2006 iMac - salvageable?

[5M177Y]

Now I'm confused. I just booted from the Snow Leopard CD, erased and verified the HDD (all seemed fine), closed disk utilities, then got the same issue again (became unresponsive, then gets never ending spinning cursor). Does this rule out the HDD theory?

I tried installing OSX, the process stalled part way through. I also tried installing it to an external drive, this process also stalled.

 

[pm-r]

Now I'm confused.

That makes two of us, and I was going to suggest a possible loose connection, but that doesn't really account for it running properly when you use Ubuntu. Strange and left scratching head for ideas here…

Maybe a PRAM/NVRAM Reset and SMC Reset may sort something out so it runs better:

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204063

How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201295






- Patrick
======

 

[5M177Y]

Can you do those without an operating system installed? ;D

 

[pm-r]

Can you do those without an operating system installed? ;D

Give them a try as I don't really know.

It can't hurt anything to try.




Patrick
=====

 

[chscag]

Can you do those without an operating system installed? ;D

Yes, if you do them correctly.

 

[5M177Y]

I reset the PRAM/NVRAM; I don't know whether it was coincidence, but I was able to get through the entire install. Then, during the setup / registration the problem returned

 

[pm-r]

I reset the PRAM/NVRAM; I don't know whether it was coincidence, but I was able to get through the entire install. Then, during the setup / registration the problem returned

Try doing it again as well as a SMC Reset and try again.

Sometimes it can take several attempts to get everything reset but I may have also come close to its end of life (EOL) as they call it — literarily.

And not "just sleeping", courtesy Monty Python.





- Patrick
======

 

[5M177Y]

Have tried a couple of times. I'm wondering if the reason the install worked was actually because the mac had been off for a long time at that point, i.e cold. Maybe it's over heating?

 

[ferrarr]

Sounds like the issue is with your internal startup drive. If it will run correctly off an external/thumb drive, then that's a good identifying factor.

 

[5M177Y]

Sounds like the issue is with your internal startup drive.

Despite the issue occurring when booting from CD and trying to install to an external drive?

 

[IWT]

Despite the issue occurring when booting from CD

I know it's terribly basic, but are you sure that your CD writer/player is working properly?

Ian

 

[5M177Y]

Not certain, no. So you are suggesting @iwt that perhaps both the HDD and the CD drive have intermittent problems, both resulting in the same symptom?

 

[IWT]

I'm hunting for a solution rather than suggesting one

I'm assuming that the CD Drive may be as old as the Mac (or not, of course; I've not seen any mention of its vintage). And CD Drives may fail outright - or in part owing to dust, were & tear etc; so that they seem to be okay one minute and "stutter" the next, particularly when dealing with large data files and usually near the end.

My simple thoughts from a simple mind:Blushing:

Ian

 

[ferrarr]

Every cog in the machine can fail.

If you can boot from the Ubuntu flash drive, or an external, and boot from the optical drive, then the issue is internal. It could be the connector cable, drive, connector port on the board.......

 

[5M177Y]

I'm assuming that the CD Drive may be as old as the Mac (or not, of course; I've not seen any mention of its vintage). And CD Drives may fail outright - or in part owing to dust, were & tear etc; so that they seem to be okay one minute and "stutter" the next, particularly when dealing with large data files and usually near the end.

Yeah, it had crossed my mind, but couldn't test it as the Mac doesn't recognise my "SuperDrive".

Sticking to what I could test, I tried again, and successfully installed OSX on an external drive (a couple of times actually), then went on to over-right it with Ubuntu (a couple of times). No issue when using either, so I'm guessing the problem was a failing hard drive (or something related), plus some other intermittent problem to throw me off the scent. I'm not sure I have any use for an iMac running Ubuntu, but it lives! ;D

 

[pm-r]

I'm not sure I have any use for an iMac running Ubuntu, but it lives!

If it can run Ubuntu, surely it can run the compatible Mac OS X assuming all the cogs are in place and working.


PS:
Why and how you should switch to Linux
https://www.popsci.com/switch-to-linux-operating-system





- Patrick
======

 

[jasongoldworthy]

hi guys I'm going to chime in on this for one second,


did any of you ever think its the GPU thats failing ?

as this is also a sign of it happening.


or has been my experience on an iMac.

but I could also be wrong.

 

[5M177Y]

If it can run Ubuntu, surely it can run the compatible Mac OS X assuming all the cogs are in place and working.

I'm pretty sure that's the case, but when I started thinking about reinstalling operating systems, I started thinking it'd be nice to go with something supported. Actually having to do stuff in Snow Leopard (like open a Web page) made up my mind.

 

[dtravis7]

hi guys I'm going to chime in on this for one second,


did any of you ever think its the GPU thats failing ?

as this is also a sign of it happening.


or has been my experience on an iMac.

but I could also be wrong.

I was going to mention the GPU as for sure all the early White plastic iMacs I have owned had GPU issues with the Radeon graphics chip. What I found was the issue with my late 2006 iMac 20" was with time the GPU would get so hot it would mess up and cause all the OP's symptoms. What I found was unlike the 24", the 20" and smaller 2006 imacs used the same heat sink as the CPU. There were heat pipes to both the CPU and GPU and when the CPU got really hot, the GPU temps went really high also and it eventually died. The 24" had a seperate Heat Sink for the CPU and one for the GPU.

 

[jasongoldworthy]

well they did design them poorly which is a shame.


but id say its more than likely a GPU issue in this case its just Linux don't kernel panic like Mac osx

I had issues with my Mac and found it worked better with the rear removed and would run osx but when I put it back together after a few mins or seconds it would look up and kernel panic

which I then replaced the logic board and all was fine.


so give that a go and go from there or if thats not an option remove your data and consider it the end for this iMac.