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Specialty Services — iMac G5 Main Logic Board Repair
Beginning in mid-2009, in association with Hartland-based Pure-Logic, we began offering repair service for the infamous capacitor failures that plagued 1st and 2nd generation iMac G5 systems. These include the 17" and 20" models with 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 GHz G5 processors. (Note: These iMac models DO NOT have a built-in iSight camera centered above the display.)
Symptoms:
Your iMac will not turn on, and / or it randomly shuts down, and / or it has distorted video. These are the common symptoms of power failures on the main logic board (MLB) of iMac G5 models produced between August 2004 and October 2005.
Probable causes:
The most likely cause of the power issues on the iMac G5 is bad, bulging, shorted or leaking electrolytic power capacitors. Apple was one of many manufacturers affected by a contaminated dielectric material used in the capacitors produced by a major electronic component supplier.
In this picture of a 17" iMac you can see the 29 electrolytic capacitors that tend to fail... they're the silver and black cylinders located left of the G5 cpu heat sink, below the RAM, by the lower left corner of the hard drive, and directly above the power supply.
The iMac power supply is another possible point of failure, as the same capacitor problem may also be lurking inside this component. There are another 5 to 7 capacitors inside the two styles of power supplies that Apple used.
What we do:
Experience has show that replacing only the failed capacitors may fix the problem in the short run, but the iMac will likely suffer another failure later on as other capacitors overheat and fail. We remove all of the electrolytic capacitors on the logic board, replacing them with high quality devices that exceed the specifications of the originals.
We will also open the power supply and inspect it for capacitor problems. Should there be any sign of power supply capacitor problems, we will contact you to discuss the additional repair or replacement of this component.
Pricing:
$200.00 flat rate (plus tax)
- The actual parts cost of replacement capacitors is relatively insignificant.
- Replacing the MLB capacitors involves complete disassembly of the majority of your iMac's internal parts, removal of the MLB for service, professional de-soldering and preparation of the MLB, capacitor replacement, microscopic inspection of all connections, and finally reassembly and test.
- The time required to complete this is approximately four hours, and you will generally have you iMac back in 7 to 14 days depending upon our workload.
- Additional costs may be incurred if there are problems with the iMac power supply. We will contact you in this case before proceeding with any repair to discuss repair or replacement of the power supply.
Related services:
What better time to expand your iMac than while we're already inside?
Here are the top 5 upgrades you may want to consider:
- Memory upgrades * — up to 2 GB total memory may be installed in these iMac models. Ask us about memory upgrades. Memory will always be the best "bang for the buck" performance upgrade you can give to your Mac! *
- Mac OS X upgrade — You may also want to think about upgrading your operating system to Mac OSX 10.5.8 Leopard. We can answer any questions you have about this option as well. Availability since the 10.6 release is limited.
- Hard Drive upgrades — 160, 250, 320, 500, 640, 750 or 1000 GB drives will all expand the capacity of your iMac. We'll provide a quote that includes moving your existing data to the new drive so you can pick up where you left off.
- SuperDrive upgrades * — replacing your combo (CD-RW/DVD-R) or single-layer SuperDrive (DVD-RW) with an Apple-compatible dual-layer burner will let you create up to 8.5GB DVDs with iMovie and iDVD or a great number of third-party applications.
- Wireless networking upgrade * — 802.11g Airport Extreme wi-fi cards were optionally available for the first generation iMacs. We can add wi-fi to your early G5 iMac if applicable.
* With the exception of hard drive or Mac OS X upgrades, your cost is "parts only" and there is no additional labor involved.
Affected iMac models:
17 inch iMac models |
20 inch iMac models |
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|---|---|---|---|
1st generation iMac G5 |
Introduced in August 2004, the iMac G5 introduced a completely new enclosure. Inside a two inches thick case was a complete Mac that was considerably faster and more advanced than its G4-based predecessor. |
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1.6 GHz - EMC 1989
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1.8 GHz - EMC 1989
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1.8 GHz - EMC 2008
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2nd generation iMac G5 ALS |
Beginning in May 2005, the iMac G5 "Ambient Light Sensor" was a modest improvement in speed and features over the original iMac G5. Airport Extreme and Bluetooth were now standard on all models, along with 512 MB of RAM. |
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1.8 GHz - EMC 2055
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2.0 GHz - EMC 2055
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2.0 GHz - EMC 2056
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Guarantees and warranties:
Most iMacs that have obvious bulging or leaking capacitors will be fully functional again after replacing all the MLB capacitors. However, because the most common symptom is an iMac that will not power up, there is no way to assess that the presence of bad capacitors is the only problem. This puts us in the uncomfortable position of providing a service that may not result in a working computer.
As such, here is the best we can offer to reasonably warrant our work while limiting our liability.
- This is a specialized service to repair a known, common iMac G5 failure point. All MLB capacitors that have failed, or will potentially fail, will be replaced with high-quality, equivalent or superior components.
- Successfully repaired iMac G5 computers are warranted against subsequent MLB capacitor failure for a period of 90 days.
- This warranty is limited to parts and labor to replace any defective capacitors we installed.
- This service is provided without guarantee that the function of the iMac can be restored successfully. Due to the nature of this work, and because we can not determine beforehand if the root problem is exclusively related to bad power capacitors, neither MacCetera LLC, nor Pure Logic, shall be held liable should we be unable to provide a successful repair.
- The flat rate fee will be assessed in all cases, however we will provide access to, or recovery of, your computer data should repair prove unsuccessful.
Getting your iMac evaluated for service:
Contact us to schedule a visit to evaluate your G5 iMac, or to answer any questions you have regarding this service.
Copyright © 2003-2008 by MacCetera
Mac OS, Macintosh, and other like terms are all trademarks of Apple, Inc. -
25-Oct-2009
