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My 2006 iMac 2.16 is now like a brand new computer!

B

bear1973

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 28, 2006
76
0
Wow - what a difference a new hard drive makes! My 3+ year old iMac 20" 2.16 had become incredibly sluggish. Applications like Word would take 15-20 seconds to load, I'd have to wait 15-20 secs to open files, it was awful. Repeated attempts to wipe the drive and reinstall OS 10.6 didn't help. Turns out I had an "invalid node structure" error on the internal drive that kept recurring. I was this close to buying a new 21.5 when I decided to invest $77 in a new 750 GB drive and $55 for installation. And the results are unbelievable. Everything is just lightening fast again, from app startups to browsing to photo editing. $132 just extended the life on this computer for at least another year.

Anyway, thanks to the folks who tried to help me fix the problem with the old drive and especially the people who said "just get another new drive".
 
Your machine is still very competent performing computer, so fixing the hard drive issue will no doubt serve you nicely. Enjoy it. The machines today really aren't that much faster.
 
I had the same age iMac as you but the BTO 2.33GHz model. I remember a year or two ago I stuck a 750GB hard drive in it before I sold it. It does make a massive improvement, mainly the clean installation (but you seemed to have a hardware fault on the drive aswell) I was half tempted to keep it once it was up and running!
 
May have spoke too soon - internal mic is no longer working!

Well, everything was just peachy with my new old iMac until I tried using Skype. It seems that my internal microphone is no longer working. I've been to system prefs and tried just about everything people have suggested in various forums and it just doesn't work anymore. I'm wondering if it may have been disconnected or damaged during the installation of the new hard drive. That seems unlikely, but I can't think of anything else.
 
bear1973 said:
I was this close to buying a new 21.5 when I decided to invest $77 in a new 750 GB drive and $55 for installation.
Click to expand...


I have a question, I just got 21.5 ATI model and I need to upgrade the HDD to 2TB. I know upgrading hard drive on the iMac is kind of difficult and might void the warranty. I saw you paid for the installation. Can youi tell me where to get that service? Is it going to ruin my warranty if I take the service from them?

Thanks
 
tigereat said:
I have a question, I just got 21.5 ATI model and I need to upgrade the HDD to 2TB. I know upgrading hard drive on the iMac is kind of difficult and might void the warranty. I saw you paid for the installation. Can youi tell me where to get that service? Is it going to ruin my warranty if I take the service from them?

Thanks
Click to expand...

You should be able to take to an Apple authorized shop.
 
It could quite easily have been disconnected. It's connected up near the iSight camera. It's quite fiddly to put the front back on the machine and get the connectors to sit in nicely.
 
Hard Drive Install & Microphone

I had my hard drive installed by a certified apple shop/retailer called tenplus (tenplus.com) in Raleigh, NC (about 20 miles from me). They did it for $55, which was very reasonable I think (most Craigslist folks wanted $80-100). Of course, they do appear to have disconnected the microphone (although the isight still works). I am going to try one more trouble shoot, namely booting from my external cloned drive and seeing if it works. If not, it's definitely a hardware issue almost certainly caused by the install. The wires are exposed and this can easily happen during an install see these pics at:

http://home.comcast.net/~woojo/DFFA53A0-F23D-4541-9015-481FD3B6532E/iMac_Disassembly.html

In fact, it was pictures like that that made me decide to have it installed professionally.

I do think this voids your warranty, but for me that was a moot point as this machine is over three years old. Might want to check on that.
 
Yep, the mic must have been disconnected...

...I just booted from my external cloned drive, which I was running off of while my old internal was on the fritz. No response from the mic. Hopefully the shop that did the repair will take care of it, as they obviously disconnected it while putting the new hard drive in.
 
bear1973 said:
...I just booted from my external cloned drive, which I was running off of while my old internal was on the fritz. No response from the mic. Hopefully the shop that did the repair will take care of it, as they obviously disconnected it while putting the new hard drive in.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as I said, it's very easily done. The Mic connector splits apart fairly easy aswell. So while you're concentrating on getting the main iSight ribbon cable in without pinching it, the Mic connector can come undone.
 
How well is SL running on it compared to tiger? I have the same processor in a 24 inch iMac 2006 and have been debating putting snow leopard on it. Runs real good in tiger now. Never had an issue on this iMac.
 
bearcatrp said:
How well is SL running on it compared to tiger? I have the same processor in a 24 inch iMac 2006 and have been debating putting snow leopard on it. Runs real good in tiger now. Never had an issue on this iMac.
Click to expand...

I have the 17" 1.83 CD and with a fresh install of snow leopard it's very speedy, almost comparable to my 2.93 C2D on everyday applications. I say do it!
 
bear1973 said:
I do think this voids your warranty, but for me that was a moot point as this machine is over three years old. Might want to check on that.
Click to expand...


That's too bad for me then since I just bought my iMac. Maybe I have to wait til 3 years have passed before upgrading:(
 
As I suspected...

...the shop forgot to reattach the mic wire properly. Fixed today. Despite this mistake, I highly recommend tenplus.com in Raleigh, NC.
 
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