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iMac G4 Graphical Glitches and More

I have a 2003 IMac G4, when I attempt to boot it up, the screen will spaz out and flash red and blue constantly, however the Apple Logo Will appear and the loading circle will start spinning, but after a few minutes it will freeze and then the fan will stop spinning and the hard drive will stop spinning. It does the same thing when I boot to a DVD. I've attempted to change the RAM, and the only conclusion that I can reach is that the motherboard is toast. It won't even boot into safe mode. Any way to fix this issue without having to spend any money on a new logic board?

iMac, Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on May 1, 2016 9:46 AM

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Posted on May 5, 2016 3:03 AM

Probably not.


Vintage and obsolete products


Apple has discontinued support for certain technologically obsolete and vintage products.

Vintage products are those that were discontinued more than five and less than seven years ago. Apple has discontinued hardware service for vintage products with the following exception:

  • Products purchased in the state of California, United States, as required by statute. Owners of these products may obtain service and parts from Apple Service Providers within the state of California, United States.

Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than seven years ago. Apple has discontinued all hardware service for obsolete products with no exceptions. Service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products.

All retail Apple Stores and the Canadian, European, Latin American and Asia-Pacific operating regions follow the U.S. product list, but make no distinction between vintage and obsolete. When applied to the retail Apple Stores and these operating regions, all products on the U.S. Vintage list are considered obsolete.


https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201624

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 5, 2016 3:03 AM in response to PowerMacRussian

Probably not.


Vintage and obsolete products


Apple has discontinued support for certain technologically obsolete and vintage products.

Vintage products are those that were discontinued more than five and less than seven years ago. Apple has discontinued hardware service for vintage products with the following exception:

  • Products purchased in the state of California, United States, as required by statute. Owners of these products may obtain service and parts from Apple Service Providers within the state of California, United States.

Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than seven years ago. Apple has discontinued all hardware service for obsolete products with no exceptions. Service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products.

All retail Apple Stores and the Canadian, European, Latin American and Asia-Pacific operating regions follow the U.S. product list, but make no distinction between vintage and obsolete. When applied to the retail Apple Stores and these operating regions, all products on the U.S. Vintage list are considered obsolete.


https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201624

May 6, 2016 2:00 PM in response to PowerMacRussian

You may be able to locate a replacement logic board that has been repaired or refurbished;

or perhaps a used board that has been tested and determined to be acceptably functional.


In some regions, where a light industrial base exists, some specialist companies can do a

major refurbishment of a logic board and perhaps graphic cards, for different Mac models.

These companies have workstations that are fairly modern and they can perform micro-

soldering and accurate replacement of the defective tiny bits on the logic boards, anew.


One of several companies that can do specialized repair to logic boards (or refurbish a

complete computer; which sometimes is better because the entire unit can be tested)

is in US. Shipping can be a problem; even for bare logic boards: wegenermedia.com


You may be able to acquire a pre-repaired or used pulled working parts from a vendor online.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=refurbished+logic+board+powerpc+imac+G4&t=ffsb


Some potential sources include powerbookmedic, powermax, and a few dozen who are mac

centric resellers; some are full repair services in addition to parts depot repository sources.


Sorry that your vintage obsolete G4 iMac model has issues. I own a few with similar needs.

A few times a year, I see low priced used iMac G4s that I wonder about, but I don't bite.


In any event...

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

iMac G4 Graphical Glitches and More

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