mkog

Q: emac-pixelated screen has now gone blank

hope I can get some advice! my daughter has been using an old emac (2004) and yesterday the screen became wildly pixelated. I forced shutdown to restart as I was unable to do anything else(I held down the power button until the emac went off) I tried a couple of times(3) to restart but each time was greeted with a primarily magents pixelated screen. My most recent try the computer turned on but the screen remained blank.....this doesnt bode well. Has the crt died?? or is it the video/graphics card?? If the screen is dead can I boot it to my macbook pro, and how?

 

emac 1.25 ghz/ 256 / 80. Running OSX 10.4

 

mac user since '89  (se30)

 

Thanks for your help

 

mark

emac, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 1.25ghz 256/ 80 / SuperDrive

Posted on Aug 2, 2011 11:35 AM

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Q: emac-pixelated screen has now gone blank

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 2, 2011 6:58 PM in response to mkog
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Aug 2, 2011 6:58 PM in response to mkog

    It sounds bad, but try Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), this may or may not get any video.

     

    To use the eMac as a big Firewire Drive, boot it it with the t key held down, connect a 6 pin<->9 pin Firewire cable between it & your MBP.

  • by mkog,

    mkog mkog Aug 3, 2011 10:10 AM in response to mkog
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 10:10 AM in response to mkog

    thanks bdaqua, I tried the safe boot -no luck. I will try the Target disk mode with my MBP later today. Also, I noted when I turn on the emac I hear the typically start-up chime, the fan but no cpu hard disk noise you typically hear....this cannot be good, oh well ....6.5 years of use.

     

    My biggest concern is if the computer is dead do I have to worry about personal financial info that wasn't wiped clean? How do I make sure when I recycle someone doesn't find banking data(or is this an absurd concern)?

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 3, 2011 4:19 PM in response to mkog
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 4:19 PM in response to mkog

    Let's see if Target mode gets you in, otherwise you have to smash the eMac apart to get to the Hard Drive & destroy it.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Aug 3, 2011 8:53 PM in response to mkog
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Aug 3, 2011 8:53 PM in response to mkog

    See if your eMac serial number falls in the ranges shown here:

     

    • G8412xxxxxx- G8520xxxxxx
    • YM412xxxxxx - YM520xxxxxx
    • VM440xxxxxx - VM516xxxxxx

     

    If so, it's probably the logic board, and that's not worth fixing. As the computer will not turn on, you'll have to find the serial on the case. It's inside the optical drive door on a sticker, as shown here:

     

    /___sbsstatic___/migration-images/158/15839707-1.jpg

    The good news is that the hard drive is probably OK if the logic board is causing the trouble, and you can remove it to an external enclosure or a USB bare-drive adaptor to recover files.

  • by mkog,

    mkog mkog Aug 3, 2011 9:36 PM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 9:36 PM in response to Allan Jones

    allan,

     

    Thanks for the reply. Yes I do have a serial # in the range stated above #YM444xxxxxxx. If you don't mind me asking it seems this is specific to a known problem, funny it hasn't had a problem prior. was I supposed to get something fixed  along time ago?? I guess it is water under the bridge...

     

    I will still try the Target Disk Mode with my MBP, I just have to find the right firewire around here. I am still interested in wiping the info off the emac before I recycle- not to interested in smashing the hard drive to remove financial data....

     

    Thanks again,

     

    m

  • by mkog,

    mkog mkog Aug 3, 2011 9:43 PM in response to mkog
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 9:43 PM in response to mkog

    Allan,

     

    Never mind about the serial # question I sourced the issue re: emac repair extension program, was only good for 3 years from purchase date...oh well.

     

    M

  • by cosmichobo,Helpful

    cosmichobo cosmichobo Aug 4, 2011 6:22 AM in response to mkog
    Level 3 (519 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 4, 2011 6:22 AM in response to mkog

    Hi mkog,

     

    The problem that plagued the 2004/5 eMac was odd.  It was in theory the same problem as faced the iMac G5 of the same time period - bad caps - but the iMacs failed within weeks/months, whereas the eMacs didn't start to fail until 12 -18 months.  Apple took another 6 months from then to agree that there was a fault and impliment the repair program.  Of course, they had no compulsion for them to tell eMac owners of the problem...

     

    It doesn't totally surprise me that the eMac has only just failed... though from my experience on this forum and elsewhere, most that were going to fail, had failed within 3 years... though perhaps after that time, people simply assumed the computer had died of natural causes and didn't bother looking into the problem.

     

    Presumably you are not keen to open the eMac to remove the hard drive...?  The firewire 400-800 cable can be hard to find... maybe try eBay.

     

    cheers

     

    cosmic

  • by BDAqua,Solvedanswer

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 4, 2011 1:10 PM in response to cosmichobo
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Aug 4, 2011 1:10 PM in response to cosmichobo
    The firewire 400-800 cable can be hard to find...

    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/1394B96036/

  • by mkog,

    mkog mkog Aug 5, 2011 12:11 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 12:11 PM in response to BDAqua

    I have a firewire 400-800 needed it to transfer all data when I purchased mbp a couple of years ago. Unfortunately it doesn't matter as the Target disk Mode didn't work....

     

    I think I need to pull the hard drive and extra memory and either destroy or find a USB  hard drive adapter to wipe off sensitive financial data...

     

    Thanks,

     

    m

  • by BDAqua,Helpful

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 5, 2011 12:38 PM in response to mkog
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 12:38 PM in response to mkog

    OK, good luck with it.