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iMac G5 Distorted Video (Possibly Capacitors)

This is the main story you can skip this if you want to get straight to the problem: Hi, I got an iMac G5 (1st Generation 17-inch 1.6ghz PowerPC no isight) from my dad's friend and he said I could look around inside. He said he already looked around and switched around the ram etc. So I booted it myself and got a blue screen, did a PRAM reset and rebooted it about 10 times. I got the distorted video to look OK. (I am using some third party power cable, and a windows keyboard and mouse.) So then I held down my "option" key (Alt) and booted from a tiger cd. I was able to install it, but when I boot I can only boot from safe mode. I still get distorted video but you can still kind of see what is on the screen. If I don't boot from safe mode I either get a kernel panic when booting or when loading OSX, or I get a blue blue screen. If I try to put it asleep it crashes and if I leave it alone for just a little while it crashes. I tried an SMC reset, didn't work. I did command option o f and reset everything, didn't work. Also OSX wont detect the built in speaker, bluetooth, or headphone jack. The fans also randomly go FULL THROTTLE if it froze or if there was a kernel panic END OF MAIN STORY


I looked into to this a little bit more and found out it is MOST likely to be the capicitors so I was like huh. So I unscrewed the 3 bottom screws popped open the back and then THERE IT WAS! 2 blown capacitors. They were leaking the electrolyte fluid or whatever. I this picture I found of my same model with the blown capicitors, I circled the two blown capacitors I found. (this is not my picture) http://i.imgur.com/aFArv.jpg and so yea, I ordered two of the ones 1800hu or nu idk 6.3 V on Amazon. My dad's friend (the same guy who gave me this) has a soldering iron and will solder them in. I just wanted to see if this COULD be the problems or some of the problems could be related to other things. Thanks.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4), Don't know what version of 10.4

Posted on Nov 1, 2012 12:33 PM

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Posted on Nov 1, 2012 5:49 PM

That is highly likely to be your problem. They recommend replacing ALL the capacitors while you're doing it. You have to disassemble the entire iMac while doing the soldering (from what I've read, I've never undertaken the job myself), and you can buy kits for under $20 (google G5 capacitor kits). I think they also recommend reapplying the thermal paste to the processor.


It will probably need a new PRAM battery while you've got it open.


Of course there is no guarantee that the RAM and Hard Drive are okay, but they probably are.


Good luck.

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Nov 1, 2012 5:49 PM in response to Bailey M.

That is highly likely to be your problem. They recommend replacing ALL the capacitors while you're doing it. You have to disassemble the entire iMac while doing the soldering (from what I've read, I've never undertaken the job myself), and you can buy kits for under $20 (google G5 capacitor kits). I think they also recommend reapplying the thermal paste to the processor.


It will probably need a new PRAM battery while you've got it open.


Of course there is no guarantee that the RAM and Hard Drive are okay, but they probably are.


Good luck.

Nov 1, 2012 9:32 PM in response to Rambling Joe

Ok but as I said before, I was able to boot it into OSX. So I think the Hard drive and RAM may be OK, because it ran pretty well. I also think the PRAM battery MAY be ok I hope the capicitors will fix the pram resets and blue screens though. 🙂 I will also look into re-applying the thermal paste. I have seen some videos on how to take the logic board out and praticed myself. Also I have another question, what happens if the capacitors are too tall or the soldering iron is not hot enough?

Nov 2, 2012 12:30 AM in response to Bailey M.

The following link has a rather lengthy discussion about doing this repair. Down in the comments from readers, was a comment about the tight fit of the capacitors, and somewhere else in the article was talk about the soldering gun, and the tips for the gun needed to get into the tight areas of the motherboard.


http://jimwarholic.com/2008/07/how-to-repair-apple-imac-g5.php


I hope this helps.


Good luck.

iMac G5 Distorted Video (Possibly Capacitors)

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