eMac freezes randomly, open window turns into broken up jibber

may i ask what or how much you've traded your mac in for?

Add my e-mac to the list

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: 768 MB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.2f1
Serial Number: VM4274MKQQJ

hcoe,
According to
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
your eMacs were built in Oct04. This should well and
truly place them in the covered period, as the
badcaps were being used approx between April 04 and
March 05.
Call Apple back, insist on talking to a service
manager and being assigned a case number. Tell them
you have physically seen the bad capacitors, and that
you want them assessed individually (if they keep
insisting you fall out of the covered serial
numbers).
If you feel the person you are talking to is not
being fair, ask for a manager. Not just Apple - in
all things in life.

Well, I didn't call Apple back, instead I loaded a couple of the eMacs in the company van and I carted them right into the San Antonio Apple Store last night. I took along a printout of the Apple Repair Extension Program, and a print out of the video problem which my users said they'd seen from time to time. I told the guy at the bar that we're having lots of freezes, video problems and that I had taken the access hatch off and seen the bad capacitors. The Apple Genius told me that they'd take the eMacs to the back and evaluate them and let me know. So, we'll see what they do.

I received the email below from one of my users that only last week first told me her computer had started crashing occasionally...

I know you all already know about my computer problems.
>However, this is really slowing me down. 5-6 crashes a
>day. Plus, the other night when I was writing my
>garden ridge story, the computer crashed in the middle
>of my story, all was lost, and I had to start over. I
>know there are plans to send this piece of junk in to
>be fixed. Is there anything I can do or use in the
>meantime? This is really slowing me down. Yes, I am
>saving frequently, but it's still a huge inconvenience.
>Please help me!

Hooray!

After digging around further I have now found this from Apple:

http://www.apple.com/support/emac/repairextensionprogram

Looks like the problem has been sorted.

Kind regards
RogerG

William,

thank you so much for your advice. this afternoon, i drove one hour to my sister's house to get the keys to my mom's house. i went to my mom's place. inside, i connected her computer to her keyboard (she'd stopped using her eMac) and within five minutes, per your instructions, it was up and running again. my mom came home and is busily working on her graduate thesis again. thank you so much. keep the faith. i really don't wanna join hands and sing "recall overcome".

sincerely, blacktarot

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Adding my emac to the pile.


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


I'm going to print out the extension program bit, call Apple, and take it to the Mac Station in Abbotsford here... I'm glad to know I'm not having a freak problem. I'm disappointed in Apple's customer service...

hcoe,
In case you haven't came across this yet - the only real work around is to boot the eMac in "Safe Mode" (hold down SHIFT while booting up), which disables various things, but generally will allow you to use the eMac without freezes... at least as a short term solution. Certainly for word processing etc, it should buy your users time.

I wanted to update my previous posts. As I stated previously, I dropped two of our machines off at the local Apple Store on 9-7. I called them on Monday, they told me that they'd ordered parts and it should be 2-3 days.

I'm happy that they're being fixed, I hope Apple will do the same with the remaining affected eMacs that we have.

Congratulation, hcoe!

I experienced same problem with my eMAC since the beginning of last August, which was covered by extention repair program.
On September 1st, fiinally I got droppoff to Apple's authorized repair shop, not Apple store, because I tried 3-4 days in low but couldn't get genious bar's appointment at all! I don't have pro care, so.

Definetaly I expected that would be come back in a week.
However they stil waiting parts amd they don't know how long it takes, even they said it might be a month to a few ⚠ month.

I'm quite disappointed, evern got in trouble. I don't have extra money but had to by another machine..this new iMAC.

If somebody post how long it takes to get back your eMAC from extention repair, that would be helpful.

I don't know if anyone has given advice yet, but I've replaced the offending caps myself - it's straightforward if you are reasonably competent with soldering and computers.
1. Remove case taking care to unplug connector from power switch.
2. Remove bottom steel bracket.
3. Remove fan assembly.
4. Remove motherboard/drive assembly, taking care to remove plugs gently.
5. Remove hard disc from motherboard assembly.
6. Unsolder caps - apply soldering iron to cap leads and gently wiggle cap from component side to remove - removing one lead, then the other.
7. To clear solder from feed-through is the trickiest bit (if anyone has a better technique for a person at home, please feel free to contribute) - ensuring there is enough solder to get some flow with the soldering iron applied to the hole, using a sharp thin pointer, push gently through the hot solder until you get a hole right though. Do this from the solder side (opposite of component side), and with a little luck you'll get a small bit of solder pop out from the component side. Remove this solder. You should be able to push the new cap through the (almost) cleared holes, so that you can resolder the cap in. I like to use cotton buds and methylated spirits to clean the flux and make the repair clean. Note that with these feed-throughs, it is really difficult to get a clean hole by using solder-wick to suck up the solder. Also be really careful around one of the caps which has very fine tracks running nearby - this isn't a job for a bricklayer with an oxy torch.
8. I replaced the battery at the same time.
9. Put back together and with hopefully its fixed. Good luck.


eMac Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1 GB memory

Well that's one way to solve the problem I guess!

I'm happier to have gone with letting Apple deal with the problem, and have another 18 months warranty in case anything goes wrong in future. I guess if you are handy with electronics and know what you're doing, it's fine as you wont really be needing Apple's help in future one way or the other.

Sorry for being alarmist and for yelling but I need to bring this up:

DO NOT PERFORM SELF MAINTENANCE ON AN EMAC UNLESS YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH DISCHARGING A CRT.

A CRT CAN HOLD ENOUGH OF A CHARGE TO KILL YOU EVEN AFTER BEING UNPLUGGED FOR SEVERAL DAYS

I hesitate to post this link as I don't want to encourage people who don't belong inside an eMac or monitor to go there but here's a guide to discharge an eMac CRT.



iMac Core Duo 20" 2Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6) also have a iMac Mini Core Duo 1.66GHz (Media Center) and a 17" eMac G4 1.25GHz

Good point MauMan.

Anyone that has taken a CRT monitor apart should know that you leave the high voltage lead connected unless you need to for some reason
- for this job DO NOT REMOVE.

To replace offending caps, there is no need to do any work on the high voltage or screen section of the hardware - you're removing the motherboard section.

But for safety - don't do this job unless you feel you are competent with the inner working of computers and CRT's.

I've just finally found this thread. After many weeks and multiple phone calls to applecare, I finally took my emac into the shop (I bought the extended warranty)in early Sept. They knew immediately that it was the logic board - though no one I ever spoke with at applecare seemd to know a thing. I now know my emac serial number is in the range of those known by apple to have this problem.
Now, my emac has been in the shop for 2 months, just sitting there waiting for a logic board. I called applecare to complain at one point and a new logic board was sent quickly - but it was defective, so I had to haul the machine back in. Now, I've called the shop, and they haven't returned my call, and the applecare guy who gave me his extension and promised to help hasn't returned 2 messages I left. What gives? Anyone know? I assume the logic boards are on back-order, but it's been almost 2 months in the shop, but at least 2 months prior to that barely working because of the freezing.



emac Mac OS X (10.3.9) serial # YM4449***

emac Mac OS X (10.3.9)

emac Mac OS X (10.3.9)

My emac does exactly what is described here, and I see from the number of replies, that this must be a common problem. So, why didn't the people at the Apple help line know this??? Supposedly, I talked to an "emac specialist"

Thanks to everyone for all this, I will have not read all the posts yet, but just to know someone else has the same problem is consoling.

Any answers to me will be appreiciated. Trust me, I have done everything they told me to. Even the archive and install, the permissions thing, all of it.