Abysmal Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I got a call from a buddy on his iMac 24 inch ( Early 2006 I think ).. He just got back from out East and he had someone else work on his machine ( which he has now replaced ) but here's the details.. Was having what seemed to be harddrive issues, so he had someone at his school take a look at it, and they butchered it. I have replaced the hard drive and put a gig of ram in it and I can get it to work ONLY in safe mode - I get the White Screen of Death ( which kicks in when the system does the video init ) - the fan in the back is on full ( video i think ) all the time - PRAM, PMU and SCM have been reset ( multiple times ) - The camera is seen but displays only black ( is this because of safe mode ) - no sound icon, but system chimes ( safe mode again?? ) - The boot time seems really long, and it took forever to get a new os installed So any ideas here, I'm no repair tech, but this sounds like a board level replacement of something, main board, video card etc. So since he has replaced the unit with a new laptop, this dysfunction toy is mine and I am wondering if its worth the repair costs if it is even repairable. Thanks Abysmal Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/201280-is-this-worth-fixing/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWaffle Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I agree, but it would also help if you could post you log file, so we could see what's going on during the boot process. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/201280-is-this-worth-fixing/#findComment-1353222 Share on other sites More sharing options...
U.C. Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Sounds like a dead GPU. Safe Mode will ensure that GPU drivers are not loaded. Maybe you could try Windows on it and see if that works with the GPU drivers installed. Though the white screen could very well be RAM. My advice, use Ubuntu to do Memtest and then go from there. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/201280-is-this-worth-fixing/#findComment-1353225 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abysmal Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Thanks for the info guys.. The ram is the matched pair of 512's / 667 from my mini so its not a ram mismatch.. But I'll try anyways.. I spoke with a buddy and he's gonna run the history on the machine via apple and give me a diagnostic disk, so I'll start there, and I'll post logs when I get a chance to.. What I don't understand is how can it be a blown GPU if I'm getting full graphic resolution in save mode with no drivers, but I do agree that it happens when the drivers are enabled, with that graphics mode switch. Is there any way I can force the EFI/Firmware to be redone?? Abysmal Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/201280-is-this-worth-fixing/#findComment-1353235 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonestonne Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 faulty GPU. Is it nVidia 8xxx series? find a replacement if so. Basically, it power cycles A LOT because Mac tries to save power by putting things to sleep or downclocking constantly. every time i needs to be back up at full speed, it goes straight back up, and voila, you have one completed power cycle for the chip. the mobile 8xxx series from nVidia has a ton of faulty chips, most likely you have one of them. easier to replace than repair, and i'll be honest, joining a class action lawsuit over it isn't worth two cents since you are not the original owner and it's not transferable, and the original owner is not in possession of it anymore. therefore you wont get money. cheers. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/201280-is-this-worth-fixing/#findComment-1353276 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abysmal Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 its a 7600gt card.. Still same faulty chip line or what? And I've looked around the usual places, and the cheapest I could find was 200 USD.. anyone know a place to get a better price, I'm in Canada and usually get raped in shipping costs, and local dealers want even more. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/201280-is-this-worth-fixing/#findComment-1353289 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abysmal Posted December 8, 2009 Author Share Posted December 8, 2009 For what its worth, I removed the 7 or 8 nvidia files from S/L/E and rebuilt my caches, rebooted and low and behold.. It works.. its a little slower than normal, and there is no accelerated video, but considering it was destined for the garbage.. its pretty good. I got a call in with a buddy for repair history and price of a wholesale video card for it.. So yes Virgina, there is a Santa Claus. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/201280-is-this-worth-fixing/#findComment-1353910 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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