[HM] Re: dead iMac

[Christian Dupuis]

On Thursday, December 2, 2004, at 04:49 PM, E. Matro wrote:

> Someone gave me an old flavored iMac; the hardndrive
> blew. I replaced the hard drive, but now the machine
> either dies shortly after startup and/or the monitor
> is dead. Everything I've read says it sounds like the
> fly back transformer burning out because the iMacs
> have a very bad or nonexistent cooling system
> (passive??)
>
> Okay, fine. It's going to turn into a very attractive
> blue and white boat anchor.
>
> What I'd like to know is it the eMacs share the same
> problem. They are starting to look really good right
> now.

Eileen, before you turn it into a boat anchor, you might want to get it 
looked at by a competent mac tech; what you are describing sounds like 
the firmware issue that occurs if someone tries to load an OS X 10.2 
disk/system in the iMac without first applying the proper firmware 
update.

If someone tried to run an OS X version of Norton, Disk Warrior or 
TechTool Pro, it probably screwed up the iMac's firmware. There is a 
fix, but it requires disassembling the iMac, modifying an older Apple 
floppy drive cable with jumper connections  to trick the system into 
getting the proper signal from the video circuit that allows you to 
boot with an external monitor and apply the firmware patch. The shop I 
used to work at did a few of those every month, but it's not for the 
faint of heart.

Here are the references:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
http://www.capecodgraphics.com/imac_firmware.htm
http://frderi.spymac.net/imacresurrected/

WARNING: Get a trained technician to do the work, if you need to do the 
hardware reset procedure; there is a fairly unhealthy amount of high 
voltage in the iMac, enough to seriously injure someone who does not 
take proper precautions.

As far as the eMacs are concerned, they don't share the same issue. As 
a matter of fact, more recent G3 iMacs already come with the proper 
firmware, and aren't affected.

Hope this helps.

Chris