Inherited iMac, White screen of death, etc...

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soapy547 Author

Level 1

8 points

Inherited iMac, White screen of death, etc...

Hello, Fairly new to the world of mac.

I have been given a iMac 20" G5 a M9250LL/A...

Looks in good condition, powers up ok. But I get a white screen with a flashing mac folder icon.

Tried resetting the Navram, epram and everything else under the sun...

I installed a new hard drive, a 500GB western digital one. Power up and it still doesn't see it.

I then held down the option key, hopefully it would see it?. no chance...

Boots in Open firmware ok and see's hard drive, etc...

So I tried connecting via a firewire cable from a friends macbook and success, reformatted the drive, installed Snow Leopard and nothing.

nada, zip... starts up on the macbook just fine.

Someone told me that I need to install Tiger first?.. that true?

I've spent a few days trying all kinds of things I've found on youtube and google and drawing a blank here...

Would anyone be able to offer some advice? - I'm a bit confused as I've tried everything!!

Would love to get this machine working, I rather not have to take it to the dump and have to get a 2nd hand windows machine off ebay!!

HELP!!

imac-OTHER, M9250LL/A

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 12:50 PM

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Answer 1

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

Aug 15, 2013 2:29 PM in response to soapy547

If this is an iMac G5, then you cannot install OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

OS X Snow Leopard is for much newer Intel Macs only.

The highest OS X version that your iMac G5 can run is OS X 10.5.8 Leopard.

You need to find a full OEM Apple retail install discs of OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Try Amazon or eBay.

You might gets lucky by calling Apple at 1-800 MYAPPLE and ask for a software sale rep.

Tell them you need a replacement iMac system restore disc for your G5 iMac.

You will need to give them your iMac's serial number. If they give you a choice of a OS X 10.4 Tiger or OS X 10.5 Leopard restore disc, take the OS X 10.5 disc/s.

You will need a credit/debit card as there is a nominal charge of around $16-18 to cover processing and shipment of the disc.

Good Luck.

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Answer 2

soapy547 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 17, 2013 8:10 AM in response to MichelPM

Thanks for that.

Apple UK were friendly but pretty useless. I think leopard is the way to go, so trawling ebay as we speak...

Ok so the problem was that the new hard drive, couldn't be seen, either get a flashing folder with a ? mark

or if I hold down option and boot, just get the refresh button and a next button but no hard drive.

Even tried the jumper settings, to limit the speed to 1.5Gb. iMac didn't see it and neither did the macbook through firewire.

I can't boot from the DVD drive either...

BUT I can start in Firewire target mode.

Macbook (running Snow Leopard) see's the hard drive and DVD...

The computer seems to be running hot and on closer inspection of the board components, 5 capacitors are bulging like Popeye (the Sailor man, not Doyle...)

So it looks like a case of bad caps.

My question is this now, and it's a bit of a development from my original question:

It's most probably the logic board so, should I replace ALL the caps or just the bulging ones (1000uF)

the 1800uF seem fine?.

I know this is notoriously difficult, but I'm wiling to give it one last shot, I agreed that I would not spend more than £50 on it and it's getting close to that with the new hard drive and memory - which I can always ebay, I suppose...

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Answer 3

rccharles

Level 6

12,957 points

Aug 17, 2013 10:00 AM in response to soapy547

Ok so the problem was that the new hard drive, couldn't be seen, either get a flashing folder with a ? mark

or if I hold down option and boot, just get the refresh button and a next button but no hard drive.

There is a distinction on the Mac. You see valid OS's to boot not volumes.

Might be better to invest in another used G5 machine. Could swap parts. Always fun to work and repair old hardware.

G5 has these hardware issues:

-- bad capacitors on logic board

-- bad capacitors in power supply

-- badly soldered video chip

-- "There were several Mac models with flat panel displays that had bad displays.

Most had serial numbers beginning with "W8"---the code for one specific factory.

This affected PowerBooks as well. If that's the case, the rest of the computer

is probably fine." by Allan Jones in

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4922592?answerId=21630224022#21630224022

Google: g5 capacitor replacement kit

More info on capacitor replacement kits

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

http://thecapking.com/applg5.html

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Answer 4

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

Aug 17, 2013 1:06 PM in response to soapy547

If you are not very handy or hands-on with conputer repairs or upgrades, my adivice is to forget spending any more money on this Mac and look to finding something newer and used that is in a good operating conditon.

Preferrably and Intel model Mac.

If you aren't experienced with soldering and desoldering techniques, then you run the risk of ruining the logic board anyhow. Then it will be heading for the trash or recycle.

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Answer 5

soapy547 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 22, 2013 2:41 AM in response to soapy547

Hello, Just an update..

Thanks to rccharles and michelpm for your reply's they were very helful. Thank you! 🙂

I'm a great believer in recycling and upcycling and it would be an awful shame to see something heading for the dump that would probably only need a few new capacitors for couple of quid...

It was an inherited machine (probably for good reason) and 5 1000uF caps were bad (bulging) TBH, I had nothing to loose and I have a old PC laptop to use should I do a hideous job. Figured I just go for it, besides, it kept me busy between a few shifts at work.

The only electronics I did at school was in the Physics lab and even then, I wasn't really paying much attention. But I'm a believer that anyone can do anything, if they set their mind to it... just take your time and prepare

1) So I got myself onto youtube watched some videos on soldering.

Some good, some hopelessly boring others, mildly disturbing..

2) I bought a soldering kit off ebay for £8 which came with a very helful guide, entitled:

"The basics of Electronics Soldering and Desoldering Guide" by Alan Winstanley.

3) Ordered the capacitor kit off ebay for £8

4) Borrowed a DVD of Leopard.

made a cup of tea, deep breath and then went about desoldering and soldering in the new caps.

20 min job and then reverse of removal, press the power button and a few nervous seconds and it was up and running and installing off the hard drive.

So, basically, what I'm saying is don't junk your machine for the sake of a couple of capacitors.

If I can do it, you definately can!

Total spend:

iMac £0.00

Capacitor kit £8.00

500Gb Hard Drive £18.00

Bluetooth Card £5.00

Soldering Iron kit £8.00

Total: £39

Pretty sure you could'nt buy a working iMac for under £40, so I think I did pretty well, all things considered.

This fixed:

Hard Drive not being recognised

Fan sounding like a Hoover

White screen of D E A T H

Found a useful website here:

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_G5_20%22_Model_A1076

If you are in the situation I was in and had nothing to loose, give it a shot, not only will you learn something, but you'll get the satisfaction of repairing it and breathing new life into an old device.

Cheers!

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Answer 6

rccharles

Level 6

12,957 points

Aug 22, 2013 9:12 AM in response to soapy547

Congratulations. It's a very heartening accomplishment which is a fitting tribute to British perseverance.

I'll add this discussion to my list of posts.

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