imac G5 Logic board replacement - worth tackling myself?

[neiltrumpet]

Hi all.

My beloved imac G5 has fallen foul to a bad case of the exploding-capacitors-on-the-logic-board .

I know this is common and my machine is in the apple extended repair programme. But they do say it has to be within 3 years of the purchase date. I'm half a year out.

I will kick up a fuss as the consumer act states that items of this nature are expected to last for six years. Also, the last manufactured model covered under the scheme was over three years ago and the scheme is still running.

If this falls on it's face - how easy is it going to be to replace the board myself. How much of a drama is it and are there any particular issues I need to be concerned with when buying a board (compatability etc.).

I look forward to any help you can throw my way guys, cheers.

 

[Etherz10]

Hi all.

My beloved imac G5 has fallen foul to a bad case of the exploding-capacitors-on-the-logic-board .

I know this is common and my machine is in the apple extended repair programme. But they do say it has to be within 3 years of the purchase date. I'm half a year out.

I will kick up a fuss as the consumer act states that items of this nature are expected to last for six years. Also, the last manufactured model covered under the scheme was over three years ago and the scheme is still running.

If this falls on it's face - how easy is it going to be to replace the board myself. How much of a drama is it and are there any particular issues I need to be concerned with when buying a board (compatability etc.).

I look forward to any help you can throw my way guys, cheers.

Well, I would try some of the the big mac places see if they can help, but to be honest i wouldnt bother the time,effort and cash to repair could be too much and easier to buy another machine (but that me)

i might be able to find some stuff for you, ill keep ya posted

 

[kornyboy]

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Well the best thing in my opinion is to take it to Apple if you still have a warranty on the thing. All that to say, it probably wouldn't be terribly difficult to replace the motherboard yourself as long as you can get your hands on one for a decent price. Don't buy it from Apple because they tend to charge almost what it would cost to buy a new computer since they never reduce the price of replacement parts. Unfortunately, Apple may be the only place that you can find the motherboard. Good luck!

 

[Etherz10]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

Well the best thing in my opinion is to take it to Apple if you still have a warranty on the thing. All that to say, it probably wouldn't be terribly difficult to replace the motherboard yourself as long as you can get your hands on one for a decent price. Don't buy it from Apple because they tend to charge almost what it would cost to buy a new computer since they never reduce the price of replacement parts. Unfortunately, Apple may be the only place that you can find the motherboard. Good luck!

As i Said Apple Are Probably the only place to have it and at there prices no point

 

[xUKHCx]

I have replaced the logic board on the rev. A iMac G5 many times now. It is reasonably easy especially with the given instructions. They cost £412 according to my bills (although that was covered by apple care so I didn't have to pay anything).

Speak calmly to the tech support explaining that it is a known issue and hopefully they will offer it. If not explain that you are not that far out of the extension program, I would do all of this before stating the 6 year thing (that I haven't heard of).

I had the exploding capacitors thing as well.

 

[ckpg99]

Where to find instructions

My 1.6GHz G5 is also failing- diagnosed by the genius bar with having 3-4 bad capacitors. I have found a company that will replace the bad capacitors that are causing my iMac to fail, but they want the logic board removed from the computer and sent by itself. I have never done anything like this (most complicated thing I've ever done is install RAM and airport cards). Anyone happen to know where I can find an instruction manual for how to remove and reinstall the logic board?
Cheers
Chris

 

[AlexisV]

Use this as an opportunity to move to an Intel Mac. It's a false economy to spend a couple of hundred on a PowerPC machine now.

 

[rfruth]

Do everything you can to get Apple to pay else DIY (do it yourself) OR if you have money burning a hole in your pocket just upgrade don't bother with a broken G5 (sell it to me)

 

[suburbia]

I don't know if it's worth replacing the logicboard yourself. If you're familiar with such things, than give it a go.

Try to plea your case with Apple: When the power supply dead on my iMac G5 3 months out of Applecare, both Applecare and their Customer Service told me that I had to pay for replacement. But when I took it in to Apple to see a Genius, I was told that Apple would cover the replacement and labor.

So give it go with Apple, you might just luck out.

 

[Rambo66]

The logic board on my January 2006 Dual 2.0 G5 just went and from all I'm learning about these machines this is common!! I spoke with Apple today and they said that because my computer is 3 years old and has never been serviced then they will not cover the repair under their 'exception code'.