Help, my 3+ year old iMac has a fried logic board

I have an iMac G5 PPC 1.8GHz 20". Within the past year or so Apple replaced the power supply as my serial# fell under the G5 Repair Extension Program. It was working fine until recently when the screen would lock up and require reboots. Now it will not even boot up. I took it back to the Apple Store and was told it had a bad logic board. The tech showed me the bulging capacitors. The estimate for the repair is a whopping 600+ bucks.
I am very reluctant to invest that much dough when I was already thinking of selling this one and buying a new Intel based iMac. Besides, I need the money for gasoline for the next week! I thought I could attempt the repair myself until I found I could not get the part any cheaper than what Apple was going to charge.
This really bugs me as I've had the computer for just over 3 years. Any ideas on what I should do? Try to sell the remaining good parts? Can it even be used as a monitor? The display is still in fine shape. Hard drive is good too (250G). Thanks in advance.
- Rick

My nearly 3 year old iMac died a couple months ago and after jumping through some hoops to get the date of purchase reset to what it should've been, I took my iMac in to a local service provider to get it fixed under the repair extension program.
I was then told when they diagnosed my computer that the logic board and power supply were both dead and needed replacing. When I brought up the repair extension program I was told that it only covered the power supply and not the logic board.
Should I contact Apple Customer Relations or should I go back to the people who diagnosed my computer and plead my case with them?
P.S The serial number of my computer falls into the range posted on the Repair Extension Program for the Video and Power Issues page, so I'd imagine my computer qualifies since it isn't 3 years old yet.
Thanks

Similar Messages

  • The display on my 4 year old iMac has horizontal lines and gradations of gray. Is my machine on its way out? Can I fix the screen?

    My four year old iMac has developed horizontal lines and gradations of gray over the last month. Is my machine on its way out? Is there anyway to fix the display?

    If you live near an Apple Store, make a Genius Bar appointment to have the computer tested. Supposedly there is no charge for testing.
    Genius Bar Reservation

  • Get files from old MBP to new MBP when the old one has suffered a Logic Board failure

    Recently, my 2009 unibody MacBook Pro died. Logic board failure, I am told. It is out of warranty, and replacing the Logic Board would cost a grand. It had some other issues too, so I figured upgrading to a brand new system would be the best idea. So, I am going to purchase a brand new one within the next few days. My question is this: How to I get the files from my old MBP (I NEED them, plain and simple) to the new one once I get it? Should I take out the harddrive from the old one and connect it via a SATA>USB cable and connect it to the new one? Can anyone shed any light on this? It will be much appreciated. Thanks.
    Roku

    AvatarRoku wrote:
    Should I take out the harddrive from the old one and connect it via a SATA>USB cable and connect it to the new one?
    Yep, all you need is a IDE/SATA to USB adapter for about $20 online at OtherWorld Computing, NewEgg and other online computer sites like Amazon etc.
    You can find the screwdriver or other torx driver at iFixit or OtherWorld, just look for your Mac model or just be rough with it and drill out the screws.
    You can choose to get a enclosue and use the drive as a external drive, it will cost more naturally, but for a few bucks more though you can get a brand new external drive and likely twice the capacity.
    Some external drives can't be Carbon Copy Cloner and option booted from, so perhaps a adapter is best. (don't clone a OS from another Mac to your new Mac)
    Setup:
    When you set up the new Lion Mac, name the hard drive the same name as the external drive, also setup the same user name as the old Mac had. Software Update.
    Install all your known third party programs from fresh sources as many as possible.
    The last thing you do is connect the old Mac drive, transfer all the files from the user folders right back into their respective folders on the new drive (Music, Pictures, Documents etc) Not User/Library.
    Open all your programs like iTunes and iPhoto and it will update for your files, then go through the folders and delete what you don't want.
    Don't use migration or setup assitant, it's a blind copy, includes programs you can't use anymore and other headaches.
    If you do things in the order I specify, your drive will be optimized and run fast for a decent amount of time.
    If Lion act's glitchy, Carbon Copy Cloner to a new HFS+ Journaled (Disk Utility) and then hold Command R to get into Lion Recovery, Zero Erase the OS X Lion partition and then option boot from the Lion clone and reverse clone onto the OS X Lion partition on the internal.
    You can also reinstall Lion on top of the factory Lion from the Recovery Partition.
    search "apple support Lion Recovery" for details.

  • 3 year old iMac 24 running OS10.7.4.  After it has been on for a day or so, it stops going to sleep and becomes very slow.  This only happens when Safari is running. Quitting Safari solves the problem.  Has anyone else have the same problem?

    3 year old iMac 24 running OS 10.7.4.  After it has been on for a day or so, it stops going to sleep and becomes very slow.  This only happens when Safari is running. Quitting Safari solves the problem.  Has anyone else have the same problem?  Does not happen on MacBookpro only on iMac.

    Hello Albert, see how many of these you can answer...
    See if the Disk is issuing any S.M.A.R.T errors in Disk Utility...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH7029
    Open Activity Monitor in Applications>Utilities, select All Processes & sort on CPU%, any indications there?
    How much RAM & free space do you have also, click on the Memory & Disk Usage Tabs.
    Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.
    In the Memory tab, are there a lot of Pageouts?

  • My 2 year old daughter has set a password on her ipod touch and now we cant use it!!! warranty has expired... any help as to how to solve this solution without having to pay £25???

    my 2 year old daughter has set a password on her ipod touch and we dont know what it is. i rang apple and due to being out of warranty they couldnt help unless i paid £25. if anyone knows a way around this could they please help as this ipod is a great support for my daughter and keeps her entertained for hours. thanks

    Connect to iTunes on the computer you usually Sync with and Restore...
    If necessary Place the Device into Recovery mode...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808

  • My 6-year-old iMac is painfully slow after I installed Mavericks, despite increasing ram to 4 GB.  Any help out there?.

    My 6 year old iMac is painfully slow after I installed Mavericks, despite upgrading to 4 GB of Ram.  Everything stops and I see the spinning beachball way too frequently.  Any suggestions or solutions?

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
    Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
    View ▹ Show Log List
    from the menu bar.
    Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
    When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
    Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
    Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

  • Four-year-old iMac and Mountain Lion

    My wife has a four-year-old iMac that has been horrendously slow for the last couple of years. This has been true with nearly all the programs, but especially Word for Mac and Outlook (both part of Microsoft Office for Mac) -- even when only three or four programs are open at a time. Click Outlook, for example, and you can wait a minute and half for it to open while it checks identities.
    I just upgraded the machine to Mountain Lion hoping that might solve some problems but the situation is even worse now. She clicked on Message last night as I was standing there and I finally gave up waiting and walked away. Frankly, the speed of the machine under both Lion and now, worse, Mountain Lion is driving us crazy.
    So, what to do?
    Should I be doing some sort of in-depth analysis of the the current machine? (A little background: three months after buying it, it had a problem and Apple Service ended up replacing the screen and the motherboard.)
    Or should I just buy a new iMac and forget about this machine ever being fast enough?
    Here are the specs on the current iMac:
    Model Name:                    iMac
    Model Identifier:              iMac8,1
    Processor Name:              Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed:              3.06 GHz
    Number Of Processors:   1
    Total Number Of Cores:  2
    L2 Cache:                           6 MB
    Memory:                            4 GB
    Bus Speed:                         1.07 GHz
    Thank you for any advice.
    Don

    Your computer is on the very low end of systems which are supported by Mountain Lion. Anything newer than Snow Leopard will likely hurt performance rather than help it.
    When your computer is freezing up, it is probably loading data from the disk into RAM. You can't put any more RAM into the machine, but you can have the hard drive upgraded to an SSD. That's quite a bit of money to pour into a five-year-old machine, but it's a lot cheaper than getting a new computer.
    One other option is to back up your files, wipe everything, and start over. Install the applications one at a time until things start to slow down. You may have an application that is sitting in the background and using up system resources.

  • My four year old iMac is running much slower than when it was new.  Any suggestions on cleaning out the cob webs?

    My four year old iMac is running much slower than when it was new.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to "clean it up" and get it running like it used to?

    What year, screen size, CPU speed and amount of RAM installed?
    To find out info about your system,
    Click on the Apple symbol in the upper left of the OS X main menu bar. A drop down menu appears.
    Click About this Mac. A smaller popup window appears. This gives you basic info like what version of OS X your iMac is running, the speed of your iMac's CPU and how much RAM is installed.
    Click on the button that says More Info. A larger window appears giving you a complete overview of your iMac's hardware specs.
    Highlight all of this info and copy/paste all of this into another reply to this post, editing out your iMac's serial number before actually posting the reply.
    This will tell us everything about your iMac so we may begin to help with your iMac issues.
    How full is your Mac's hard drive?
    Locate your iMac's hard drive icon on the OS X desktop. Click the icon once, then use the keyboard key combination Command-I. This will give you additonal info about your iMac's internal hard drive.  
    Post this info in your reply here, also.
    Here are some general tips to keep your Mac's hard drive trim and slim as possible
    You should never, EVER let a conputer hard drive get completely full, EVER!
    With Macs and OS X, you shouldn't let the hard drive get below 15 GBs or less of free data space.
    If it does, it's time for some hard drive housecleaning.
    Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
    Have you emptied your Mac's Trash icon in the Dock?
    If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
    If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what to archive and what to delete.
    If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
    Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive to disc, flash drives or external hard drive, older emails you want to save.
    Look through your other Mailboxes and other Mail categories to see If there is other mail you can archive and/or delete.
    STAY AWAY FROM DELETING ANY FILES FROM OS X SYSTEM FOLDER!
    Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
    Again, archive to disc, flash drives, ext. hard drives or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
    Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.
    To find other large files, download an app called Omni Disk Sweeper.
    Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
    When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
    Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
    move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.
    If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be archived or moved, also, to the optical discs, flash drives or external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
    Good Luck!

  • 5 year old iMac, screen stays black on startup.

    This 5 year old iMac makes the seek optical drive sound when switched on, but does not chime, but I can hear the hard drive going afterwards.
    The screen just stays black, not a flicker.
    The problem is that it is located in a small pretty isolated town in NE Brazil, I will be going back out there later in the summer so if anyone has any helpful ideas it would be most welcome. Fortunately we have a full CCC clone of the hard drive and a working MBP so we haven't lost anything, but it would be very good to have it working again.
    Does it have a socket for an external monitor, I really cannot remember, as I have not seen it since November, I know the old round iMacs had one.
    The nearest Mac store is probably in Rio or Sao Paulo which are a good day travelling by  car and plane so there is no chance of getting it there.
    Any useful thoughts? I will be pleased to hear them, anything to try we can probably do over a week or so.
    Many thanks in advance

    Yes it shouldn't be that difficult. You can tell her to try some basic resets too, they won't hurt and might help. First is try resetting the SMC and PRAM. It's OK to do these multiple times, also trying to restarting in Safe Mode may work. For the SMC and PRAM resets I  will print the instructions below. To do a Safe Mode restart, hold down the Shift Key when the startup tone is heard, if she can see a progress bar appear release Shift key and let it fully boot. Then restart normally to test. If the screen is still black then the LCD or the graphics card has probably failed. In that case it's probably best to just replace the whole computer as the expense of repair will be difficult to justify.
    SMC RESET
    Shut down the computer.
    Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
    Wait 15 seconds.
    Attach the computers power cable.
    Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
    PRAM RESET
    Shut down the computer.
    Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
    Turn on the computer.
    Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
    Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
    Release the keys.

  • How do I erase ALL data on my 8 year old iMac 10.6.8?

    I'd like to erase ALL data on my 8 year old iMac 10.6.8 before hauling it off to electornics recycling. I have the original Snow Leopard start up disc but need help in it's use for this purpose. Any help would be appreciated. Richard

    Sorry RK I was having trouble posting the pertinent Snow Leopard article earlier, but looks like the OP got there without it.
    Humm... it still won't let me post it.

  • Seven year old iMac connection to cable

    I have a seven year old iMac. A friend would like it for her son, who has no computer but would like to connect to Optimum online. Is that possible considering the age of the computer?

    Shouldn't be a problem if the Optimum Online modem is an Ethernet modem - connected to a computer via an Ethernet connection which the modem should be.
    Apple included an Ethernet port on Macs before the majority of users knew what it was for and well before PC manufacturer's followed suit.
    Is OS X installed on this iMac and if so, which version? It shouldn't make any difference as long as the Built-in Ethernet network port configuration is active.

  • 9 year old iMac G5 needs replacing.

    My nine year old imac is starting to go wrong and i would like advice on which new model to purchase. I am 80 and need a desk top which is not too different from my present model. Any help would be appreciated please as the shop assistant knew nothing! Thank you.

    Brenda.S wrote:
    My nine year old imac is starting to go wrong and i would like advice on which new model to purchase. I am 80 and need a desk top which is not too different from my present model. Any help would be appreciated please as the shop assistant knew nothing! Thank you.
    Sadly the latest iMacs are as different to a G5 as it is possible to be:
    1. A non-intuitive operating system (Mavericks) that does not compare to what you are used to with Tiger 10.4.11.
    2. None of your applications that run on a G5 can run on a new Intel-based iMac. They will all have to be updated, i.e. re-purchased.
    3. Nothing you may have connected to your G5 can connect to a new iMac: they do not have firewire, they do not have a built-in superdrive for CDs or DVDs so you can only install software via the internet. None of your existing accessories will work as is.
    My personal recommendation would be to stick with your G5 and tell us more about how it is letting you down so that we can try to help you fix it.
    I will ask the Hosts to move this thread to the PPC iMac forum where those of us who still use them hang out!

  • I just purchased a one year old iMac.  How do I create a brand new admin account?

    I just purchased a one year old iMac.  How do I create a brand new admin account?

    The first thing to do with a second-hand computer is to erase the internal drive and install a clean copy of OS X. You—not the original owner—must do that. How you do it depends on the model, and on whether you already own another Mac. If you're not sure of the model, enter the serial number on this page. Then find the model on this page to see what OS version was originally installed.
    It's unsafe, and may be unlawful, to use a computer with software installed by a previous owner.
    1a. If you don't own another Mac
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, you need a boxed and shrink-wrapped retail Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) installation disc from the Apple Store or a reputable reseller—not from eBay or anything of the kind. If the machine is very old and has less than 1 GB of memory, you'll need to add more in order to install 10.6. Preferably, install as much memory as it can take, according to the technical specifications.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.6, you need the installation media that came with it: gray installation discs, or a USB flash drive for a MacBook Air. You should have received those media from the original owner, but if you didn't, order replacements from Apple. A retail disc, or the gray discs from another model, will not work.
    To start up from an optical disc or a flash drive, insert it, then restart the computer and hold down the C key at the startup chime. Release the key when you see the gray Apple logo on the screen.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, you don't need media. It should start up in Internet Recovery mode when you hold down the key combination option-command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a spinning globe.
    Some models shipped with OS X 10.6 and received a firmware update after 10.7 was released, enabling them to use Internet Recovery. If you have one of those models, you may not be able to reinstall 10.6 even from the original discs, and Internet Recovery may not work either without the original owner's Apple ID. In that case, contact Apple Support, or take the machine to an Apple Store or another authorized service provider to have the OS installed.
    1b. If you do own another Mac
    If you already own another Mac that was upgraded in the App Store to the version of OS X that you want to install, and if the new Mac is compatible with it, then you can install it. Use Recovery Disk Assistant to prepare a USB device, then start up the new Mac from it by holding down the C key at the startup chime. Alternatively, if you have a Time Machine backup of OS X 10.7.3 or later on an external hard drive (not a Time Capsule or other network device), you can start from that by holding down the option key and selecting it from the row of icons that appears. Note that if your other Mac was never upgraded in the App Store, you can't use this method.
    2. Partition and install OS X
    If you see a lock screen when trying to start up from installation media or in Recovery mode, then a firmware password was set by the previous owner, or the machine was remotely locked via iCloud. You'll either have to contact the owner or take the machine to an Apple Store or another service provider to be unlocked. You may be asked for proof of ownership.
    Launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive—not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the  Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive.
    After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. If you're installing a version of OS X acquired from the App Store, you will need the Apple ID and password that you used. When the installation is done, the system will automatically restart into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.
    Then run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. To upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, get it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the original owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed—you have to repurchase them.
    3. Other issues
    If the original owner "accepted" the bundled iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band) in the App Store so that he or she could update them, then they're irrevocably linked to that Apple ID and you won't be able to download them without buying them. Reportedly, Mac App Store Customer Service has sometimes issued redemption codes for these apps to second owners who asked.
    If the previous owner didn't deauthorize the computer in the iTunes Store under his Apple ID, you wont be able to  authorize it immediately under your ID. In that case, you'll either have to wait up to 90 days or contact iTunes Support.
    When trying to create a new iCloud account, you might get a failure message: "Account limit reached." Apple imposes a lifetime limit of three iCloud account setups per device. Erasing the device does not reset the limit. You can still use an iCloud account that was created on another device, but you won't be able to create a new one. Contact iCloud Support for more information. The setup limit doesn't apply to Apple ID accounts used for other services, such as the iTunes and Mac App Stores, or iMessage. You can create as many of those accounts as you like.

  • ITunes 11.0.4 - why can't I access to browse music, podcasts, or anything else in the iTunes store? I'm running X10.8.5 on a 2-year old iMac. I've had access previously, and done nothing to change anything.

    Why can't I access to browse music, podcasts, or anything else in the iTunes store now? I'm running iTunes 11.0.4 X10.8.5 on a 2-year old iMac. I've had access previously, and done nothing to upgrade or change anything since I last could access everything in the store.

    Hi Mary,
    I'm sorry to hear you are having issues with the iTunes Store. If you are having issues connecting or logging in, you may find the troubleshooting steps outlined in the following articles helpful:
    Can't connect to the iTunes Store - Apple Support
    iTunes: Advanced iTunes Store troubleshooting - Apple Support
    Sincerely,
    - Brenden

  • Will Mountain Lion work on my 4 year old iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo   Processor Speed:     2.66 GHz

    Will Mountain Lion work on my 4 year old iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 2.66 gHz.
    Really do not want to load it and find there are issues.
    Oh I really not a big tech guy I just want everything to work well.
    And I'm just about to purchase a Mac Book Pro as well.
    Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated
    Cheers

    I also have a 4 year old iMac 24". it is the 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo. I have been running Mountain Lion since it was released, and before that Lion. Runs great. Over the last month I have noticed some slow data transfers from a USB harddrive. But not enough to do any research. I use a USB harddrive for my Time Machine backup and notice no problems or slow transfers while the Time Machine backup runs. My iTunes has its nedia files on a USB harddrive and is used to watch videos, play music and share photos on the AppleTV. I also use Aperture on the iMac to store and manage 20,000 photos.
    I have 6 GB of ram, 4GB and 2GB memory sticks. I know it is best to have identical ram sticks but my iMac model cannot run 8GB of ram and I feel 6GB is better than 4GB.
    Mountain Lion is a great OS and I am glad I upgraded. It works great with the AppleTV (no airplay but iTunes on the iMac serves up all our music, photos and videos), iPhone, and iPod Touch. Also with my wifes brand new Macbook Pro. All the devices including the iMac can share data on iCloud.

Maybe you are looking for