Dual Powermac G5 2.0Ghz JUST WENT BANG!!!

Question

Hi all, Im writing this through my laptop as my G5 went BANG/POP this morning.
I'm not new to apple macs but I am new to owning the G5 and have little experience with the insides, I've only ever used the G5 at college and Uni. I managed to get my hands on this G5 Dual 2.0Ghz from a friend who has upgraded to a Mac pro and I havent used it as yet because of this:
I had only got a vga monitor so sent off for an adapter from DVI to VGA, the adapter came this morning and so in excitement of owning my G5 I carefully fixed the adapter to the mac and then to the monitor. Powered up the monitor and as always it was perfect and awaiting signal.
After pressing the power on my G5 I heard the glourious hum we all love, I was so pleased about having it and was eagerly awaiting it to start to have a play. Just as the apple logo came onto my screen as it was booting up I heard a MASSIVE BANG/POP and the monitor went blank. I quickly turned off the switches and pulled the plugs out for both mac and monitor and also the power lead of the mac.
After gathering my self together (the bang took me by suprise and scared the **** out of me for a few moments) I switched back on the monitor and as always it was in perfect working condition. The mac however, when I plugged it back in for just a second to see if it was ok, it wouldn't power up and there were no signs of life whatsoever.
I have a little knowledge so immediatly thought it could be the PSU I had heard a few horror stories about them blowing but never before witnessed it. I'm certain its the PSU and I called the friend I bought it from asking and hoping for a solution. He also said it sounded like the PSU, but now Im stuck, Ive just forked out a rather large amount of money for the Mac (Im a single dad and work only part time) I saw that there were a number of certain models that had problems so i cross checked the serial but its not in that group so I cant get apple to sort it for free.
my question is now, where do i go ? Icant afford another G5 Ive spent years trying to get hold of one and not had the funds apart from when this was offered to me at just the top of my limit. I also go to night class at local university studying filmmaking and graphics but I cant do any of what I need to do ecause of the fact I now have no usable mac.
Can I get this fixed cheaper than Im hoping or is it going to cost hundreds of pounds ?
Please help im absolutely gutted that Ive spent all this money for nothing, I only did it to help with my studies so that I can earn more in the long run for my child.
Thanks in advance,
A very gutted Purple Ronnie

Answer 1

Yeah, you should NEVER plug a system directly into the wall like that unless your home is wired with built-in surge protection.
Then still, IMO, you should use good power strips made by a reputable manufacturer like APC.
If your home is wired with surge protection you'd know by the wall plate having a switch or indicator.
I had my house wired that way because I had to have the wiring updated anyway.
It wasn't cheap, and looking back I'm not sure it was necessary.
I still use surge protected power strips on everything and UPS on the most critical components.
I have all my network components on UPS which also has its own surge protection, and of course my home server and PowerMac have dedicated UPS units.
So if the power goes out the network components and workgroup server stay up for 15 minutes.
The PowerMac for a half hour and the basement desktop for 5 minutes.
For the laptops I bought surge protected adapters that just plug right into the wall plates.
No battery backup for obvious reasons.
The surge adapters are no bigger than the wall plates themselves, but protrude outward and have 6 receptacles.
The outer edge is a strip that glows blue when it's solid and grounded, green when it isn't grounded but still solid, and red when the circuit gets tripped.
It's a low intensity glow for the sake of efficiency.
The idea is redundancy.
In the case of a spike, if the built in protection fails the external protection kicks in.
Many people think it's a bit obsessive compulsive.
And it probably is to an extent because I tend to gravitate that way with everything.
I had an NT workstation in 1998 that got totally fried due to a cheap power strip.
It was a traumatic experience!
Rivaled only by the thermal issue with the G5 that I'm currently dealing with.
However, it made me very aware of the evils that electrical spikes/surges present and the damage they leave in their wake.
For best protection you should buy units that have RJ11(telephone) and RJ45(ethernet)protection.