eMac freezes randomly, open window turns into broken up jibber

This started happening to my eMac also - about late March of this year. Screen pixilates and machine freezes with the screen a jumbled mess. Haven't opened the hatch yet, but expect I'll find the same bloated capacitor problem.

Hardware Overview:

Machine Model: eMac
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.2f1
Serial Number: G84313X3QQH


eMac 1.25GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9) Working like a normal Windoze box - crashing all the time

iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Got my eMac back from Apple store where I bought it. Repaired, free of charge, in 6 days, one less than expected.Works great. Has a 90 day warranty on parts, so I'll do alot of video work with it for 3 months and see if any caps blow out while I can still get the repair done F.O.C. My bet is that they wouldn't keep using caps known to be junk. I think you are right, the acknowledgement and rectifying of the problem is happening.My opinion is that this is the surest way to insure coustomer loyalty. My next computer will be a Mac.

emac 1.25Ghz G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Sure enough... opened the cover on the ram door and there is orange goo coming out the top of the capacitor. System locks up with a display shimmer and forces a reboot.

Machine Model: eMac
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.2f1
Serial Number: G844204BQJB
Sales Order Number: Z0A6051X3

Just out of warranty too, not a bit happy with this situation. Brought the machine into service and they kept overnight, status is a new logic board $450 plus labor.

Please Apple, help the group.

Sure enough... opened the cover on the ram door and there is orange goo coming out the top of the capacitor. System locks up with a display shimmer and forces a reboot.

Machine Model: eMac
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.2f1
Serial Number: G844204BQJB
Sales Order Number: Z0A6051X3

Just out of warranty too, not a bit happy with this situation. Brought the machine into service and they kept overnight, status is a new logic board $450 plus labor.

Please Apple, help the group.

Well, I'm going to pick up my eMac today - unfixed. Mine apparently did not meet the "criteria" to warrant a covered out-of-warranty repair. I assume this means that the Genius did not find any bulging or leaking capacitors. I think it's only a matter of time on mine, though as it seems to be exhibiting early signs of cap failure. Hopefully when they do start to leak, Apple will fix it then.

eMac 1.25ghz "USB 2.0" Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Here's another symptom of the badcaps. My copy of DVD2one stopped working or even open. After the mob replacement the program works fine.

emac 1.25Ghz G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

My eMac has the bulging cap symptom with the beginnings of electrolyte leakage. Has also had a few inexplicable freezes forcing a hardware restart but has been ok over the last couple of weeks.

Machine Name: eMac
Machine Model: PowerMac6,4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 768 MB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.2f1
Serial Number: YM442F5BQGU

This is slightly disturbing because the build date is Dec 2004 which seems to be later than most of the posted failures on this list.
I have personally recommended eMacs as good value for schools and there are many of them from this period in my region as a result. A few are even acting as servers in small schools.
It is worth noting that around this time the standard 3 yr education warranty was reduced to 1 yr.
Can we have a reasonable response please Apple?

Sorry wrong info in the post above . Forbrekky's eMac is an October 2004 build.

eMac 1.25Ghz Superdrive iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

forbrekky, Dec04 is not unheard of for this problem, judging from the serial numbers collected so far on MacFixIt.

Further - the problem (in most cases) seems to take 18 months to incubate... When this first emerged in Jan06, most of the eMacs showing the signs were built in Mid04... 6 months later, those starting to show the problem (such as yours) was built 6 months later - ie Dec04...

(Does that make sense?) 🙂

I recently got this Emac from a college professor,
because it was frequently freezing up with the
telltale graphics disruption. She had been told it
would cost maybe $500 to fix, so she dropped it and
bought the latest generation Mac.

I build PC's and play with operating systems as a
hobby, so the first thing I did was take the white
back off. (It takes a 2.5 mm hex wrench and a
Phillips screw driver.) Major design error! The fan
***** air in unfiltered and blows it down on the
memory card and onto the top of the main board. The
memory card had a wad of dust that had accumulated on
the top right hand corner, enough that with a little
dampness, it would conduct (at logic voltages) and
cause snivlets.

I took it out and blasted it with a can of electronic
circuit duster. I blasted the long card socket, too.
I blasted down into all the little holes I could get
at, to dislodge the dust on the main board. I
slapped it back together and turned it on. Lo &
Behold! It has been working for two days without
crashing. (I don't think I'll tell the professor.)

It is impossible to filter the intake air because
that annular vent on the back is not only the intake
for the cooling blower, it is the discharge for the
cathode ray tube heat. Any filtering overheats the
thing.

The only tricky thing about the removing of the cover
was the tiny plug for the button on the side; just
make sure you plug it back in right side up.

I came out to the Apple site to see if on the long
chance they had a repair manual out here that showed
the order of taking things off to get the main baord
free for a real cleaning. Anybody seen one out
here?


Emac, Imac, Compaq
Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hey GhostBuster I have what you're looking for ,the take apart info for emac from the service manual. Send your email address to me at michaelburns5@mac.com and I'll send it as a PDF zip.

emac 1.25Ghz G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Same thing for me, since one week! I'm in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

I bought my eMac 1 1/2 year ago.... I'll post my serail number and the specs of my Mac later on that post, c'ause I'm at the office right now...

So, somebody have some news from Apple? Maybe we'll need to do something in group to prove that there's a real problem here!

Warrenty or not, after only one year and a half, a computer is not suppose to have that kind of problems, on so many machines.. especially a Mac!

I really don't have another 1499$ to spend on a computer!

eMac Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Add me as one more to the list. Been lurking for a while now. It's actually my mother's computer. I convinced her to get a mac, and this goes wrong. Great first impression.
G84297APQQJ

Well, here's the rest of the story (so far...)

The evening of the 19th, I e-mailed my commentary above to s_jobs@apple.com to let him and his minions know of my plight. Also complimented him on some Pixar stuff, but don't know if that affected his judgment any. 😉

On Monday the 22nd, I received a call from Mark D. at Apple Executive Relations (apparently a busy man recently according to some of the other postings on this board). He apologized for my bad experience at the Biltmore Apple Store, and arranged for an appointment to drop off the eMac for diagnosis and possible service. During this first contact he was very careful to not commit in any manner to any Apple coverage of the repair, but we both agreed the Apple Store was a 'logic'-al first step.

I showed at my appointed time at the Biltmore Genius Bar, and spent quite a bit of my time talking to a very disgruntled G5 owner who wasn't aware to the need to schedule an appointment to get their broken Mac stuff looked at (same as what happened to me my first visit). He agreed that Apple does a very poor job of conveying a clear message that appointments are needed in order to get the people with 'genius' shirts to even look at your equipment. They took the eMac in, and presented me with a bill for a diagnostic charge, and an estimate for $687 for a new logic board. I very politely advised them that I didn't intend to pay a diagnostic charge, and that the question as to who would pay the repair charge was very much unanswered. After a quick conference, they zeroed out the diagnostic charge and said they'd let me know what they'd find. Also spoke to the assistant manager about the attitude problems with some of the staff, and he also apologized and said he'd see if said attitudes could be adjusted to be less condescending and more friendly.

On Wednesday the 31st, Mark D. from Apple ExRel called back saying it was indeed the logic board caps failing, and that Apple, in the interest of good customer relations, would like to extend a one-time-only free logic board to my mom. However, at this time Apple was unwilling to cover the labor cost. Mark and I had a very long and polite discussion regarding statistical trends, Apple hardware quality histories, and other relevant items, but at the end I thanked him for his offer and said I'd consider it and call him back.

On Thursday, June 1st (after I'd looked into the possibility of having a certified 3rd party install the board instead of the Apple Store), Mark called back and left a message with two welcome pieces of information:

1. Apple will be starting an investigation into eMac failure trends and causes,
and
2. Apple had agreed to cover both parts and labor on my mom's eMac.

I confirmed this with the Apple Store, who said they hoped to have the board swap done by late Sunday June 4th.

Fast forward to today, Monday the 5th. Called the Apple Store, and they apologized that the eMac wasn't yet up & running, as the replacement logic board apparently had a USB glitch. Another board had been ordered, and the eMac should be back to normal by Friday the 9th. We'll see...?


G3Yos300, iBookSE, iMac233, Perf6290, MacTV, eMac(mom's) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Apple will be starting an investigation into eMac failure trends and causes

This fills me with hope that Apple is at last looking seriously into this problem!

Fingers crossed for everyone out there still suffering with bad caps on their eMac...

Just want to go on record with the same freeze and jibber problems as described throughout this discussion with a mid-summer 2004, 1.25Ghz eMac that is past my one-year warranty. I found one bulging cap and another OK (both marked "+").



eMac 1.25Ghz (Also old-but-working PowerPCs, iMacs, PowerBook) Mac OS X (10.3.9)