Best course of action - Dead iMac G5 iSight 20" Logic Board

[nrd]

Hello all,

I have a late model iMac G5 20" that recently died. Apple confirmed that it is a dead logic board. I have already pulled the machine apart and salvaged everything off of the hard drive. I also already have a replacement Intel iMac.

What's the best course of action? If I could get it fixed on the cheap, I'd donate it to a local charity that needs a computer. However, I can't spend ±$900 to have Apple fix it. I also have no problems gutting computers and building them from scratch, however the iMac's logic board seems pretty intimidating and I'd only try replacing it if I could get a working logic board on the cheap. I also noticed on eBay several sellers offering up capacitors or logic board repair services, however I'm really hesitant about using them.

Does anyone here have experience with replacing the logic board? Buying logic boards off of eBay? What about parting the iMac out on ebay? If I don't end up with a working iMac, I want to get some money back from it.

Any experiences welcome.

 

[chrismacguy]

Hello all,

I have a late model iMac G5 20" that recently died. Apple confirmed that it is a dead logic board. I have already pulled the machine apart and salvaged everything off of the hard drive. I also already have a replacement Intel iMac.

What's the best course of action? If I could get it fixed on the cheap, I'd donate it to a local charity that needs a computer. However, I can't spend ±$900 to have Apple fix it. I also have no problems gutting computers and building them from scratch, however the iMac's logic board seems pretty intimidating and I'd only try replacing it if I could get a working logic board on the cheap. I also noticed on eBay several sellers offering up capacitors or logic board repair services, however I'm really hesitant about using them.

Does anyone here have experience with replacing the logic board? Buying logic boards off of eBay? What about parting the iMac out on ebay? If I don't end up with a working iMac, I want to get some money back from it.

Any experiences welcome.

If you can get an identical logic board and processor combo, just take that and install it (I seem to remember there being a thermal calibration issue with G5 PowerMacs when you replace the Logic Board, but not the Processor, I cant remember if it applies to the G5 iMac as well).

 

[Alvi]

Better sell it on ebay for 300$ That's what i did with a white Intel iMac i had, It's a pretty good deal,,,

 

[nrd]

Thanks for the info.

I know that I mentioned hesitation with the "logic board repair" services on eBay, but if anyone has any experience with a company that services iMacs on the cheap, I'd like to know about it. ~$300 isn't bad to get a computer working again.

I'm also going to start monitoring parts sales on eBay, to see if I might make out better by parting the iMac out.

 

[cluthz]

What made the logic board die?
Blown/bulging caps are usually the reason iMac G5s die,
and it's relatively easy to fix yourself

 

[nrd]

What made the logic board die?
Blown/bulging caps are usually the reason iMac G5s die,
and it's relatively easy to fix yourself

Not entirely sure. The iMac is the last revision iMac G5. All of the capacitor repair services I've found have images of a logic board that looks different than the one in my iMac. I am going to pull the logic board so I can get a good look at all the capacitors and may try replacing them if they look blown.

 

[MykeBraz]

Not entirely sure. The iMac is the last revision iMac G5. All of the capacitor repair services I've found have images of a logic board that looks different than the one in my iMac. I am going to pull the logic board so I can get a good look at all the capacitors and may try replacing them if they look blown.

So what did you end up doing?

 

[mrsir2009]

If I were you I'd sell it for scrap...

 

[drewdle]

Thread Necromancy!