logic boards. why are they so expensive if they break all the time.

my late 2006 imac is dead, logic board is fried apparently. i cant afford for the apple store to repair it or even afford a new logic board. what i dont get is, why are they so expensive if they are just doomed to break eventually. i dont think that its very fair. id post my imac specs here if you need, them but i cant turn it on to get every detail. sorry. all i can remember is its the late 2006, 17inch white imac.

any one know a good place to get some working logic board for uhhh free? ahah im gunna fix this myself.

i have to agree. i hear about logic boards going out constantly. im just lucky i guess (knocks on printed vinyl veneer that looks like oak that is glued on top of pressboard).

Then why buy anything at all? Everything is doomed to break eventually.

Oh yeah, you are probably going to have a really hard time finding a free logic board.

Who says it's the logic board? What symptoms do you have?

Motherboards are very inexpensve, but Apple don't sell them and the labour costs are higher to fit them into laptops and the iMac.

iwasoncemusic said:

my late 2006 imac is dead, logic board is fried apparently. i cant afford for the apple store to repair it or even afford a new logic board. what i dont get is, why are they so expensive if they are just doomed to break eventually. i dont think that its very fair.

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Logic boards don't "break all the time", nor are they "doomed to break eventually".
Yes, components may fail from time to time. Years of use can attribute to this, but it isn't an inevitability. My PowerBook G4 is almost 3 years old and my Power Mac G5 is almost 5 years old. Neither one has had any issues with logic boards (or any major failure issue for that matter). They both get rigorous, daily use.
I have had machines even older than those and none of those have ever had any major breakdowns or logic board failures.

The expense to repair/replace such a part is due to the labor involved... and you would be hard pressed to be able to find the part for free anywhere.

Alexis said:

Who says it's the logic board? What symptoms do you have?

Motherboards are very inexpensve, but Apple don't sell them and the labour costs are higher to fit them into laptops and the iMac.

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i took it into the apple store for tests. hoping it was just a bad power supply. but they told me it was a logic board.

inexpensive?

Alexis said:

Who says it's the logic board? What symptoms do you have?

Motherboards are very inexpensve, but Apple don't sell them and the labour costs are higher to fit them into laptops and the iMac.

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Where can anyone buy these inexpensive new mother boards you mention? Besides the cost of installing them, logic boards are very expensive. I agree that this is an ongoing issue that Apple must start addressing. I'm in the same boat with my G5, after already spending $500 to replace the power supply
I would be fuming if my 2006 imac was junk already. Seriously, even if 3 out of 7 machines do this, its still not acceptable. We need to push apple for machines that last more than 2-4 years and warranties and trade in programs that actually benefit both apple and users... Basically macs are on their way to becoming really expensive disposable tools, that any real multimedia professional can't live without. "Show me the money" says Apple.

and it was just a joke for a free one obviously haha.

The Logic Board is just a posh name for the motherboard. The botherboard is kind of like the heart and circulation of the computer, as it links up all the other components. When Apple Genuises say 'the Logic Board' is fried, they mean any component on, or connected to the logic board is broken, and cannot be fixed, excluding the CPU/RAM and peripherals.

This is what a motherboard/logic board looks like



So there is a lot that can go wrong.

In addition, when replacing one of these, you have to remove almost every other component. It's very easy to damage the CPU, or connector when dismantling one of these, so it's pretty labour intensive.

Another great reason for Apple to step up and start a recycle or trade in policy.

loganp8000 said:

Seriously, even if 3 out of 7 machines do this, its still not acceptable. We need to push apple for machines that last more than 2-4 years and warranties and trade in programs that actually benefit both apple and users... Basically macs are on their way to becoming really expensive disposable tools, that any real multimedia professional can't live without. "Show me the money" says Apple.

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Nowhere near that number of machines fail - it'd be more like 3 or 4%. As for warranties, the 12 month warranty is pretty standard, and the catch-all Apple-Care service for a 2 year extended, is far better than most stores offer.

Finally, since Macs have just about the highest re-sale value of any computer out there, there is no need for a trade-in program; just sell your machine as soon as you've transferred your data to your new machine. A 2006 Macbook can fetch up to $800.

Zoolook said:

Finally, since Macs have just about the highest re-sale value of any computer out there, there is no need for a trade-in program; just sell your machine as soon as you've transferred your data to your new machine. A 2006 Macbook can fetch up to $800.

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Excellent point.

Where can anyone buy these inexpensive new mother boards you mention? Besides the cost of installing them, logic boards are very expensive.

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Motherboards cost £40 - £150. So you're talking £20 - £70 to manufacture.

Apple don't sell motherboards (a.k.a. logic boards) because they'd either look like rip off merchants selling them at £400 alongside PC ones that cost a quarter as much, and end up with people building their own Macs.

Finally, since Macs have just about the highest re-sale value of any computer out there, there is no need for a trade-in program; just sell your machine as soon as you've transferred your data to your new machine. A 2006 Macbook can fetch up to $800.

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The man is right! People always moan that Macs are expensive, but what is a PC worth after 3 years? Not much.

I've never had one go bad on me for Mac or PC. I've bought some PC versions that didn't cost more than $50.
Logic boards can be so expensive because some models do not have a socketed processor which means when you replace the logic board, you're also replacing the processor. If it's an iMac, the video card can be built into the logic board as well.

Zoolook said:

[...]

So there is a lot that can go wrong.

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I would just add that although there is a lot that can go wrong, typically it doesn't. In fact, the logic board (or motherboard, or systemboard, depending on your terminology) is comprised of 100% solid-state circuitry. Unlike mechanical devices like hard disks, fans and optical drives, they should be far less prone to failure.

In my experience, most solid-state hardware failures are usually induced by something environmental (high humidity, liquid, intense heat, etc). It's rare to have a logic board fail due to manufacturer defect (like a cold solder joint), especially since the entire world has moved over to surface mounted components.

Back in the day when computers actually had socket-mounted ICs, motherboard failures were a lot more common. In fact, we used to use techniques like "The Atari Twist", to correct a motherboard failure (i.e. reseat all of the chips by twisting the entire chassis of a machine until you heard it "crunch"). These days, it's relatively unheard of to see a motherboard die due to a manufacturer defect.

cwa107 said:

Back in the day when computers actually had socket-mounted ICs, motherboard failures were a lot more common. In fact, we used to use techniques like "The Atari Twist", to correct a motherboard failure (i.e. reseat all of the chips by twisting the entire chassis of a machine until you heard it "crunch"). These days, it's relatively unheard of to see a motherboard die due to a manufacturer defect.

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My Atari 2600 and my Atari 800 both still work (from 1977 and 1979 respectively) and so does my 7800 (from 1984) Atari ST (mine's from 1988). I can't tell you how much abuse they have taken, especially the ST which I used to gig with, along with that beautiful monochrome atari monitor... the monitor died quite a while ago.

Oh, those were the days...

Zoolook said:

My Atari 2600 and my Atari 800 both still work (from 1977 and 1979 respectively) and so does my 7800 (from 1984) Atari ST (mine's from 1988). I can't tell you how much abuse they have taken, especially the ST which I used to gig with, along with that beautiful monochrome atari monitor... the monitor died quite a while ago.

Oh, those were the days...

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I was an Amiga guy.... Atari sux

(no... seriously, aside from the ST, most of better Atari machines were designed by Jay Miner who was also credited as being the "father" of the Amiga).

cwa107 said:

I was an Amiga guy.... Atari sux

(no... seriously, aside from the ST, most of better Atari machines were designed by Jay Miner who was also credited as being the "father" of the Amiga).

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Yeah I know, all that history is really interesting. Atari could have had the Amiga... but they saw the future of computing, and choked. Actually they offered Miner's company peanuts for the machine (I think $50,000) and so Miner went running to Commodore's arms.

I loved the ST because of the MIDI capability, but also because I was an Atari fanboy - the Amiga was a great machine. It's quite incredible Commodore managed to mess it up (imo). What on earth was the CD32?

With the exception of the ill-fated G3 iBooks I haven't more than a couple of motherboard failures. I think it is pretty rare. That said, I recently saw a 20" G4 iMac with a blown board and the cheapest price I could find was $475 US. Who on Earth would spend that kind of money, then deal with actually replacing the thing instead of buying a new Mac. I don't understand who would buy a old board for that price.
To the OP, have you gotten a 'second opinion' on yours?

Regards the g3 ibooks, does anyone know of a cheap solution to fixing them ? Or I guess what would be the recommendations from you all ?