Intermittently does not see hard drive

I have an ambient light sensor iMac G5 that developed an intermittent problem, at least initially. It would not boot, but I could reset the PRAM and boot from an install disk. It did not "see" the HD, so I figured the HD was going bad (been here before) took it out and was able to back it up and save everything. Replaced the HD and thought everything was fine. Nope. Same problem, it will start to a blue-grey screen, and in a few minutes the fans come on full blast. Sometimes it sees the hard drive (disk utility) but will not mount it, sometimes it won't see it.
Caps 1009 and 1010 are bulging. Very subtle, but real. Power supply looks OK no bulging caps.
It's a good machine and still useful. Replacing the capacitors is a fair amount of work.
Any easier fixes?
Thanks

Hi John and welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Unfortunately, the answer is no, there is not an easy fix. Since you obviously know what to look for, the bulging capacitors indicate a major problem. Two solutions are a tech that knows how to replace the caps, or a new logic board. That is, unless you are very comfortable desoldering and replacing components like capacitors. If you are, cost is rather low. If not, a new logic board is probably cheaper.
I would go for the logic board if it was me. Or maybe one of the new iMacs and copy your HD over.
Get back with what you want to do...we are all fellow users on here and like to know what others end up doing.
Ralph

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Intermittently does not see hard drive

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