HELP!! Blank screen, Power light on, Fans on!!! Won't start up.

[rkphoto]

Hello everyone,

I have a 20" iMac G5 1.8 Ghz with 1 GB of RAM (Mac OS 10.4.10) and it has stopped working almost completely. I was out of town for a week and had left the computer in sleep mode while I was gone. When I got home last night the screen was blank the power light was on and the fans were blowing. I shut it down using the power button but now it will not restart. I have tried resetting the SMU by unplugging the computer and all peripherals and then replugging it in while holding the power button down but when I restart after doing that I have the same result. The power light comes on but nothing on the screen and no startup "bong" then after approximately 2-3 minutes the fans start blowing.

Any ideas? I've had this machine for 3 years and have been considering replacing it but I don't want to pull the trigger quite yet. Anyone had a similar experience or have any idea how I should proceed (short of lugging this thing down to the Apple store)?

Any and all comments greatly appreciated!!! Thanks in advance.

rk

 

[je1ani]

Try reseting the PRAM if that doesn't work well, it's long gone

 

[rkphoto]

Tried resetting pram, nothing! Apple care says I need to take it to an Apple store which is a drag but glad I'm still covered (by 1 month).

Any other help or ideas welcome!

Thanks,
RK

 

[rkphoto]

So after searching these forums and talking to Apple Care on the phone I'm thinking that my logic board is going to need to be replaced. I have my Genius Bar appointment at 2:40 today. One question, if they need to replace the logic board will I lose my data? I have almost everything backed up on external hard drives but there are some scraps lying around my desktop that I would like to rescue if possible. Really glad this happened now and not in a month when my Apple Care runs out.

Only other thing I think it could be is a RAM issue so I'm going to try and pull the RAM and reset it to make sure that's not the issue. Actually I just had another question, does using third party RAM void your Apple Care agreement? If so I need to yank my Crucial RAM before I go see my genius.

Thanks,
rk

 

[rkphoto]

Took the iMac to the Soho Apple Store's Genius Bar on Friday and they had installed in new logic board by Saturday afternoon. I was surprised, thought it would be a few days at least. Computer is back to normal, no loss of data. Cheers to Apple for the prompt service.

Best,
rk

 

[cfugs81]

What happened?!?

Took the iMac to the Soho Apple Store's Genius Bar on Friday and they had installed in new logic board by Saturday afternoon. I was surprised, thought it would be a few days at least. Computer is back to normal, no loss of data. Cheers to Apple for the prompt service.

Best,
rk

This same exact thing, no joke, happened to my computer this morning!!! Did you say it was not the hard drive that crashed? Do you know how much it would have cost you if you were not covered under AppleCare? I have to go into the Soho branch to get mine looked at now too. Any further advice for someone who was in your same exact situation?

Thanks

 

[DRATM]

Sounds as if the logic board/GPU was fried. Thank the gods you have AppleCare!

 

[Kate.]

Happened to my iMac G5 too — four months out of warranty. Exact same symptoms and it was definitely the logic board. I pulled out the drive, put it in an enclosure, and pulled off the few files that hadn't been backed up yet. The drive was — and is — fine.

 

[v.match]

Happened to my iMac G5 too — four months out of warranty. Exact same symptoms and it was definitely the logic board. I pulled out the drive, put it in an enclosure, and pulled off the few files that hadn't been backed up yet. The drive was — and is — fine.

Kate-- I'm kind of dense (and that's giving myself too much credit) when it comes to this, and i'm having the same problem with the same machine. Can you give some specific directions of how to take out the logic board, and "pull off" the files, etc?? I would REALLY appreciate it, I'm freakin out here! Also, can you pull your itunes files from there as well?? Thanks!