09-18-2007, 06:02 PM

My mac has died.. well kinda I am currently usung it but for the longest time it would turn on and make a high pithed squeeling then not even make it to login screen and shut down. subseqently i removed the CDROM from it (indigo imac) and it doesn't die on startup and the ssqeeling continues for about 10 to 15 mins after startup then goes away. But hey atleast it starts. also my monitor is all messed up well at least the geomtery of it... looks like a magnest was stuck on it. What is the deal here

09-18-2007, 06:59 PM

Well,
Is it the CD drive or the hard drive squealing? Now that i think about it, it is probably the hard drive since the squealing didnt stop when the cd drive was out. Kinda sounds like your hard drive is slowly dying? Someone else can correct me.
About your monitor, I always ended up adjusting the geometry of the iMac, the default sort of left a small black space of unused screen. If the colors are messed up go under system preferences, and click on display, maybe there is like a reset somewhere? I dont remember, normally i would hit degauss on my screen but i dont know if/how to do that on the iMac. SOrry i couldnt be of more help. Someone else should be along shortly.

09-19-2007, 12:26 AM

Well thanks for the insight however I can gurantee its not my Harddrive because its brand new, the sqeeling is like an electrical current noise sounds as if its coming from the group of capacitors on the left side of the motherboard. I personally think the reason it dies is something to do with a power draw issue. But not sure how to fix this.

09-19-2007, 12:35 AM

Which imac is this again? G3? G4? G5? I'm not familiar with them by colors or code names.

09-19-2007, 12:41 AM

The way you are describing that squeal it sounds like it's coming from the High Voltage section and maybe the Horizontal Output (Flyback) Transformer. This is just a guess but the real old iMacs like the 233 and even the next model run had a lot of problems with the Flyback going out. It was caused over time by heat which they fixed way before your iMac came out, but still things do wear out over time. I as a kid fixed TV's for $$$ and the flyback can squeal but it could be something else in the Horizontal section.

09-19-2007, 01:18 AM

Try to degauss the monitor to correct the color problem, and I would agree with the others that it is most likely the hard drive making the noise. Try replacing the HDD drive, cd-rom, and degaussing the monitor and see if the problems stop. If it isn't the HDD making the noise I don't know what else it could be. Good luck.


Edit: here is how you can degauss your monitor.
http://www.wikihow.com/Degauss-a-Computer-Monitor