Hey guys, I want to share my experience fixing my very first Mac, an old iMac. Is an early 2008 24inch iMac, with a core 2 duo 3.06Ghz, maxed to 6G of RAM and updated with a Samsung EVO ssd. I also installed (unofficially) High Sierra (machine is capped to EC) which runs pretty well. Even if it is old, it was my main computer for light web usage and Logic Pro. It’s quite insane how well performs for Audio, handling even mixing sessions of more than 100 tracks. The screen is also in good state and during this 13 years I had only to service it twice: Faulty RAM module (first day of delivery) and faulty graphic card (nvidia 8800).
Unfortunately a few months ago it stopped booting, a couple of seconds after the Apple logo, it kept restarting automatically. Tried everything software based, reinstalling HS, EC but the installation was not even starting. Verbose mode was not helping so much, at some point a message was repeated but in internet I did not found too much help. Decided then to start checking the hardware. Managed to get the Apple hardware test for my model booting from usb and showed no hardware errors. I was a bit puzzled. In any case, I decided to open the iMac and try to disconnect individual components to see if without any of them it unlocked the installation. Tried removing ram modules, swapping them, disconnecting Bluetooth card, speakers, wifi card, SuperDrive, even hard disk, etc. No luck, so the failed component had to be something else. The main board Leds were all green. So then I decided to focus on the graphic card, the 8800gs that was already replaced in the past. Even if I did not had the same symptoms of other people, decided to dismantle everything and remove the card. People was suggesting to put the card in the oven for some time. This sounded kinda fancy for me and decided to go for the other approach, which is to replace the card. Given my experience with with the 8800, decided to go for an ATI 2600 Pro, which is less powerful but more solid from the reports. Ordered the part in eBay and when it came, I realized that the heatsink of my current card is not compatible with the ATI(my bad!). So, I ordered a correct heatsink and assembled everything. Took the opportunity to do a deep cleanup of the interior and re-pasting of the cpu/gpu. Pluged the Mac in and voila ! Installation was done perfectly ! The machine is running beautifully since a couple of months!
I had only one small incident during the assembly as I broke the hd temp sensor plug. I’ve fixed it temporarily via software but I have the part already for doing the replacement.
It seems a lot of work but i feel kinda happy to being able to fix the Mac, it’s a pity that this won’t be possible with the current hardware that is just all integrated.
Some photos of the process (drummers
):
![Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.33.39.png]( "Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.33.39.png")
Empty:
![Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.32.30.png]( "Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.32.30.png")
Logic board
![Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.32.11.png]( "Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.32.11.png")
The offender:
![Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.37.20.png]( "Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.37.20.png")
Back to life:
![Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.33.18.png]( "Captura de pantalla 2022-01-08 a las 21.33.18.png")
Unfortunately a few months ago it stopped booting, a couple of seconds after the Apple logo, it kept restarting automatically. Tried everything software based, reinstalling HS, EC but the installation was not even starting. Verbose mode was not helping so much, at some point a message was repeated but in internet I did not found too much help. Decided then to start checking the hardware. Managed to get the Apple hardware test for my model booting from usb and showed no hardware errors. I was a bit puzzled. In any case, I decided to open the iMac and try to disconnect individual components to see if without any of them it unlocked the installation. Tried removing ram modules, swapping them, disconnecting Bluetooth card, speakers, wifi card, SuperDrive, even hard disk, etc. No luck, so the failed component had to be something else. The main board Leds were all green. So then I decided to focus on the graphic card, the 8800gs that was already replaced in the past. Even if I did not had the same symptoms of other people, decided to dismantle everything and remove the card. People was suggesting to put the card in the oven for some time. This sounded kinda fancy for me and decided to go for the other approach, which is to replace the card. Given my experience with with the 8800, decided to go for an ATI 2600 Pro, which is less powerful but more solid from the reports. Ordered the part in eBay and when it came, I realized that the heatsink of my current card is not compatible with the ATI(my bad!). So, I ordered a correct heatsink and assembled everything. Took the opportunity to do a deep cleanup of the interior and re-pasting of the cpu/gpu. Pluged the Mac in and voila ! Installation was done perfectly ! The machine is running beautifully since a couple of months!
I had only one small incident during the assembly as I broke the hd temp sensor plug. I’ve fixed it temporarily via software but I have the part already for doing the replacement.
It seems a lot of work but i feel kinda happy to being able to fix the Mac, it’s a pity that this won’t be possible with the current hardware that is just all integrated.
Some photos of the process (drummers
):Empty:
Logic board
The offender:
Back to life: