G5 iMac rev B shuts down unexpectedly

Question

I know there are other threads on this, but I thought I would start one for G5 iMac rev B models.
Mine is about 17 months old now (no, I don't have Apple Care!) and has worked very reliably - until yesterday. It shut itself down at some point during the night of Sat/Sun, and again about 5 minutes after I restarted it on Sunday morning.
What I've done so far:
1 after the second shut down, I restarted in single-user mode and repaired the disk using fsck -fy. No repairs were reported.
2 I also repaired permissions, although I believe this is irrelevant to the issue.
What I haven't done yet:
3 reset the PRAM
4 reset the SMU
So far (touch wood), the computer has not shut itself down again. If it does, I'll do steps 3 and 4 above and post back. It's now had exactly 24 hours uptime, by the way.
I'm in 10.4.8 (the profile can't be updated, so it's stuck at 10.4.7). Are there any other rev B users who have started to experience these shut downs? Is there any connection to being in 10.4.8, or is that pure coincidence?

Answer 1

To other Rev B owners with failed power supply units...
Unfortunately, I was not successful in convincing Apple to cover this part for my son's May 2005 Rev B. The repair was done, out of pocket, for about 200.00, by an Authorized Apple Service Center. I did get a written reply from Customer Relations today to my letter expressing my position and concerns vis a vis others who may be in the same situation. The official response was terse and essentially reiterated Apple's hard line position.
My guess is that quite a few more Rev B's will have to fail in order for this item to be covered by what would essentially be a revision to the Rev A's Extended Repair Program. The word "current" clearly appears in the original program description on line, as well as in their letter to me.
In other words, Apple might change course in the future and include certain Rev B models, one would assume, if the failure rates are high enough. At this point in time, it didn't really concern them that 100% of the iMac G5 Rev B's PSU's in our family failed.
Nevertheless, I understand the company's position. Although my hopes for reimbursement from Apple are dashed on this particular issue, it will not affect my future product purchasing decisions, except that I will definitely get Applecare coverage and insure myself for three years of worry free use.
It would be interesting to hear if anyone with a Rev B has actually gotten Apple to pay for this repair, outside of an existing Applecare Plan or expired one year standard warranty coverage. I ran into a brick wall, but others may have hopefully gotten through. If so, please share the details of your experience.