Hi guys. I wonder if anyone can give me advice about some serious iMac problems I'm having. Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping to cover everything here to save time in the long run
My machine is a chipset model ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro, Processor: 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running Mac OS 10.5.8
There are two distinct problems which may or may not be related. I'd appreciate any advice related to either problem.
The lesser problem is that I can only boot up in safe mode. This is not a major problem when working with graphics (although with seriously hampered vision - see below), but since I also sometimes work with music and safe mode disables sound along with several other things, it's quite a handicap.
ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS SO FAR:
Followed the textbook advice, removed all hardware devices except keyboard and mouse and tried rebooting - still got blue screen of death. I booted up holding down D to do a hardware check and it says everything appears to be OK. Also run disk verify (appears to be ok) and repaired permissions. Also reset pram. Also disabled startup items. Still only booted in safe mode... I finally backed up data, erased my HD and reinstalled my OS, all to no avail... Safe mode or nothing
But the main problem is that my monitor screen looks like this:
(see attachment)
Pretty horrible, right? And this obviously IS a major problem when working with graphics...
On some advice threads people have linked only being able to boot in safe mode with a "bad video card", so I'm guessing this might explain the two problems, but I found conflicting advice in several areas. Some say "graphics card" and some say "video card" -- this may not be a big deal. Maybe they are just two names for the same thing? But another conflict is that some say the graphics card cannot be replaced because it is soldered to the motherboard, while others say that is easily replaceable with another card, if you can find one. They say Apple themselves do not sell parts (presumably because they don't want people messing about with their computers) but the parts are available in several places online.
ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS: I did a web search for iMac ATI Radeon graphics cards and did find a few, at vastly different prices and some quite different-looking to others. I figured the only way to be sure it was the same type of card was to open up my machine. OK, I know, I can imagine red flags going up right now. "Don't do it! It'll void your warranty!" Trust me, my warranty is well past it's "use by" date, so I weighed up all the pros and cons.
I heard stories about Apple stores charging so much to repair a past-warranty machine that you'd be better off buying a new one. Besides, one advice thread said that if there was nothing wrong with either software or hardware from the computer's point of view, graphics card problems might simply be related to dust build-up inside, and slowing down of fans causing overheating.
I figured I could kill two birds with one stone by opening it up to have a look at the video card, and to clean out the inside of accumulated dust at the same time. So I bought a set of Torx screwdrivers and simple suction cups to prize the screen off, and went ahead into uncharted territory, following this pretty detailed guide: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+20-Inch+EMC+2133+and+2210+Video+Card+Replacement/1014
There was a LOT of dust in there and I cleaned it out as best as I could, but it was more time consuming than I'd expected, going carefully through each layer, so I didn't get as far as the video card, and took a rest... OK, I chickened out (for fear I had already gone too far and broken something) and then put it all back together, to see if it still worked, with a view to going back in at a later date. Alas, it was exactly the same as before, even after removing all that dust.
Anyway, I realise some of you might strongly disapprove of opening up an iMac, and I can understand why, but it really was my last option. Considering how much I spent on the machine when I bought it (not THAT long ago, really), and that the warranty is already past, I felt I had nothing to lose. Simply consigning it to the scrapheap would make it a pretty expensive piece of garbage to just toss away. Especially when it keeps telling me all its hardware and software "appears to be OK"...
My machine is a chipset model ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro, Processor: 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running Mac OS 10.5.8
There are two distinct problems which may or may not be related. I'd appreciate any advice related to either problem.
The lesser problem is that I can only boot up in safe mode. This is not a major problem when working with graphics (although with seriously hampered vision - see below), but since I also sometimes work with music and safe mode disables sound along with several other things, it's quite a handicap.
ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS SO FAR:
Followed the textbook advice, removed all hardware devices except keyboard and mouse and tried rebooting - still got blue screen of death. I booted up holding down D to do a hardware check and it says everything appears to be OK. Also run disk verify (appears to be ok) and repaired permissions. Also reset pram. Also disabled startup items. Still only booted in safe mode... I finally backed up data, erased my HD and reinstalled my OS, all to no avail... Safe mode or nothing
But the main problem is that my monitor screen looks like this:
(see attachment)
Pretty horrible, right? And this obviously IS a major problem when working with graphics...
On some advice threads people have linked only being able to boot in safe mode with a "bad video card", so I'm guessing this might explain the two problems, but I found conflicting advice in several areas. Some say "graphics card" and some say "video card" -- this may not be a big deal. Maybe they are just two names for the same thing? But another conflict is that some say the graphics card cannot be replaced because it is soldered to the motherboard, while others say that is easily replaceable with another card, if you can find one. They say Apple themselves do not sell parts (presumably because they don't want people messing about with their computers) but the parts are available in several places online.
ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS: I did a web search for iMac ATI Radeon graphics cards and did find a few, at vastly different prices and some quite different-looking to others. I figured the only way to be sure it was the same type of card was to open up my machine. OK, I know, I can imagine red flags going up right now. "Don't do it! It'll void your warranty!" Trust me, my warranty is well past it's "use by" date, so I weighed up all the pros and cons.
I heard stories about Apple stores charging so much to repair a past-warranty machine that you'd be better off buying a new one. Besides, one advice thread said that if there was nothing wrong with either software or hardware from the computer's point of view, graphics card problems might simply be related to dust build-up inside, and slowing down of fans causing overheating.
I figured I could kill two birds with one stone by opening it up to have a look at the video card, and to clean out the inside of accumulated dust at the same time. So I bought a set of Torx screwdrivers and simple suction cups to prize the screen off, and went ahead into uncharted territory, following this pretty detailed guide: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+20-Inch+EMC+2133+and+2210+Video+Card+Replacement/1014
There was a LOT of dust in there and I cleaned it out as best as I could, but it was more time consuming than I'd expected, going carefully through each layer, so I didn't get as far as the video card, and took a rest... OK, I chickened out (for fear I had already gone too far and broken something) and then put it all back together, to see if it still worked, with a view to going back in at a later date. Alas, it was exactly the same as before, even after removing all that dust.
Anyway, I realise some of you might strongly disapprove of opening up an iMac, and I can understand why, but it really was my last option. Considering how much I spent on the machine when I bought it (not THAT long ago, really), and that the warranty is already past, I felt I had nothing to lose. Simply consigning it to the scrapheap would make it a pretty expensive piece of garbage to just toss away. Especially when it keeps telling me all its hardware and software "appears to be OK"...
