Can anybody steer me in the direction of a new power supply please. I took my Mac outside for a gentle blast of compressed to clean it out (something I have done before) and now pressing the button does nothing - completely dead.
They don’t look easy to replace either. Done a few PC’s before and they’re easy, but this looks complicated.
Any help will be very much appreciated.
Kryten
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I would replace the battery before you do anything else. It’s a 7-8 dollar US thing to try, and should be the first thing you try when a Mac won’t start, or when it will start but won’t light up a monitor attached to it. The battery is usually light purple, same diameter and about half the length of a AA battery, and inside a black plastic cage on the motherboard. Pry off the cage by sticking a popsicle stick or similar non-conductive object into the slot on either end. Pay attention to polarity as the battery will fit both ways!
I am supposing here that you took the Mac outside, opened its side door and gave it a good squirting with an environmentally-safe Freon replacement, and closed the door. You didn’t unplug anything inside at any point, right?
Walter
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Thanks Walt. No I didn’t unplug anything inside. The battery I’ve located, not sure where to get ones these in the UK as they certainly are not a standard size. But I’ll try your recommendation first.
Thanks for your quick reply. Keep you informed.
Kryten
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BE CAREFUL not to touch the motherboard circuitry uneccessarily as this could cause a static eletric charge that can fry components.
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Good advice thanks Chucka.
Just spoken to CancomUK and the service guy says he doubts it will be the battery and to try pressing the Reset button on the M/board. I did that, once I’d located it but still no power up. A second hand PS is about £100 GBP + carriage & VAT. £60 GBP + VAT to fit, on top.
Next time the old girl can stay dusty.
K
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On 3 Sep 2008, at 17:40, Kryten wrote:
Next time the old girl can stay dusty.
Isn’t it more likely that the blast of air/freon dislodged something?
I had a power supply go the other month on my G5, and it made a little
pop and all the magic smoke leaked out. It’s a non-moving-part sort of
thing and I wouldn’t have thought a blast of air would hurt it.
best wishes,
Paul Bradforth
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Yes thanks Paul. I’ll take another look, but the fact that nothing is powering up not even the fans does suggest a knackered PS don’t you think?
K
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Isn’t it more likely that the blast of air/freon dislodged something?
Actually that may exactly what happened…although not the way you mean. If the dust is thick enough it can generate a static charge that makes doo doo out your chips. Blowing air through it may have been the catalyst it needed.
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On 3 Sep 2008, at 18:18, Kryten wrote:
Yes thanks Paul. I’ll take another look, but the fact that nothing
is powering up not even the fans does suggest a knackered PS don’t
you think?
Or a disconnected one; or a disconnected something?
best wishes,
Paul Bradforth
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Ah right. Bit of a quandry here then. Do I spend nearly £200 smackers only to find it’s the motherboard instead or as well. Not a happy man here.
My iBook laptop (backup so to speak) is only a G3 600Mhz w/320Mb RAM and painfully soooooooooooooo slooooooooooow it hurts. Running Quark 8 is a laugh.
K
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I disagree that the PS is the problem. In my experience, they fail slowly and noisily, and with memory errors to go with before hand. A nearly dead battery, on the other hand, will hold on to enough of a charge to keep starting the machine as long as the Mac stays plugged in, but if you unplug it from the wall for a while (such as when you took it outside), the battery can discharge to the point where it can’t start the machine.
I suspect (cynical of me) your service guy would rather sell you a PSU than a cheap battery. Your Mac is just about the right age (I have two of them here) for that battery to fail. And if it does fail, your Mac will not start at all.
http://www.amazon.com/APPLE-Power-Mac-CMOS-battery/dp/B000A0R0OY
If you don’t want to order it from Amazon, I usually buy mine at Radio Shack. They are also used in some alarm systems, so you don’t necessarily have to go to a Mac store to buy one.
Walter
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Walt - thank you. I’ll order a new battery and start there. Thanks very much for the link, but as I suspected in the UK, Amazon don’t have any. However I’ll source one here and try that first as you suggest.
Sincere thanks to everybody who was kind enough to respond. I’ll follow this up when the new battery is installed.
What an absolute a*s ache!
K.
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On 3 Sep 2008, at 20:31, Kryten wrote:
I’ll order a new battery and start there. Thanks very much for the
link, but as I suspected in the UK, Amazon don’t have any. However
I’ll source one here and try that first as you suggest
best wishes,
Paul Bradforth
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Thanks for that link Paul. I shall see if I can pick one up in town tomorrow, failing that a mail order jobbie.
It’s amazing how lost one feels without one’s beloved Mac, the PC just doesn’t cut it for me.
K.
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It’s amazing how lost one feels without one’s beloved Mac, the PC just doesn’t cut it for me.
Aye, i’ve been stuck with that damn monkey on me back for 20 years… 
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Hi Kryten, I had real problems getting a battery, we have an apple store here but they couldn’t help (would you believe it) maplins didn’t have quite the right one and I eventually got one from an outfit called TLC, they keep them for fire alarms or something, here’s a list of their locations:
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Information/branches/default.htm
Good luck Roger
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Hi Roger
Thanks very much for that info. Did your Mac have the same problem?
I have sourced one from cancomuk.com where I bought the Mac from years ago. The price inc. p&p + VAT is a joke. When the guy quoted me I burst out laughing. I think he thought I was insane.
Thanks again.
Kryters.
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On 4 Sep 2008, at 15:29, Kryten wrote:
I have sourced one from cancomuk.com where I bought the Mac from
years ago. The price inc. p&p + VAT is a joke. When the guy quoted
me I burst out laughing. I think he thought I was insane.
I was standing at the ticket kiosk at Denmark Hill station in London a
few years back, behind two Jack-the-lads who were going into central
London. One of the lads asked for a single to London Bridge and, on
being told the price, burst out with: ‘Nah mate, I only want one!’.
best wishes,
Paul Bradforth
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Hi Kryten, no my G4 is just old and I think I was having problems with the date and time (not too sure, it was a while ago and I have memory problems too - sadly I have yet to find a battery in the brain that I can change) - the price from TLC was peanuts, but then you need one close to you.
Roger
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We’ve bought UK mac parts from here:
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/
and batteries - ebay
David
On 4 Sep 2008, at 15:29, Kryten wrote:
Hi Roger
Thanks very much for that info. Did your Mac have the same problem?
I have sourced one from cancomuk.com where I bought the Mac from years ago. The price inc. p&p + VAT is a joke. When the guy quoted me I burst out laughing. I think he thought I was insane.
Thanks again.
Kryters.
David Owen