[60-hz]

Hi guy's,

Hope some of you can help me out here?

Yesterday i experienced some problems with my 17" iMac when booting up.
When i boot up the iMac all i get is a black screen and nothing more, no power to the keyboard or mouse. Although you can hear and see that the fan is running.

Here is what i have tried so far,

I have tried resetting the PMU (pressed once) and the PRAM but still no fix everything is still the same.

Unplugging everything except Pro Keyboard and Mouse.

Reparing permissions and repairing the drive, also with DiskWarrior (no errors).

Archive and Install of 10.3.

Although i have to hold the power button on the back of the iMac for around 5-10secs to switch the machine off. If i quickly press the power button again after the reset i can get it to boot up again. Strange stuff !!

Basically i have tried everything you can think of including swapping usb ports with the Pro Keyboard and mouse and still no luck.

I bought the iMac about 6 months ago and i don't have any apple care with it.

PLEASE PLEASE i hope someone can post away around this fix for me, i really don't want to have to do the reset trick all the time.

[DinoG4]

Originally posted by 60-hz:
Hi guy's,

Hope some of you can help me out here?

Yesterday i experienced some problems with my 17" iMac when booting up.
When i boot up the iMac all i get is a black screen and nothing more, no power to the keyboard or mouse. Although you can hear and see that the fan is running.

Here is what i have tried so far,

I have tried resetting the PMU (pressed once) and the PRAM but still no fix everything is still the same.

Unplugging everything except Pro Keyboard and Mouse.

Reparing permissions and repairing the drive, also with DiskWarrior (no errors).

Archive and Install of 10.3.

Although i have to hold the power button on the back of the iMac for around 5-10secs to switch the machine off. If i quickly press the power button again after the reset i can get it to boot up again. Strange stuff !!

Basically i have tried everything you can think of including swapping usb ports with the Pro Keyboard and mouse and still no luck.

I bought the iMac about 6 months ago and i don't have any apple care with it.

PLEASE PLEASE i hope someone can post away around this fix for me, i really don't want to have to do the reset trick all the time.

Hi, sorry to hear of your problem, I have the same machine, only advice I can think of, if its only 6mths old, u still have factory warranty left....also....I would remove the extra ram in the sodimm slot and try booting it..maybe bad ram...good luck Give apple a call or an email....Dino

[visionarymac]

I agree that the RAM could potentially be the problem. Unless there was something physically wrong with the hard drive, I doubt that it would cause the problem you cited. Are there any recent changes that you've made to your IMac? It would seem that whatever the problem is, it involves components prior to booting off the hard drive.

[60-hz]

Unfortuanately i bought the iMac second hand 6 months ago, so i doubt if i am still eligable for a warranty?

I have also tried booting without the extra ram installed and still no luck

Took me about 8 attempts to get the machine to boot today so i could post this reply.

HELP

[amazing]

Originally posted by 60-hz:
Unfortuanately i bought the iMac second hand 6 months ago, so i doubt if i am still eligable for a warranty?

Actually, when you bought it 2nd hand, the applecare should have been transferred with it. Contact the previous owner IMMEDIATELY to see what the original purchase date was and whether the extended applecare (2 years in addition to the included first year) was purchased. What you find out determines where you go from here. If you're still in the first year, or if the extended applecare was purchased then you just have to make sure it's transferred to your name. If you're still in the first year, once it's transferred to your name, then you can buy the extended applecare.

Here's one thing to try: Hold down the keys to reset the PRAM through at least 6 startup chimes. One PRAM reset (one startup chime) doesn't seem to clear out the totality of the PRAM.

[discotronic]

Just to add to amazing's post.

Call Apple with the serial # and they can tell you when it was purchased if you can't get in contact with the person you bought it from. It doesn't always work though. I bought an iBook second hand once. When I called to activate Applecare they told me it was purchased in the month of November when it was actually purchased in the month of March. If I hadn't had the original receipt I would have been down 4 months worth of coverage.

The 17" 1GHz was introduced on Feb. 4, 2003 so your system is just a little over a year old. You have a good chance of it being covered. Another good thing to do would be to call and get a trouble ticket started. That way it will be on file if Apple needs for you to get them any additional information.

Good luck and I hope it's covered.

[P]

As a temporary fix, never turn the Mac off. Also try resetting the PRAM, that cures a lot of things.

[Chimpmaster]

Originally posted by 60-hz:
Hi guy's,

Hope some of you can help me out here?

Yesterday i experienced some problems with my 17" iMac when booting up.
When i boot up the iMac all i get is a black screen and nothing more, no power to the keyboard or mouse. Although you can hear and see that the fan is running.

Here is what i have tried so far,

I have tried resetting the PMU (pressed once) and the PRAM but still no fix everything is still the same.

Unplugging everything except Pro Keyboard and Mouse.

Reparing permissions and repairing the drive, also with DiskWarrior (no errors).

Archive and Install of 10.3.

Although i have to hold the power button on the back of the iMac for around 5-10secs to switch the machine off. If i quickly press the power button again after the reset i can get it to boot up again. Strange stuff !!

Basically i have tried everything you can think of including swapping usb ports with the Pro Keyboard and mouse and still no luck.

I bought the iMac about 6 months ago and i don't have any apple care with it.

PLEASE PLEASE i hope someone can post away around this fix for me, i really don't want to have to do the reset trick all the time.

Sounds like a logic board fault (motherboard) most likely due to a power surge of some description. If the imac is not covered by warranty this could be an expensive repair for you, unfortunately.

Due to the nature of imacs and ibooks, they arent particularly modular - if any part fails on the logic board, they generally have to replace the entire board, as all devices are fixed/built in.

Good luck with this, but definitely ring apple and see what they can do for you.

[vmarks]

Doesn't have to be a faulty motherboard.

It can be a faulty power cable (I know, but it's happened.)

It can be a less than optimal electric wiring in the house.

It can be time for you to reset NVRAM.

Boot holding down command option O F
type
reset-nvram (return)
reset-all (return)

And definitely take out any non-Apple ram you installed.

[RogerR]

I had the exact same problem with my 17" iMac right out of the box when I first got it in December 2002. I talked with AppleCare techs, we tried everything and nothing worked. I took it in to a CompUSA tech to troubeshoot (I'm not near an Apple Store), and he couldn't figure it out, but recommended replacement of the Logic Board. I called Apple back, told them replacement of the logic board right out of the box was unsatisfactory, and they understood. I shipped it back to Apple and they sent me a new machine (which, by the way, has worked great for 14 months now).

[jabumba]

I too have the same exact problem. The iMAC 17" flat panel worked fine for the first 6 months. Then one day, the display was black at startup and indefinitely. I tried all the things (except the weird trick of the startup power deal) mentioned to no avail. I took it to the local Apple folks and they replaced the "Converter" board within the flat panel itself. This worked for 6 days and again the problem of a totally blank screen has returned. I haven't purchased the extended care but I'm under the year warranty and will probably seek a replacement as this is intolerable (when one's MAC is down, it feels as though at least 40% of one's brain is missing). I feel your pain and hope that you have luck with acquiring the warranty and healing/replacing your computer.

[60-hz]

In the next 24hrs i am going to format my HD and do a fresh install of 10.3.
I'm just hoping this may fix the issue? Fingers crossed....

If this fails well i have tried everything i can, so i'll give apple a call.