Home Forums Hardware Mac Desktops & Notebooks iMac Video Problem

Don't know much about this iMac, probably latest model with white bezel. It takes a very long time for the home screen to come up after booting and then the screen is more than pixelated, it is stripes, numbers, crazy stuff. Is the problem the actual display (throw the computer away) or the video board? If it is the video board, is it a discreet part?

The latest model may still be under warrantee.

(Can you take a shot with a camera and post it?)

No, he told me he bought it used about five years ago. It is different from the late 2006 I was having the Bluetooth problems, I believe it is newer. It is white bezel, but ports look different...

Did they discontinue the white bezel altogether after 2006 or was it an option?

iirc, late 2006 was the swap to intel. The isight iMacs were the first to switch over, followed soon by the introduction of the macbook. (the core 2 solo mac mini also was released at the same time as the intel iMac I believe, but was a lot less popular)

JUST prior to the release of the intel iMac is when the isight camera was added. (the infamous "isight g5 iMacs") THOSE models were a nightmare, the logic boards had an outrageous failure rate during burn-in and were highly prone to video failures within the first few months. Fortunately they were only sold for a handful of months before the intels were released. (I think they were a hedge to get something ready for xmas 2006 in case the intels weren't ready by then) Externally they're difficult (impossible?) to tell apart by their looks. The bottom label doesn't even say, but if you look at the cpu speed you'll see the typical oddball cpu freq for the intels of the time. (going out to 2 decimals, like 2.16ghz, the PPC never went to 2 decimals)

But it's a bit late for any of that to matter now. No parts or service are going to be available for any white iMac. I think the whites were sold until 2009 and they switched to silver in 2010? They're old computers. White was never an "option", it was the current model. When they went to silver, the white were discontinued. I don't think I would recommend a white iMac to anyone looking for a used computer, due to its extreme age. (the low memory ceiling is probably the biggest drawback)

I think this is what it is doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofuNEkncGQk

The only thing I can tell you about what model it is is that it opens MUCH easier than the late 2006. You don't have to pull the screen to change the HD. The whole back just opens up, the HD is in upper right corner and is only covered by a plastic fan cover. If it is the screen and not the video card (which is most probably NOT the case) it may be doable by a little pricey. I'm not sure what the video card looks like, but if I find out, I can see if it is a little easier to get to than the late 2006, which is 'why would I bother?'

I think there MAY BE parts around if it is the Intel. Small Dog may have them, they strip a lot of old computers.

I just remembered, unlike the late 2006, this one you have to actually remove the screws from the memory door rather than twirl them a little to get it open...

ooookay if the back comes off that's a white iMac without the camera. That's definitely a G5. Those were known for burst capacitors, which frequently led to video failure. Check out lots of links on google:

imac g5 video problems bad capacitors

There are places out there that "re-cap" logic boards for all sorts of computers. The "counterfeit rubicon capacitors" affected other manufacturers in addition to apple.

Yeah, well that does not look like a DYI. Thanks so much! Dell got in a little bit of trouble for capacitors a while back, is that one of the other manufacturers affected?

Well maybe you can find someone locally that does it. Every town's got a few people that freelance that sort of repair, including other things like reballing xboxe and playstations.

Yes Dell was the first "other manufacturer" that came to mind for me.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/jun/29/dell-problems-capacitors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

and my own personal experiences:

http://vftp.net/mac_disasters/caps_swelling/
(if you back up one level you just may spend the rest of the afternoon there...)

They don't look like what you posted, they have not burst. There are two in the set nearest the edge that have some white material leaking out the side of the top, like an old battery. Then there is another one near the middle doing the same thing. (BTW, it is genius that you knew this at all!)

The images are worst case. "Burst" does not necessarily mean "exploded" although it could. If they have white material leaking out the side of the top they have burst. The encapsulating material has ruptured and the guts are spilling out.

Oh, my.

Well, the good news is it was easy to pull the internal drive. I cabled it up externally with one of those esata cable kits then use SuperDuper to transfer all the contents of the that drive (not ever backed up!) onto another external. Got everything, tada.

Is the iMac G5 worth anything for parts, like did the combo drive work in other models, screen, etc? If not, I will educate myself a little and do a tear-down.

Thanks to all, this was indeed a very weird one.

Check eBay; there are always Macs for sale "for parts". You can maybe get a feel for what the G5 will be worth and take it from there.

Can anyone find out for me or point me to a source, to find out what other Mac's the parts from the iMac G5 fit? I checked and I'm better off selling the parts, I think, since there are probably a lot of dead iMac G5's for the same reason. If I dismantle it and put the parts up on eBay, I would like to list ALL the models the screen, power supply, superdrive and RAM (we maxed it out) would fit.

The airport card may be one of the most sought-after parts in the computer. You could sell the hdd, but you'd want to secure wipe (1-pass) it first, and if it's small enough it might not be worth the effort. The memory may also not be worth the bother. The power supply someone might be interested in. The optical drive is removable but I don't know what the demand would be. The display screen itself may have resale value but would require more effort to remove and sell.

Honestly your BEST plan at this point may simply be to sell it as-is to someone else that's willing to recap it. Lot less work for you. Try to sell it locally to avoid shipping costs and dealing with a buyer over the internet. (craigslist?)