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iMac G5: try and fix it or just sell it?

V

vanline

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I will try and keep this short and sweet:

Recently acquired an iMac G5, first time booting up I got the question mark of death screen.

Reinstalled the OS and now it is a 50/50 gamble that it will either boot up or give me a kernal panic message.

Question:Is there a way to tell what is the bad component? If it's the HD or Ram, I think I can replace them easily enough.
 
try to fix it as its a iMac g5 , so not that collectible compared with the iMac g4 as apple did the mistake and put the intel iMac in the same case after the transition , and the little niggles like overheating issues , screen issues ,graphics issues , general bad cap issues the iMac g5's are hard to sell , so the peeps are not willing to pay a lot for the iMac G5 and rather to go for a late eMac g4 ,1.42 (more reliable )or mini g4(more reliable) iMac g4 (more collectible)
despite the fact the iMac g5 if working proper is a really good and fast computer , but there are to many "if" that make even a perfectly working one harder to sell, apart from the 1.9 and 2.1 iMac g5 isight models which are pretty much issue free (apple always took a couple years to sort out problems 😉 )
 
Bust off the rear cover it is most likely that you have bad logic board capacitors. You could get a new logic board or send it in for repairs. The problem is that a used board runs 150 and up.
 
ClassicII said:
Bust off the rear cover it is most likely that you have bad logic board capacitors. You could get a new logic board or send it in for repairs. The problem is that a used board runs 150 and up.
Click to expand...

Speaking from experience (was an Apple tech for 11 years at an authorized dealer) I can all but guarantee Apple stores (or an authorized dealer) won't even touch the iMac (or any PPC machine for that matter).

If you do manage to find a replacement part, an authorized dealer may fix it at the cost of labour (which isn't cheap). Basically though, If you want it fixed you're on your own.
 
is there any way to diagnose what piece of hardware is giving me problems without taking the Mac apart? does the kernal panic message offer any hints?
 
vanline said:
is there any way to diagnose what piece of hardware is giving me problems without taking the Mac apart? does the kernal panic message offer any hints?
Click to expand...

Judging from your original post description, can all but guarantee it's a dead/dying logic board; was, unfortunately, a pretty widespread problem with G5 iMacs.
 
All G5 iMacs fall under either "Supported" or "Vintage" status, which means that a technician who is authorized can acquire parts to fix your machine directly through Apple. For more information on this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1752

What they mean by "discontinued support" is that Apple themselves won't touch the unit or send it away for you, but an Apple Certified Reseller/Repair Centre can, at their discretion, repair the unit and order parts. We regularly get iMac G5 machines in for power supply failures, actually. Just last week we had to order a 20" LCD for one machine. Most of these machines were older than five years.

Basically it boils down to money. If you're willing to pay the labour, they'd be willing to fix the machine, but as always, it's at their discretion. They may advise against repairing it due to cost of parts. At the very least, a diagnosis could be acquired through a shop. Inquire what the rate is for a diagnosis and have that quote on hand before you leave the machine in their care so you don't get hosed.

My experience on the matter is from Canada, however. Not sure if it differs for US residents, although it'd be pretty weird for us to be able to get parts and for you to not be able to, all things considered.
 
drewdle said:
Any Apple certified technician who is worth his salt would be willing to fix that machine. All G5 iMacs fall under either "Supported" or "Vintage" status, which means that a technician who is authorized can acquire parts to fix your machine directly through Apple. For more information on this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1752

What they mean by "discontinued support" is that Apple themselves won't touch the unit or send it away for you, but an Apple Certified Reseller/Repair Centre can, at their discretion, repair the unit and order parts. We regularly get iMac G5 machines in for power supply failures, actually. Just last week we had to order a 20" LCD for one machine. Most of these machines were older than five years.

Basically it boils down to money. If you're willing to pay the labour, they'd be willing to fix the machine, but as always, it's at their discretion. They may advise against repairing it due to cost of parts. At the very least, a diagnosis could be acquired through a shop. Inquire what the rate is for a diagnosis and have that quote on hand before you leave the machine in their care so you don't get hosed. We charge $40 for a diagnosis, and usually we wave that fee if the repair goes ahead.
Click to expand...

Curious if your store is still able to order in parts outside of the screen? I left my work a few months ago; bit before that we were told by Apple that they had no more PMG5/iMac G5 parts to send us (not even LCDs); what we had on our own shelves was it.
 
DesmoPilot said:
Curious if your store is still able to order in parts outside of the screen? I left my work a few months ago; bit before that we were told by Apple that they had no more PMG5/iMac G5 parts to send us (not even LCDs); what we had on our own shelves was it.
Click to expand...

In the last month we've had the LCD and a power supply come in for machines of that era. One of the parts was "no charge" under a service extension program of some kind, although I don't have specific details. Not sure if there's been any communication as to not being able to order parts, as our tech has been away since the 30th and I'm not privy to his email.

I was just hoping the OP could find a fix for their issue.
 
I was hoping if I post the panic report someone can tell if it's a bad HD or RAM, which is something i can fix. Anything else I will probably try and sell it.

Interval Since Last Panic Report: 8222 sec
Panics Since Last Report: 2
Anonymous UUID: B0C0E7F1-461F-4AC4-B134-BCBA12442932

Sat Jul 10 17:50:53 2010


Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000003F27280 PC=0x0000000000044148
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x2f43d280)
PC=0x00044148; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x03F27280; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00043D1C; R1=0x355E38E0; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x02C2DCC0 0x0002EDF4 0x0031B388 0x0034EEC0 0x0034EA28 0x0034EA94
0x00355188 0x3559B0D4 0x3E646164 0x3E63BED0 0x00348ED8 0x0034A02C 0x0034BEDC 0x0034AFFC
0x000B1DD4
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage(2.0.6)@0x3e638000->0x3e64afff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.6)@0x3e5db000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(2.0.1)@0x3df7f000
com.apple.driver.AppleMacRISC4PE(2.0.4d9)@0x35598000->0x355a5fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x35568000
dependency: com.apple.driver.IOPlatformFunction(1.8.7d5)@0x35582000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2f43d280)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x355d5000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
Not yet set

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:57:01 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1228.15.4~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerMac8,2

System uptime in nanoseconds: 16396233295
unloaded kexts:
(none)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage 2.0.6 - last loaded 546044317
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.5.6
com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport 1.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleK2SATA 1.0.4f2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 3.4.9
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 3.5.2
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 3.9.7
com.apple.driver.AppleKauaiATA 1.2.1f4
com.apple.driver.AppleK2SATARoot 1.0.5b1
com.apple.driver.AppleGPIO 1.3.0d0
com.apple.driver.MacIOGPIO 1.3.0d0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 3.4.6
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBOHCI 3.4.6
com.apple.driver.AppleK2 1.7.2f1
com.apple.driver.AppleMPIC 1.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleI2C 4.0.0d2
com.apple.driver.AppleSMU 1.2.1d1
com.apple.driver.AppleMacRiscPCI 3.4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleCore99NVRAM 1.1.1
com.apple.driver.AppleFlashNVRAM 1.0.5
com.apple.security.seatbelt 107.12
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 1.8.77
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 3
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.5.5
com.apple.BootCache 30.4
com.apple.driver.AppleMacRISC4PE 2.0.4d9
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 3.4.9
com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily 2.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 3.5.2
com.apple.iokit.IOKeyLargo 1.7.2f1
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformFunction 1.8.7d5
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cp
 
Best bet too is to open it up, take good pictures of the logic board, so we can take a look and see if you have bad capacitors.

The best way to tell is to take the back off, then look. Capacitors are round little tube looking objects with a silver metal top. If you see any tops that are bulging in or out, or anything leaking out of them, you have bad capacitors.

At this point, you can cut your losses, try to find a replacement logic board, or if you're really handy with a soldering iron, you can desolder the old capacitors and replace it. http://www.badcaps.net/store/product_info.php?cPath=1_9&products_id=3 This guy sells a premade kit for the iMac G5s. To test the RAM, your best bet is to use the Apple HW Diagnostics CD that comes with the computer, if you don't have that, locate a PC that uses DDR SDRAM memory, pop the memory out and put it into the PC, and download Memtest x86 and run it.

For the HD, locate the manufacturer of the drive, install it into a PC, and download the drive manufacturers' diagnostic tool from their website and run a complete scan.

After doing all that, clean out the iMac using compressed air completely, then try to reinstall the OS.
 
Like everyone else is saying it's probably bad caps...if your comfortable with it, pop off the case and check them out. If any of them have a yellow discharge, or are bulging that's probably your problem. You can replace them if your good at soldering for like 14$

There is a lot of youtube video's showing how

Did it on my emac, spent a afternoon on it. Been working for the last three years since.

Good Luck!
 
Contact GPUMedics on ebay. They are reflowing/reballing the graphics card on my 17" iMac G5 since it went bad(common problem) All my caps are good though both on the logic board and PSU. Costs $75. I think they charge $100 to replace the capacitors.
 
If you are going to sell it let me know

I am just starting to fix and repair macs (electronics are not any different for PC or Mac) I would be willing to take it off you hands so I don't have to practice on my own iMac G5 20".

Bill
 
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