How do i fix my blown mac

Timothy Gerges

Registered
hi,
My imac 17" g4 has a serious problem.... It was working fine, then one day i put it to sleep, which i usually do when i study or whatever, and went to study. After about half and hour i heard a big bang from accross the room, so i went to investigate. I couldn't see anything outta place, and it didn't look like anything was wrong. It was off, but i thought maybe i turned it off instead of putting it to sleep. so i took no notice, then about two hours later i tried to turn it on, and there was nothing, i changed the plug, and checked the power switch at the wall. everything was as it should be, but there is no power at the mac, i cant turn it on..
I think there could have been a small power surge and that blew the power supply on the mac,,, how do i go about fixing it? I cant afford to take it in, and i really dont think there are many places here that fix macs. Please help, if i can just find the power supply, and remove it, i know someone who i'm sure can fix it at my dad's work, but i dont want to hand the mac over to him because i dont want anything else getting damaged,,, How do i take out the power supply? is that even whats wrong?
 
I think there could have been a small power surge and that blew the power supply on the mac

That does sound like a blown power supply, and since that power supply is designed specifically for that model of iMac, you will need to have an Apple tech swap it out for you. Your best bet is to call Apple directly and ask them for advice.

I'd also put a surge protector on it once its fixed; I've found if a house's power system can do that once, it'll do it again (I replaced the power adapter for my iBook 3 times before I realised that it only ever blew up when I was using it at my mother's house).
 
So there is nothing I can do myself? Do you know roughly about how much I should expect to pay?
All my other PCs are connected to the UPS and I've never had a problem with them, but the UPS only allows for kettle cord connections, and I wanted to make sure I was actually keeping the mac before I chop and change the plug to make it fit. Anyway, these things happen.
Thanks
 
Thanks for your help...
I have another question
its blown, which means i cant turn it on, which means whatever cd was in there at the time, is still in there now...,
How do i get it out, on a normal computer, i would take a paper clip, streighten it out and insert it in the little hole, but i cant do that because there is no little hole, atleast, i cant see it or find it.
Does anyone know where it is?
 
If you open carefully by hand the plastic where the cd tray comes out, you should see a small hole on the cd tray. If I remember right it was on right side. About the size to be able just stick in a ball point pen or a needle. That will open it.
 
ah, dont worry, i found it thanks,,,,,
turns out, its not a hole, its a slit about 1.5 cm long, poking around in there opened it.. Odd, i've never seen anything like that before, i've only known it to be hole
 
Apple wants to charge me an insain amount of money (R1250) for a new power supply. I simply dont have that kind of money.
But here is the trick. If i can open the imac, and find the power supply, and take it out, i can get it fixed. Someone who works for my dad can fix it, but i dont trust him to open the mac himself.
Does anyone have an imac 15" 700 service manual they can email me? I cant do it on my own without a manual.

Also, i read somewhere that there is a pmu or something button that i can press that will resest something or the other. Aparantly that would help. Any ideas on that?
 
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