[ShinySteelRobot]

Please help! Somebody who was cleaning the house (not to name names mind you ;-) placed a stack of stuff on top of my Cube and left it there for hours while the Cube was running, and I think she fried the CPU, possibly.

The Cube now boots and runs but then freezes at a random time anywhere between 30 seconds to 30 minutes after boot. I don't get a kernel panic and the cursor just spins as a spinning color wheel (and you can move the cursor), but nothing else works (can't launch apps, can't use apps, etc).

I tried replacing the RAM, swapping out the video card (GeForce2 MX to Rage 128), and even put in a new hard drive with a backup of my software, but I still get the random freezes.

Does that sounds like it could be a malfunctioning CPU daughtercard? I have an old Mac 400MHz (Sawtooth) Mac...could I try swapping in the CPU daughtercard from that? Would a 400MHz even work in a Cube?

Many thanks! Any help appreciated.

[JohnM15141]

I thought when the Cube gets too hot it shuts itself down to prevent damage.

You can find Cube parts at eBay and elsewhere online. Try these Cube specific Sites for more help:

http://www.cube-zone.com/

http://www.cubeowner.com/

My Cube came with a Hardware Test CD that you run when directed by Apple Support. It runs a series of system tests to help troubleshoot hardware problems. If you have that, try running it and see what comes up.

Here is a Link to the instructions: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50139

[bartman00]

By all meens it should work. I upgraded my cube with a dual 500mhz G4 card. It's not easy putting it all back together and there's a lot of screws. Just go slow and take your time! If the card does fix it I'd sugest looking into getting a GigaDesigns upgrade for it! No better time to upgrade and I've had really good luck with them. They now have a 1ghz upgrade for the cube that dosn't even need a fan!!

Bart

[ShinySteelRobot]

Many thanks for the suggestions, folks!

I'll give the diagnostic CD a try first, and if that doens't help then I'll try swapping CPUs.

Thanks again

[bartman00]

Don't forget to tell us what happens...

[Ambassadeur]

Originally posted by bartman00:
It's not easy putting it all back together and there's a lot of screws. Just go slow and take your time!

Bart is right, taking your cube apart is not done in a couple of minutes, but it's not too hard with a good set of instructions (have a look at http://www.cubeowner.com ) and some time. (When installing my base fan I completely dismantled my cube and were able to put it back together without any excess screws left afterwards. My advice: Just tape them to the appropriate picture in the printed out instructions)

Hope the hardware check CD gave you some clues on how your cube is doing. Wish you good luck with it!