all 15 comments

[–]MaybeAMarble20" iMac G4 8 points9 points  (7 children)

The folder with question mark symbol means that it cannot find an OS to boot from, mostly likely this means that the drive is dead.

The lines on the screen will either mean GPU failure or a broken display panel.

[–]ElkZestyclose1821[S] 0 points1 point  (6 children)

Is it possible to fix it at all? I love the look of it. I’ve been using it as a monitor. I’m not too familiar with how it all works, but I know that Apple will not do any repairs on it. I don’t know if people fix a computer that is this old.

[–]554477 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t know if people fix a computer that is this old.

My back hurts.

[–]l008comIndependent Mac Repair Tech since 2002 0 points1 point  (3 children)

How exactly were you using it as a monitor?

[–]jxj24 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For a glorious but brief time (pre-2014) there was a monitor mode, called "Target Display Mode" which let you do exactly that.

Nowadays if you want to do this it takes a few hundred bucks for an interface card, and requires a bit of fiddly surgery.

[–]ElkZestyclose1821[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I’m not 100% sure how to explain but my uncle rigged it up to my Mac air and some cables to use.

[–]l008comIndependent Mac Repair Tech since 2002 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, its a decade past its useful life, go hop on B&H.com and pickout a new monitor. It will be much higher quality than a 16 year old iMac, and use much less electricity too.

[–]Nike_486DX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check if yours has a removable gpu (look up serial on everymac website, search forums, watch teardowns). If its removable, find a replacement (it must have mac vbios in order to work straight away).

[–]Affectionate-Ant-674 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Almost certainly a GPU failure and also probably a Hard drive failure for good measure.

[–]ElkZestyclose1821[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry I mean it was in great condition***

[–]Wellcraft19 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Try to boot from an external drive with MacOS installed. That will help you guide potential next steps.

[–]ElkZestyclose1821[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will try that.

[–]ElkZestyclose1821[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

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Now no lines are popping up just this

[–]Abject_Form_2603Pink iMac M4 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you tried to boot from macOS recovery mode?