Old iMac - graphics card problem?

Hi folks.

I inherited an iMac about three years ago (running OS X). About two months ago, the screen started developing little blue trails behind any movement - ie if I moved a window there'd be a little trail of blue dots left behind. It wasn't enough to be distracting, and any kind of refreshing of the screen image cleared the 'noise'.

However, this weekend, the screen suddenly went totally crazy. It's all blocks and lines. I could just about make out enough of what should have been there to shut the computer down correctly, and rebooted to see if the problem cleared, but it didn't.

Is this a graphics card problem? I don't know enough about the inside of Macs to know whether there is even a separate card or not. Any thoughts on how to fix this?

Thanks,
UnPC

unpc said:

Is this a graphics card problem? I don't know enough about the inside of Macs to know whether there is even a separate card or not.

Click to expand...

In many/most cases there isn't a separate graphics card (the graphics hardware is soldered onto the logic board). There are a couple situations where the graphics hardware is separate...but before we can determine this...we need to know exactly what model iMac you have.

Also...it is possible to install a replacement logic board. But this is usually expensive (relative to the value of the computer)...and in many cases not worth it.

- Nick

Thanks pigoo3

According to the person who gave it to me, "It was the iMac G5 and it was the model pre-iSight install."

Referring to Wikipedia, he reckons it must be the iMac G5 Ambient Light Sensor version.

iMac G5 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope that helps.