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G5 1.6GHz (A1058), 17" - non-iSight

Deadandgone?

Deadandgone?

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 2, 2015
30
1
London, England
Hi there

I suspect that my 11 year old G5 iMac is dead and will not rise again. I have the start up bleep, accompanied by loud fan noise, and the ambient light flashes but the screen remains black. I have eliminated a power supply issue by going through the diagnostic on an old Apple help board. The inside looks clean - there is no sign of corrosion nor an accumulation of dust - and the hard drive and ram were upgraded several years' ago. A quick google search suggests that the graphics card might be the problem and, if so, is there any hope or point, from a cost perspective, of getting a replacement? Might there any other explanation(s)?

If all is lost and I have to consider a replacement - it will be a used model - what should I specifically avoid?

Thanks people.
 
Assuming it's not bad caps (I don't know much about that but it's often mentioned as a problem for G5 iMacs) and is the GPU then that is a logicboard replacement.

You could probably find a replacement on eBay and do it yourself if that is the case.
 
Deadandgone? said:
Hi there

I suspect that my 11 year old G5 iMac is dead and will not rise again. I have the start up bleep, accompanied by loud fan noise, and the ambient light flashes but the screen remains black. I have eliminated a power supply issue by going through the diagnostic on an old Apple help board. The inside looks clean - there is no sign of corrosion nor an accumulation of dust - and the hard drive and ram were upgraded several years' ago. A quick google search suggests that the graphics card might be the problem and, if so, is there any hope or point, from a cost perspective, of getting a replacement? Might there any other explanation(s)?

If all is lost and I have to consider a replacement - it will be a used model - what should I specifically avoid?

Thanks people.
Click to expand...
A non iSight iMac probably won't have the GPU issues that you've read about. This sounds like classic bad caps to me. Open it up and check for bad caps- any bulging, or explosions (both on top and bottom of the caps) would indicate bad caps. This can be very subtle. Even if they haven't exploded, they can still be bad, without showing any symptoms.
 
i had the 20" version of this machine, the caps went. I can't believe yours has lasted this long, if that is indeed the problem. Those iMacs are easy to open so checking should be pretty easy. Check this guide to see what's involved.
 
barbu said:
i had the 20" version of this machine, the caps went. I can't believe yours has lasted this long, if that is indeed the problem. Those iMacs are easy to open so checking should be pretty easy. Check this guide to see what's involved.
Click to expand...
These caps do seem to be somewhat temperamental, I haven't had any issues with mine.
 
barbu said:
i had the 20" version of this machine, the caps went. I can't believe yours has lasted this long, if that is indeed the problem. Those iMacs are easy to open so checking should be pretty easy. Check this guide to see what's involved.
Click to expand...
I am distraught at the thought of having to replace a machine that served perfectly my modest needs. Thanks for pointing me to the tute. Looks far too involved and delicate for someone as cackhanded as me. I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and start researching a used replacement.
 
Deadandgone? said:
I am distraught at the thought of having to replace a machine that served perfectly my modest needs. Thanks for pointing me to the tute. Looks far too involved and delicate for someone as cackhanded as me. I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and start researching a used replacement.
Click to expand...
Well i know at the time, Apple covered the cap issue for free (as an aside, it was an industry-wide problem at that time, someone had stolen an incomplete electrolytic formula from a reputable company and was selling counterfeit capacitors. Several companies including Apple and Sony got hit hard. Check the top seams on your caps, i recall that the bad ones had an "X" and the genuine parts had a "K"). Have you had the machine since new? If not, it may have already been serviced.
Is there an Apple Store near you? You never know what they can do for you, i hear of people still getting service for their Apple //s and the like, even today.
I am kind of delighted that someone is still rocking a PPC Mac for their main machine, this site maintains a list of PPC software, in case you weren't aware of it. Good luck with the fix, let's hope it's just bad RAM.
 
If you are getting 3 beeps, and no boot - this has been mentioned here several times already - be sure to try reseating the RAM sticks (swap the two sticks between the slots!)
Make sure that the sticks are seated completely. The "ejector" levers will snap up against the edge of the sticks when fully seated. Do it twice.
 
Altemose said:
Three beeps means lack of RAM or failed RAM. If the capacitors look good try getting some new RAM for it.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I have replaced/upgraded the RAM modules since purchasing the machine in 2004 - can't remember or check when though. Will take another look inside before placing an order as I am looking at GBP 45 for a pair of 1GB modules.
 
DeltaMac said:
If you are getting 3 beeps, and no boot - this has been mentioned here several times already - be sure to try reseating the RAM sticks (swap the two sticks between the slots!)
Make sure that the sticks are seated completely. The "ejector" levers will snap up against the edge of the sticks when fully seated. Do it twice.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. This was the first thing I did.
 
barbu said:
Well i know at the time, Apple covered the cap issue for free (as an aside, it was an industry-wide problem at that time, someone had stolen an incomplete electrolytic formula from a reputable company and was selling counterfeit capacitors. Several companies including Apple and Sony got hit hard. Check the top seams on your caps, i recall that the bad ones had an "X" and the genuine parts had a "K"). Have you had the machine since new? If not, it may have already been serviced.
Is there an Apple Store near you? You never know what they can do for you, i hear of people still getting service for their Apple //s and the like, even today.
I am kind of delighted that someone is still rocking a PPC Mac for their main machine, this site maintains a list of PPC software, in case you weren't aware of it. Good luck with the fix, let's hope it's just bad RAM.
Click to expand...
I have approached a couple of Mac repairers and they just said a straight no, so I doubt whether any Apple store will entertain my ancient, slightly down at heel G5. I would probably be shoo'ed away from the hallowed portals as 'unclean'. Ha, ha.
 
DeltaMac said:
If you are getting 3 beeps, and no boot - this has been mentioned here several times already - be sure to try reseating the RAM sticks (swap the two sticks between the slots!)
Make sure that the sticks are seated completely. The "ejector" levers will snap up against the edge of the sticks when fully seated. Do it twice.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Already tried this. I am hoping that new modules are all I need.
 
Deadandgone? said:
I have approached a couple of Mac repairers and they just said a straight no, so I doubt whether any Apple store will entertain my ancient, slightly down at heel G5. I would probably be shoo'ed away from the hallowed portals as 'unclean'. Ha, ha.
Click to expand...
I would try anyway. I am not surprised that non-Apple techs won't do it since there would no reimbursement for them. From what I hear, the geniuses usually love seeing old machines. It doesn't cost anything to ask.
Those iMac are exceptionally easy to open, so you should be able to quickly check the caps for yourself as well.
 
Deadandgone? said:
Thanks. I have replaced/upgraded the RAM modules since purchasing the machine in 2004 - can't remember or check when though. Will take another look inside before placing an order as I am looking at GBP 45 for a pair of 1GB modules.
Click to expand...

Do you have the original RAM or another pair of the same type regardless of size?
 
Deadandgone? said:
Thanks. I have replaced/upgraded the RAM modules since purchasing the machine in 2004 - can't remember or check when though. Will take another look inside before placing an order as I am looking at GBP 45 for a pair of 1GB modules.
Click to expand...
That sounds a bit expensive to me...
 
I have had another look under the cover and it might be bad capacitors after all. In the image below, I have circled the suspects and now see that others are bulging.

Damaged capacitors.jpg
 
Last edited:
Deadandgone? said:
I have had another look under the cover and it might be bad capacitors after all. In the image below, I have circled the suspects and now see that others are bulging.

View attachment 572995
Click to expand...
Even if just 2 or 3 show visible symptoms, all should be replaced, because the others are failing too (or will fail soon). He probably could get away with just replacing that group.
MagicBoy said:
Yeah, they're gone. Probably the other two next to them as well.
Click to expand...
 
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