iMac G5 Logic Board Capacitor Replacement
The Scenario:
Your 3 - 5 year old iMac G5 doesn\'t start or exhibits one of the following video- or power-related symptoms:
- Scrambled or distorted video
- No video
- No power
The Problem:
Either your power supply, and/or logic board has gone bad. You can refer to the Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues webpage, found here http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/, to see if your iMac G5 is one of the many that has or may experience bad capacitor problems. If your power supply is bad LED 1 will either blink or not come on at all. Please refer to the iMac G5: Troubleshooting when your computer won't turn on webpage, found here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300908, to check your power supply's functionallity and to learn more about LED 1.
The Culprit:
If your model number is listed on the Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues webpage, found here http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/, then your culprit is bad capacitors made of inferior products that were installed on your logic board at the factory.
To read more on "The Bad Capacitor Plague", please refer to this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
The Solution:
You have Two options:
1) Replace the main logic board with a good one. However, the logic board costs well over $900 new and you certainly don't want to buy a used one with the same problem.
- OR -
2) Replace the bad capacitors with good capacitors, via unsoldering the old caps to remove them, and soldering new caps in place. The bad caps in iMac G5's tend to be 16v 1000uf capacitors, and thus they should be replaced with matching capacitors matching the same or better rating.
 In this photo: Bad / Faulty capacitor leads on an iMac G5 logic board. |  In this photo: Bad / Faulty capacitors from an iMac G5 logic board. |
Call BentleyPC:
If you don't want the hassle of replacing the bad capacitors to fall in your lap, contact BentleyPC at 404-702-2865. We will replace your bad capacitors for one flat rate, quotable by telephone.