My 2007 imac died, need help resurrecting.

[elf69]

I minor fail, HDD.

Last nite the machine froze many times and had to reboot after each freeze.
So I fitted an SSD and it fired up fine ok.

So booted from a USB 10.7 and tried to put my time machine backup back.
I get error every time I try and it requests I restart and try again.

I do not have a caddy for a 3.5" drive at moment to test it further.

I'm gonna try a fresh install on 10.7 then upgrade to El capitan.

This is first time I seen A TM not work.
OK I know it's not best system but to recover the same machine I should work.

 

[TallManNY]

Lucky you. My mid-2011 failed on Saturday as well. I got a black screen with dark blue lines. It won't boot off the external SSD and it won't boot off is internal hard drive. The GPU was replaced a few years ago, so I don't think it is that. Maybe it is the CPU. When I try to boot, I get about halfway through the Apple Logo boot screen and then it hangs, fails, and then tries to boot again.

I have time machine backup on an external drive. So I'm okay there. And I was strongly considering replacing it this summer. I'm going to try booting it into target mode with my GFs macbook, but if that doesn't work I guess I will take it to the apple store to find out what is wrong. But frankly, I won't want to spend any money repairing it at this point. I got seven years out of it and can afford a new one. So really I want to just wipe the hard drive and hand it over to a more technical person who might want to spend the time and money to repair it.

 

[elf69]

Well it works again.
All was good with an SSD fitted and booted fine.

So decided to fit the 2.50GHz CPU and replace the heat sink compound on GPU at same time.

So put back together and runs but the HDD or optical cooler fan is now racing

currently installed lion and downloading el capitan.

tried the high sierra patcher but it will not work the loading bar tops 3rd of way thru so cannot install High Sierra.

I will try again with a 3rd stick, first one does not even show up on boot when hold option key.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Another graphics card lofty. May well be better advertising it for parts on eBay or other auction sites.

 

[Papanate]

So put back together and runs but the HDD or optical cooler fan is now racing

I had this problem with my Mid 2011 MacBook Pro - after a OWC SSD upgrade.
Apple never could solve it - I resorted to using an App called SSD Fan Control - that app
allowed me to control the fan speed - and showed me the temperatures - so I would know
when to let the fans crank. I have had it for a year - and the MBP runs cool and quiet.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

With an iMac best option is the heat sensor kit from OWC. Apple partly solved the problem with the next model, putting a 5400rpm notebook drive in the 21.5"model and promptly condemning it to molasses speeds.

 

[Papanate]

With an iMac best option is the heat sensor kit from OWC. Apple partly solved the problem with the next model, putting a 5400rpm notebook drive in the 21.5"model and promptly condemning it to molasses speeds.

My daughters 21.5 iMac had the same fan problem - I installed a OWC Mercury SSD and the heat sensor kit
and still got the fan issue.

 

[elf69]

My imac is only the 20 inch not the 21.5 inch
was a 2.0GHz core2duo, now has the T9300 2.5GHz core2duo

fixed racing fan seemed the optical heat sensor was not seated properly.

But the freezing is still there with an SSD!
Although the HDD has failed it seems this MAY not have been the cause of freezing.

the SSD and CPU upgrade has made a difference though.
also while in there swapped out the optical for a 2nd HDD.

So 240GB sata2 SSD and a 250GB sata HDD on the opticals IDE connection.
Home folder relocated to the 250GB HDD.

But top of machine quite hot so I'm inclined to think the GPU is failing.
Have repasted it with arctic MX2 paste also the new CPU as well.
[doublepost=1522689208][/doublepost]

Here is screen shot of my new readings after the upgrades.
Do the GPU readings look high to you guys?

 

[AlexMaximus]

My imac is only the 20 inch not the 21.5 inch
was a 2.0GHz core2duo, now has the T9300 2.5GHz core2duo

fixed racing fan seemed the optical heat sensor was not seated properly.

But the freezing is still there with an SSD!
Although the HDD has failed it seems this MAY not have been the cause of freezing.

the SSD and CPU upgrade has made a difference though.
also while in there swapped out the optical for a 2nd HDD.

So 240GB sata2 SSD and a 250GB sata HDD on the opticals IDE connection.
Home folder relocated to the 250GB HDD.

But top of machine quite hot so I'm inclined to think the GPU is failing.
Have repasted it with arctic MX2 paste also the new CPU as well.
[doublepost=1522689208][/doublepost]View attachment 756678
Here is screen shot of my new readings after the upgrades.
Do the GPU readings look high to you guys?

There was a problem with the SATA flat-band cable at that time. I had that problem with my Macbook Pro from 2010. You may want to get a replacement of that SATA flat band cable that connects your SATA SSD to your mainboard.
I bought a Shielding kit for that cable from OWC as a precautions measure to mitigate errors in the future. That kit is no longer available, however you can use a thin metal made sticker to shield the unshielded SATA cable and isolate it with a black 3M tape to avoid shorting parts in its vicinity.

 

[elf69]

The sata cable in these are just stock sata cables like found in a desktop PC/Mac.

the cable i may try another in future but I think it's the GPU causing issue as gets hot on the left side (looking at it from front) this is where the CPU and GPU heatsink is.

 

[elf69]

Well after around 3 months of trouble free use it is crashing again.
Crashed twice last nite, mouse curser still moved but unable click on anything and no keyboard input did anything.
The top of machine around the air vent was very hot!
Could be this current heatwave here in cornwall.

it is a 2007 machine and I'm not too surprised it is dying.
It's had good innings and been rock solid (mostly)
Paid £149 for it 2 years ago, refurbed with 12 months warranty.

Just hope the replacement, a 2010 mac mini does not over heat the same.

 

[Guy Clark]

It is very possible that over the last eleven years there has been a considerable build up of dust. Make sure all the fans are dust free and dust will especially collect where the RAM is inserted which will lead to temperature build up as it also serves as a vent area.

Whilst you have the iMac opened up I thoroughly recommend cleaning both the CPU and GPU and applying new thermal compound as old thermal compound is a cause of overheating
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+20-Inch+EMC+2133+and+2210+CPU+Replacement/28763
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+20-Inch+EMC+2133+and+2210+Video+Card+Replacement/1014

I recommend using Artic Silver 5 thermal compound
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-silver-5-thermal-compound-3.5g-ac-000-ac.html

 

[elf69]

cleaned it out when fitted the SSD, also renewed the CPU and GPU compound with MX2 paste.

So I'm thinking the GPU is dying and this hot weather is making it worse.

Also the CPU has been swapped for the T9300 upgraded from the 2.0GHz C2D as I plan on hacking it to run sierra.
But after these issues maybe not.