[edavis]

After 30 days, the firewire port on my eMac has died. I have worked with AppleCare to diagnose the problem, and they are having me ship my eMac back to Cupertino. (Bummer!)

I also have a "snap" in the monitor, where the monitor just randomly "snaps", and line shows up horizontally across the screen for a brief moment, and then everything is back to normal.

Anyone else experience infant mortality on the eMac?

(1 GHz eMac, SuperDrive, and now stripped to the original 256MB RAM, {the additional 512MB RAM from the dealer was stripped out for diagnosis})

[nredman]

i think i may have had this "snap" before but only a few times...i also have the 1ghz superdrive emac...before i got this emac i read alot about some kind of problems with the screen...i dont recall what it was called though...hope you get the emac back soon

[ThisGuy]

Originally posted by nredman:
i think i may have had this "snap" before but only a few times...i also have the 1ghz superdrive emac...before i got this emac i read alot about some kind of problems with the screen...i dont recall what it was called though...hope you get the emac back soon

it is called vertical raster shift and it is fixed by replacing the IVAD cable.
here are the symptoms:
The raster shifts upward from the bottom of the display to the point where the menu bar is no longer visible.
The bottom corners of the raster bow inward.
Horizontal lines run down through the raster.
A cascading effect runs down through the raster.

[nredman]

Originally posted by ThisGuy:
it is called vertical raster shift and it is fixed by replacing the IVAD cable.
here are the symptoms:
The raster shifts upward from the bottom of the display to the point where the menu bar is no longer visible.
The bottom corners of the raster bow inward.
Horizontal lines run down through the raster.
A cascading effect runs down through the raster.

hmm i dont have that happening...i must have been something else goofy going on...but i did read about the raste shifts before i got the emac..i was hoping apple addressed it in the newer emacs

[edavis]

ThisGuy,

Your description of the raster shift problem is not anything like what I am experiencing. I hear a "snap" like someone is discharging a static electric shock by touching a doorknob, and the screen displays a hozizontal line about 1/3 of the way up the screen, and then everything goes back to normal. This repeats 3-4 times per hour.

I am still awaiting the RMA label, (or whatever Apple calls their return label), so I still have the eMac at home. I'm trying to remember everything I need to back up to CDRW before shipping out, and I am afraid I will forget SOMETHING...hopefully nothing critical!

[Xaositect]

Raster Shift and Snap are two different issues. Logic Board is most likely cause, but the Analog/Video board may be bad and needs to be checked. The bad firewire will get the logic board replaced, and Apple will test the A/V board and replace the display module, if necessary, while they have it.

[edavis]

Well, the eMac was UPSd to 1 Infinity Drive on July 1. It will be interesting to see how soon I see the replacement!

In the meantime, I'm back to using my 333MHz Blueberry iMac. I was amazed how blazingly fast it seemed when we got it back in 1999, and how slugishly slow it feels now running OS X! How times have changed!

The 333MHz is headed off to college with my daughter next week. I figured it would work fine for a year or so for typing papers and surfing the 'net. She hasn't shown any real interest in iTunes, and no interest in iMovie, so it should work for a year or so. Then, maybe a Powerbook????

[vmarks]

Powerbooks have their own set of teething quirks, but on the whole, I think they work better than CRT macs. The iMac CRT was plagued with troubles for years, and they haven't done much better with the eMac.

It's a nice machine, and I'm sorry you're having problems with it.

The 333mhz should be fine for your daughter, although the more RAM the better.

I like the PowerMacs because you can simply get a new monitor if your CRT dies. I like the Powerbooks and iBooks, although you will read about the teething problems their first editions of the new models have had. Latch malfunction, case warp, hinges requiring lubrication, video data cable with bad ground wire, depending on which model and release machine we're talking about.

The LCD iMac is in many ways a glorified laptop again, LCD monitor and all. The eMac? I have never recommended one to someone I liked, unless they were going to be covered by warranty and sell it before coverage ran out. Even then, I'm hesitant- too many people had unhappy experiences with CRT iMacs. While this was surely a small subset of the total number of owners, it wasn't pleasant.

[willab]

Originally posted by vmarks:
Powerbooks have their own set of teething quirks, but on the whole, I think they work better than CRT macs. The iMac CRT was plagued with troubles for years, and they haven't done much better with the eMac.

It's a nice machine, and I'm sorry you're having problems with it.

The 333mhz should be fine for your daughter, although the more RAM the better.

I like the PowerMacs because you can simply get a new monitor if your CRT dies. I like the Powerbooks and iBooks, although you will read about the teething problems their first editions of the new models have had. Latch malfunction, case warp, hinges requiring lubrication, video data cable with bad ground wire, depending on which model and release machine we're talking about.

The LCD iMac is in many ways a glorified laptop again, LCD monitor and all. The eMac? I have never recommended one to someone I liked, unless they were going to be covered by warranty and sell it before coverage ran out. Even then, I'm hesitant- too many people had unhappy experiences with CRT iMacs. While this was surely a small subset of the total number of owners, it wasn't pleasant.

I like my eMac I did have the raster shift problem, but there is an apple certified repair shop five minutes from my house and I had it back in five days even though wherever they had to get the part from was snowed in.

[edavis]

Well, the old eMac went out UPS on Tuesday, and the new one arrived on Thursday. This is at least a week sooner than I expected it to show up!

The new one does not 'snap' at me, so I think it may work for a while!