Bulging Capacitors - Apple won't fix OW

Question

Bulging Capacitors - Apple won't fix OW

I am hoping someone reads this and can help us. My older son is currently overseas but we hope to have him home in a few months. Back in October his 5 year old IMAC suddenly stopped working and we brought it into the Short Hills store where it was diagnosed with bulging capacitors. They told us it would be
about $600 to repair. I wasn't sure if the machine was worth it and declined.

A few weeks passed and I began to have second thoughts, but we don't have the money to fix the problem and can't get in touch with our son to see what he wants to do. We would hate to have him come home to find his machine not
working.

It was only after doing some research online that I found that this is a COMMON problem with these machines, and that Apple had a program that fixed them for free in the past.

That is all well and good, but our problem just occurred and we are being penalized for taking care of our machine as well as we did. If the capacitors blew a few years ago this would have been fixed without a problem.

I called 1-800-apl-care a few times but so far nobody has been willing to authorize an out of warranty service for us. We KNOW they CAN do it if they want, but so far nobody has said yes. Our son treated his machine like a baby and I know when he returns home he will not have the money to buy a new machine.

Any advice on getting this repaired OW by Apple? We are a mixed-use family, with 4 ipods, this imac, a macbook pro, and I am thinking of getting an IPAD in a few
months. I really do not want to buy a new machine, nor can I afford one, and feel that if this
is a known problem that Apple should stand by their product and fix this for us.

The machine is a 1.8Ghz IMC G5 17", Ambient Light Sensor.

Thoughts?

Thank you.

<Email Edited by Host>

Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Jan 5, 2011 9:35 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 5, 2011 9:48 AM in response to michael schey

I am not sure I would call the problem common, but yes it has occured frequently. And it is not clear why some machines end up with the problem and others do not.

The quick solution is to simply replace the logic board. Desoldering and replacing the capacitors is rather labor intensive and the logic board may cost less than the labor.

Have you talked to the Apple people about a replacement logic board? Have you looked at ebay to see if any are being offered and the cost? I am not really advocating ebay since there are scams going on there but it gives you a ball-park idea of board cost.

You are right, if the cost is too high, it is more cost effective to buy a whole new iMac. Or perhaps a MacBook Air which is in the under $1,000 bracket.

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Answer 2

WZZZ

Level 6

13,238 points

Jan 5, 2011 10:19 AM in response to michael schey

Yes, this is an extremely common problem. There was a repair extension program in place until Dec. '08 I believe and for even a while after Apple was still honoring it. They repaired my iMac G5 in the fall of '09 under those circumstances, but it took speaking to an upper level Customer Care rep. You might still have a chance at it.

I don't want to be too pessimistic, but my G5 died anyway maybe six months later from a Graphics Card issue (also very common.) And for the first repair for the bulging caps, it took three logic board replacements before they found one that lasted (six months). They are using old stock that has been sitting around for ages or which was never refurbished properly. If I were you, I wouldn't throw another penny into that G5, but maybe you can still convince Apple to throw in a "new" board.

If you want, there are a few places that do these repairs for far less than Apple. Here's one. Sorry, I don't have the time right now to find the other two. But even if they replace the caps, you might be faced with the Graphics Card problem down the road.

http://www.badcaps.net/

If you post over on the iMac G5 forum and ask there, there are several others as well.

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=881

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2011 10:17 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

Yes. The apple folks diagnosed the problem and showed us the bulging capacitors. I have looked online and have found the board, but it is almost $400. At that cost we could just buy a used older Imac.

What I would LIKE is Apple to recognize that there should be no limit to their programs when they fix these things out of warranty. If this machine's capacitors had blown two years ago they would have fixed it for free. Now they want $600+ to fix it.

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Answer 4

WZZZ

Level 6

13,238 points

Jan 5, 2011 10:20 AM in response to michael schey

This was the argument I used and, at the time, it worked. Try to escalate it and good luck.

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Answer 5

Jan 5, 2011 10:30 AM in response to WZZZ

I've seen that Badcaps site? May be worth just getting an estimate from them, no?

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Answer 6

Jan 5, 2011 10:32 AM in response to WZZZ

Escalate? In other words, keep calling and being firm but nice? That's hard to do sometimes!!!! I have two other machines (non Mac) at home that are older that have not had this problem. I would think that even after 5 years Apple would stand by their product.

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Answer 7

Jan 5, 2011 10:35 AM in response to michael schey

With those prices, if Apple is adamant about not extending the replacement program, you might think in terms of the new MacBook Air...significantly more power than the old iMac, better graphics, more storage, more memory and the latest operating system. And cost is not a great deal more than you are being quoted.

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