Start-up problem iMac G5

M

mikeyjd

Registered
I have a 20" iMac G5 1.8 GHz which has been pretty reliable since new. A few weeks ago I fitted a new Hard-drive (Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB), other than that the computer is bog standard.

For the last few days when I start up, the computer switches itself off straight away and I have to press start again. Sometimes it gets as far as the grey screen and sometimes it gets to a complete desktop screen before this happens. This may happen 2 or 3 times and then the computer works fine all day, I can even restart with no problems once it is running fine. As it stands I can live with the problem but I worry that it may get worse.

Anyone know what this might be? Could it be related to the new hard-drive? Could it even be related to the cold weather?!
 
Further info:

System - 10.4.11 installed. New hard-drive was cloned from old drive, all permissions repaired etc.

Could this be a software problem?
 
More than likely a weak power supply. Luckily for those machines power supplies are relatively inexpensive and they were for the most part user serviceable. So the power supply is pretty easy to swap out. Other than that while the back is off the machine, check for blown or bulging caps.
 
Aside from being the power supply, it's possible that you're experiencing the issue I did with my iMac G5 and one that all iMac G5 models have experienced: bad capacitors on the logic board. There used to be a repair extension program for all iMac G5 models affected by this problem, but that expired a long time ago (December 2008). If you open up your iMac G5 (specifically the rev. A and B which were easy to open), you'll probably see the capacitors bulging or some might have leaked. Mine had exactly that problem.

The following Popular Science article covered this issue some time ago, and it shows exactly where you will find the bulging capacitors. When I opened up mine, the capacitors in that same vicinity were bulging.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/1707756.html

You might be able to find some logic boards and PSUs for your iMac either on eBay or from some Apple parts resellers. They should be relatively inexpensive nowadays.

Hope this helps.
 
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