On Oct 3, 2009, at 12:58 PM, Isaac Smith wrote:
> > Hey List, > > I'm just checking to make sure my troubleshooting seems right to you > guys before I go out and spend money. > > I just bought a broken iMac G5 this morning after being told it had > bad capacitors. I figured that I'd have myself an interesting little > project. So, I got it home, and opened the back, and found a logic > board with all clean (but bad brand) capacitors. I'll probably wind up > replacing the capacitors eventually, but they're not the problem now. > > Right now, the computer doesn't even start up. I found this Apple > troubleshooting link: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2173 and after > completing those instructions, it seems like I should replace the > power supply. > > In short, LED 1 comes on instantly, and LED 2 turns on briefly and > then turns off. The white power light flickers on and then off in > about a second. The display itself never has a chance to come on. > > So, should I go out and buy a new power supply? And if that's what's > needed, does anybody have any place they'd recommend I go to buy one? > > Thanks so much! > > Isaac > Your troubleshooting seems right, but so did mine with a G5 iMac, 20", 1.8 GHz first generation. It had the same symptoms as yours when I acquired it. Exactly. It was an Apple refurb that began acting goofy earlier this year. I warned the owner that it had the bad capacitor on logic board and power supply problem and could die at any time. It did just that a few weeks later. Interested in stories about how dead iMac G5s had been resuscitated with a replacement of the capacitors, I asked if the owner would give it to me for an experiment. I ordered a pair of capacitor sets from Jim Warholic online. After laboriously removing all the capacitors, I then replaced all of them in the power supply (7 of the 11 were bulging and 3 of those were venting electrolyte), and all 25 on the logic board (5 directly above the power supply were bulging/venting, the rest *looked* OK). That was hours and hours of work. It wasn't easy either since Apple used lead-free solder that requires at least a 60-watt soldering iron. Once it was all back together, I plugged it in and got exactly the same results/symptoms as before all my work. I swapped out the power supply with a known-good one, and still got the same results/symptoms. Conclusion: Fried logic board, but lots of good parts left. My guess is that a current surge caused by bad capacitors took out some stuff on the logic board, which is why new capacitors didn't make any difference. YMMV, but be aware that trying to fix iMac G5s with bad capacitors is about as exciting and depressing as trying to fix G3 and G4 iBooks with the bad video chip solder joint problem. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out if you decide to go ahead with new capacitors. Jim Scott --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
