[Dadoo9999]

I am attempting to repair my Dad's iMac (266, tangerine, I believe it's Rev A, tray loading CD, 8GB HD, looks like 160MB of RAM, OS 8.5 if I remember correctly). When you press the power button the hard drive spins up (no startup chime), after a couple of seconds I hear a couple of clicks (trying to power up monitor??), the hard drive clicks a few times and then nothing...the monitor light never goes green...no power to USB...just the fan running. I tried reset button, did a CUDA reset, replaced battery (it was completely dead), swapped processor and memory from my fully functional Wallstreet 266, hooked up external monitor (same results). I pulled the hard drive and connected it to my G4 desktop...firmware version was 1.2.5 (something like that...sorry for forgetting...didn't want to risk frying desktop, so I didn't leave drive connected very long...just long enough to run Norton Disk Doctor and Disk First Aid...both passed). I completely disassembled the computer (a major task compared to my G4 tower and Wallstreet!!) unplugged and cleaned all connections...PLEASE HELP!! If I leave the computer powered up for 20 or 30 minutes the hard drive starts clicking every few seconds. I hate it when I have to admit this...but i'm lost!! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Chinasaur]

Clicking hard drive is most likely a dead/dying disk. Have you tried booting off the disk in your desktop to check?

[deboerjo]

If it were a bad hard drive, one would expect the system to boot and give you a video signal but give the flashing question mark indicating the disk is unreadable. There are rare cases where a bad hard drive can prevent the system from booting, so the hard drive is a possibility, but I suspect the problem is a bad analog board and/or power board. Very common problem with those tray loaders as they age, I've seen several that have various issues similar to yours. Here's what I did with my iMac when it died with the infamous "green light of death":

http://www.csis.gvsu.edu/~deboerjo/ATXiMac.jpg
[All inline images must be no wider than 480 pixels. --tooki]

iMacs can do some pretty cool stuff when you free them of their restrictive chassis. That's a 1600x1200 desktop, and a 52x CD burner. The whole project cost about $60. Sure cheaper than a $300 analog board.

-Jon

[Dadoo9999]

I was thinking it might be an analog failure, but I don't get the green light of death...the light never changes. It always stays orange and if I just touch the power button even for a second, the computer shuts down immediately. The hard drive passes all Disk First Aid and Tech Tool tests, which may not mean anything I suppose (boot sector could be damaged maybe?) Thanks 4 the replies!!!!!!

[ThisGuy]

from a manual:

Video Problems
No video, the screen is either completely black, or you will see horizontal rolling lines. There will be power to the system, however, which is evidenced by an illuminated amber LED, and a running fan.
1. Reset parameter RAM. Hold down <Command> <Option> <P> <R> during startup but before “Welcome to Macintosh” appears.
2 Reset the CUDA chip and try again. If the problem persists, reset the logic board. (See “The CUDA Chip” and “Resetting the Logic Board” earlier in this chapter for instructions.)
3 Do you hear a normal boot chime at startup?
Yes: Go to next step.
No: Follow these steps to resolve the problem:
1. Reseat the SDRAM.
2. Reseat the processor module.
3. Replace the processor module.
4. Replace the logic board.

4 Verify that the following cables are attached securely:
• Internal RGB cable that attaches to the A/V interconnect board at J5.
• Internal video cable that attaches to the logic board at J16 and the A/V interconnect board at J2.
• Internal RGB cable that attaches to the video portion of the analog/video board at board at P301.
5 Replace the analog/video board. Exchange like-for-like, there are two versions of the board.
6 Replace the internal video cable that attaches to the logic board at J16 and the A/V interconnect board at J2.
7 Replace the A/V interconnect board.
8 Replace the logic board.
9 Replace the internal RGB cable that connects at the A/V interconnect board at J5 and the analog/video board at P301. 10 Replace the CRT.

[bgordon]

If the clicks coming from the HD are noticeable and many, be very careful and stop trying to start it up. You may still be able to salvage the data off of it.

I had a HD go bad (last time I buy a HD off eBay, I know, stupid, this is before they all got so cheap) and I tried to restart it so many times that by the time DriveSavers received it from me, they said it was too shot to even retrieve data from.

- bgordon

[Dadoo9999]

Luckily I was able to back up data to my desktop so that isn't really a problem (iMac won't boot with known good drive either). It must be the logic board but I can't find one cheap enough to justify repair...

[Dadoo9999]

Well, I took a chance and bought a logic board on Ebay, and i'm happy to say that the little iMac is running like a champ!! Thanks for all of the help!!!!!!

[macaddict0001]

there are no fans in these machines you must have been hearing the hard drive or optical drive.

[finboy]

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
there are no fans in these machines you must have been hearing the hard drive or optical drive.

Not true. The early iMacs had fans (333Mhz and below).

[Prog]

im having a similar problem. but when i startup my imac i hear the clicking but the screen dosent come one and then it automatically turns off. any suggestions?

[ValVashon]

What kinds of components are on these analog boards? Could they be suffering from the bad capacitor syndrome that affected so many other electronic items in the late 90's and early 00's? I'd love to take a look at that broken analog board if you would be willing to send it to me.

Val