IMac needs a new logic board, question. :(

[mileslong]

well while installing leopard my 1.4 year old Imac 20" crashed and the apple store says its the logic board. no warranty, thought my mac would last at least two years without failing.

anyway, i dont want to pay $982 for apple to put in a new logic board into a mac that isnt worth that much now. i want to know how i can find out exactly what kind of logic board to get and some sources online where i might purchase one. any ideas about how much they cost?

i need my specs but apple has my imac at the store right now. all i know is the following:

1) IMAC (Early 2006 20-Inch)
2) had 2 GB of ram
3) i have the serial number and sate of purchase but thats it. i cant boot it up to see what it says under "about my mac" from the apple drop down.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[MacAficionado]

Well, first of all, was it working before you attempted to install Leopard or did it fail before. It sounds strange that the iMac failed during installation and they said it was the MLB. I would make sure the RAM is re-seated and or take out the 10.5 disk from the disk drive if it is still there. I don't know, it sounds fishy.

Then if for any strange reason, it is indeed the logic board, talk to a manager, see if they can cover the repair if only this once. Definitely talk to a manager and make your case to get it fixed.

 

[djc6]

well while installing leopard my 1.4 year old Imac 20" crashed and the apple store says its the logic board.

I also find this suspicious.

Does the machine do ANYTHING when you turn it on? fans? chime? lights?

Try resetting PRAM?? http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

What happens when you run the diagnostics that came with your computer?? Put in disc 1, hold down D, and start the machine up.

If you can't do that, perhaps borrow a usb/firewire external DVD and try booting off of the diagnostic DVD with that.

 

[Sun Baked]

While installing leopard?

Apple even has a way to get around crashing while installing firmware...

And like is was said, real odd timing.

 

[gravyboat]

If you know for sure it's the logic board, you might try this place:

http://www.dttservice.com/imac/imacg5.html

They'll open up your computer and run their tests and if the capacitors can be replaced it'll probably cost around $400.

I brought mine over and unfortunately the capacitors AND the logic board were damaged. Because the repair prices quoted in the link apply only if they can recycle your board, it would have cost me about $925 for the repair.

 

[SaSaSushi]

well while installing leopard my 1.4 year old Imac 20" crashed and the apple store says its the logic board. no warranty, thought my mac would last at least two years without failing.

anyway, i dont want to pay $982 for apple to put in a new logic board into a mac that isnt worth that much now. i want to know how i can find out exactly what kind of logic board to get and some sources online where i might purchase one. any ideas about how much they cost?

i need my specs but apple has my imac at the store right now. all i know is the following:

1) IMAC (Early 2006 20-Inch)
2) had 2 GB of ram
3) i have the serial number and sate of purchase but thats it. i cant boot it up to see what it says under "about my mac" from the apple drop down.

PLEASE HELP!

I had the exact same machine and mine's logic board went bad only 6 weeks out of the one year warranty and I had failed to buy AppleCare (never again!)

But I paid Apple less than half the amount you're quoting: $450 total with tax. It was still expensive as heck but why is Apple charging twice as much in one place than another for the same service I wonder?

I had my repairs done by Apple here in Japan. There is no way it should be twice as much for Apple US. Almost everything is more expensive here.

 

[gravyboat]

But I paid Apple less than half the amount you're quoting: $450 total with tax. It was still expensive as heck but why is Apple charging twice as much in one place than another for the same service I wonder?

Good question and I'm curious as well. Do you know exactly what they did to fix yours? Did they replace the capacitors without changing the logic board itself? My understanding is that if they don't have to actually replace the board it's cheaper but I could very well be wrong.

At the Apple store I went to there was no lower cost option though. Logic board repair was about $925.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Good question and I'm curious as well. Do you know exactly what they did to fix yours? Did they replace the capacitors without changing the logic board itself? My understanding is that if they don't have to actually replace the board it's cheaper but I could very well be wrong.

At the Apple store I went to there was no lower cost option though. Logic board repair was about $925.

OK, I have the actual service repair order from Apple in my hands now. In Japanese it says Logic Board (661-3894) replacement. Total cost is 52,000 yen (about US$472 at current exchange).

Looking up that part number on the web I found this:

http://www.applecomputerpartsonline.com/store.php?item=6613894.PART

It looks to me like that's the ENTIRE logic board that was replaced and you shouldn't be paying more than $500 tops for that repair. Yes, I do see that the part is listed for $729 on that page but I'm telling you what I paid for OUT of warranty from Apple Japan directly. They were quite clear about what the logic board replacement would cost when I spoke to Apple Service on the phone before sending the machine back to begin with. Just from the description of my symptoms they were pretty sure I'd need a logic board. It seems like their standard method of dealing with things over here anyway. My repairs were done on July 31st this year.

 

[gravyboat]

It looks to me like that's the ENTIRE logic board that was replaced and you shouldn't be paying more than $500 tops for that repair. Yes, I do see that the part is listed for $729 on that page but I'm telling you what I paid for OUT of warranty from Apple Japan directly. They were quite clear about what the logic board replacement would cost when I spoke to Apple Service on the phone before sending the machine back to begin with. Just from the description of my symptoms they were pretty sure I'd need a logic board. It seems like their standard method of dealing with things over here anyway. My repairs were done on July 31st this year.

Thanks for the information. I think you got a great deal and i'm glad things worked out for you. Guess different countries have different rates and who would have thought Japan would be cheaper? If I could have had mine replaced for $450 I definitely would have done it.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Thanks for the information. I think you got a great deal and i'm glad things worked out for you. Guess different countries have different rates and who would have thought Japan would be cheaper? If I could have had mine replaced for $450 I definitely would have done it.

Yeah, maybe that is the case but I think that's ridiculous. If there's anything I can do to help out just let me know. I have all the documentation of my repairs here like I said. Why don't you ask them why they are charging half as much for the same part replacement in Japan? I'd really be curious to hear their answer.

By the way I don't know if you aware of these guys but it looks like they are charging $495 for the replacement of the logic board you need (EMC No. 2105):

http://www.dttservice.com/imac/imacg5.html

Reading their fine print: Logic Board will be either repair or exchange like-to-like, identical with your original logic board. Same cost. PLUS they seem to have a 6 month warranty on the replacement and Apple only gives 3 months on theirs.

[EDIT] DUH!! I see you already went to them and had no luck. Sorry to hear about that. So maybe that's the deal with Apple as well. I thought the capacitors you mentioned were ON the logic board but I guess they're not and if they are fried as well it is twice as much. Still if you hear anything concrete on that from Apple I'd be interested to know. Thanks.

 

[gravyboat]

Yeah, maybe that is the case but I think that's ridiculous. If there's anything I can do to help out just let me know. I have all the documentation of my repairs here like I said. Why don't you ask them why they are charging half as much for the same part replacement in Japan? I'd really be curious to hear their answer.

---snip--


[EDIT] DUH!! I see you already went to them and had no luck. Sorry to hear about that. So maybe that's the deal with Apple as well. I thought the capacitors you mentioned were ON the logic board but I guess they're not and if they are fried as well it is twice as much. Still if you hear anything concrete on that from Apple I'd be interested to know. Thanks.

SaSaSushi,

Thanks for the offer of help. I ran into a brick wall talking to customer service by phone and wrote to them a couple months ago but have not heard back yet. I'm hoping someone a little higher up might contact me and if they do I may raise the issue of differing rates of repair in general and your specific case in particular.

As far as the capacitors go-- and please take the following with many grains of salt because I'm seriously tech-unsavvy-- my understanding is that the capacitors ARE on the logic board. From various posts I've heard people use terms like "bulging" or "melted" to describe what they look like when they go bad. It seems like these capacitors can be replaced on the existing board if the board has not been damaged in any other way and you're good to go.

From Apple's perspective, it doesn't seem to matter if your board is damaged or not. I could be wrong but the tech at the store seemed to be saying that the board will be replaced with a brand new board. No capacitor-only repairs.

DT&T was different-- their lower cost is due to their recycling boards, not installing brand new ones-- and they gave me hope of getting this thing fixed for a relatively reasonable cost. Unfortunately it didn't work out because the board itself was "burned," which the DT&T tech implied was due to severe heat buildup where the capacitors are located.

Anyway, I appreciate your comments and thanks again for your help on this.

 

[chandlerjam]

About logic-boards-believe this or not...

Hi there, I just want to report that after I installed the recent update to Leopard, 10.5.1, my 17" 2 Ghz Intel iMac (late 2006 model) started devouring keyboards!!!
Yes, it froze THREE keyboards!- it actually fried them. I took it in to the Apple Store Genius Bar, and they were helpful and efficient, (luckily I am still under warrenty, until March 2008).
They replaced the logic board, actually, overnight, and I was back and running as soon as I got home. They gave me two replacement keyboards, my original one, and my partner's aluminum flat keyboard that was also fried. His was stuck with the Cap lock key on, but no responsiveness, whatsoever.
Even though things were fixed up, the experience was very frightening and crazy-making, because who would ever think a computer could kill keyboards? I was going nuts trying to figure out what was happening. Even the Genius's at the Mac store had never heard of this happening before. Could there be some relation to the Leopard update?
I really think you should inform them that yours is not an isolated experience, and push for a replacement on the house.

SaSaSushi,

Thanks for the offer of help. I ran into a brick wall talking to customer service by phone and wrote to them a couple months ago but have not heard back yet. I'm hoping someone a little higher up might contact me and if they do I may raise the issue of differing rates of repair in general and your specific case in particular.

As far as the capacitors go-- and please take the following with many grains of salt because I'm seriously tech-unsavvy-- my understanding is that the capacitors ARE on the logic board. From various posts I've heard people use terms like "bulging" or "melted" to describe what they look like when they go bad. It seems like these capacitors can be replaced on the existing board if the board has not been damaged in any other way and you're good to go.

From Apple's perspective, it doesn't seem to matter if your board is damaged or not. I could be wrong but the tech at the store seemed to be saying that the board will be replaced with a brand new board. No capacitor-only repairs.

DT&T was different-- their lower cost is due to their recycling boards, not installing brand new ones-- and they gave me hope of getting this thing fixed for a relatively reasonable cost. Unfortunately it didn't work out because the board itself was "burned," which the DT&T tech implied was due to severe heat buildup where the capacitors are located.

Anyway, I appreciate your comments and thanks again for your help on this.