White band on monitor

20 Nov 2015 20:58:37

Roy Rainford

A white band 3cm wide and 3cm from the righthand side of the monitor (17") has appeared on my old iMac G5 The band goes from top to bottom of the screen. This appeared after unplugging external hard drives and replugging. Can't find a way of clearing it. Wondering if it is on the way out? Running OS X 10.5.8.

Re: White band on monitor

20 Nov 2015 22:34:20

Mick Burrell

Sounds like a video fault. I think it's of an age to have come with grey optical discs. On one is the Apple Hardware Test. Run that and see what you get.

Re: White band on monitor

21 Nov 2015 21:04:21

Roy Rainford

It seems that the Apple Hardware Test isn't on the old iMac. Not showing in a search and not when I did a restart while pressing the D key. (as per instructions from my newer iMac.) Any other comments welcome.

Re: White band on monitor

21 Nov 2015 23:02:04

Douglas Cheney

It should be on one of the startup discs supplied with the Mac

Re: White band on monitor

22 Nov 2015 12:56:58

Mick Burrell

As I said Roy (and Doug has reiterated) it's on one of the grey discs - perhaps you used the wrong one? From memory, it says on the disc that it has the test and how to run it.

Re: White band on monitor

22 Nov 2015 15:27:55

Roy Rainford

I have the disk for the original OS 9, (which is now OS 10.5.8). Have discussed with Doug and sent him a screen shot of the contents but I still can't find the test.
Will try to find a website where I can possibly download the test.

Re: White band on monitor

22 Nov 2015 15:36:36

Tony Still

I have a set of discs here of a similar vintage. There are several labelled Software Restore (Disc 1 of, Disc 2 of, etc) but the hardware test is on a disc of its own. As Mick said, it's helpfully labelled as 'Apple Hardware Test'. The one I have here is in a different style to the other discs too (the rest are grey, it is silver and would be easily confused with a CD-R), worth another look through the disc cupboard?

Re: White band on monitor

22 Nov 2015 16:37:46

Roy Rainford

Thanks Tony but Doug has given me a link to info which shows that I was following the procedure for an Intel Mac when mine is a PC processor! The Hardware Test is going through at the moment and has been running almost an hour! Watch this space for a report.

Re: White band on monitor

22 Nov 2015 17:36:22

Roy Rainford

Result of Hardware Test: No hardware problems found
Sections checked and passed: Airport, Logic Board, Mass storage, Memory, Video Ram
Next action - the "breakers yard" or does anyone want it for a "good home"?

Re: White band on monitor

22 Nov 2015 23:00:26

Lionel Ogden

Have you tried the old favourite, fully switch off, disconnect from the mains, have a cup of tea and then try booting up again?

Re: White band on monitor

23 Nov 2015 11:15:32

Roy Rainford

Thanks Lionel. Worth a try which I did this morning following your tip. Unfortunately the white line is still there. Btw - for general info - it's quite useable if you can ignore the white line. Seems a pity to dump it but it's surplus to my needs so free to anyone, perhaps for spares. (Bought Oct. 2005)