5500/250... glitchy screen?

I figured I would ask this, mainly because I love this particular system. I have a 5500/250 and it seems to have a problem. I can turn it on and use it, but about 10-15 minutes after, the screen starts to "glitch". The mouse arrow will turn into a glitchy block with lines going through it, and the screen will get lines on it as well, however it doesn't lock up or anything, leading me to believe there is a loose connection to the monitor inside the machine. It doesn't seem to be a hardware failure (logic board, CPU, etc), because it doesn't lock up at all or slow down.

Could this just be a loose connection, or am I seeing a possible screen failure? Could it be a memory failure? I'm at a loss!

MacMan886 said:

Could this just be a loose connection, or am I seeing a possible screen failure? Could it be a memory failure? I'm at a loss!

Click to expand...

Screen failure is DEFINITELY a possibility. As you probably know...the 5500/250 "All In One" Macintosh with a CRT display is from 1997-1998 (12-13 years-old)...and if the CRT display has had a lot of hours on it...then screen failure is a definite possibility. That's just the way it is with CRT displays.

It may be time for a new computer (new or a newer used computer). After all...this computer is 12-13 years old...is probably worth (believe it or not) about $25 bucks (or less if you can find someone interested in it)...so "treat" yourself to something new or newer!

Hope this helps,

- Nick

Yeah, I'm unsure of how many hours there is on it... I bought it at the Oberlin city schools computer auction a few years back for $3. (Yes, $3!) I don't want to get rid of it mainly because it's got a cool factor...plus it's not my main computer... unfortunately my main computer is a PC....

MacMan886 said:

Yeah, I'm unsure of how many hours there is on it... I bought it at the Oberlin city schools computer auction a few years back for $3. (Yes, $3!) I don't want to get rid of it mainly because it's got a cool factor...plus it's not my main computer... unfortunately my main computer is a PC....

Click to expand...

Hey...hard to beat $3.00 bucks (maybe free). Obviously you know it's not worth much. Good to hear it's not your main computer. The 5500 does have a "video slot" which is probably used for an external monitor. So if you could find this video card for the video slot (probably pretty difficult)...you may be able to hook up an external monitor.

Otherwise...not a whole lot you can do to fix the monitor. If you're REALLY good troubleshooting & replacing CRT monitor components...it could be possible to fix it. But I can guarantee you this will cost you more than the $3.00 purchase price.

- Nick

Here's what it does...

MacMan886 said:

Here's what it does...

Click to expand...

Well...that photo helps quite a bit...and not what I was expecting. That doesn't look like a CRT display problem...looks more like an "electronic" or software problem.

Maybe a logic board or video issue (bad electronics). If you were able to boot this 5500 from a "bootable" OS CD (probably OS 8 or 9)...this would help determine if it's a software issue.

The Mac OS's before OS X were definitely less stable...and definitely were more susceptible to software conflicts.

- Nick

I thought it was a corrupted OS or hard drive.... I had a 4gb in it with 8.6 on it, so I swapped it out with a 10gb and put OS 9 on it, and still no change. Dang... I was hoping it wasn't a logic board failure. Maybe I should try pulling all the add ons off the logic board (Has ethernet card, external video card with AV jacks, etc) and restart it.

So far so good.... I pulled the ethernet card out and the AV output card out, and started up... no glitching so far but it's too early to tell.

For accuracy... this is what I pulled out of it -

Apple Power Macintosh AV Video Capture Card - 820-0745-A

and this -

NET-CS2-10T-R 10base-T, Comm Slot II Twisted-Pair Ethernet Card

MacMan886 said:

I thought it was a corrupted OS or hard drive.... I had a 4gb in it with 8.6 on it, so I swapped it out with a 10gb and put OS 9 on it, and still no change. Dang... I was hoping it wasn't a logic board failure. Maybe I should try pulling all the add ons off the logic board (Has ethernet card, external video card with AV jacks, etc) and restart it.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you've done some great troubleshooting!

Here are somethings to try from the software perspective:

1. Try:

- go to the "Apple" drop down menu
- go to "Control Panels"
- open "Extension Manager"
- then you could try selecting "Turn Off all Extensions" or select (I forget the exact term) like "Run 8.6 Base Only" or something like that (try both ways).

2. Another "software" thing to try...hold down the "Shift" key while rebooting the computer computer. This turns off all extensions (sort of like "safe mode").

3. Try zapping the PRAM. Hold down command + option + P + R during a reboot. I usually continue to hold these 4 keys down until I hear the startup chimes 3 times...then release.

Removing any additional hardware it has (expansion cards) is a great idea to try as well.

If none of this works...it may point more & more to an actual hardware issue (logic board).

Good luck...please post back with any results.

- Nick

MacMan886 said:

So far so good.... I pulled the ethernet card out and the AV output card out, and started up... no glitching so far but it's too early to tell.

Click to expand...

What do you mean..."no glitching so far"?

Are you saying that the problem doesn't show up immediately...does it take some time for it to show up? Are you saying that the picture on the display is fine/clear initially after rebooting...but then after some minutes/hours it gets like the photo above?

- Nick

Yeah, It happens about 10-15 minutes after turning it on... but so far so good. I pulled the cards out at 11:45, and at 12:15, it hasn't messed up a single time. I think one of the cards is bad. Now to narrow it down to the bad one, which I'm hoping is the video one.

Thanks SO much for the help!

MacMan886 said:

Yeah, It happens about 10-15 minutes after turning it on... but so far so good. I pulled the cards out at 11:45, and at 12:15, it hasn't messed up a single time. I think one of the cards is bad. Now to narrow it down to the bad one, which I'm hoping is the video one.

Thanks SO much for the help!

Click to expand...

Hey...that's very very positive. If it does turn out to be one of the cards...great!

If for some reason it turns out NOT to be one of the cards...two more (probably long shot ideas):

1. The computer may be dirty...reducing the flow of cooling air or release of heat (especially with the big CRT screen on the inside). So a good cleaning could help...good luck trying to open it!...I think that they're very hard to get into.

2. Possible that the video problem is heat related (could explain why the problem happens 15 minutes or so after turning it on...AFTER it gets hot inside)...and this could be due to a dirty cooling fan or fans...or dead cooling fan or fans.

Good luck,

- Nick

Ok.... so here it is...

Both out... seemed fine.

Put the Ethernet card in.... glitched...took it out, installed the video one... glitched...

Left in both, glitched

Took both out.... glitched....

Now I removed one of the memory modules (32mb one), it's been fine so far after that.

I'll soon install both cards, if it glitches without the memory, I'll try it with the opposite memory, if it still acts up, I'm assuming a bad logic board.

MacMan886 said:

Ok.... so here it is...

Both out... seemed fine.

Put the Ethernet card in.... glitched...took it out, installed the video one... glitched...

Left in both, glitched

Took both out.... glitched....

Now I removed one of the memory modules (32mb one), it's been fine so far after that.

I'll soon install both cards, if it glitches without the memory, I'll try it with the opposite memory, if it still acts up, I'm assuming a bad logic board.

Click to expand...

Wow...sounds like you're doing a heck of a lot of troubleshooting (just like I would do)..and very logical.

Hopefully one of the combinations works. The simplest approach to figuring out if it's a hardware problem is just remove everything you can (expansion cards & ram)...and then only put back in one ram module. If one ram stick doesn't do it...remove it & try another one by itself....etc.

Don't forget the possibility of a dirty computer or a non-working fan (as a long shot).

- Nick

Yeah, I don't like to give up, especially on these kinds of things.

45 minutes with the one module out....so far so good. I've even ran a few games to see what would happen, no glitching or anything, so I am assuming for now that it's the memory I took out.

MacMan886 said:

Yeah, I don't like to give up, especially on these kinds of things.

45 minutes with the one module out....so far so good. I've even ran a few games to see what would happen, no glitching or anything, so I am assuming for now that it's the memory I took out.

Click to expand...

That's really awesome!!!

How long have you had this computer? Have you used it much since getting it...or was this the first time you had a chance to "play" with it? If so...was it stable up until recently?

- Nick

I got it in 2005... I had it hooked up and was using it as a old school Mac game system until about late 2008. It's been in the closet since 2008 and I pulled it out a few days ago.

MacMan886 said:

I got it in 2005... I had it hooked up and was using it as a old school Mac game system until about late 2008. It's been in the closet since 2008 and I pulled it out a few days ago.

Click to expand...

That's interesting. It doesn't seem to make sense that some of the ram would go bad sitting in a closet.

Well...who knows sometimes!

The only other thing I can say about OLD Mac's stored in closets is...sometimes the PRAM battery goes dead...and this can cause issues as well. A dead PRAM battery can sometimes cause startup/boot issues. I've had this happen on one of my older Mac's...sometimes it would start up ok...and then freeze up. And then sometimes it wouldn't startup at all. Then when I put a new PRAM battery in it all was fine!

A 1997 5500/250 actually falls right into the "time zone" that this sort of thing can happen (in my experience). I usually think of Mac's from 1993-1997 doing this.

So your troubles could be a dead PRAM battery ($3.99 at OWC):

3.6v Newer Technology Lithium 1/2 AA PRAM Com... (3.6VPRAM) at OWC

- Nick

p.s. Unfortunately...this PRAM battery (plus shipping) will cost more than you paid for the computer.

Ah poop.... it's still messing up. I'm gonna just call it as a dying component on the logic board....

I wish I was more electronically advanced so I would know how to test capacitors and such.

Anyone recommend a program to do a system test to see what could be wrong? I have OS 9 on this... so it'd have to be OS 9 compatible.