What to do with a (seemingly) dead iMac?

simonsimon
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi,



The Scenario : I've forgotten the exact number of people I've convinced to buy an Apple Mac over the years, apart for the ones who still turn to me for "tech support", and it's these cases I feel a small obligation to.



The Problem : A friends iMac DV (first slot loader type) is ill and I've tried most of the things I know to do.



The Symptoms : On start-up I get the healthy chimes, the HD makes a few noises, the screen goes grey and then ... nothing. No more noises. I've tried booting from several CD's and they spin for a few seconds then nothing. A local service provider has also looked at it, and although it came back working, it didn't last the week. They blamed a faulty HD, and having been independantly told that the order of hardware priority inside an iMac DV was HD then CD, I was happy to believe this. So I replaced it - nothing. Exact same problem.



I've tried two HD's, different RAM, various bootable CD's, re-seated every board, and tried Firewire Disk Mode. All to no avail.



What to do : I know the real answer is to hand it over to a different service provider (didn't like the attitude of the last) and let them sort it, but if money can be saved I'd rather see if there are any more options to explore.



Thanks for your time in advance.



Simon.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    red wolfred wolf Posts: 15member
    It is a hardware problem and you've already tested and changed out the hardware parts that are user swapable. I suggest you find yourself an AppleCare certified tservice provider or, even better, an Apple Specialist who can look at the machine. If none are nearby most Apple Specialist will accept shipment of a broken Mac. You can do a search for Apple Specialist on Apple's web site.



    If by chance you live in Georgia let me know...I'll tell ya where to go
  • Reply 2 of 3
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    ok, assuming it's not the drive, ram etc, that really narrows down the problem areas.



    i assume you've flashed the pram a few times (like 4+).



    outside of that, the only things that pop into my head are the following.



    1. bad external hardware is locking up his machine. had a bad USB keyboard here that actually puked machines it was plugged into. never did figureo out why, but on any machine it would kill it. try different keyboards, or just booting it with nothing else plugged into it.



    2. bad video. um, not sure what all you can do in this case. if you had no picture at all i'd say to try and use the video out in the back of the iMac to test another monitor, but if you're getting a grey screen that isn't going to be the problem just think it would be interesting to see what it did while it was sending video out through the back port.



    i guess the only thing left i can think of is bad peripheral. sounds like you covered the other bases fairly well.



    -alcimedes
  • Reply 3 of 3
    simonsimon Posts: 7member
    Hi again,



    To follow up: I've PRAM'd about 44 times! No peripherals. Didn't have a different keyboard at the time, but did try starting up without the keyboard.



    I live in the UK, so Georgia is a little too far. But thank you Mr Wolf, or can I call you Red?



    It looks like my friend will just have to get his wallet out and get it seen to.



    Thanks.



    Simon <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
Sign In or Register to comment.