iMac G5 20" - Video Card?

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The screen has multiple color lines and it won't get past the pin wheel screen. The best way to describe it is, it looks snowy like the racing ants you see on cable TV when you do not have the channel, but with color.

Does this sound like the video card? Or could it be a capacitor issue?

As is, is there any way to salvage whats on the HD? I'll probably just go buy a new iMac, since this one is 6 years old, but I got to get some stuff off the hard drive. Any ideas?
 

chscag

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Salvaging the data from the hard drive is the easy part. Just buy an external carrier or adapter and you can then attach your G5 hard drive to the new computer to extract data as needed. An adapter like this one sold by OWC works best.

The symptoms you described regarding the color snow on the screen could be related to various hardware problems: video card, logic board, video cabling, and so forth. Start with the video card as that's the easiest to replace. Look for swollen capacitors, frayed or broken cables.
 
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I looked up "how to test the video card" and it was suggested to first try:
Reboot, hold option, command, p, r

I did that, and got the same issue at the pin wheel screen (see below).

But then, I tried to restart, held shift to boot into safe mode and got the same screen. I let it sit there for awhile, while I searched the web on my PC, and bam, it loads into safe mode without any distortion.

Any idea what it could be?

IMG_4950.JPG Picture - Random
 

chscag

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That definitely looks like Winter Time in Maine. :) Most likely a flaky video card is causing that to happen. Remove the video card and reseat it a few times. Could be some dirty contacts (if you're lucky). But like I said above it could be related to other defects also. The fact that it worked OK in safe mode after a while really doesn't help to determine the cause.
 
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That definitely looks like Winter Time in Maine. :) Most likely a flaky video card is causing that to happen. Remove the video card and reseat it a few times. Could be some dirty contacts (if you're lucky). But like I said above it could be related to other defects also. The fact that it worked OK in safe mode after a while really doesn't help to determine the cause.

Hmm, I don't know. Up here you see WHITE. Especially in the middle of a blizzard with 3 feet of snow already on the ground. ;D But I agree, to me it seems that the video card would be the culprit. I'm pretty sure something is dead/dying though, since it booted into safe mode once.
 

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