Erik M. posted this potential fix for specific cases of “Jaguar-induced video problems in iMacs that weren’t upgraded to the most recent firmware version issue” in our original story’s feedback section. You’ll need to have intimate access to (and decent knowledge about the insides of) another Mac of recent vintage, but for those of you that do, this might save you in the area of US$400. Here it is, we make no claims as to whether it works, use it if you understand the directions and feel comfortable with it. Check your warranties first:
“I fixed this problem this evening and this is how. I’m quite happy, seeing as 3 Apple Support reps and one 3rd party service technician told me this would cost somewhere in the range of $300-$400 to fix. Hope this idea helps some of you:
1) Took the hard drive out of the suffering iMac 350
2) Installed the hard drive in my G4
3) Booted to OS 9 on the iMac HD
4) Downloaded the 4.1.9 firmware update (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75130)
5) Installed TIMBUKTU and configured for incoming IP access
6) Took out hard drive and put back in iMac
7) Connected to iMac via Timbuktu, and ran the firmware update
8) Upgrade completed successfully.
I reset the Cuda chip for good measure, and I believe the machine has to be SHUT DOWN and then turned back ON in order to see the results (the restart after the FW update didn’t work, I had to shut down and cold start).”
Please use the feedback if you try this and let us know the results.
