iMac 17inch intel issues

[mdnelson09]

I don't know where else this could fit into. I have a Intel based iMac (white with isight and light sensor) that i picked up from craigslist for $60. Thinking i could take a shot at it, i tore into the machine and got the thing to boot. I have a OSX disk that will load and get me to the apple logo on boot, then a blue screen. [Forgot to mention, i got an adapter for it since the lcd seems to be shot.] After, It will blink and show a white screen with black boxes. I can see the movement of the mouse but that has issues rendering the mouse image too. I heard that these have issues with the video card damn near melting in them.

So, is it the logic board? or something im missing. Also is it worth trying to find a lcd (cheep) and fix it? or just mod the crap out of it with pc hardware?

 

[mdnelson09]

Heres some photos of whats going on, if anyone can help.. :\

My buddy is telling me its probably a bad logic board, im quite sure hes right, but i hate to spend more cash on it at this point.

 

[Mussels]

looks like either the video card or the RAM is stuffed. most likely video card.


if you cant replace it, its stuffed. Macs dont always 'just work' and when they 'just dont', they're often nigh on impossible to repair out of warranty.

 

[Wile E]

If you have some spare ram floating around, try that. The 17" uses an IGP and system memory, iirc. If different ram doesn't work, the IGP (and hence the logic board) is most likely stuffed.

 

[mdnelson09]

Thanks for the tips guys, I tried a few different sticks of ram and a few different monitors with no luck. Guess ill have to get a Mini itx and mod it into the case.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Damn too bad it wasn't just suffering from intermittent heat-related artifacting and such as having removed the LCD like that certainly provides more cool air!

 

[CJCerny]

You try resetting the PRAM on it? That's a longshot, but easy to try and free.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

That would be the most incredible PRAM zap fix ever but sure as it can fix video strangeness why not give it a shot...

 

[mdnelson09]

You try resetting the PRAM on it? That's a longshot, but easy to try and free.

First thing i did. prior to the boot you see in the pic's, it wouldn't make any boot noise. pram fixed that for some reason. Just couldn't get it to do anything else. I figured life's easier to hackintosh the crap outa my main i5 rig.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Logic board it cooked IMO. The Intel imacs SUPER SUCK. They over heat like crazy. I have one on my desk right now with a big black spot on the left side of the screen from where the HD has been over heating. Another known issues with these pieces of shit. Bring back the power Macs NOW APPLE.

 

[Wile E]

The 17" Intel macs are really the only ones that had serious heat issues. The 20s and higher cooled much better, but you MUST keep them clean. It's doesn't take much dust to get them hot.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Logic board it cooked IMO. The Intel imacs SUPER SUCK. They over heat like crazy. I have one on my desk right now with a big black spot on the left side of the screen from where the HD has been over heating. Another known issues with these pieces of shit. Bring back the power Macs NOW APPLE.

First of all, you're nuts to want to go back to slow-ass uber-hot PPC. We never saw a G5 laptop for a reason. Secondly, while I am not trying to justify that shitty design flaw/oversight this only happens on the older all-in-ones that simply have too much power-hungry and hot hardware in too small of a space. The newer ones do not have this issue.

 

[brandonwh64]

Try baking the logic board.

 

[mdnelson09]

Try baking the logic board.

ill try to do this without pissing every single resident in my dorm off. That itself is the trick. After ill post results.

 

[TheMailMan78]

First of all, you're nuts to want to go back to slow-ass uber-hot PPC. We never saw a G5 laptop for a reason. Secondly, while I am not trying to justify that shitty design flaw/oversight this only happens on the older all-in-ones that simply have too much power-hungry and hot hardware in too small of a space. The newer ones do not have this issue.

Say what you want about them they were better built.

 

[phanbuey]

I agree with them being better built - right now their only tower is a mac pro, which is expensive as fuck - a mac-pro like mac would do a much better job of not turning itself into an oven.

 

[mdnelson09]

I agree with them being better built - right now their only tower is a mac pro, which is expensive as fuck - a mac-pro like mac would do a much better job of not turning itself into an oven.

Apple dropped the PPC cpu's from their os which probably killed their market. I would honestly say they could have continued with it and been a pretty good competitor, but on the same level, ill admit that their switch to intel was good for the computer community with hackintosh's being available.

Mac's are very overpriced, and i love the space heater effect in the winter, but its the dead of the summer now and i want another machine to play with

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Say what you want about them they were better built.

Well I guess I am basing most of my opinion on the lot of 27" i5 iMacs we have which have been great machines. Still put out a ton of heat from their vents (how could they no with all that packed in there?) but no issues with them. Fast and solid. 6970M 2GB too.

 

[Frick]

ill try to do this without pissing every single resident in my dorm off. That itself is the trick. After ill post results.

Just don't overdo it, that'll produce nasty smells.

(i did that once, not worth it)

 

[mdnelson09]

Just don't overdo it, that'll produce nasty smells.

(i did that once, not worth it)

Weird life tip my mom told me about. When baking nasty smelling food, in this case, apples (i lolled. My humor sucks), Toss 2-3 cut up oranges and let them bake with what ever your making. This should help with the smell. And she said something about another food that absorbs the smell too but i cant remember what.

I did however bake a 8800 gts of my friends, as well as a few older 6800 ultras that crapped out, and i know how bad they can smell.

 

[mdnelson09]

Well, todays the big day. I managed to score access to the engineering departments dehydrator/cooker (thing) [idk what they called it] to bake the board in a more suitable place. Im on the fence on the temperature, but as far as i read, 385~400*F will be fine for about 8 minutes. Not sure if this changes with the board being bigger than a graphics card, but some reported that @ 390 for 8 minutes fixed a ps3 motherboard. I guess ill try that first. Shorter bursts of heat should be better, right??