system clock for installation, as the installer's certificates will be expired now.

Third parties either just link to Apple, or they are dodgy at least.
 
I use a 2009 Cheesegrater, upgraded to 2012 spec..

Could be a problem with local overheating. You can check this with most temperature monitoring software.
I use Macs Fan Control by Cryastalidea. Free version will do.

Look at Northbridge Diode (75-85°C is fine) or Northbridge Heatsink temps (65-75).
The heatsink on that chip is fixed with plastic push-pins, so thermal contact between chip and heatsink gets worse over time.
The rising temp doesn't cause the fans to speed up, it simply triggers a shutdown/reboot.

GL!
 
All older OSes are available from Apple.

I can't get Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion, or Snow Leopard from the app store.
I don't know about other older versions but at least these ones are not available any longer from Apple, you can still get the original releases from other sources
 
If the fault shows on battery power just the same as on mains theres a fair chance you could discount both as the cause , 2012 laptop battery must have been replaced by now

Re-doing the heat-sink compound on the processor/graphics might be another thing worth considering . Ive virtually no experience with Macs , but I do have a Lenovo thinkpad T61 that had a very similar fault to what you describe , once I re-seated the heatsink/compound she's worked flawlessly ever since and I still run a 32bit os on it so I can connect via Usb to my Akai DPS24 for file transfers.
It's not a Mac book, it's a Mac Pro as I said in the original post, but thanks for the response anyway.
 
I use a 2009 Cheesegrater, upgraded to 2012 spec..

Could be a problem with local overheating. You can check this with most temperature monitoring software.
I use Macs Fan Control by Cryastalidea. Free version will do.

Look at Northbridge Diode (75-85°C is fine) or Northbridge Heatsink temps (65-75).
The heatsink on that chip is fixed with plastic push-pins, so thermal contact between chip and heatsink gets worse over time.
The rising temp doesn't cause the fans to speed up, it simply triggers a shutdown/reboot.

GL!
Thanks for this info. Unfortunately where I use it there is no internet so loading programs is a right pita, but I will see what I can do about loading macs fan control.
 
I run a Mid 2012 13inch Macbook Pro, I used it everyday in the last 10 years it's a great machine.
I never had the problem you describe but the first thing I would do if to format the system hardrive and do a fresh MacOS install.

I'm on Pro Tools 10 so I use 10.9.5 Mavericks on my machine, you have PT11 so just download from the web the last OS that works well with PT11. You can find the download links for the different OS in Torrent sites, if you need help for that send me a PM. As you need an older MacOS version probably is not available from the Apple store so you need to get it from a third party.

So do a fresh install and see if that solves it.
I hope it will because once you use a MAC you are not ever going back to a PC, I was a PC/Windows user for 22 years until I got my first Macbook and couldn't believe how simple life could be.
Thanks for the response. I have already worked out I need yosemite for PT11.

To be honest I have always found macs to be problematic compared to pc's (don't shoot me). This is the third one I have had so I'm not without experience with them.

If you need a copy of snow leopard I might have one on cd/dvd somewhere.
 
Thanks for the response. I have already worked out I need yosemite for PT11.

To be honest I have always found macs to be problematic compared to pc's (don't shoot me). This is the third one I have had so I'm not without experience with them.

If you need a copy of snow leopard I might have one on cd/dvd somewhere.

I have a different experience for sure, it's been 10 years using the same Mac laptop and still going great, and I never up to this day had a PC laptop that was able to withstand more than 5 years. Also Windows is pretty terrible compared to Mac OS in my opinion.

Thanks for the offer, I have the Snow Leopard installer in my backup hardrive, I downloaded it from torrents. I was using it on a 2009 Macbook Pro, but I'm not using that machine any longer.

If you need an install of Yosemite just let me know,
best regards and wish you can solve that issue
 
I can't get Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion, or Snow Leopard from the app store.
I don't know about other older versions but at least these ones are not available any longer from Apple, you can still get the original releases from other sources

That's probably because you didn't download them when they were brand spanking new, as a real afficionado would do ;-)

You can find them on the link I posted.

Snow never was in the appstore. It was a paying DVD release.

Mountain Lion or Lion was the first on the appstore. I let those pass me as I was still running Snow then. So I can't download these from the appstore either.

If you really need them, they should be around somewhere. But Yosemite is, and that's what the OP needs.
 
I have PT11 working with mojave on an 2012 Mac pro. I used PT 11 with High Sierra for a few years with no problems. If you get it running maybe try it with high sierra on a new hard drive. I do recommend keeping your old os and switching the startup disk.
 
Snow Leopard may still be available for download if you sign up for a developer account. It definitely *was* available.

Anyway, it sounds like an overheating/graphics issue.
 
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I’m using PT11 on a mid-2012 MacPro with the quad 3.2GHz processor and 16G RAM running High Sierra. It can handle quite a few concurrent plug-ins, though my typical session tracks count is probably consider very low these days. It took over from my 2010 MacBook Pro a few years back if that tells you anything.

My MacPro has a quirk where if I allow disks to go to sleep it shuts off completely, but as long as I only allow displays to shut off to conserve energy all is well.
 
I took my Mac Pro home from my mix room which has no internet, so I could go on line if I needed to reinstall. Before doing a reinstall I reseated the memory & cards, & now it's not rebooting itself. The only differences are that I am using a different monitor & I'm not running PT because I left the ILOK behind by mistake. Everything else is the same.

One thing that is very crap about these mac pros is the card retention bar. It clamps 2 cards in place but the other 2 are flapping around. I put a couple of washers between the bar & the cards to fill the gap, but I think the real solution will be to chuck the bar & use individual screws for each card.
 
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not rebooting itself ? means problem fixed and it doesn't shut down and reboot by itself or it doesn't boot up anymore? while you are in there a good blast of compressed air on the fans and everywhere else too remove the dust might be good
 
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