mac freezes on startup with wired lines running over screen

[eggdust]

hi guys im new to all this so pls stick with me...

ive got had an imac g5 for about 4 years ago and never had any trouble untill 2 days ago.

my girl friend recently purchased a second hand iphone and plugged into the mac (while the mac was switch off), she turned the mac on. it booted untill the desktop appeared and froze with all thesedistortion lines running through the screen. (best way to descibe is line a vcr on pause)
i have tried doing a resart with all preriferals removed (scanner, internet etc) and it still gets to the same point & freezes. apple advised me to use the start up disks, which i did- it booted up running fro the c.d (still with the lines across the screen). i did a restore the machine restarted after the install on its own accord, yet stil does the same thing-only now it wont give me back my start up disk!!! aghh

if there are any surgestions you guys can give it would be really apreciated. thanks in advance

 

[BlueRevolution]

Sounds like an issue with the logic board, display cable, or LCD.

 

[eggdust]

hi, many thanks for the responce.

dont think its the cable, as the mac loads the first grey screen is unaffected then when the apple logo appears it has uniform purple lines running across it (but not the background) then when the desktop tries to load it gets only part way into the load (before icons and dock appears) then freezes with lines running across the screen.

damaged logic board was something i was told by a friend, is this a big job/costly to get repaired, if it is the board have i lost the work that was on there?
again pls excuse my ignorance.

 

[BlueRevolution]

is this a big job/costly to get repaired

Yes. It may cost more than the computer is worth.

if it is the board have i lost the work that was on there?

No. Your work is stored only on the hard drive, which is almost certainly unaffected.

 

[Velin]

damaged logic board was something i was told by a friend, is this a big job/costly to get repaired

Almost not worth repairing, esp. given the new iMacs. First, back up everything to a portable HDD. Second, consider purchasing a new Mac.

 

[eggdust]

hi guys- again many thanks for the help.
i have rang an authorised mac repair center and they are quoting between £200-1000 for a logic board repair!!!.

if its in the upper region im considering buying a new machine. this leads me on to my new question: As all my clients work, photos and itunes and apps are on there, (providing they are unaffected) Is there any way to copy them off. The apple repair centre said they could remove the hard drive and give that to me. How would i them go about transfering the info on the hard drive onto my new mac?

many thanks again for your help on this, you've been a great help so far..

 

[BlueRevolution]

How would i them go about transfering the info on the hard drive onto my new mac?

You would need an external enclosure like this or a drive dock like this. I'd go for the enclosure, personally. Once you get your stuff off the drive, you'll be able to format it and use it to store other files or as a backup drive if you don't already have one.

If you get a new or used Intel Mac, I would suggest copying your important files over manually. Migrating from PowerPC to Intel can be messy. Don't try to copy your applications straight across; instead, reinstall them from the disks or re-download them.

 

[eggdust]

hi guys many thanks for your help, you've been great!!

looks like im going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new machine and remove the old hard drive as advised. sorry to push my luck further but can i ask you another coulpe of questions

1. is removing the hard drive a difficult task (ie one could do myself). are all cases the same or are there mac/p.c spefic types?? realy have no experience with this before.

2.ive been looking over the new imacs on the apple site and need a little help configuring the spec. i dont have mega money so as much as i like it the 27' quad is out of the question. im a graphic designer, i used old the g5 to run illustrator, dreamweaver, and photoshop (all cs4) plus the usual stuff: web iphotos, itunes etc.
what spec do you guys think i should go for in terms of processer, memory and hard drive? would the basic spec do for the above apps? bearing in mind im not editing movies or anything super demanding. a friend of mine recomended buying memory seperatley as the apple mark up is through the roof. is this the case? can you recomend the right type of memory and reputable seller?.

again thanks so much for your help its so much apreciated

 

[Velin]

is removing the hard drive a difficult task (ie one could do myself). are all cases the same or are there mac/p.c spefic types??

Should be fairly simple. Loosen the screws and/or bracket, disconnect IDE/SATA cable, disconnect power cable, unseat drive. Hard drive hardware is the same for Macs and PCs.

i dont have mega money so as much as i like it the 27' quad is out of the question. im a graphic designer, i used old the g5 to run illustrator, dreamweaver, and photoshop (all cs4) plus the usual stuff: web iphotos, itunes etc. what spec do you guys think i should go for in terms of processer, memory and hard drive?

Get some cores if you can. And get the 27 inch screen.

a friend of mine recomended buying memory seperatley as the apple mark up is through the roof. is this the case? can you recomend the right type of memory and reputable seller?

Do not purchase memory from Apple. Way too expensive. Aftermarket RAM is fine. Search the boards, there are tons of recommendations. I use Crucial, www.crucial.com, but Newegg and OWC and MacMall are fine too. Those are the most popular. You will save hundreds of dollars purchasing and installing the RAM yourself.

 

[BlueRevolution]

1. is removing the hard drive a difficult task (ie one could do myself). are all cases the same or are there mac/p.c spefic types?? realy have no experience with this before.

You may be able to find your model of iMac over at iFixit.

2.ive been looking over the new imacs on the apple site and need a little help configuring the spec. i dont have mega money so as much as i like it the 27' quad is out of the question. im a graphic designer, i used old the g5 to run illustrator, dreamweaver, and photoshop (all cs4) plus the usual stuff: web iphotos, itunes etc.
what spec do you guys think i should go for in terms of processer, memory and hard drive? would the basic spec do for the above apps? bearing in mind im not editing movies or anything super demanding.

I do all of that stuff on my stock early 2008 2.66 GHz 20" iMac, so yes, the base model will be just fine. Of course, Photoshop filters will run faster on a faster computer. Other than that, I doubt that you will notice much difference. And while the 21.5" model may look small by comparison to the 27" monster, it has plenty of screen real estate. You can always add a second display to any model of iMac.

a friend of mine recomended buying memory seperatley as the apple mark up is through the roof. is this the case?

Yes, absolutely. The same goes for hard drive upgrades.

can you recomend the right type of memory

Anything that matches the specs:

"4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; four SO-DIMM slots support up to 16GB"

and reputable seller?.

Newegg is a good place for just about everything. Just read the reviews before you buy. There's no need to buy special "Apple memory", so long as it matches the computer's requirements.

 

[eggdust]

hi. just wanted to say thanks for all the help and info.

the old imacs in the shop--im pretty sure they will say its the logic board thats broken. if so im going with your advice and asking them to remove the hard drive.

i have one more question to ask. if it is the logic board thats broken and given the fact that its 4 years old (and minus a hard drive) does the old fella have any value left or is it pretty much scrap?? anything i can make out of it might soften the blow-can you sugest a round about figure- is there a market out there for spares and repairs with you guys?. if its worthless im going to leave it with them, save me lugging it home just to chuck it out- just dont want to be ripped off if they say they will take it off my hands.

again many thanks for all the help

 

[BlueRevolution]

You might be able to get ~$500 for the parts on eBay. The display alone should fetch a few hundred. If you have the know-how to take it to pieces without breaking anything, sell the parts individually rather than the entire computer "as-is". You'll get more money that way.

 

[eggdust]

thanks bluerevolution. thats interesting...
i asked the apple repair shop and they said it had no real value and if a left it them they would scrap it for me if i liked..hmm!

i'll put the whole unit on ebay (minus the hard drive and faulty board) see how much i can get. thanks again for your help.