eMac is zapping

C

catchawave

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I have an eMac (only 2 years old) it's an 800MHz PowerPC G4. I love the computer but it is "zapping".
It only happens every so often. I took it to someone a few months ago to have dust blown out of it (I was chicken to do it myself). There was a lot of dust in it. The zapping stopped but it is back again.
It hasn't zapped in the last couple of days til tonight.
I called the repair shop and they thought it might be the CRT going out. They said that they see quite a few of CRT's go out on these.
My last mac was an old iMac and the same thing happened. But I didn't take it in on time and it blew up.
I bought a laptop for a backup and hopefully will be here soon! Then this eMac is going into the repair shop and see what the problem is and hopefully it can be resolved.
Just wondering if any of you heard of this zapping thing??
Catchawave
 
iLEFTOVERCRACK

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i think the better word is "flicker"
 
dtravis7

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catchawave said:
I have an eMac (only 2 years old) it's an 800MHz PowerPC G4. I love the computer but it is "zapping".
It only happens every so often. I took it to someone a few months ago to have dust blown out of it (I was chicken to do it myself). There was a lot of dust in it. The zapping stopped but it is back again.
It hasn't zapped in the last couple of days til tonight.
I called the repair shop and they thought it might be the CRT going out. They said that they see quite a few of CRT's go out on these.
My last mac was an old iMac and the same thing happened. But I didn't take it in on time and it blew up.
I bought a laptop for a backup and hopefully will be here soon! Then this eMac is going into the repair shop and see what the problem is and hopefully it can be resolved.
Just wondering if any of you heard of this zapping thing??
Catchawave
Click to expand...

With the IMacs when they get old due to a lot of heat, a lot of times the heat breaks down the Flyback Transformer. At first the screen will blink and you may hear a small snap. It will get worse with time and eventually if the Flyback is not changed, it will short out with a loud zapping sound. I have a 333 IMac Grape that is in that shape. Next month I am ordering a new Flyback for it. If you are describing it correctly, I would bet it's the Flyback going out. I have not heard of an Emac having a problem with that as the older Rev A-D Imacs, but I am sure it can happen.

What exactly happens? The screen flash? Snapping sound? If so it's the Flyback Transformer otherwise known as the Horizontal Output Transformer. I repaired TV's and Monitors for years and ran into it all the time.
 
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dstyrk

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dtravis7 said:
With the IMacs when they get old due to a lot of heat, a lot of times the heat breaks down the Flyback Transformer. At first the screen will blink and you may hear a small snap. It will get worse with time and eventually if the Flyback is not changed, it will short out with a loud zapping sound. I have a 333 IMac Grape that is in that shape. Next month I am ordering a new Flyback for it. If you are describing it correctly, I would bet it's the Flyback going out. I have not heard of an Emac having quite the problem with that as the older Rev A-D Imacs, but I am sure it can happen.

What exactly happens? The screen flash? Snapping sound? If so it's the Flyback Transformer otherwise known as the Horizontal Output Transformer. I repaired TV's and Monitors for years and ran into it all the time.
Click to expand...


Oh well that's s hitty...
 
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catchawave

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dtravis7 said:
With the IMacs when they get old due to a lot of heat, a lot of times the heat breaks down the Flyback Transformer. At first the screen will blink and you may hear a small snap. It will get worse with time and eventually if the Flyback is not changed, it will short out with a loud zapping sound. I have a 333 IMac Grape that is in that shape. Next month I am ordering a new Flyback for it. If you are describing it correctly, I would bet it's the Flyback going out. I have not heard of an Emac having a problem with that as the older Rev A-D Imacs, but I am sure it can happen.

What exactly happens? The screen flash? Snapping sound? If so it's the Flyback Transformer otherwise known as the Horizontal Output Transformer. I repaired TV's and Monitors for years and ran into it all the time.
Click to expand...

Yup - that's exactly what it's doing. I get a screen flash with a snapping sound. When I talked to the guy at the Mac repair place, I asked if it could be either the flyback or the CRT. He didn't really comment on the flyback - he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about. Kind of makes me nervous. Hopefully he's not the only tech!
How can they tell if it's the flyback? It's not real bad yet. But I sure don't want it to get to the point of completely dying. That's why I bought an older laptop for a backup. Can't live without a computer!
 
dtravis7

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catchawave said:
Yup - that's exactly what it's doing. I get a screen flash with a snapping sound. When I talked to the guy at the Mac repair place, I asked if it could be either the flyback or the CRT. He didn't really comment on the flyback - he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about. Kind of makes me nervous. Hopefully he's not the only tech!
How can they tell if it's the flyback? It's not real bad yet. But I sure don't want it to get to the point of completely dying. That's why I bought an older laptop for a backup. Can't live without a computer!
Click to expand...

If it's doing that then I am almost sure it's the Flyback. It might do it for a while then finally break down or blow out real soon. My IMac went a month with it getting a bit worse all the time then went BZZZZZZZZ! :spook:

I caught it in time so a new Flyback will fix it. I really doubt it's the CRT. Never seen one do that. It would have to be the Second Anode wire from the Flyback to the CRT where it plugs in but I doubt it. They say it happens to the older Imacs due to all the heat passing through the monitor causes it to break down with time. The newer ones are supposed to be better in that way.

That tech would make me nervous too! I hope there is someone else working on it for you!

Keep us posted what happens.
 
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catchawave

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I will make sure I get a tech that knows about flybacks before I take it in. How do they test the machine to know it is the flyback for sure?
And where can I get one? I've checked some sites via the internet but came up empty. I would like to get an idea on cost. And of course I would take the machine in to have it installed.
Talking with you and the symptoms of my machine, I'm sure it's the flyback.
 
rs2sensen

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The flyback is also called the Horizontal Output Transformer. If you search for that, you might get more hits.
 
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Badger

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Here's a page about diagnosing and repairing the FBT in the original iMacs: http://www.macopz.com/columns/imacrepair/. While it doesn't apply directly to the eMac it will give you an idea of the procedure and costs. It also mentions Mac Rescue (www.macresq.com) as a possible source for parts. Basically it looks like repairs will run about half the cost of a new mini.
 
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catchawave

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I'm finding info on flybacks for iMacs but not for eMacs. I guess my best bet would just be to take it in to the shop.
I also did a search on Horizontal Output Transformer and didn't find much at all.
I'm tired of looking...
 
dtravis7

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catchawave said:
I'm finding info on flybacks for iMacs but not for eMacs. I guess my best bet would just be to take it in to the shop.
I also did a search on Horizontal Output Transformer and didn't find much at all.
I'm tired of looking...
Click to expand...

Same here with HOT. Flyback gave the most results. From all I have read the flyback will be around the same cost as the IMacs so in other words $50-$100 for the part. If they install it which I am sure is a good thing unless you are good with electronics, their labor is what might kill!!!

Keep us informed.
 
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catchawave

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I will. I'm waiting for my Lombard to get here before I send this eMac in. Can't be without a computer.
See my thread on memory for Lombard -- I need help on memory. I would like to get the memory before or around the same time as the Lombard arrival.
It's only coming with 64MB running on OS X.
 

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