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Need help with almost-dead iMac DV 400

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phillymjs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 18, 2002
116
0
Yesterday a client gave me an iMac DV 400 that will not boot and is basically dead. Pressing the power button causes it to light up, I hear the hard drive start to spin up, and then the Mac shuts down almost immediately (before it even plays the startup chime). It seems like there's something that doesn't quite 'catch' when I try to power it up. This does not perfectly match the 'green light of death' symptoms I found when Googling.

I'd like to fix this on the cheap and perhaps give it to one of my Windows-using friends, because I'm tired of fixing his crappy PC. :)

Anybody seen this problem before? My educated guess is that's it's gotta be power-supply related. I'm just looking for an idea of which part(s) to replace and/or if this is something I should probably leave to a real Apple hardware technician.

TIA,

~Philly
 
JFreak

JFreak

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2003
3,151
9
Tampere, Finland
open the case and use the vacuum cleaner mat max power to suck all dirt off the power supply. it could be so dirty that it overheats. this might not be enough to have it up&running but i have so far seen two such computers that this helped.
 
T

TheT

macrumors 6502
Jan 5, 2002
485
0
Germany
Did you try to boot up from a CD (pressing "C" when starting up with the CD inside)? Maybe it's just a dead hard-drive. I know my DV 400 harddrive died 2 years ago, for no apparent reason (no, age is not a reason after 3 years)...
Also, try holding down the option (alt) key, that will hopefully show you the startup-manager... if that shows up, it's the HD / OS...
 
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phillymjs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 18, 2002
116
0
I know the hard drive is fine because I had to yank it and put it in another machine to retrieve some data.

The iMac was quite a bit dusty inside, but the computer does not stay on long enough for heat to become an issue. I plan to clean it thoroughly when I crack it open again to replace whatever part it needs.

~Philly
 
Spock

Spock

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2002
3,418
7,240
Vulcan
I am not sure of the location, but You should also try pressing the CUDA botton on the Logicboard this may help.
Do You here the start up chime?
 
Macmaniac

Macmaniac

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2001
3,341
1
A tiny spec in the "Garden State", 1 square mile i
It sounds like your PAV board which controls the power and video on your iMac, this probably needs to be replaced, if you want turn the computer around and on the back there are two doors, one has a lock unlock key on it, above there is another door which can be popped off with a screwdriver this lets you access the VGA port on the iMac, so at least you can see if you are getting any video, although not all iMacs had this. Have the computer looked at it is probably the PAV board, but it could be the Logic board as well, have it looked at.
 
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phillymjs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 18, 2002
116
0
Macmaniac said:
It sounds like your PAV board which controls the power and video on your iMac, this probably needs to be replaced.
Click to expand...

Damn. If it was anything else, I'd do it myself, but the idea of screwing around with the power feed into the CRT does not thrill me.

You're right, I think I will take it to the Marlton Apple Store and have them repair it. Even if it's a couple hundred bucks, that's still cheaper than the going rate for this machine in working condition on eBay.

~Philly
 
Macky-Mac

Macky-Mac

macrumors 68040
May 18, 2004
3,501
2,552
maybe a jammed power switch??

are you pushing the one on the keyboard or on the iMac? You might try the other one......you never know. I have a friend who had a similar problem with his powerbook and it turned out that the "shift" key was jammed in the down position causing all sorts of confusion
 
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phillymjs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 18, 2002
116
0
Well, I took it to the Apple Store, and the guy at the Genius Bar confirmed that it is most likely the PAV (power-analog-video) board/module/whatever. He quoted me a $300 repair cost, which really kills the buzz from getting the iMac for free.

I'm gonna try a smaller service place near me and see if they can get it done a little cheaper, but the part itself apparently costs $150-- so I probably won't get that much of a better price.

~Philly
 
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