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Author Topic: IMAC heading south??  (Read 16081 times)

Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« on: October 19, 2008, 12:44:09 PM »
It appears the old faithful 1st build G5 IMAC may be heading south. This guy was one of those that had to have the power supply and logic board replaced (extended warranted by Apple) 12/06 the first time, took three tries to get it right but has worked fine since. thumbup.gif

While checking e mails mail.gif  last week the screen exhibited something that is hard to describe. It suddenly and without warning  became all wavy,and kind of over layed with lines. The mouse and kbd were inactive and I had to remove the power cord to restart. It cleared up and worked fine until this morning. A similar but different type of occurrence, but this time the mouse was active and I was able to restart it from the finder jawdrop.gif.  

When it came up the display had what can only be described as blocks of something that looked similar to exclamation marks !!!!    !!!!   !!!! scattered around the display.  Ran Disk Utility first aid and Cocktail pilot and they remained. I then ran Disk Warrior and upon the restart it came up normal and all appears fine cheer.gif.  (At least for now)

While DW was running those marks remained and  occasionally the whole screen would "Jiggle", like it does when when you enter the wrong password on start-up. My first thought was power again. huh.gif

I have since backed up with SD. Thinking.gif

Any and all input is appreciated

 :sos:Daryl
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Offline Paddy

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2008, 12:54:47 PM »
Daryl, you're not the only one with strange video problems, although yours sound a little different:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8247066

(not sure what the last post in that thread is all about - I'm wondering if she posted in the wrong thread!)

http://www.redefined.tv/PostIt/
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?...7873779#7873779
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Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2008, 01:21:23 PM »
QUOTE(Paddy @ Oct 19 2008, 12:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Daryl, you're not the only one with strange video problems, although yours sound a little different:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8247066

(not sure what the last post in that thread is all about - I'm wondering if she posted in the wrong thread!)

http://www.redefined.tv/PostIt/
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?...7873779#7873779

Paddy: Thanks for the links.

Does not appear to be the same problem.  Also my G5 is a ppc,running  Tiger. looks like that issue is with an Intel model, and Leopard plus the symptoms are totally different.

However I did put in 2 gb of memory not too long ago and I think It was before this problem started.   ??????? maybe ?????

Also the "hardware test" was mentioned a couple of times.  Can you point me to where that is discussed???

Daryl dntknw.gif
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Offline gunug

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2008, 02:23:50 PM »
I've got an iMAC G5 sitting on my desk in the office and it started to get weird video and locking up.  The video sometimes exhibited as lines across the screen and missing bits.  I was running 10.4.11 on the boot partition of that one and ran everything but Diskwarrior (has vanished from my desk) and nothing helped but I then elected to try and do a "clean" install on the system drive.  When I was presented with a choice of partitions I decided to install the system on my other partition (about 50gigs) and when it was done (I'd copied user info from the other drive) it all worked fine without any of the problems I was having before.  Not sure it's cured exactly but it seems to be workable in as far as recovering data and such from the other partitiion!
« Last Edit: October 19, 2008, 03:29:04 PM by kbeartx »
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Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2008, 02:53:20 PM »
QUOTE(daryl66 @ Oct 19 2008, 01:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE(Paddy @ Oct 19 2008, 12:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Daryl, you're not the only one with strange video problems, although yours sound a little different:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8247066

(not sure what the last post in that thread is all about - I'm wondering if she posted in the wrong thread!)

http://www.redefined.tv/PostIt/
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?...7873779#7873779

Paddy: Thanks for the links.

Does not appear to be the same problem.  

Daryl dntknw.gif


Looks like I spoke too soon.  About 30 mins from the last post it went to H--- in a hand basket. Weird video and fans running a hundred miles an hour. Hoping it was that memory I replaced the  2 new 1gb memory sticks with the original 2 256mb sticks and fired it up. Almost immediately I got the same symptoms as described and pictured in the above posts. I now have it powered down and am attempting to decipher GN's post.

GN:  I have a bootable back-up partition on a spare disk that I use exclusively for back-up, but I am not quite sure what you are telling me.  Can you simplify it for this old dummy???

Daryl
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Offline kbeartx

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2008, 05:37:11 PM »
QUOTE
IMAC heading south??


Maybe it's winter migration...hey! didja try using Migration Assistant?  toothgrin.gif

KB coolio.gif
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Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2008, 05:57:12 PM »
QUOTE(kbeartx @ Oct 19 2008, 05:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE
IMAC heading south??


Maybe it's winter migration...hey! didja try using Migration Assistant?  toothgrin.gif

KB coolio.gif

 KB  Well winter is just around the corner for this part of the country so that probably is not a bad idea.

I am not sure what you are suggesting.  I have a complete bootable and current back-up on that spare disk.  It could be that I do not understand what Migration Assistant really does. dntknw.gif Are you suggesting a complete erase and reinstall of the system disk???

Daryl
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Offline kbeartx

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2008, 06:40:37 PM »
QUOTE(daryl66 @ Oct 19 2008, 05:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Are you suggesting a complete erase and reinstall of the system disk???


Just playing w/ the words, no suggestion intended... whistling.gif

KB coolio.gif
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Offline Paddy

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2008, 08:45:40 PM »
Daryl, try booting from the external disk and see if the problems persist. If not, then it's an indication that it's not the logic board, video or anything hardware related (other than perhaps the HD, though I don't think video problems are typically a symptom of a dying HD!) but something wrong with your system files.

At least that might give you some clues.

Sorry about those links BTW - I saw that one of the posters in the second thread said he had an iMac G5 - on closer examination, it's really not a G5 - he's confused. tongue.gif However, the fact that you're getting the same weird video as the people posting in those threads makes one wonder if it's OS related somehow.
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Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2008, 09:32:19 PM »
QUOTE(Paddy @ Oct 19 2008, 08:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Daryl, try booting from the external disk and see if the problems persist. If not, then it's an indication that it's not the logic board, video or anything hardware related (other than perhaps the HD, though I don't think video problems are typically a symptom of a dying HD!) but something wrong with your system files.At least that might give you some clues.
The more I learn the more confused I get.  I have tried a couple of things. It seemed to me like the situation was occuring  after the computer woke up from sleep (its normal idle state), and using Entourage or Firefox today.  The last thing I tried was to "never" put it to sleep and start a random screen saver  after about 15 minutes, thinking that if it was hardware or heat related it would probably show up. It has been solid for several hours now.  I am going to keep it this way overnight and see what  happens. I think I am beginning to agree that it is probably not hardware. If it shows up again I will go for the boot on the external disk.ThanksDaryl
QUOTE(kbeartx @ Oct 19 2008, 06:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE(daryl66 @ Oct 19 2008, 05:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Are you suggesting a complete erase and reinstall of the system disk???
Just playing w/ the words, no suggestion intended... whistling.gif KB coolio.gif
KB. I completely missed the levity. I was so busy scratching my head it went clear over it. toothgrin.gif Daryl
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Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2008, 11:24:35 AM »
QUOTE(Paddy @ Oct 19 2008, 08:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
At least that might give you some clues.


It ran all night with the random screen saver and exhibited no problems this morning.???

I think I will replace the 2 1gb memory sticks.
Keep it awake with the screen savor for a couple of days and see what happens.

If it continues to be ok then go back to the "sleep" situation and see if it recurs.   I recall some earlier posts here about this particular model IMAC G5 having some sleep issues.  Do not recall the exact nature tho

Daryl
« Last Edit: October 20, 2008, 12:23:37 PM by kbeartx »
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Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2008, 04:19:43 PM »
QUOTE(Paddy @ Oct 19 2008, 08:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Daryl, try booting from the external disk and see if the problems persist. If not, then it's an indication that it's not the logic board, video or anything hardware related (other than perhaps the HD, though I don't think video problems are typically a symptom of a dying HD!) but something wrong with your system files.

No joy.  After running all night and most of today without a hicup it failed hard while on the random screen saver. I replaced the memory sticks with the 2  1gb I had taken out earlier and fired it up with the external disk and in less than a minute it failed I guess just to be sure it is not the "system" and is probably hardware, I should attempt a "Clean" install.  My Tiger disk is 4.1 I think.  Any recommendations on how I should go about it??

Is there not a "hardware test" option someplace??  How do I do that??

Daryl

Daryl
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Offline Paddy

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2008, 04:46:48 PM »
Daryl, please try booting up from the external drive that you mentioned. This will help confirm that the issues are hardware-related. Much less bother than doing a clean install on the internal drive. (If the problems persist when booted from the external drive, then you know that they're probably not OS-related) - of course what bit of the hardware has gone south is still up in the air, though running the Hardware Test is a good place to start, though it doesn't always pick up everything.

There is a hardware test on the ORIGINAL install disks you got with the G5. Start up off that disk and then select Hardware Test from the menu, rather than the OS install.
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Offline daryl66

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2008, 05:12:14 PM »
QUOTE(Paddy @ Oct 20 2008, 04:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Daryl, please try booting up from the external drive that you mentioned.

There is a hardware test on the ORIGINAL install disks you got with the G5. Start up off that disk and then select Hardware Test from the menu, rather than the OS install.

Paddy, I did  boot from the external disk and it failed HARD in less than one minute. I did not even have time to change the energy saver before it died. It had been such a short time from the last failure it makes me think it is heat related.

I have up loaded  a picture of the failed screen to both Flicker and Photo bucket but I cannot seem to get either of them to Link. Do you know if they still do that??

daryl
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Offline kbeartx

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IMAC heading south??
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2008, 05:30:08 PM »
Another quick test would be to create a new user acct and run as that user - if it does not do this, it's a sure indication that this is a software prob; conversely, if it still does this it's pretty conclusive that the prob is hardware [although not entirely - that will be the time for a clean install to narrow it down w/o a doubt to hardware or software].

KB coolio.gif
« Last Edit: October 21, 2008, 01:18:16 PM by kbeartx »
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