DIY repair gone bad, on my Imac(2013)

[DiceMoney]

I was having problems, with a very slow hard drive. I looked up the prices to get replacement done, for a very standard 500 GB hard drive, with work included, it was 265. That was the cheapest option.
So then I look at price for the original hard drive that I had on my Imac already, it was 50 dollars in new Egg.

I decided to buy a fusion drive 1TB that was going for 70 , and bought myself a kit to the install, that was around another 30 dollars.
So I went ahead and did the replacement looking at a Youtube video, I thought I was good to go, but then when I went to turn the Imac back on, it was not turning.

It occurred to me that maybe I had gotten a bad hard drive, so I put back the old one back on. The mac didn't turn on. So after seeing if was the cable, or something. I decided to go back take out the hard drive again, and looked back again, then I noticed, that when you do the replacement, there is a speaker, you have loosen up, here was where I made the mistake, I guess in my haste, I yank it to much. The tutorial showed just a move it up a bit. What I did was break off a wire that is connected to the button by pulling more than I should have.

The problem is there is no way I can see to get to the button again and try to rewire it, is hidden compartment in the casing the location of the button. I don't see a way for an easy fix.

Now I looked up this problem, someone said that you have to buy a whole new rear casing, to repair a this button wire.

Then in Ebay I saw something in the price range of 300 dollars alone on the part itself. I don't even want to try to do this again by myself. With my lack of expertise at this I might mess up again.

Now if if the Imac takes over 600 to 700 dollars to fix.

At what point does it become prudent to just give up on the machine. I had it over 2 plus years. Besides the bad drive, the machine was in very good shape.

Tomorrow I'm going to call up, but I got a feeling is going to be costly.

 

[marmiteturkey]

What would be the resale value of the machine? That might be your answer. What could you sell your machine for once you get it back to fully working condition/buy a used, working one of the same age and spec?

Of course, if you don't have the money to spend on a new machine, you might need to keep going.

I've botched repairs in the past - I'm too ham-fisted to be good at this, though I am better than I used to be, thanks to practice and not trying to use the wrong tools all the time - the second attempt I always leave to the professionals. It's all a bit too emotional by that point...

 

[dogbertd]

You don't say which iMac you have. When you say it won't start, you mean nothing? No power, no startup beep, or what? Did you zap the PRAM after your refit?

Did you check out the ifixit guides - they often include details of spare parts and how to fit.

Good Luck!

 

[Fishrrman]

Well, that's the risk one takes with "DIY" repairs, I guess...

Wouldn't it have been easier to just plug in a USB3 external drive and run that way?

 

[DiceMoney]

I just called up two places, basically what I feared, they say that it would be prohibitively expensive to repair.
But one guy said I might be able to do a hack. Which I guess they will set up the computer to always be on, and it will turn itself each day off and on through a timer which they will set.

I might take the computer on the weekend. Hope that this timer hack works, he said that they will have to schedule the timer through the logic board if I heard correctly.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I just called up two places, basically what I feared, they say that it would be prohibitively expensive to repair.
But one guy said I might be able to do a hack. Which I guess they will set up the computer to always be on, and it will turn itself each day off and on through a timer which they will set.

I might take the computer on the weekend. Hope that this timer hack works, he said that they will have to schedule the timer through the logic board if I heard correctly.

I just leave my iMac on all the time anyhow. It just powers down to sleep mode after a certain time which you can set.
Good luck with it.

 

[dogbertd]

Well looking at the repair guide on iFixit, (https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel_27"_EMC_2639#guideList) this does indeed look like a tricky job, and they mention several times that there are some parts where extreme care is necessary, so I think it's just a case of bad luck.

Fortunately any screwup repairs I've done in the past ( one of the original mac minis - everything was a little bit cramped in there) were easily (and cheaply) fixed with a new cable or riser board, but i do feel for you. It's awful when you realise it's gone wrong.

Good Luck!