iMac G3 Power Failure

mactropolis

Hi,

I have an old Summer 2000 iMac DV SE running Tiger. Recently when I powered up the machine I saw the display flicker a bit then went dead. I also began to smell something burning from the rear ventilation ports. Now when I press the power button, it lights up for a brief moment then the burning smell returns. What component does it look like has failed? What are the chances of getting it repaired/replaced?



Less optomisticaly, in what way could I transfer the data from the dead iMac HDD to my Intel Mini?



Thanks in advance!

benzene

It's dead. Sorry.

The early iMacs were known for dropping flyback transformers, but this sounds even worse than that.

if you can identify which board it is, you can find spares on eBay and elsewhere, but it might cost you a bit.



Your best bet is to get an inexpensive USB 2.5" harddrive case (you can find them for less than thirty bucks easy) and put the HD from your iMac in it. That way you can rescue any data you had stored on the deceased machine.



Of course, that assumes the HD is ok. It probably is, but no guarantees.

zachpruckowski

I thought iMacs were 3.5 inch HDDs? And it's prolly PATA, right?

benzene

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZachPruckowski


I thought iMacs were 3.5 inch HDDs? And it's prolly PATA, right?

Oops, yeah, I meant 3.5". I was talking about an IDE-USB bridge case like this.



Thanks for the clarification.

mactropolis

Thanks guys. I was afraid of the bad news myself.



I did call a local Apple Authorized Reseller and the guy said it had been a familiar problem with 6+ y.o. iMac's like myself. The problem is apparently with the Analog-Video board component. He said they could repair it but the component+labour is 2/3's price of a new Mac Mini, or alternatively I could try to source the part myself. I also found some guides online to do the replacement, but i've never even picked up a soldering iron in my life.



And yeh, the iMac G3's had 3.5" PATA drives. But i'm wondering how easy is it to dissassemble that iMac to get the HDD located at the very bottom of the machine. Any pointers on an easy-to-follow pictorial guide??



Thanks!

benzene

Actually, the analog board is a separate component, and not hard (relatively speaking) to replace, although it does require taking the computer apart considerably. Of course, you're still fixing an aged computer, no matter how you look at it.



Getting to the HD isn't bad at all. Here's a site with the necessary pictures. It's pretty much a matter of turning the iMac upside down, popping some latches, and a little work with a phillips. It's not nearly as strenuous as the original iMac revisions.



Best of luck.

mactropolis

Yeh, I saw some online stores selling the full board/component (e.g. here), but is that what I need or just the 'Flyback Transformer' part? I have some experience with PC repar/upgrade, but nothing as complex & involved as this, but i'm willing to try new things -- its dead afterall, so I cant make it worse. Could you point out exacly the part I need to get?



Thanks for the iMac HD Replacement visual guide, just what I was looking for.



Thanks,

benzene

Quote:

Originally Posted by mactropolis


Yeh, I saw some online stores selling the full board/component (e.g. here), but is that what I need or just the 'Flyback Transformer' part? I have some experience with PC repar/upgrade, but nothing as complex & involved as this, but i'm willing to try new things -- its dead afterall, so I cant make it worse. Could you point out exacly the part I need to get?

Generally when the flyback transformer goes, it's just the CRT that stops responding, and the computer can still boot. Given the complete "deadness" of your iMac, I'd say there's probably a few more things zapped as well.



The part you show could indeed be the busted component, but there's also a down converter board as well that plugs into the side of the actual motherboard (like this one) that might be fried as well or instead of the analog board.

In any case, the part you linked to is over $200. That's about a third of a brand new mini that'll be considerably faster.



If you've done any kind of basic computer repair, replacing these boards won't be that big of a complexity issue. It boils down to a matter of money.

mactropolis

Yeh, the issue here boils down to money. I believe the component failure is the Analog Video board as I saw a stream of a smoke from the rear left of the board, on the opposite side of logic board from the down converter attachment on the right (facing screen down).



I optomisticlly tried attaching a monitor to the VGA port in hopes it would at least boot and work with the external CRT, but same 2 second Power button light followed by ventilation port smoke smell.





So it looks like this $220 component is the only way to make it functional again?