Would resetting the PRAM fix my Video RAM error?

Red Jacket Press - 09:03am Jun 22, 2006 PST
Guest User

I find myself in an interesting situation, and I welcome any advice I
can find here.

After experiencing display failures on my iMac G5 (with iSight) twice
in two days (the screen would suddenly go black), and then a
"corrupted" display image twice today, I ran Apple Hardware Test,
which reported an error with the Video RAM in the Extended test.
(There was an obvious reference to the ATI card and firmware in the
error code.) I made the appropriate phone calls, and I was all set to
bring the iMac in for repairs tomorrow. (It's a refurbished model,
but only a month old, and still thoroughly covered by warranty.)

The problems actually became so bad when I was trying to make that
one final backup to an external drive (I'd lose the display image
before the iMac was even finished booting up!) that I took the steps
of resetting the PRAM, just to see if it would keep the problems away
long enough for me to get the backup completed. (It did.)

The technician I spoke to had recommended that I pull the 2GB RAM
module I'd installed (which I had planned to do anyway before
bringing the iMac in for repairs), and run Apple Hardware Test again,
for whatever reasons. I ran the test again with the RAM in place
(having forgotten to remove it) but now the Quick test now reveals no
error with the Video RAM. The Extended test came back the same. As
far as Apple Hardware Test is concerned, all is once again right with
the world.

Here's my question: is it even possible for an error like I
experienced -- much less the diagnosis of a problem from a formal
hardware test -- to be corrected by resetting the PRAM?

BRIAN/brianredjacketpress.com