Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 2

155 points

iMac G5 - stuck at blue screen

-- I posted this to the 10.4 forum, but a user suggested to post here, as it may be a hardware issue... --

Hi, I have an iMac G5, which was running 10.4.11. There was a sudden power failure for 1 second during a thunderstorm. Now here is the problem. iMac will not start up past blue screen. I tried the following, but still not able to "restore" the system back into the hard drive.

* Command option+PR (no luck, still blue screen after restart)
* held down SHIFT for safe mode (was able to get in and back up stuff)
* Command+S, fsck -fy, reboot (no luck, still blue screen after restart)
* Started from original installer disk #1 (tried to repair disk, but still blue screen after restart)

As my final attempt, I tried to restore from the installer disk #1, but when I returned to check on the machine, it has a blue screen on it.

I even tried a fresh clean install, but again when I returned to to check on the machine, it had a blue screen on it.

I don't know if it restarted, since I didn't watch the entire disk #1 install.

Is this a hardware issue?
Any do-it-yourself parts that I can try to replace?

PB 15 2.33ghz, 120gb HD, 3GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 16, 2010 10:18 AM

27 replies

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Aug 18, 2010 7:12 AM in response to vc187

Have you checked the S.M.A.R.T. status of your internal drive by looking in Disk Utility? Sounds to me as if the drive has bad sectors and will soon fail.

vc187 Author

Level 2

155 points

Aug 18, 2010 8:09 AM in response to MGW

The SMART status is good. Disk utility or Disk Warrior found nothing wrong (no bad blocks).

Does the iMac G5 use 3.5" SATA drive?
What if I replaced it?

vc187 Author

Level 2

155 points

Aug 19, 2010 11:13 AM in response to vc187

I opened it up to check the LED lights on the back. 1-2-3 lights are all lit up.

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Aug 19, 2010 11:47 AM in response to vc187

Yes, it uses a 3.5" SATA drive, and they are quite inexpensive now, replacing it, even with a much larger one, should't cost you too much. Replacing it certainly can't hurt, and might well help. Make sure to format it a Mac OS extended (journaled).

vc187 Author

Level 2

155 points

Aug 19, 2010 12:45 PM in response to MGW

Digging more info into this. I took a look at the capacitors on the logic board, and a few of them have stuff on top of them (ie: leaking).

The article / pic is on this link:
http://jimwarholic.com/2008/07/how-to-repair-apple-imac-g5.php

Hmm.. thinking if I should replace these capacitors myself. 😉

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Aug 19, 2010 12:54 PM in response to vc187

If you are good at soldering and dexterous, no reason why you shouldn't.

Aug 20, 2010 9:19 AM in response to MGW

MEOW!

!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif!

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Aug 20, 2010 12:45 PM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

It's the darned pasteboard, sometimes I forget what I last pasted and think it's my siggy that should come up. But aren't they gorgeous?

vc187 Author

Level 2

155 points

Aug 20, 2010 6:38 PM in response to MGW

Well, this is the end of the road for this iMac G5. I suspect that it is the mother board (based on the look of the 7 capacitors that have leaked), it would be about $500+ to get it replaced by an authorized service centre. The screen is now showing lines then goes to dark gray tones.

Aug 21, 2010 8:14 AM in response to vc187

!http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/rip.gif!

!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif!

Aug 21, 2010 8:17 AM in response to MGW

Gorgeous indeed! Is the one on the left a siamese?

!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif!

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Aug 21, 2010 8:22 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

Nope, she's a Tonkinese, which is a breed started by crossing Burmese with Siamese and is now a separate CFA breed. The other one is putatively a Maine Coon, which is what the animal shelter called her when we adopted her, we think her lineage, whilst noble, may be a bit diffused.

iMac G5 - stuck at blue screen