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General Category => Off the Record => Computer Affairs => Topic started by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 12:56:01 AM

Title: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 12:56:01 AM
was watching tv, went to check my email. frozen out. tried some different key combos, eventually a little screen came up saying I needed to reboot. I did. nothing. I get apple sound, it seemed to find the ipod, but not any other peripherals. and just a grey screen. rebooted with only keyboard and mouse. nothing.

after a minute or two of grey screen the fan seemed to be making noise but nothing else. I'm letting it sit for a few minutes while I cry onto my netbook linux box.

I don't think I can afford to get it repaired, or buy a "new" system (of any kind) I'm cursed with computers. Wouldn't matter what system it was, after a year or two every computer I buy just dies.

:(
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:00:45 AM
:nelson
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: DontSayBanana on December 07, 2009, 01:01:40 AM
Quote from: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:00:45 AM
:nelson

Hey, show some respect for the deceased, will you? :contract:
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:04:32 AM
Quote from: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:00:45 AM
:nelson

:angry: remind me to laugh at you next time you unexpectedly lose hundreds of dollars and the novel you wasted a month starting.

asshole



Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Barrister on December 07, 2009, 01:05:58 AM
Get it to a repair shop pronto.

It may be nothing.  Or even if it's something fatal, the harddrive may be recoverable (and thus the novel).
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: DontSayBanana on December 07, 2009, 01:07:17 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:04:32 AM
Quote from: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:00:45 AM
:nelson

:angry: remind me to laugh at you next time you unexpectedly lose hundreds of dollars and the novel you wasted a month starting.

asshole

Easy does it, Buddha.  I'm going to say the same thing I said a minute ago:

As long as the drive wasn't what failed (and that sounds like a partial mobo or power supply crash to me), you could still just hook up the drive as a zombie to another Mac and pull the files off.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:12:46 AM
Quote from: DontSayBanana on December 07, 2009, 01:07:17 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:04:32 AM
Quote from: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:00:45 AM
:nelson

:angry: remind me to laugh at you next time you unexpectedly lose hundreds of dollars and the novel you wasted a month starting.

asshole

Easy does it, Buddha.  I'm going to say the same thing I said a minute ago:

As long as the drive wasn't what failed (and that sounds like a partial mobo or power supply crash to me), you could still just hook up the drive as a zombie to another Mac and pull the files off.


Hey Carrot could I connect it to my old g4 (sitting unused next to me) and do that?




Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:14:46 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:04:32 AM
Quote from: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:00:45 AM
:nelson

:angry: remind me to laugh at you next time you unexpectedly lose hundreds of dollars and the novel you wasted a month starting.

asshole

:nelson yet another Languish writer wannabe that will never finish a chapter, let alone a novel.

:nelson :nelson :nelson
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:17:54 AM
congrats jaron, you are about to be the first person I Un friend on facebook. I'm done with you. have a nice life asshole.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Jaron on December 07, 2009, 01:19:25 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:17:54 AM
congrats jaron, you are about to be the first person I Un friend on facebook. I'm done with you. have a nice life asshole.

^_^ I love firsts.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:22:48 AM
fine with me. It's been done. I used to think it was an act with you, but obviously not.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: DontSayBanana on December 07, 2009, 01:24:14 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:12:46 AM
Hey Carrot could I connect it to my old g4 (sitting unused next to me) and do that?


As long as the G4 and the iMac were running the same OS, I don't see why not.  The only major snag I could see is if one was running old Mac OS while the other was running OSX - there seem to be a couple of compatibility issues; I'm not versed enough in Mac to know if it's just running legacy Mac OS programs that's the problem or if there's issues with the file system.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:29:00 AM
both osx the imac is a later update.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:31:56 AM
I can't deal with it anymore. I'm going to sleep on it. I have to make my upcoming work schedules by hand now, as all my templates were on my hdd. It would cost more to get it repaired, than the thing is worth it's a 4 year old imac. every generation of computer seems to last less time. I hate the world and it's obsession with planned obsolescence right now.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Caliga on December 07, 2009, 12:15:46 PM
Quote from: DontSayBanana on December 07, 2009, 01:07:17 AM
Easy does it, Buddha.  I'm going to say the same thing I said a minute ago:

As long as the drive wasn't what failed (and that sounds like a partial mobo or power supply crash to me), you could still just hook up the drive as a zombie to another Mac and pull the files off.
:yes: I'm not a Mac person, but assuming they are similar to PCs in this respect, the chance of all of your data being totally unrecoverable is very small.  Unfortunately data recovery services can get quite expensive, so if you can get that drive into another Mac before taking it to an Apple store (which likely will push you to pay for recovery services you may not need), then definitely try to do that.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Barrister on December 07, 2009, 12:17:20 PM
I imagine removing a harddrive from an iMac would be difficult though.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Caliga on December 07, 2009, 12:20:04 PM
Quote from: Barrister on December 07, 2009, 12:17:20 PM
I imagine removing a harddrive from an iMac would be difficult though.
:huh: Not familiar with the innards of an iMac but I mean there has to be a way to get one out... why do you think it would be tough?
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Grey Fox on December 07, 2009, 12:22:24 PM
Such defeatist attidude from our mac loving brothers.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Barrister on December 07, 2009, 12:34:56 PM
Quote from: Caliga on December 07, 2009, 12:20:04 PM
Quote from: Barrister on December 07, 2009, 12:17:20 PM
I imagine removing a harddrive from an iMac would be difficult though.
:huh: Not familiar with the innards of an iMac but I mean there has to be a way to get one out... why do you think it would be tough?

Because it's an "all in one" computer that wasn't designed for easy access to it's innards (unlike my Mac Pro, which has easily swappable hard drives).

But a quick google shows it isn't all that bad:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/imacG5_20inch_harddrive.pdf
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Barrister on December 07, 2009, 12:50:52 PM
Of course this doesn't make it sound too easy (but is a different model):

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10210484-17.html

RHubard, you able to tell us exactly what kind of iMac you have?
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: grumbler on December 07, 2009, 01:18:12 PM
I've replaced drives on iMacs before, and it just takes time.  It isn't difficult, per se.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:37:03 PM
fuck that, if I can't do it myself (which is unlikely) then it's not worth some scam "data recovery" bullshit.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:40:53 PM
I looked up stuff myself, my imac is an old early g5 ppc. (were it able to turn on i could get the exact specs.) but i googled and it definitely seems like either a mobo, or power suply ish. more likely mobo.

so hdd should be ok, hopefully. I'll find out online how to get it apart, and put the hdd into a empty shell, reasonably cheap to buy a casing for an old internal drive. and rescue my data. it's really just the novel, and some photos that I'm worried about, prob. less than a dvd's worth of data.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Barrister on December 07, 2009, 01:48:41 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:40:53 PM
I looked up stuff myself, my imac is an old early g5 ppc. (were it able to turn on i could get the exact specs.) but i googled and it definitely seems like either a mobo, or power suply ish. more likely mobo.

so hdd should be ok, hopefully. I'll find out online how to get it apart, and put the hdd into a empty shell, reasonably cheap to buy a casing for an old internal drive. and rescue my data. it's really just the novel, and some photos that I'm worried about, prob. less than a dvd's worth of data.

Then take a look at the link I supplied above which describes how to take the HDD out of a G5 iMac. :smarty:
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 01:52:29 PM
that's the same link i got googling last night, but thanks for perma linking me here.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 11:56:53 PM
have an appointment at the so-called "Genius Bar" at the downtown apple store on Wed. Morning. My boss is coming with me (he has a car & is good at offering moral support.) Free tech look at to see if it's fixable/whether it's too expensive, etc.

google has shown me today that likely what happened is a relatively (or was a few years ago) common issue with this gen of imacs. capacitor issues on the logic boards. apparently so many imacs went down a few years ago, apple was fixing them free whether you had applecare or not,

of course google also told me that that policy stopped end of 08. I do however have anecdotal testimony from a friend that hers was fixed after that time for free.

we'll see. if they want hundreds of dollars I'll simply ask to get some links to how to take the back off and get the hdd out myself to get the data off.

I do have backup of some of it, and most of my storage is on ext hdds. from now on, all of it will be external, nothing but apps on the system hdd.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Jaron on December 08, 2009, 12:08:28 AM
moral support? :huh:

God damn you act like your cat is dying.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: ulmont on December 08, 2009, 12:12:30 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 11:56:53 PM
from now on, all of it will be external, nothing but apps on the system hdd.

Wouldn't the key just be in redundancy (system, backup, google docs or one of the online backup places) rather than some magic of the system hdd?
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Lucidor on December 08, 2009, 01:42:11 AM
Quote from: ulmont on December 08, 2009, 12:12:30 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 11:56:53 PM
from now on, all of it will be external, nothing but apps on the system hdd.

Wouldn't the key just be in redundancy (system, backup, google docs or one of the online backup places) rather than some magic of the system hdd?
Yeah, backup is the key. If I had been using the computer for anything important I'd personally do it more than once a year... :D
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 08, 2009, 02:48:10 AM
Quote from: Jaron on December 08, 2009, 12:08:28 AM
moral support? :huh:

God damn you act like your cat is dying.

you are confusing me with CDM
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 08, 2009, 02:51:54 AM
Quote from: ulmont on December 08, 2009, 12:12:30 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 07, 2009, 11:56:53 PM
from now on, all of it will be external, nothing but apps on the system hdd.

Wouldn't the key just be in redundancy (system, backup, google docs or one of the online backup places) rather than some magic of the system hdd?

I do back up a couple of times a year and have most stuff redundant, it had just been a couple of months. (I slacked off at an inopportune time)
i don't understand what you mean by magic of the system hdd?
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 10, 2009, 01:02:57 PM
i took it to apple yesterday morning. it's the power supply. so likely good news for my files. To have it fixed at the apple store would be 228 plus tax. I called around to a couple of other mac dealers in town and got a better deal from one on the west side. Can't get it done til Saturday morning, but they can do it while I'm waiting and will put in a better quality power supply than apple.

So by Saturday aft, i should be back to normal computer wise. 1st thing I'm doing is backup. which i have learned to do more regularly with this happening.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: derspiess on December 10, 2009, 01:16:01 PM
Yikes, $228 to replace a power supply.  Wonder how much it would have been to just buy the part & DIY?
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Barrister on December 10, 2009, 01:33:42 PM
Quote from: derspiess on December 10, 2009, 01:16:01 PM
Yikes, $228 to replace a power supply.  Wonder how much it would have been to just buy the part & DIY?

If there's something I would not want to mess with it would be the power supply.  Remember the iMacs are essentially laptops and use laptop components.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 10, 2009, 01:46:04 PM
Quote from: derspiess on December 10, 2009, 01:16:01 PM
Yikes, $228 to replace a power supply.  Wonder how much it would have been to just buy the part & DIY?

the part is about 110. the rest was labor. The used mac store charges half the cost of a mac tech and puts in a better quality part (for less cost on the part also.) If it was a real desktop, I'd do it myself. I've built lots of skookum PCs in my day. If they let me watch how it's done, i may do future stuff on it DIY.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: MadBurgerMaker on December 10, 2009, 11:48:30 PM
Quote from: Barrister on December 10, 2009, 01:33:42 PM
If there's something I would not want to mess with it would be the power supply.  Remember the iMacs are essentially laptops and use laptop components.

Laptops aren't that hard to swap stuff in and out of, just slightly more irritating, since everything is so goddamn small and it's cramped in there (assuming it's even something you can change).

A quick Google search turns up this (the same type thing you linked earlier):

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/imacg5_17inch_power_supply.pdf

If yours is anything like that, Buddha, that's not too difficult at all.  But of course, if you're not comfortable with it, have the Apple dude do it for you and eyeball it while he's screwing around in there, so you can fiddle with it yourself next time like you said.  :)

Edit:  YouTube video (not the same as the above type):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bezd48pn5tY
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 11, 2009, 01:23:48 PM
ooh thanks mbm. that is my plan. it's the only think i miss having gone mac(laptop/imac that is), is futzing around with new inside parts.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 12, 2009, 08:42:32 PM
Update. my imac is at a repair shop awaiting me trying to get a case # so i can get a free replacement mobo as it is that problem that plagued some 40% of this generation of imacs. Mac did offer replacement fixes for free for three years after purchase. Mine is older than that. so no go :(

the guy at the repair store said i may have to try a few times to get a sympathetic apple tech borg.

Today's call did not go well, like me trying to argue with grumbler kinda bad. I can't deal with those corporate knuckledraggers. I'd rather just buy a new computer than have to deal with the moronic hoop jumping. :angry:

So I may be doing the tiny linux thing for  afew months while I save up for something that will last longer. I will research this next purchase much more closely,: itellyawhat:
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 14, 2009, 01:33:19 PM
I'm still so chuffed at apple, I may even buy a pc instead.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Caliga on December 14, 2009, 03:37:04 PM
QuoteI'm still so chuffed at apple, I may even buy a pc instead.

:cool: :yeah:
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Darth Wagtaros on December 14, 2009, 03:49:35 PM
Dude you're getting a Dell!
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: derspiess on December 14, 2009, 03:49:43 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 14, 2009, 01:33:19 PM
I'm still so chuffed at apple, I may even buy a pc instead.

Or you could go halfway & make a Hackintosh :P
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Caliga on December 14, 2009, 03:52:28 PM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on December 14, 2009, 03:49:35 PM
Dude you're getting a Dell!
:lol: I wonder if that kid is turning tricks in an Arby's parking lot yet.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Darth Wagtaros on December 14, 2009, 04:12:29 PM
Quote from: Caliga on December 14, 2009, 03:52:28 PM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on December 14, 2009, 03:49:35 PM
Dude you're getting a Dell!
:lol: I wonder if that kid is turning tricks in an Arby's parking lot yet.
Given how obnoxious he was? Hopefully.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 15, 2009, 01:36:16 PM
can't write to my ntfs drive plugged into the linux box. life continues to annoy me in small ways electronically
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: Baron von Schtinkenbutt on December 15, 2009, 07:49:59 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 15, 2009, 01:36:16 PM
can't write to my ntfs drive plugged into the linux box. life continues to annoy me in small ways electronically

What distro and version?  Kernel 2.6.26 (I think) added Fuse to the kernel, which creates an abstract file system interface, and there is a Fuse module to write to NTFS.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 15, 2009, 11:12:30 PM
Quote from: vonmoltke on December 15, 2009, 07:49:59 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on December 15, 2009, 01:36:16 PM
can't write to my ntfs drive plugged into the linux box. life continues to annoy me in small ways electronically

What distro and version?  Kernel 2.6.26 (I think) added Fuse to the kernel, which creates an abstract file system interface, and there is a Fuse module to write to NTFS.

d'oh :blush: it's actually a hfs+ mac drive. I found a line command thing to add and apparently work it out. but I have some other stuff to do first.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 16, 2009, 01:40:33 PM
so i made it official, the imac is dead. I called the repair shop and asked them to box up my hdd in an external case and I'll pick it up on saturday (their shop hours match mine, so it's my first chance) then I start saving up to buy a new system maybe in March or so. this time I think I'm going to buy something brand new with like warranties and whatnot. so it may take longer.

meanwhile I will make do with the linux netbook, (and an old g3 ibook for a top secret project that i need office for)

Unless I crack under the pressure of not having a decent desktop and succumb to buying another used system) I'm weak that way when I see an awesome deal.
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 19, 2009, 06:20:23 PM
got my hdd back in a nice external casing. No data loss. my habit of saving my word documents in older formats (fuck docx with a rusty knife) has saved me some grief, as I'm using a melange of older systems I have laying around (an ibook g3, and maybe my desktop g4 ppc if i can be arsed to make room for it outside my closet., as well as this little netbook for interwebbing.

things are not grim anymore. just vaguely depressing (until I buy something new. )
Title: Re: My Imac may be dead :(
Post by: BuddhaRhubarb on December 21, 2009, 12:31:18 PM
well/ I've got all my ext HDDs including my dead imac (called zombie Imac on my desktop) hooked up to my old g4 powerpc mac. stuck at Tiger. Can do most of my daily computer needs, but it's still a bit of a step backwards interms of getting video/photo stuff done.

Everything else though works fine. so I'm happy until I can afford a new system (with warranties and so on this time around.)