iMac - iMac G5 advice needed

J

just4funuk

Registered
iMac - iMac G5 advice needed

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I have just purchased a Imac G5.

It is missing a few items and may be faulty. So would be gratefull for some advice.

The imac G5 is missing the memory and the HD.
I have installed a stick of DDr memory and I get a power light on the front right which i suspect is also the HD access light as it flashs as if trying to access harddrive.the imac G5 makes a bong and the the normal apple tune which I would suspect means the main board is ok.Am I correct ?

But I do not get any display on the monitor.I was expecting to get the sad face appear on the screen .So can anyone confirm if the Imac G5 does not power the screen if no HD is detected?(Grasping straws I know)

As I am not at home at the moment I can not try a disk drive in it.but I will test a drive in it later as my PC has a 80GB sata drive in it.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
The light on the front is normally the sleep light. If it flashes at boot, then that is likely a problem with the RAM memory that you installed. The memory may be incorrect for that iMac.
If you installed the memory by taking the back off, and you can see the hard drive and logic board and everything else, then the correct memory will be PC3200 SDRAM.
If, instead, then memory slot is on the bottom, with a small panel covering the opening, then other memory will be needed, probably PC2-4200, if it is a G5. That model also has a camera at the top of the display.

If you think you have the correct memory installed, try reseating the memory again in the other slot.
If you do not have a hard drive installed, then you should get video, and then a flashing folder/question mark.
 
The memory is DDR (may not be 3200) .But I suspect there maybe a fault on the machine as the memory and harddrive had been removed.I will test it with 3200 DDR memory when I get it home as well as install a HD in it.

The standard Apple Tones I think are a good indication that the main board is OK.If the machine powers up but the screen is faulty I would use it with an external monitor.As it would be a better machine than the imac G4 I have at present.
 
I have installed 256MB DDR PC 3200 and attached a 80GB SATA drive.

The machine was then turned on. The standard Apple tune was played.I have then inserted a OSX installation DVD. The machine still has no display but the caps lock on the keyboard is changing when the button is pressed which gives me the impression the machine is running.So I also attached a Ipod to the machine via firewire to see if it would come up with the standard do not disconnect message.it did not untill the imac was again booted with the OSX installation CD.

So as the caps on the main board do look to have the fault that Apple new about with the first edition G5 models.Does anyone know if these caps are only associated to the actuall display side of the machine and not the Imac stself.If this is the case maybe if I get a mini DVI to VGA adapter this imac G5 could be used with an external display.
 
You are mis-informed. The startup chime does not tell you that the logic board is probably OK. It only tells you that part of the startup is OK. In your case, the video is not coming on properly, which doesn't happen until after the startup chime. I think it's doubtful that an external display will show anything, either.
If you see swelling or leaking capacitors on the logic board, then that will likely affect both internal and external video, so an external is not likely to work better. You can try it if you like.
The correct video adapter that you would need with an external display, is the mini-vga to vga. The output is not DVI as on the intel iMacs.

The repair involves replacing the whole logic board. You should call Apple to see if they will cover the repair. If not, the repair will be more than $800. Hope you didn't pay much for this iMac... I suspect the video stopped working, and the previous owner stripped out anything that might be useful.
 
Thank you for correcting me on the video output cable needed as I would of purchased the incorrect cable.

The three of the LED on the mainboard of the machine are lighting up indicating that all pieces of the computer are talking to each other correctly.

What I am hoping is that the Caps that have failed may only be related to the actuall LCD display and not anything to do with the graphics card.If they are related to the graphics card then the machine is indeed fit for spares only as its not worth $800.But I may test Apples response with regard to getting it repaired under warranty.
 
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