I'm Baaack... Well Kinda..

[nick29498141]

So a few days ago my iMac G5 starting shutting itself down.... No click from the relay... no nothing... It's 7 months out of warranty. So like any good DIYer, I grabbed some Torx drivers and went to town! :D

Upon opoening the case-back I found a blown electrolytic in the Logic Board (Motherboard for Macs) and a leaking, bubbling actually :eek:, electrolyitc in the power supply.

A new PS isn't bad, about $130.. But the Logic Board could be as much as $800 :eek::eek: :(

So I think I'm going to find someone to re-solder some of the caps on the board... I'd do it myself, but tight PCBs worry me (point-to-point FTW!).

Any Mac techs know why a random electrolytic would just die on my LB?


Typing off an older G4 laptop (with 2 external HDs, one of which is the HD from the iMac :D),

Nick :cool:

[Dirk]

Happens. There are varying quality caps out there, and I seem to remember a few years back about a whole mess of faulty ones showing up on the market. Some claimed things like industrial counterfitting and the like, but whatever it was, it plagued a number of manufacturers for a long time. I know I had 2 mobos produced in 2003 go like that. Coincidence? Dunno. I *do* know that the little Via EPIA boards are known in the DIY community to have a service life of about 2 years because the caps go with almost clockwork regularity.

Short answer is yes, they fail.

[Hal H]

My son had a Powerbook G5, I think. It was diagnosed with a faulty Logic Board. I have an iMac G5 and am on the third PS. All replaced under warranty service and the tech told me that some LBs were built with caps that weren't top notch and prone to failure. He actually looked at mine before he determined it was the actual PS. My electros on the LB were OK. I looked at my my son's and his caps were too. $800 for the fix on his P-Book!

So , yes, bad caps on a LB seem to be a common and cheap fix.

[nick29498141]

My son had a Powerbook G5, I think. It was diagnosed with a faulty Logic Board. I have an iMac G5 and am on the third PS. All replaced under warranty service and the tech told me that some LBs were built with caps that weren't top notch and prone to failure. He actually looked at mine before he determined it was the actual PS. My electros on the LB were OK. I looked at my my son's and his caps were too. $800 for the fix on his P-Book!

So , yes, bad caps on a LB seem to be a common and cheap fix.

Thanks for the reply... SE PA??? I'm SW PA...

[nick29498141]

Happens. There are varying quality caps out there, and I seem to remember a few years back about a whole mess of faulty ones showing up on the market. Some claimed things like industrial counterfitting and the like, but whatever it was, it plagued a number of manufacturers for a long time. I know I had 2 mobos produced in 2003 go like that. Coincidence? Dunno. I *do* know that the little Via EPIA boards are known in the DIY community to have a service life of about 2 years because the caps go with almost clockwork regularity.

Short answer is yes, they fail.

I guessed that, thanks. I've had some bad caps on the DIY market too... I was just peeved because the G5 has already gone through a PS and HD...

[nick29498141]

So I called a recommended local tech... To re-solder in TWO new electrolytics into the Logic Board... They want... Brace yourselves... be seated...

$200 FOR LABOR!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::e ek::eek:


Time to get that varible soldering station and those "helping hands" I've had my eye on... :rolleyes:

Nick

[Hal H]

So I called a recommended local tech... To re-solder in TWO new electrolytics into the Logic Board... They want... Brace yourselves... be seated...

$200 FOR LABOR!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::e ek::eek:


Time to get that varible soldering station and those "helping hands" I've had my eye on... :rolleyes:

Nick

I'm in the wrong business:eek:

[mike1234]

...supposed to be fool-proof and bullet-proof. :rolleyes::D

[Hal H]

...supposed to be fool-proof and bullet-proof. :rolleyes::D

Somehow, I knew that was coming...:D

[Æ]

My son had a Powerbook G5, I think.

Sorry, you thought wrong.
No PowerBook, iBook or MacBook ever had a G5.
G4 was as far as Apple went with laptops/notebooks, then they switched to intel.

[Dirk]

Sorry, you thought wrong.
No PowerBook, iBook or MacBook ever had a G5.
G4 was as far as Apple went with laptops/notebooks, then they switched to intel.

Glad we got that cleared up... :rolleyes:

[envisionelec]

So a few days ago my iMac G5 starting shutting itself down.... No click from the relay... no nothing... It's 7 months out of warranty. So like any good DIYer, I grabbed some Torx drivers and went to town! :D

Upon opoening the case-back I found a blown electrolytic in the Logic Board (Motherboard for Macs) and a leaking, bubbling actually :eek:, electrolyitc in the power supply.

A new PS isn't bad, about $130.. But the Logic Board could be as much as $800 :eek::eek: :(

So I think I'm going to find someone to re-solder some of the caps on the board... I'd do it myself, but tight PCBs worry me (point-to-point FTW!).

Any Mac techs know why a random electrolytic would just die on my LB?


Typing off an older G4 laptop (with 2 external HDs, one of which is the HD from the iMac :D),

Nick :cool:


Go here:
http://badcaps.net/
http://www.oliver-kreuzenbeck.de/iMac_problems/iMac.html