Why's my iMac won't turn on?
Hi guys,
I have this old iMac (A1224, 20”) which looks very good but there’s no sign of life from it.
I disassembled it and connect the cord to it and - #1 diagnostic LED is turned on, that’s it, nothing else.
Of course I tried to turn it on but the only sign I watched is the fan (left on) moving a bit when I click on the power button - but that’s it (I can add a video of it - it barely moving).
So the power button is okay, but I’m not sure what is causing the problem - it can be the power supply or the logic board? or something else?
I want to give it back to life - but I’m not sure what can I do with it right now and if it’s even worth it….
Thanks!
Update (09/16/2019)
As I saw in here: A1224
Mine probably has the E8135 CPU (on the bottom there's sticker says 2.66) - which should to be the best option available to my system, is that correct?
And according to the website above - mine is also a iMac 9,1 model - So if everything will work after the PSU replacing - I will be able to make the rest of the upgrades (SSD, RAM and OS) in order to bring it back to life! :)
Dan, you're great!
I will update when I'll get the part I need - Thank you very much!
Update (10/23/2019)
Same issue after replacing to a new PSU
Hello Dan,
I finally got the PSU and it looks good, but after I connect it inside with all the cables, it turn on the #1 LED but the issue remain the same, so the fan is barely moving one time only when I click on the power button.
I assume that my original PSU is just fine but I’m wondering if my problem is larger than what originally thought and if it’s worth fixing it.
I’ll glad to hear any help. Thanks!
Is this a good question?
4 Comments
Your system is within this group A1224 your system is somewhat limited as it can only use El Capitan OS-X 10.11 .x and also only can support 8 GB RAM.
So do keep this in mind. This is still a great system for writing and limited web surfing.
by Dan
Thank you Dan for your answer!
If it’s only the PSU I think I can afford it.
I always thought that Led -1- is working means that PSU is fine.
Anyway, I made a GIF that shows what I described after clicking the power button:
https://media.giphy.com/media/JUe1OumoZY...
…
And I have another additional question if you don’t mind. I might change it to SSD/8GB ram if I’ll make it work.
BUT - There’s an option to upgrade the CPU?
Nowdays these era’s CPUs are very cheap, I’m not sure if I able do it in my model (EMC2266) but if I can I would like to do so, to boost a little the system, and especially for upgrade the OS (I need Sierra and above to get my language support).
If it’s possible - which are the TOP 3 CPUs I can upgrade to?
Thank you very much - again!
by ariec7
Your GIF is indeed showing what I see when the power supply fails. The fan will often jerk forward slightly.
As far as upgrading the HDD to an SSD that's not a bad upgrade (as well as 8 GB of RAM)! Here's a kit that iFixit sells iMac Intel 20" and 24" (Mid 2007-Early 2009) SSD Upgrade Kit Or you can get your own and adapter frame. Do be careful! As you'll need a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive many of the newer drives sold today only work properly in SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) systems. I personally recommend the Samsung SSD's
Sadly your system won't support the newer CPU's and only supports the older Core2Duo CPU's. The best you can get is the 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo (click on the blue URL I posted above).
Using macOS Sierra Patcher Tool for Unsupported Macs you could install macOS Sierra on your system but its limited to iMac 8,1 and 9,1 models.
by Dan
Hi, I can see that answer had edited but I won’t able to see any new chagne at the text. I got the same issue with a new PSU and I don’t know what to do. any help would be appreciated!
by ariec7