iMac Dies - Over to the Dark Side?
 

My faithful 17" iMac has died. We moved house recently, but left the machine at the old house because of delays in getting phone and Internet service at the new house.

When the phone got installed my wife shut down the iMac and physically moved it to the new house. Now, it won't turn on. No sound. Nothing.

She's taken it to several shops. One place cleaned it and reset the PMU but said they'd have to send it to Bangkok (we live in rural Thailand) for repair. It would cost 1000 baht (30 bucks) to send it and they estimate a repair bill of 20K baht (600 US Dollars).

Since the machine isn't worth that I'm considering alternatives.

Sadly, arguments against buying a new Mac are compelling:

- They can't be repaired locally

- Cost is high; about 20% more than US prices

- Generic PC's are inexpensive, readily available and easily repaired.

(For less than $600 I can get a machine with twice the RAM, twice the processor speed and more than twice the hard drive capacity as my 17" iMac.)

But, after nearly a quarter century of buying nothing but Macs I hate to go over to the Dark Side.

Any thoughts?

All may not be lost!
You dont have to buy a brand new mac. You can get old powerbooks, or imac g5's/4's for a decent price.

Pardon my skepticism, but can you post a link so that I can take a look for myself.

Sure, makes sense. They are fine for internet, email and documents. To keep it healthy, run AVG antivirus, Spybot S&D and Registry Mechanic every month.

Sorry about the iMac...

kel101 - I'd sure like to know where to find a used Mac that would do the trick. Remember, I'm buying in Thailand. My wife has scoured the Thai language web sites for used Macs and has come up with nothing worth buying.

I'm in the US now and have looked at CraigsList, eBay, Small Dog, etc., and haven't found anything worth looking at. Even used Mac Minis sell for not much less than they are new....

wdympcf - My SIL just bought a PC with Linux installed for 18,000 baht ($600) that has a 2.2 GHz processor, 250 GB hard drive, 2GB RAM, 17" flat panel monitor, keyboard and mouse. This at Tesco/Lotus in Korat. Having a custom PC built is even cheaper.

Gnarlodious - I don't plan on running Windoze....

So the only thing that is actually doubled is the RAM? Since the iMac comes with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, 20" LCD, keyboard, and mouse in the base configuration. It's not really fair to compare an old 17" iMac to a new PC. I just wanted to point out that you should be comparing to a new iMac to a new PC. The question is: Is it worth the $500 premium to stay Mac? For me, the answer - based on user experience - is yes.

^What I'm comparing is the cost to repair the old iMac with the cost of buying a new PC. For less than the cost of the repair I can get a brand new PC that "doubles" everything....

For the past 24 years I've always opted to pay a little extra for the Mac. But, now I'm a retired, fixed-income geezer who can no longer afford the Mac premium....

Sorry, I just realized that I misread your original post. That's what I get for trying to skim read through things. I thought you were comparing purchase prices, but I see upon re-reading it that you are comparing against the cost of repair! That's a tough one. And the fact that the Mac premium is even higher over there doesn't make it any easier.

Did the repair shops that you took it to give you any indication of the problem? For example, if the power supply is shot, I would expect them to be able to repair that without sending it away.

Well my source is ebay. Maybe the older imacs would be more expensive. But my friend bought a high end powerbook for £300, so $600,

How can the say 20,000 baht for repair if they don't know what's wrong with it?

There are trucks coming here every day - know anyone coming to BKK? Get it boxed up and down here and I am sure ThreeBKK and I can get it looked at and quoted on with no obligation.

Got the original box etc? At a push, I know a bloke up there who is here weekly and I am sure he would help out if you don't know anyone due down here.

Let me know. You have nothing to lose.

^The 20,000 baht estimate was based on either power supply or mother board replacement. Seemed hight to me as well.

It's now at yet-another-shop being evaluated.

I'll be back in Korat next Friday. If it's not fixed by then I may take you up on the offer.

Where would you take it in Bangkok to be evaluated/repaired?

I had a PowerBook repaired under Apple Care at the Apple center (Rama III?) and it took three weeks and required two trips to Bangkok....

Well I use the Rama III place too. The only issue I ever had with them was them losing a system disk I had stuck in a dead Superdrive. Keep us informed.

^Latest shop says main board is dead and needs to be replaced at a cost of 20K baht. For that I can buy a generic PC, install Linux and have 2X everything over the repaired iMac.

I can't see that repairing the iMac is worth the coin and I simply can't afford a replacement Mac.

Dark Side, here I come....

Have you checked www.macdd.com yet? I've found several used Macs on that site which are both affordable, and worth having. Navigate to Web Board > Mac Market. You can search for a specific model in the search field at the very bottom of each page.

You can always run Linux on a Mac, but running Mac on a PC box is not supported. Personally, I would rather have lower spec hardware, and run Tiger or Leopard, than vice versa.

you can get OS X like GUIs with Linux, you just can't run the specific macintosh apps, but I am sure you can find alternatives.

What do you use your mac for mainly?

Linux isn't a bad choice. Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, Linux Mint, Fedora...the list goes on.

I'm back home now and have had a chance to look at the iMac that won't start. I took it apart right down to the power supply. The motherboard battery was dead so we replaced that and reset the PMU, but still no joy. No obvious signs of damage: no fried capacitors or signs of excess heat. All connections snug. Thermal paste looked to be in tact and has been replaced.

But, pressing the Power Button does absolutely nothing: no sounds at all; no hint of any life.

I'm still at a loss as to how this could happen: Mac running fine. Shut down normally. Move to new house which is a kilometer away. Won't start. DoA.

ThreeBKK - Could not get on MacDD from the US, have started looking now.

tlarkin - I don't do any gaming or heavy graphics work: just e-mail, web browsing, photo editing (Graphic Converter), burning DVD's now and then, etc. The 1 GHz iMac was plenty for me.

I just bought two G4 Quicksilver 1.25 dualies for ~600 each. Work great. Easy to repair!

Try DVWarehouse.com!

eValuone.

ThreeBKK - I found a 17" iMac Intel Core Duo on MacDD. It has 1.5 GB RAM; otherwise stock. The guy wants 25K baht. I'm planning to bus into BKK tomorrow to pick it up....

Want me to meet with the guy before you bus in? Might save you a trip if the Mac isn't in good shape. Otherwise it sounds like a reasonable offer. Don't forget to try and negotiate down a few thousand.

Thanks for the offer. I've decided I can't afford it. My house is devoid of furniture. We figured essentials before toys...

I've been searching around the Internet and find that there are quite a few reports of iMac G4's with identical symptoms as mine:

- Working fine
- Shut down normally
- Will not turn on, even after resetting PMU

It seems like it ought to be something simple, but what?

I've found a shop in Bangkok that seems familiar with the problem. They say that a fix might involve replacing a single power supply component or perhaps the whole power supply, but not the motherboard.

This is the place, anyone know it?

http://www.machomeservice.com/

Wish me luck.

As a point of interest, which shop is that?

Right.

I know that area of Bangkok pretty well, and after scrutinizing the map for 5 minutes, I still can't figure out where it's supposed to be. (Somewhere in the middle I suppose.)

A word of caution: The address points to a single apartment unit.
I'd be hesitant to send my Mac there to be worked on.
If you want, I can take a look this weekend, and see if it looks reputable.

^Thanks ThreeBKK. I would appreciate that very much, but only if you've got the time and it isn't too much trouble.

The iMac is taking a bus to Mac Home Service today. We decided to go with the place since we saw it had been positively reviewed by the Bangkok Post's Graham Rogers in his Extensions column:

Mac Home Repair

I read the "column", and I visited the place today in person.
It's actually a good find! (How did you find it?)

After seeing the poorly designed map, I got the wrong impression of the shop.
It's not in an apartment unit, but on the ground floor next to a beauty salon and a health clinic.
That area of town is a very unlikely location for a shop like this.
I like that they only repair Macs, no PCs in the shop, and they won't even touch iPods.
As the column mentioned, the shop was clean and organized, and appeared to be of a higher grade than most shops at Pantip or IT Mall.
So, let's wait and see what kind of work they do.

It's funny that the guy was going to pick your iMac up at the bus stop.
Was that extra?
Keep us posted on the repair cost & outcome.

The Ms. found the shop while looking for used Macs here: http://www.mac2hand.com/

They have an ad on the left side of the page.

They are charging us 200 baht to pick up the Mac at Mor Chit. They say they have to make the round trip by taxi and that's about what it would cost them. We called yesterday afternoon and the iMac is in their shop.

More to come, I'm sure....

The shop called last night (Friday) at 9:00 PM to let us know that the power supply is bad. They tried to repair the power supply, but couldn't get a needed part. They will order a new power supply (4500 baht or about US$140) from Singapore which will take a week.

So, it will be much less expensive than I feared.

(One wonders what sort of nerds are still working in a Mac repair shop at 9:00 PM on a Friday night....)

I hope the power feed in the new house is up to specification. I mean, it sounds odd that you moved the iMac to a new home, and suddenly the power supply goes bad. Make sure everything is safe before plugging the iMac into the same outlet.

Thai ones?:D

The power in the new house is actually very good. In fact, I made them rip it all out and do it again and supervised the process. I've tested all the circuits. Voltage OK. Polarity correct. And, the ground wire actually goes to an earth ground. (Only house in the whole brand new subdivision that actually has a grounding rod.) And, we have a decent UPS.

So, I have no idea why the power supply would choose to die just then....

Don't forget about LEM Swap. You might be able to find what you need, and pay only the shipping fee.

^Wow. Never saw that before. Thanks.

No problem.

Most of the entries for power supplies are "WTB" (want to buy), but you never know what you might find.

There are some other really good swap websites for computer parts that I've seen in the past, but I can't remember right now what they are.

iMac is Back
 

I finally got my iMac back. Arrived yesterday at the Korat bus station. Total cost of the repair, including transportation, was 5400 baht (about US$170).

glad to hear it all worked out

mnewman:

Thanks again for finding that shop.

Last week I escorted another Mac user there to get his MacBook fixed.
He had a semi-broken Ethernet port which would have required the logic board to be replaced.
(Probably the most expensive part on the MacBook)
The Apple Care Center at Discovery couldn't fix it without replacing the logic board, but Mac Home Repair were able to just repair the port.

They did that, and another tiny repair for 800 baht (or $24), parts and labor included.