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Newbie iMac Help needed!

P

Polish Don

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 22, 2014
23
0
Hi,

I'm new here and I could use some help. My Brother-in-law gave me his A1224 iMac desktop. When I first received it, there was no power, no lights, no nothing. I assumed that since there is no power, it's probably the power supply.

I replaced it and now I have the first three LED's lit, but the fourth is dark. I have the cooling fans running and some hard drive noise, but no boot sounds or display.

I've seen several postings that say it's either the LCD or the Logic Board. I don't want to keep replacing till I hit it right.

Logically, I'm leaning to the logic board, since if it was just the LCD, wouldn't I still hear the OS boot sounds? I could by a mini dvi to VGA adapter to test the LCD. However, I'm looking for some ideas before I keep pouring money into this. I appreciate any and all suggestions !
 
Polish Don said:
Any Suggestions ???:confused:
Click to expand...

I think your logic board could be OK. The fourth LED is an over-temperature LED and only lights in an error situation. If the third LED is lit, then video is being generated. The second one means correct power is being applied to the logic board. The first one means that the PSU is supplying sleep voltage. Recheck all the connections to your screen. You may need to connect an external screen to verify. Try buying the mini-DVI adaptor from ebay or monoprice.
 
Thanks !

So then you think it's the LCD? I've thought about buying the Mini-dvi cable, but debated it. I know on a windows PC, even if the LCD is bad, it will still boot. This does nothing except for cooling fans and some Hard drive noises.
 
#4 LED on those iMacs is not an over temp light, but ON indicates that the computer and the LCD panel are communicating.
Off, may mean a failed video card, which can be replaced, no need to replace the entire logic board.
(2007, 2008 iMacs have replaceable vid cards, 2009 iMacs are part of logic board.)
Some things to try:
Reset PRAM and SMC.
Reseat all RAM in the slots.
Reset the logic board by removing the coin battery (near the diagnostic LEDs) for about a minute, then reinsert.

With your other symptoms - it's most likely the video card.
You could try an external display (with the mini-DVI adapter), if that doesn't work, it's def the video card.
 
Last edited:
Thanks so far !

Ok,

I cleaned and checked all of the LCD connections I could. I removed the CMOS battery and reinstalled it after about 5 minutes (with the power off to the unit). No change.

See photos of machine and LCD's.

14al8j9.jpg


24pht00.jpg


Now, where is the video card? I'm assuming it's where the large silver plug with two screws (red circle)

et7k28.jpg


Thanks for your help so far. I'm really hoping I can get this running so I can start using a Mac!
 
Polish Don said:
...
Now, where is the video card? I'm assuming it's where the large silver plug with two screws (red circle)

...
Click to expand...

No, that plug with the two silver screws is just the LVDS (Video) connector.
It connects the LCD display to the logic board.
The video card is attached to the back side of the logic board.
If you remove the display, you'll see the heat sink, under the power supply that you replaced. Half of that heat sink is part of the video card. The logic board has to be removed to get to that card.
 
Video Card

Oh Great !

That sounds like fun ! :)

Are all A1224 Macs the same (video card wise)?
 
More info

The information on the bottom is kind of scuffed up. However, I also received the original box which has:

2qncchv.jpg


I was able to verify the serial number against the box.
 
Polish Don said:
The information on the bottom is kind of scuffed up. However, I also received the original box which has:

...
Click to expand...

Then, you have a "20-inch Mid-2007" iMac.
The vid card is replaceable.
A good Apple part number is 661-4436.
You can search for that number to give you possible sources for that card. Here's one that I found:
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Video-Card-ATI-Radeon-HD-2600XT-for-20-inch-Intel-iMac-p-17827.html
But, you might find one on eBay somewhere, too, for somewhat less money.
 
Vid Card

Thanks for your help ! I've been told LCD or Logic board and now Vid card. I'm excited to play with a Mac (I've been a PC user since IBM PC 4.77mhz DOS days) so I hope this fixes it.

I'll keep you informed. Thanks everyone again!!!
 
Questions !!

I took the imac apart to check the video card. It's shows as a AMD 109-B22531-10. I'm seeing a bunch of different video cards for this machine. Is it upgradable? Or must I purchase the exact same one?
 
First of all, why would your brother-in-law give you a broken iMac? Does he hate you or something?:p

Secondly, what's your budget? A working refurbished one runs about $400.
 
Well.....

He gave me the iMac and I've always wanted to play with out. I'm just trying to get it up and running cheaply (if possible)
 
Still not working !!!

Well,

I was able to find a used working video card on ebay. Put it all together and still no change. No video and only three LED's lit.

Any Ideas ????????

:mad:
 
Omg !

SUCCESS !!

On a whim I removed a ram board and swapped it with a spare I had. Booted right up.

2ugc9s2.jpg
 
Thanks Everyone !

My family heard me upstairs cheer when it turned on ! I really felt I threw $100 away with the video card.

I'll get the OS disks from my brother in law later and reinstall everything.

I was THIS CLOSE to tossing it when it didn't turn on. :):):):)
 
Great! I suggest sell the video card, Max out the ram and put a cheap ssd in it. You have a new toy! Enjoy
 
cypriot said:
Great! I suggest sell the video card, Max out the ram and put a cheap ssd in it. You have a new toy! Enjoy
Click to expand...

That's my plan. I had some leftover 1gb DDR2 ram from a laptop that was junk so I upgraded it to 2gb and I'm going to sell the old video card on ebay in a few days.

I can't wait to start playing with a mac. I've owned a few laptops over the years, but never kept them long enough to really get use to them.
 
Upgrades

Well,

Right now, I had a extra 1gb. I can always upgrade to the newer OS and ram down the road. Is there a cost to upgrade to Mavericks ?
 
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