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jefflockyer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 18, 2008
1
0
Canmore, AB
First up, if I do receive a response which leads to a fix, I will send that person $20-$40 for the assistance.

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Here's the scoop.

Attempting to decipher if logic board failure is the problem here.
On startup, I do get the normal chime, sleep light activation and then grey (what would appear to be normal, startup screen) and then just the flashing question mark..

HD is fine (has been removed and cloned, used as external device to start many other machines, put back in to the machine).

Keyboard does NOT respond to starting from external source. Have tried the following startup methods.
Option start to show the startup managaer = nothing, just question mark folder icon.
'c' for DVD install startup (with original iMac restore discs) = nothing, just question mark folder icon.
'd' for AHT start (with original iMac restore discs) = nothing, just question mark folder icon.
Starting in Target mode = no response on the target computer from HD, but shows FireWire icon on the screen.
Have a disc in the drive, but holding down the mouse button does not signal an eject of the CD. Can hear the disc drive spin up when the machine starts to boot.

The machine will boot normally and run fine, using the existing HD in an external caddy. The problem is that System Profiler does not show the superdrive. Have confirmed the superdrive works, by swapping out with exact machine spec, works fine. It would appear that whatever is controlling the HD & DVD on the logic board has failed. Is there anywhere to physically inspect this ? I have confirmed all connections on the top side of the logic board are seated properly. Just looking to get a last bit of advice before declaring the logic board the problem. I am a bit hesitant to do this BECAUSE the machine runs fine with the firewire startup disk running (other than there is no Superdrive available)... I would think logic board would be causing other problems with this setup, leading me to believe the problem lies elsewhere. Cannot get the AHT to run, as that will not run from a target computer (only installer for OSX will). Also ran the ASD disk, and it checked out on everything, the main 25 tests it performs...

Looking for anything....... Thanks in advance.

J.
 
I would consider myself on par with you when it comes to knowledge on this matter. But I cannot say with certainty its the logic board, for similar reasons you have come to. But I can say with certainty that I do have the exact same machine, and it was honestly me worth paying Apple $300 for a depot repair, and receiving a repaired logic board, new CPU, new fans, and new Superdrive. The only thing I knew that was physically failing was the fans. Might be worth saving you the headache, pal.
 
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