Comments on: iMac G5 Meltdown

By: JAY Matthew

JAY Matthew — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:52:19 +0000

I need help!!!! My Imac G 5 i bought in 2005, has worked perfectly until now. My audio doesnt work!!! i went to system preference then sound and its locked!!!! i can’t get it undone!!! can someone help????

By: tomgurney

tomgurney — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:10:17 +0000

This is a big problem. I always leave my Acer on over night to download all sorts of nonsense, and if it kept overheating that would be a super pain.

By: Nate

Nate — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:58:54 +0000

1st get the HDD outside of it, Second recap the board with Rubycons. http://WWW.capamac.com has some good ideas. My 17″ G5 shut down all of the time till I converted it.

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:00:28 +0000

I just picked up my 1st generation 20 in. imac, again. I’m now on my 4th hard drive and my 3rd power supply in 3 1/2 years. My hard drives have never been covered by apple because the dealer I bought it from (Nov. ‘04) didn’t have a 250G hard drive model in stock so they installed a 250G Maxtor in a 160G model and sold it to me that way. That dealer said he would replace it for free but he is now 500 miles away. After siccing my wife on Apple, they did offer to pay for this hard drive replacement but they lucked out, the drive was still covered by the 1 yr. Seagate warranty. I love the imac concept but I hate my imac.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:58:28 +0000

I think this a clear reason why apple switched to Intel, the powerpc architecture is crap and prone to heat.

I had previously had the bad powersupply issue. And just last week, after my machine had turned OFF for a week and a half while I was on vacation, I went to turn it on and it would boot and immediately turned off. I took it into the shop and sure enough the motherboard was toast. Several capacitors were just melting and junk was coming out of them.

I did end up buying a new intel imac but I was pissed to say the least. I have had multiple Dells in my lifetime as a software engineer and I have never seen something like that. That was clearly a poor architecture design by apple and I think they knew it when they switched to Intel. Intel runs so much cooler than any IBM chip.

Anyways, be warned, don't buy any used G5 imacs...There's a reason people don't want them anymore.

By: paul magnus

paul magnus — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:18:03 +0000

I have a iMac G5 – 3yr 2mths and it just went off and wont come on. I have had intermittent power on problems over the period and in the first 9mths I had the flickering screen/power and hard drive problem which resulted in pretty much every component in the machine being replaced then. Now its kaput again 2mths out of warranty – the serial number is in the faulty range! hope apple do the right thing and repair what is obviously a faulty product line. You cant sell people stuff you know does not work!

By: Aril

Aril — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:06:22 +0000

Heat has always been a major factor in the performance of my iMac g5. In the 3 years of ownership every major component has been replaced. No matter how much you try to keep it cool it will always ramp up if playing video. The temperature gets up to 178 degrees F.

I'm on my 3rd hard drive and am starting to hear clicks of a different sort when the computer has all it's fans running. :(

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:15:15 +0000

I have a 17″ G5 that will not power up at all. I have already had it in once because I had the fuzzy screen and kernal panic problem a year or so ago. That fix lasted for a little while. A few months ago I smelled the melted plastic smell coming from the computer. I should have done something at that point, but it ran ok for another few months. But now it won’t do anything. I just ordered a new power supply. I’m going to replace it myself. The power supply is easy to remove and replace. If this doesn’t work it will be another $200 wasted on my G5 problem child. I could have bought 3 mac mini’s for the same amount of money.

By: jessica

jessica — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:11:02 +0000

I purchased my 17″ imac G5 in October 2004. I did not have any problems with it whatsoever until about early fall of this year. This is when the computer would randomnly turn off an on. I just dealt with it, as the computer would usually turn back after a few minutes. Well, recently it got to be that the computer would turn off for days at a time before it would turn back on again. Finally, about 2 weeks ago it just tuned off for good. I did Apple’s LED test and it appears that I need a new Logic Board. My computer’s serial number falls within the ranges for the repair extension program, but the program says Apple will cover the repairs for up to 3 years from the original purchase date. It has been 3 years and 1 month! I am bringing my computer in tomorrow…hopefully it can be fixed for free.

By: Jake Brumble

Jake Brumble — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 23:52:57 +0000

iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues

If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) determines that your iMac G5 computer is eligible as part of the program, the repair will be covered by Apple for up to three years from the original date of purchase even if your iMac G5 is out of warranty. This is a worldwide Apple program.

Affected systems will exhibit one of the following video- or power-related symptoms:

* Scrambled or distorted video
* No video
* No power

The program is available for certain first generation iMac G5 models that were sold between approximately September 2004 and June 2005 featuring 17- and 20-inch displays with 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz G5 processors.

The affected iMac G5 computers have serial numbers where the first 5 digits fall into the ranges noted below.

Serial Number ranges:

* W8435xxxxxx - W8522xxxxxx
* QP435xxxxxx - QP522xxxxxx
* CK435xxxxxx - CK522xxxxxx
* YD435xxxxxx - YD522xxxxxx

Some second generation iMac G5 computers have serial numbers that fall within the upper band of the ranges listed below. Only first generation iMac G5 computers are affected by this program.

http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/

By: john Savin

john Savin — Wed, 23 May 2007 13:41:00 +0000

My iMac G5 has become narcoleptic. Also, it wants to emulate the G4 windtunnel machine it replaced. The noise I can take, it’s the sleep that is maddening. My machine’s serial # is included in the exchange program…seems rather uncool and un-apple like to not offer to fix what is clearly a problem through an entire model line. For the first time ever, my mac bums me out.

By: simon

simon — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:02:55 +0000

Hi guys.

I have an G5 imac- purchased approx 2.5 years ago. I have noticed that recently my screen is randomly flickering. I have run a hardware test - nothing wrong. Any suggestions?

Thanks

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 07 May 2007 22:07:28 +0000

My 3 month old, $3000 24″ iMac just died. I am unhappy to say the least. I unpacked it with a stuck pixel right in the middle of my screen when I got it brand new so this is just a slap in the face. This is very dissapointing comming from Mac, I really expected more. My $3100 Powerbook I owned right before my iMac also had major issues that seem to occure… oh gee! right after my warenty expired! What a suprise. Anyway, I think the Power Supply is dead because I was doing some heavy gaming, which draws a lot of power which heats up the PS, and maxes out both the processor and the video card processor which creates heat. Oddly enough my fans never got louder than a wisper – I just figured mac had found some elegant way to move massive volumes of super heated computer component air. As a side note, the computer was really hot to the touch in the upper right back of the case (I’m guessing video card…) I’ll open it up tonight to see if it toasted my board with flames. :) Thanks Mac!!!

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 06:04:10 +0000

Update: Fixed after replacing power supply. Thankfully the logic board/midplane was entact. Guess I have another year on my warranty to see this thing act up again…

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:54:43 +0000

My iMac g5 20" that I bought two years ago started turning off at random times the past couple of weeks. While the room is at around a constat 74, the Mac was showing temps of 70-86 depending if I had browsers/itunes open…nothing serious. I dealt with the sudden power-offs until two days ago when it just shut down for good. I, too, heard the whinning noise when plugged in coming from the power supply and other times not at all.

I tried the LED test recommended on Apple's site and it looks like the logic board's gone, too. No soot, burn marks, etc. though on the power supply.

Since it's pre-ambient light sensor I was required to take it in today. Really hope the part isn't backordered.

By: woode

woode — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:06:19 +0000

Just wanted to say that I finally got into the Apple Store to have my iMac checked out. That was an ordeal in itself and took much rangling and tenaciousness with Apple Care to get an appointment. Seems that if you aren't Pro Care they won't have much to do with you, but I asked for a supervisor when the first level reached the end of what he could do, and just stayed on the line with the supervisor and kept pushing for help I guess until she got tired of dealing with and found a solution that would allow her to schedule me for a date in the future.

Having secured an appointment, I was in and out within 30 minutes with a working Mac. Power supply was fried, they had one hand and it was replaced at the genius bar right in front of me. No charge as it was covered under the extended warranty for this issue.

Now that I know what some of the symptoms are I will definitely be looking for a recurring problem, but for the time being I won't be totally switching back to the dark side.

While I was there tho, someone else was picking up their iMac G5 from a repair and someone else brought in a brand new laptop with what sounded like some pretty serious viddy problems.