Grey screen after DIY hardware update Imac G4 17

[SamuelB1002]

(I also posted this on apple.com but no reply)

Hey;


I guess I did something very stupid. I have tried to replace the superdrive only to have a imac now with a grey screen.
during the procedure I bended one of the pins when reconnected the video. When dicovering this it was carefully bended back without destroying it (I was thinking this at least).


Even after replacing the new drive with the old original one
the problem continued.

I tried all things available reseting NVRAM PRAM, PMU.

I hear no chime when staring up but the fan, harddrive and
superdrive are working. I can eject the DVD tray and get it back into the mac.
The backlight of the screen is working I can even regulate the contrast by using F14 and 15 (I think it consist of 6 seperate light sources who I can clearly see). I can also adjust the volume of the speakers.

I did an F-Command when connecting the imac to a powerbook and the drive was there and in good condition. Only I could not perform a diagnostic on the computer itself. Is that possible actually?

The only thing left is to hook it up to a second screen. But I have to buy this special cable to do that.

Or off course to bring it to the repair guy (the official one's not the crappy one's like me :-()


So here comes the question, any other guys out there with the same problem and is it worth to pay the 80 euro for diagnostic just to hear that the computer is finished (if that is the case)? Will it be repairable at a reasonable cost?



Or shall I better invest the money in a new G5?


Samuel

[giskard22]

Is this an iMac G4? If so, did you apply new thermal paste before you re-sealed it? If you didn't, you may have more problems coming your way than just video. Without new thermal paste the CPU can overheat, and then you're really sunk.

Additionally, did you follow any ESD safety procedures?

If the pin you bent is on the main logic board, and that part needs replacing, you're looking at a very expensive repair. In the US, the part would probably cost at least $400. (It's an easy repair though.)

[Raven]

Replacing the connector going from the logic board to the screen isn't cheap either, and not the easiest task. Basically needs to be done by some one who has the tools to take apart the arm and screen.
Also, about the ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge), if you didn't ground yourself and touched the video connector, you may have fried the inverter board at the back of the screen too.
So, your probably going to end up replacing parts anyways... Its more a question of what you wish to try first...

[voldenuit]

You clearly screwed up putting it back together.

Either you take it apart again and try to fix whatever you did wrong or you take it to the shop, but as giskard mentions, they might need to replace expensive parts you might be able to solder.

Or you could buy an Intel Mac and sell the one you broke in parts on eBay.

[SamuelB1002]

Hey;

I did take the proper precaution to avoid ESD. I was warning one of those supid bracelets. I also got the paste covered that worked out well.

And i did crack it open again to check if i did not properly fasten one of the connections.

So I properly messed-up the imac as you are suggesting is it better to sell it as parts on ebay our just the complete machine.

The problem is also I still did not locate the exact problem but I presume it is the logic board. So it might be hard to sell part you can not garantee to be working.

I really do not understand this is the third time I make some kind of hardware update to a mac I did a LC475 a Imac G3 and I destroyed a Imac G4 (Damn).


Samuel

[NormM]

I had the same problem and managed to fix it with just some tape and glue. The problem arose when I changed the hard disk and accidentally pulled on the video cable. The connection between this bundle of wires and the video connector is very delicate. To fix this properly, the entire cable with connector should be replaced, but that wasn't worth the work/expense. What I did instead was "fix' the cable.

Often with this kind of stressed-video-cable problem what happens is that the connection becomes flaky. With some alignments of the cable and connector it works partially or completely, in others not at all. So I ran the machine open, removed the plastic cap that usually holds the video connector in place and found an alignment that worked perfectly (moving, turning and flattening the cable near the connector while watching the display), and then glued the cable in the working alignment against the motherboard at several points with superglue. To run the machine open I had to modify a pair of dual-in-line connectors that normally mate only when the machine is closed (at least in my iMac 800MHz model). This just involved removing two screws that secured one of the connectors.

When I eventually closed the machine, the bending of the video cable was enough to flex the motherboard and screw up the alignment of the cable with its connector (and also screw up the video). I was able to fix this by piling up some duct tape in the middle of the bottom of the base. When the machine stands upright on this it flexes the motherboard back and the picture is perfect again. Not a very solid repair but the machine works without any problems (for now) and the repair didn't cost anything but some time.

[Kilobyte_Kathy]

I love it when you can fix a computer hardware problem with duct tape - there's still hope in the world!

[yormac]

From a friend i got this 17" iMac G4, the screen was sometimes black and sometimes green, The problem was inside the internal video-connector. On some wires the plastic isolation was for a short part near the connector broken or just gone, the plastic was brittle and hard, probable because of the heat and the blank wires shortcut causing the problems.

for each problem-wire i removed the small copper thing on the end of the wire out of the connector. I used two acupuncture needles (normal needles are too thick) to get it out, one for pushing the end out of the connector and the other to lift the black plastic pin that holds the end into the connector.

Then i used a dimensional fabric paint to re-isolate the blank parts of the wires, i covered it with several thin layers of this paint. (Tulip, www.duncancrafts.com). Perhaps liquid latex could also do the job. After each painting i let it dry en reapply the paint until sufficient thickness is accomplished

i rewrapped the wirebundels with the original tape and some extra thin isolation tape.

photo's:
Colorschema:

painted wires:


The iMac G4 works perfectly now

DrQ