# Oh No! I'm afraid my iMac G-5 has a fatal illness. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544 "2008-09-28T04:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/1 "2008-09-28T04:23:24Z")
One day I came down to find only a colorful, diagonally striped screen. I unplugged and rebooted to a jiggly mess that froze after a minute. I did the same routine, and it booted fine, but when the screensaver came on it went diagonal again. I rebooted, turned off the desktop pix and screen saver and it was better for a while. Then, it did the same old trick after sleeping. Rebooted and turned off sleep. I also turned off Classic startup, after rebuilding the desktop. Everything was good for a few days, but it just went diagonal again. Am I facing a hard drive meltdown or what? It could be some sort of corruption, but where? I’m going to take it into the Apple Store next week, but I’d like to look less like and ID10T when I get there. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/2 "2008-09-28T04:25:24Z")
Doesn’t sound like a hard drive/data failure, it seems more like a video failure. Your video processor may be going kaput or the driver (the software bit) might be corrupt. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/3 "2008-09-28T04:37:39Z")
CRT monitor? Sounds like a sync problem. Try another monitor, if you have one. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/4 "2008-09-28T05:21:53Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > CRT monitor? > Sounds like a sync problem. > Try another monitor, if you have one. The [G-5 iMac](http://www.apple.com/support/imac/g5/) is self contained with an LCD screen. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/5 "2008-09-28T07:07:50Z")
I just noticed another symptom. It hangs up in whatever app I’m in. Most of the time, it starts again. I have a glitchy game that I don’t play often. I just tried the game and it crashed immediately. Could it be that simple? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/6 "2008-09-28T07:12:13Z")
What kind of game is it? Even Java or Flash-based games rely heavily on the video processor to run. Still sounds like a video hardware problem… ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/7 "2008-09-28T07:51:21Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > What kind of game is it? Even Java or Flash-based games rely heavily on the video processor to run. Still sounds like a video hardware problem… It’s [MacBrickOut](http://www.leapfrogsw.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/8 "2008-09-28T11:58:56Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > [G-5 iMac](http://www.apple.com/support/imac/g5/) Aww geeze, instead of G-5, I read G-4, and instead of iMac, I read Mac. No blue and white monstrosity for you! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/9 "2008-09-28T14:14:25Z")
Have you run Disk Utility, from the application in the Applications folder or from the Install disk? ---
**Author:** ![Graycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Graycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graycat)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/10 "2008-09-28T20:24:25Z")
[There is a known video problem with first generation G5 iMacs.](http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/) I had my system repaired under the problem about a year ago. It was in for a week and came back fine with all my data intact. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/11 "2008-09-28T21:47:15Z")
I had a similar experience. There was a recall, and in my case they just replaced the motherboard. A few days turnaround time for me. Try calling Apple support (I think it’s still 1-800-SOS-APPL). They might even be able to pre-order the motherboard so it’s waiting at the local Apple Store, and make an appointment for you, so you can drop it off and get it back with a minimum of hassle. In the mean time, you’re making backups just in case, right? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/12 "2008-09-29T02:50:01Z")
> [@SuperNelson](#): > > I had a similar experience. There was a recall, and in my case they just replaced the motherboard. A few days turnaround time for me. Try calling Apple support (I think it’s still 1-800-SOS-APPL). They might even be able to pre-order the motherboard so it’s waiting at the local Apple Store, and make an appointment for you, so you can drop it off and get it back with a minimum of hassle. > > In the mean time, you’re making backups just in case, right? My motherboard was replaced a few months after I got it. **Graycat** , is it different than the motherboard problem? Thanks for the link, I’ll check my serial #. **dba Fred** , yes, that was the first thing I did. No joy. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/13 "2008-09-29T02:58:35Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > The [G-5 iMac](http://www.apple.com/support/imac/g5/) is self contained with an LCD screen. Yes, but it has a VGA output: [iMac G5 (iSight) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support](http://support.apple.com/kb/SP40) - try it. ---
**Author:** ![Graycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Graycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graycat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-im-afraid-my-imac-g-5-has-a-fatal-illness/465544/14 "2008-09-29T16:08:38Z")
I think they just replace the motherboard because the video card is part of it. I’m pretty sure my motherboard was replaced, but the paperwork is packed up at my new place so I can’t check. I know I was pretty sure I was hosed when the video went out, but the phone tech told me about the repair program.