Imac screen flickering and freezing

does anyone know anything about iMacs please?

I got mine for my 21st bday im now 28 and a half so its fairly old. So i think it is a 2008 model

It started flickering and freezing on thursday night so yesterday i spent moving what i needed onto an external harddrive and had no issues with it at all.

This morning i was just using google chrome and the screen flickered more severally and froze again. You can move the mouse but you cant click on anything at all. I had to turn it off via the back button

Started it up again and after logging it straight away it flickered and froze

So i left it for a bit and now i have got on again and backed up work i did last night after the first backup. I have also managed to do some work on photoshop and uploaded a very large png file to redbubble

So this freezing seems intermittant. The first time it happened the mac was really hot and it has had issues with being too hot to touch over the last year but this morning it was cool. So i dunno

Its running mac os x 10.6.8

Processor is 3.06 GHz intel core 2 duo

Memory is 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

I dont know if that is relevant and i think im running snow leapord

I did google and it seems people were having this problem with 2008 imacs back in 2012/2013 so i guess im super lucky but i dont understand all the techinical stuf on the computer forums so cant make any sense out of it

What i seem to gether tho is apple wont have part for it necessarily anymore and i will have to get them from older machines because of how old it is but im not 100% sure on that.

Any help is much appreciated as without my imac and photoshop im struggling to do anywork

 

I prob need to read this when im not feeling like im having a mini breakdown.

I spoke to my younger brother who works in IT but he hates macs and he doesnt think there is much point in fixing it at all

And while on the phone to him my external harddrive has also decided to break as it started making this odd clicking sound and wouldnt load or anything. He said he knew what was wrong with it. It is old too the last backup was during uni year and i graduated 2009 and its been in a box in a cupboard in three homes since.

So right now now im having a slight melt down as everything is backed up onto there.

I have luckily managed to add the files i need to do my tax return to a usb drive. So can still get that done

I have also found my portable harddrive which im hoping when i turn the mac back on later i can add my design by hook and seren sketches files too so i have another copy of them.

But honestly right now im an absolute mess so thank you for your help @fat controller and once i have calmed down i will read it all properly

 

How do you even get into the back of it?

I cant find a single screw or any obvious way of getting into it

I think it has fully messed up now i can even log properly in and the screen goes. Which is frustrating i just need to get these last files

 

We sent messages at the same time lol

I personally really dislike windows i have had far too much trouble with things going wrong and i just think its a naff layout and operating system

Spoke to my parents they said they will get me a new one so i guess that will be my xmas and bday prezzie. It seems online that it is going to be super super tricky to fix and finding a part from a old machine that hasnt gone is going to be hard work

 

Haha yeh there is now way i would even know where to start.

I ended up googling what the average life span of an imac is and most seem to say 5-6 years so at least mine had soldiered on longer.

Im just hoping some how i cna get on later and transfer these last files so i can have more peace of mind

If not my bro is going to take my hardrive tomorrow and hopefully be able to recover it all to one of his computers.

 

Thats really nice of you to say :-)

I really hope my bro can recover the contents on my external hardrive otherwise i will be having a massive cry and breakdown

 

Dont think i can get those last 4 files i dnt have backed up at all

And cant get the folders i wanted on my portable hard drive



*weeps

All down to my bro recovering the data off my hard drive now

 

That was the plan

But i spoke to apple this morning and went through their start up things and my computer wouldnt even do those properly

The guy on the phone confirmed its likely to be the gpu or the logic board and confirmed that a gpu may be worth fixing and not too expensive but to not even bother if its the logic board because of the age of the machine.

The external harddrive is completely screwed so would need professional repair which my bro cant do. I explained this to the guy from apple on the phone and he was very sympathetic after telling me it was good i had backed it up until i said my harddrive failed the next day.

He said at the apple store they may be able to get the data off for me. So i have an appointment for friday for them to say whats wrong and how much. I have a feeling its the logic board tbh so im fully prepared for that news. I have a new external harddrive being delivered hopefully before friday to take with me in hope they can get the data off.

In the mean time i forgot i have a PC in my spare room which i set up and turned on it was bought it 2010 so is on windows 7 and it loaded up the first time fine and then just kept freezing and messing up. My bro has spent two hours this evening trying to get it to where it will do a proper shut down and restart to the point i may be able to use it. It has loads of windows updates to do and isnt running too slow now. Tomorrow i will spent the time doing updates so that hopefully i can then set up the printer/scanner on there and download a months photoshop trial and get some work done until i get my comp mac fixed or a new one delivered.

 

I'd get the Hoover on it first, to suck as much dust as possible out of the vents.

It should never be too hot to touch, so this points to either failed cooling (possibly because of dust accumulation), or a fried chip.

I don't know if this is reassuring, but if any of the electronics do go into meltdown, this would not normally result in any data loss ona hard disk. Also worth noting is that modern cpus and gpus know when they're overheating, and take action to prevent a meltdown, usually by reducing their clock speed or simply shutting down, so often if the cause of the overheating (eh dust accumulation or a failed fan) is fixed, no further damage is done.