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Question

Repair or replace 4 year old iMac

Aug 22, 2012 6:53AM PDT

Hi Guys!

I'm a newbie so please be gentle! lol!

I have a dilemma: I have a 4 year old iMac that runs OSX Leopard 10.5.8 and has worked like a dream for the last 3.5 years. I use my computer primarily for music production and it has coped well with the software that I install i.e Logic 8 etc.

What I started to notice when I turned on the computer was that the fans went crazy and my computer sounded like a jumbo jet. I did the system reset like Apple advised and things went quiet about a week ago, the fans went mental again and no matter what I did (and I have went on all the forums) the fans won't quiet down.

Following the advice from Apple, I did a Hardware test and the iMac said that my temperature sensor has malfunctioned. I downloaded iStats and it stated that my CPU fan was going 4x the normal rate.

Because I am out of warranty, I have rang a number of Apple Repair Shops and they told me that it could be many things but chances are either the fan needs replacing or it could be something to do with the logicboard, but they will need open it up to find out which will cost me minimum £40 (roughly $70). I checked the value of my current iMac and the best I could get for it if I sold it was £250 - £300 ( roughly $480 - $550) so if I have to replace the Logicboard it may not be worth the cost.

Also, a lot of new software will not run on Leopard anymore but with these problems, I'm thinking it won't be worth it & once you get 1 problem, chances are that the repairs will be more frequent.

Guys please let me know what you think.

Regards

karlchama

Discussion is locked

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Answer
As diagnostic fees go,
Aug 22, 2012 8:48AM PDT

£40 is not that bad and may be worth it to find out the true cost of repair.

Your 4 year old iMac, assuming it was new when you got it, should be capable of running Lion, mine is, (possibly Mountain Lion as well) and may be worth fixing if the price does not exceed its retail value.

However, if you are looking for a reason to replace the iMac, this might be the good reason you have been looking for.

P

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Answer
One thing to try
Aug 22, 2012 1:39PM PDT

One thing to try before even taking it in for a diagnostic, is to just unplug it for about 30 seconds. Really 5-10 seconds should be enough, but let's just be absolutely sure. That resets the SMC, and in at least some cases, it can fix issues with fans running too fast. Since it's free, and takes less than a minute, it seems worth a shot.

After that, I'd say go ahead with the diagnostic, and get an estimate. If it is just a bad fan, then that's worth replacing, but if it's the logic board, forget it. Either live with the noise or sell it, put the money towards a new system.

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Answer
A different way to do the cost analysis
Aug 24, 2012 10:40PM PDT

You compared the cost of the repair to the price for which you could sell your iMac. Since your Mac has been working well for you, the better comparison might be the cost of repair compared to the cost of a new Mac. You might want to also figure in the cost of upgrading to Mountain Lion.

On the other hand, I just replaced a 3.5 year-old iMac with a Retina MacBook Pro, which runs Photoshop and Photoshop plugins much faster. If you really want to replace the iMac, this might be just the excuse you need.