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Graphics corruption and no boot on iMac G5 ALS

LukeHarrison

LukeHarrison

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 11, 2007
287
150
So, I've been given an iMac G5 ALS, with a couple of issues. First problem, it doesn't boot past the Apple logo and spinning wheel. It will not move past this screen, and after a couple of minutes, the fans start spinning at full speed.

At the same time, the graphics are corrupted, with lines down the screen, and green and yellow blocks in bands all over the screen.

Video here:
https://goo.gl/photos/huWSF2BH3Q4UWAsc8
(the red lines going down the screen are quite difficult to make out in the video, but the other blocking is easy to see)

I've taken the back off, and all the capacitors look fine, and the diagnostic LEDs light up as they should, so I don't know what's causing this.

Could anybody shed any light onto this?

Many thanks :)
 
Tried booting into safe mode last night, that didn't work either. I've been trying to dig out my old copy of Tiger to see if I can boot into Disk Utility and check the disk, but if the logic board is a write off, is it worth it? How much is a new logic board? I've replaced them in later models before, and this one on the inside looks much easier to work on.
 
Not too sure how much it would be as there are very few good ones out there anymore. I would try a reflow and see what that will do
 
MacCubed said:
Not too sure how much it would be as there are very few good ones out there anymore. I would try a reflow and see what that will do
Click to expand...
Fair enough, thanks for the info. :) I'll give the reflow a go next week when I've a bit more time. Gives me time to get some thermal paste too.
 
MacCubed said:
Yeah, you could replace the GPU, but that would require specialist equipment
Click to expand...

Possible - there were repair companies with BGA rework stations that were replacing the GPU on 2011 15" MacBook Pros prior to the belated repair extension. Given the age of the iMac G5 it's not really a viable solution - likely needle in a haystack stuff to find a the part, plus the labour would cost more than the machine is worth. Better to find a used logic board and swap that.
 
MagicBoy said:
Possible - there were repair companies with BGA rework stations that were replacing the GPU on 2011 15" MacBook Pros prior to the belated repair extension. Given the age of the iMac G5 it's not really a viable solution - likely needle in a haystack stuff to find a the part, plus the labour would cost more than the machine is worth. Better to find a used logic board and swap that.
Click to expand...
Also it could be possible that the GPU isn't bad and it's just the solder. You could get the chip reballed and reflowed back onto the board
 
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