Trenton haul, part deux

[Bunsen]

capacitor plague.
Think it's worth it to take it in to bring it in to the apple store to see what they say? and if it costs money to fix it, think I should spend it to do so?

Apple store: yes.

Pay: not Apple.

Disassemble it yourself, and if it really is bad caps, take it to a TV repair shop and have them do it for a tenth of the price. Make sure you talk to the actual repair guy and point out - and write down - which caps need replacing. Recapping boards is an everyday repair at these places.

Look for the grungiest, downmarket repair shop you can find - the one with really old gear stacked up inside. The shinier and newer it is, the less chance they'll take the job. Most new gear is only board swap repairs these days.

 

[iamdigitalman]

I know just the place. There is a nice little TV repair shop that has old equipment and open TVs all over the place. Authorized RCA repair center, but I think they could look at my white lump.

I was going to take it to the apple store tomorrow, but the snow storm is moving my way, and we are expecting a foot; so after class on Saturday, I will take it in.

 

[Christopher]

^^ same here, but I'm going to try and brave it tomorrow night. Actually its snowing now.

 

[Bunsen]

Woah there nelly, I meant take the -board- in, not the entire computer.

If you do that, take in a -printed- disassembly guide for the specific eMac model, and be prepared to pay them workshop rates to disassemble. And possibly break stuff.

Far, far, better to strip it down yourself (if you are able) and point directly at the suspect caps.

/edit/ oh, wait, you mean you're taking it to the Apple store first? I may have misread. I thought you meant the TV store.

 

[Torbar]

Like Mike said, call Apple on the phone.

 

[iamdigitalman]

yeah, I am going to take the whole shebang into apple and have them diagnose it for nothing, then take out the problem part and take it to the TV repair shoppe.

I just need to learn how to discharge a CRT quickly.

 

[iamdigitalman]

good news bad news here:

Bad news: I took the eMac in to the apple store, and they looked on their system and the earliest appointment would be 4 p.m. (this was at noon). I decided to hold off until after Christmas, and after I get back from my trip.

Also, I put in the serial number onto their online records, and it said the machine was not eligible for service, even over the phone.

But the good news is according to Apple, my eMac is a 2005 las gen model. Did not know they sold a 1.25ghz. I will check the other one out, probably the same story. Maybe once I get it working, I can see if it has a radeon 9200 or a radeon 9600. Probably the former if it's a 1.25, but you never know. That would be about the only noticeable difference between the two.

If I am feeling adventurous and they say I can't have it fixed for me, I will just pop the 1,25ghz board out and stick it in the 700mhz. It should fit, and there should be only slightly more power draw.

Still though, I will take it in and see what they say when I get back next week.

 

[Byrd]

The 1.25ghz board is a different beast altogether from the eMac 700Mhz system; it won't fit. If you're going to all this effort, replace the caps on the faulty 1.25!

JB

 

[iamdigitalman]

Well, I did manage to get the mobo out of the 700mhz and remove the hard drive without discharge, so I might try to see what all is wrong with the other 1.25ghz and swap in parts as needed.

I am going to get at least one working machine out of this for all my effort.

 

[iamdigitalman]

Well, I got at least one eMac working. I took the one Dan gave me on Saturday, and swapped in the motherboard out of the one that was arcing. Low and behold, it comes right up. I swapped in my DVD burner and hard drive from my B&W G3, and that machine is now officaly retired.

This 1.25ghz G4 feels so much faster, even with only 256mb of RAM currently. I will upgrade it to 2gb sooner or later, and put leopard on it, but right now, it feels great running tiger. I love the higher screen resolution.

Two small issues though: The CRT is a bit pinkish. I checked my connections for video, but nothing. Does that mean it's dying? if so I need to find a replacment really quick. The other one is there is a small bit of black something stuck on the inside of the tube. It is about the size of a single pixle, and only noticable when I am on a white screen.

Other than that, this is the most awesome mac I have ever owned.

-digital

 

[Byrd]

If you can source an eMac service manual, it should list the pots for adjusting the R/G/B levels of the monitor, to remove the pinkish hue.

Other than that, well done! Now clock that baby up to 1.5Ghz

JB

 

[Bunsen]

Hurrah!