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From: Jolly Roger on 19 Jan 2010 13:05
In article <4b55547f$0$2006$742ec2ed(a)news.sonic.net>,
Kevin McMurtrie <mcmurtrie(a)pixelmemory.us> wrote:

> In article <hj3emo$e5e$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
> Priam <priam(a)notsosure.com> wrote:
>
> > On 01/18/2010 11:10 PM, Kevin McMurtrie wrote:
> > > In article<woof-B3FDFD.18243218012010(a)earthlink.us.supernews.com>,
> > > elmo<woof(a)woof.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> My wife was given an iMac running 10.5x, and it ran fine for a while,
> > >> but now, it won't boot. Specifically, it boots to the point that the
> > >> screen shows blue, with a cursor stuck at the top left corner. There is
> > >> also a cursor that we can move with the mouse on the screen. It will
> > >> boot into safe mode, but I can't boot from there. I've run fsck and
> > >> everything seems well, but to no avail thereafter. We do not have the
> > >> original disks. Google has not been helpful so far. Any ideas?
> > >>
> > >> Thanks
> > >
> > > How old is it? The G5 iMacs and other products of that time suffered
> > > from low-quality and counterfeit components. The most common problem is
> > > failed electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard and inside the power
> > > supply. If you have the tools, skill, and time to fix it yourself, go
> > > for it. I wouldn't recommend paying for repairs on a G5 or older.
> >
> > Absolutely! I mean those Macs may be 3 years old. Scrap it!
>
> It's a 5+ year old design and the extended warranty for the component
> failures is over. I know from experience that it's going to be nothing
> but trouble to keep it running. The capacitors can be replaced with a
> couple hours of effort. A good hack can replace large SMT components in
> a couple of hours too. Is it really worth it to keep taking it apart
> for repairs? Probably not. I wouldn't fix it unless it was just a
> software issue.

It may very well be worth it. You wouldn't want to take it apart just to
replace *some* of the capacitors. That would be silly. For $84 you can
replace *all* of the capacitors on the board, and be done with it. That
certainly may be worth it to lots of people.

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
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JR
From: Jolly Roger on 19 Jan 2010 13:07
In article <michelle-A8F92E.18554218012010(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote:

> In article <woof-1E1376.19183718012010(a)earthlink.us.supernews.com>,
> elmo <woof(a)woof.com> wrote:
>
> > > Another possible solution is to take it to an Apple Genius Bar and let
> > > them figure it out.
> >
> > I'm hoping to avoid any real expense. I'll try the boot from disk option
> > first. thanks
>
> No expense at the Genius Bar unless there's a hardware problem that they
> repair or replace.

Yes, and if you get really lucky, they may replace the motherboard if
it's got faulty capacitors even though the recall and warranty are
expired. The symptoms you describe, however, don't seem to indicate that
type of problem.

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Kir=E1ly?= on 19 Jan 2010 14:17
elmo <woof(a)woof.com> wrote:
> I'm hoping to avoid any real expense. I'll try the boot from disk option
> first. thanks

Call AppleCare and give them your iMac's serial number. See if they
have a replacement set of the iMac's original System Restore discs. If
so they should ship them out to you for a nominal fee (about $30 from
what I've heard.)

When getting a used Mac, you should immediately wipe the hard drive and
reinstall all software from the original install discs, for security
reasons. Who knows what sort of hacks, security holes, pirated
software, or other even riskier stuff may have been left on it by any
previous owners, either intentionally or unintentionally. When I get a
used Mac I don't even hook it up to the internet until after a fresh
reformat and reinstall.

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.
From: J.J. O'Shea on 19 Jan 2010 16:13
On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:04:05 -0500, Jolly Roger wrote
(in article <jollyroger-472557.12040519012010(a)news.individual.net>):

> In article <hj4elk2b99(a)news3.newsguy.com>,
> J.J. O'Shea <try.not.to(a)but.see.sig> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:10:05 -0500, Kevin McMurtrie wrote
>> (in article <4b55309d$0$1957$742ec2ed(a)news.sonic.net>):
>>
>>> In article <woof-B3FDFD.18243218012010(a)earthlink.us.supernews.com>,
>>> elmo <woof(a)woof.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> My wife was given an iMac running 10.5x, and it ran fine for a while,
>>>> but now, it won't boot. Specifically, it boots to the point that the
>>>> screen shows blue, with a cursor stuck at the top left corner. There is
>>>> also a cursor that we can move with the mouse on the screen. It will
>>>> boot into safe mode, but I can't boot from there. I've run fsck and
>>>> everything seems well, but to no avail thereafter. We do not have the
>>>> original disks. Google has not been helpful so far. Any ideas?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> How old is it? The G5 iMacs and other products of that time suffered
>>> from low-quality and counterfeit components. The most common problem is
>>> failed electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard and inside the power
>>> supply. If you have the tools, skill, and time to fix it yourself, go
>>> for it. I wouldn't recommend paying for repairs on a G5 or older.
>>>
>>
>> Pretty much all G5s which had the Capacitor Plague have already been fixed,
>> so this is unlikely.
>
> I'm sorry, but that's just incorrect! There are lots of iMac G5s out
> there that are just starting to show signs of failure due to bad
> capacitors.

Hmmm... the heyday of the Capacitor Plague was 2005-8, roughly 18 months
after machines with the bad caps were built. My eMac 1.25, for example, was
built in April 2004 and had caps blow in October 2005. Apple replaced the
motherboard and it has worked since then. IIRC the last machines made with
the bad caps was built in 2005, so any bad caps should have shown by 2007 or
2008 at the latest.

It's possible that there are bad caps involved, but if so then those caps are
unrelated to the ones which caused the Capacitor Plague 'cause those ain't on
the market any more.

>
>> I do not, repeat, NOT recommend that anyone attempt to
>> replace bad caps on the motherboard of a modern computer unless they know
>> what they are doing and have _lots_ of experience at component-level
>> repair.
>
> Then again, there are gracious individuals who are experienced and will
> do it for you cheaply (around $85 for an iMac motherboard).

Better them than me, I know that _I_ am not about to play silly buggers with
a modern motherboard.

>
>> Officially the free motherboard swap for machines affected by the Capacitor
>> Plague is over; unofficially, if you bring one of those machines in to your
>> local Apple Store or authorised Apple service provider, you'll get the
>> swap,
>> though it might take a while for them to get the replacement board.
>
> Maybe, maybe not.

The iMac repair program was officially closed in December 2008. I know that
for at least six months after that people whose machines had the correct
symptoms were treated as if it was still on. Unfortunately for them in most
cases they didn't have the particular problem.

>
>> And I have OS X Server running on an eMac here, a machine older than a G5,
>> and still going strong. Well, as strong as an eMac ever was, anyway.
>
> An aunt of mine has an eMac that is exhibiting symptoms of bad
> capacitors. If it were an iMac G5, we'd probably repair the caps; but
> for an eMac it's really hard to justify the expense.

Which model eMac? If it's a 1 GHz machine, it's not the Capacitor Plague. If
it's a 1.25 Ghz machine, it could be but it's very unlikely. A 1.42 GHz
machine could have the problem if she didn't use it very much over the last
5-6 years...



--
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

From: elmo on 19 Jan 2010 17:50
In article <jollyroger-20DCC6.12070719012010(a)news.individual.net>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger(a)pobox.com> wrote:

> In article <michelle-A8F92E.18554218012010(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
> Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote:
>
> > In article <woof-1E1376.19183718012010(a)earthlink.us.supernews.com>,
> > elmo <woof(a)woof.com> wrote:
> >
> > > > Another possible solution is to take it to an Apple Genius Bar and let
> > > > them figure it out.
> > >
> > > I'm hoping to avoid any real expense. I'll try the boot from disk option
> > > first. thanks
> >
> > No expense at the Genius Bar unless there's a hardware problem that they
> > repair or replace.
>
> Yes, and if you get really lucky, they may replace the motherboard if
> it's got faulty capacitors even though the recall and warranty are
> expired. The symptoms you describe, however, don't seem to indicate that
> type of problem.

Thanks to everyone for your kind replies. I am fairly confident that
this is not an intel iMac. It came from my brother's law firm, and yes,
his law firm is all Macs. So, hopefully he can give me the system disks
to try some of the great suggestions offered here. I am also comfortable
enough with the terminal to try to identify the machine's specifics from
there. Lastly, if a trip to the Genius Bar is free, it may be off to the
mall for me. Thanks again for all of your help. As an aside, I've been
using usenet since 1991, rarely posting, but as always I am astonished
at the breadth of knowledge and the wealth of helpfulness out there.
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