Power Supply Fried?

I've had some power surges lately and now, my G4 FW800 won't turn on. The power button lights when pushed, but that is all.
I've reset the PMU, tried a different outlet and switched RAM in and out.
I fear the power supply is dead and, I hope not, perhaps the motherboard. Is there any way to determine this?
I think a power surge might be to blame, although the computer was connected to a surge protector and the computer was exhibiting some strange behavior the past couple of weeks (spinning balls, slow startup.)
I'm out of Apple Care warranty and would prefer not to have to lug the thing in some place...
Any suggestions?
- Nolan

Have checked or replaced the internal battery?
When mine went, I had no response from my Mac at all; just a light on my power button; absolutely no boot at all.
Check out things in Texas Mac Man's tutorial on the subject. His tutorial is a little dated (don't believe it even mentions G5's) but the info in it, except SMU not being included, still applies.PRAM and PMU info is in there too.
Cheers!
DALE

Similar Messages

PowerbookG4 Runs on Battery But Won't Recognize/Recharge with Power Supply

My 15" 1.67gh Powerbook G4 will run just fine from battery power. The power supply does not charge the battery, though the amber light does turn on when it's connected. The screen power management display acts as if it's unplugged and doesn't recognize the plugged in power supply.
I have another G$ so can recharge the battery, and the power supply cord works fine in that one. I have tried the 5 second reset method (with the power supply and battery out)
This machine was used with an old battery that caused overheating during the summer to the point where the computer turned itself off.
Is the internal power supply fried? Is there a fuse that can be replaced? Is there some kind of other software/firmware procedural fix that I can try?
How much do these cost if I have to have it fixed? Is it worth doing for a computer this old? Can I just buy the part and try to install it? Is there a way to get it properly diagnosed without spending a ton of money?

There are 4 components to the charging circuit: power adapter, DC-in card, battery, and logic board. Unfortunately there is no automated test to determine what is causing any charging issues, so you have to solve it by elimination.
Since you have a working power adapter that will charge the battery on another PowerBook, that's good. And the system runs on battery power alone, so the battery sounds OK. That leaves either the DC-in card or the logic board as suspect. DC-in card would be the less expensive component to change, as they run $75-$95. A replacement logic board can run $300-$400. Those are used parts prices only without labor.
You could take your system to an Apple store, or better yet call them first, to see if they are even still repairing Powerbooks. If yes, see if you can have it sent to the Apple depot for repair (assuming you're in the US). As long as the case isn't banged up, it should run around $350 to have whatever is wrong fixed. If the case is banged up, it can run into the $650 range as they'll replace the case too. Comes back with a 90 day warranty. If they do the repair in the store, the price goes up... a logic board replacement in the store is around $750, as I recall. If you go this route, ensure you have a hard drive backup too before sending it off.

I had an Intel-iMac fried by lightening. UPS, surge protectors but it happened as I was reaching to unplug. Cold now. Could it just be the power supply? Can I replace that myself?

This is the full question since I couldn't get it all in the box.
I have some complex questions regarding an iMac, a Time-Machine backup, and iTunes on an iPod.
I live about halfway up an extinct volcano about 12 miles north of San Jose Costa Rica. Some months ago, we had a thunderstorm and as I reached to unplug my computers lightening struck about 50 meters from my house. I had an iMac with a 3-Tb external backup drive, a PC laptop and a laser printer on the same power strip. There was a definite surge and the light brighten and then power was lost for a few minutes.
When power was restored, the PC and the laser printer seemed to work fine but the iMac was cold.
First questions: Is is possible that the power supply was fried and not other essential parts? Would it be worthwhile to replace the power supply? Can I, with limited experience and tools do it or need I take it to a technician? My concern is that if the hard-drive is good, there is personal information on it that I don't want to risk.
Next question: Do I need to replace the hard-drive before taking it for service? How hard is that, can I do it? I have seen videos of the drive replacement on-line.
Those are my iMac questions, now the questions about backup restoration.
If there is a saving grace with this it is that the Time-Machine backup seems fine although I have only accessed the data through Finder. I replaced the iMac with a Macbook Air with significantly less mass storage and I can't just move files to the Macbook. My problem is that I have an iTunes library of some 10,000 songs on the backup and until recently on a 160 Gb iPod which was old and it crashed. I have replaced the iPod but have not tried to restore the iTunes library to it because of my confusion about how to do that. Can anyone tell me how I might do that or give me any insight into the process?
Thanks for any help you can give.

Is is possible that the power supply was fried and not other essential parts? Would it be worthwhile to replace the power supply? Can I, with limited experience and tools do it or need I take it to a technician? My concern is that if the hard-drive is good, there is personal information on it that I don't want to risk
Quite possible, but working on iMacs is not easy, & PSU might be prohibitive.
Hopefully the Drive might have info on it, but even pulling that out can be a chore.
If you don't know the model, find the Serial# & use it on one of these sites, but don't post the Serial# here...
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
How to find the serial number of your Apple hardware product...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349
I have replaced the iPod but have not tried to restore the iTunes library to it because of my confusion about how to do that. Can anyone tell me how I might do that or give me any insight into the process?
I'd get an external drive & restore the whole works to it, then boot from the External drive.

Power supply spark...fried mobo?

Hey my frieed with a K8N Neo is having a problem..everything was working fine in his pc for 11 months...one day his powersupply sparked and the computer would not boot. No lights, no fans, nothing.
So he set in a replacement for a power supply and recived a new one. After plugging in everything the computer would still do nothing, no lights fans etc. Do you think the motherboard is fried? I've checked all the jumpers and they are fine.
His specs are:
Athlon 64 3200
MSI K8N Platinum
X-Infinity case
512 Geil Ram
Thermaltake 420W purepower (W0009R)
120 GB Hard drive
Thanks

Gildan,
You asked the following:
btw, how do u do (4)? (which was how to read voltages on motherboard with voltage multimeter (VMM).
Fiirst thing to do is to read and understand following thoroughly:
VMM USAGE INFORMATION
Many troubleshooting procedures require that you measure voltage and resistance. You take these measurements by using a handheld Digital Multi-Meter (DMM). The meter can be an analog device (using an actual meter) or a digital-readout device. The DMM has a pair of wires called test leads or probes. The test leads make the connections so that you can take readings. Depending on the meter's setting, the probes measure electrical resistance, direct-current (DC) voltage, or alternating-current (AC) voltage.
Usually, each system-unit measurement setting has several ranges of operation. DC voltage, for example, usually can be read in several scales, to a maximum of 200 millivolts (mv), 2v, 20v, 200v, and 1,000v. Because computers use both +5 and +12v for various operations, you should use the 20v maximum scale for making your measurements. Making these measurements on the 200mv or 2v scale could "peg the meter" and possibly damage it because the voltage would be much higher than expected. Using the 200v or 1,000v scale works, but the readings at 5v and 12v are so small in proportion to the maximum that accuracy is low.
If you are taking a measurement and are unsure of the actual voltage, start at the highest scale and work your way down. Most of the better meters have autoranging capability: The meter automatically selects the best range for any measurement. This type of meter is much easier to operate. You just set the meter to the type of reading you want, such as DC volts, and attach the probes to the signal source. The meter selects the correct voltage range and displays the value. Because of their design, these types of meters always have a digital display rather than a meter needle.
CAUTION: Whenever using a multimeter to test any voltage that could potentially be 110v or above, always use one hand to do the testing, not two. Either clip one lead to one of the sources and probe with the other, or hold both leads in one hand.
If you are holding a lead in each hand and accidentally slip, you can very easily become a circuit, allowing power to conduct or flow through you. When the power is flowing from arm to arm, the path of the current is directly across the heart. Hearts have a tendency to quit working when subjected to high voltages. They're funny that way.
I prefer the small digital meters; you can buy them for only slightly more than the analog style, and they're extremely accurate, as well as much safer for digital circuits. Some of these meters are not much bigger than a cassette tape; they fit in a shirt pocket. Radio Shack sells a good unit (made for Radio Shack by Beckman) in the $25 price range; the meter is a half-inch thick, weighs 3 1/2 ounces, and is digital and autoranging as well. This type of meter works well for most, if not all, PC troubleshooting and test uses.
CAUTION: You should be aware that many analog meters can be dangerous to digital circuits. These meters use a 9v battery to power the meter for resistance measurements. If you use this type of meter to measure resistance on some digital circuits, you can damage the electronics, because you essentially are injecting 9v into the circuit. The digital meters universally run on 3 to 5v or less.
Now that you have a nice shiny DIGITAL VMM make sure that you read its manual to understand out it works. Practice taking reading on household batteires and the likes first. Once you are confident and have confirmed that you have the proper lead in the neg/pos connector of your multimeter you are now ready to take some reading from your motherboard. Remember to always ground yourself first to dissipate static electricity, Put the black lead sensor against the case and then use the red lead sensor to carefully probe various points on your motherboard. Be very careful to only touch one point (soldering point, chipset leg, or a motherboard trace) at a time. You want to absolutely avoid short circuiting two such points. As long as you only touch one single point at a time you will be safe and get good reading were voltage is present. I usually use a gator clip connector to affix the black lead to the case, leaving me one hand for flashlight or magnifying glass and other to handle red VMM lead.
Here is how to get a Vddr reading on a MS-7025 Neo2 platinum: http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=583463
(Put red lead sensor on green dot)
Here is how to get a Vcore reading on a MS-7025 Neo2 platinum: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=23902&stc=1
Your Board layout may be slightly different but just keep looking for something similar near your RAM and CPU. Remember to always use only the red lead sensor while being extremely careful to only touch only one spot at a time.
Have fun,

Up for the Challenge? A Real Mystery (Fried Power Supply?)

I didn't know if this is the appropriate place to post this, but here goes.
I have a file server at home that runs Arch/KDE. It used to be a desktop/gaming machine, but I don't really play games on my computer anymore so I re-purposed it as a file server (SSH, Unison). It has a Geforce 9800GT video card and a 610watt continuous power supply. (No onboard video, requires a video card to function).
Yesterday I helped a client with his PC. I was trying to figure out if his issue was his video card or his motherboard, so I shut down the server, unplugged it, and removed the video card and put it in his PC to test (since my video card is known-good). After testing, I put it back in my server, connected the power cable to the video card, secured it with a screw, and continued working on my server.
About a half hour later, I noticed a really foul stench coming from my PC. I checked all the temps (CPU, video card, etc) and all were in range. I even tried a video card from a different PC and it still stunk. I traced the smell to my power supply, which stunk really bad. (Smells like a burned up motor). The Fan in the power supply turns just fine but it stinks! I unplugged it and stopped using it.
The server works absolutely fine (runs good, boots up fine, graphics works great, everything works) but it smells so bad you can smell it quite some distance from the tower so I'm not comfortable leaving it on.
Here's the mystery:
Is it possible that it's all just a coincidence, that the power supply decided to die coincidentally after testing the video card in another PC, or could testing the video card in a different PC have caused the power supply to burn up? The problem is definitely the power supply, but what I'm wrestling with is the fact that the server has been on for probably several weeks straight with no issue, and it decides to quit immediately after testing the video card in another PC. I know the coincidence is possible but it seems like a stretch.

spctrl wrote:
It is probably rather simple.. I've had the same general thing happen many times. When you turn on your machine the hardware demands a lot more power compared to when it is just running. Disks and fans need to spin up and so forth. So this PSU might have been fine if you had just kept it powered on, it would never have happened. Having said that it's bad that such a powerful unit dies, but I've come to accept that most power supplies are garbage when it comes to reliability.. Doesn't matter if you spend extra $$$ on a "good" brand or if you stick to cheaper ones - they just suck in general..
If I had the money I'd buy a UPS to remove power surges and such, but until then I will have to buy a new PSU every second year I guess.
That makes sense. I emailed the company to get an RMA yesterday, and have not heard back yet. I don't have the money to buy a new one so it really depends on them replacing it under the warranty. I'm sure I'll be without the server up to a month until it's fixed.

Power supply vs. logic board? turns off in sleep mode.

My imac g5 (2004 - 1st generation?) is either turning completely off or going into some un-wake-up-able mode after it's put to sleep. (I have to switch off/on the power strip and turn the computer on all over again.) And sometimes if it's sleeping (power light pulsing on front) it may or may not wake from sleep by pushing the power button. Often touching a key in that circumstance will cause it to crash, so I've quit using that altogether as a method of waking it up. I've reset the SMU a number of times throughout the past few months and it has not cleared up this problem.
Last night after I put it to sleep it switched in to the un-wake-up-able mode. I could still hear something running (not a fan, just an electrical hum) where it seems like it's crashed and can't shut itself off. I had to turn off the power and try to turn the computer back on. It wouldn't respond the first couple times. Then the power light glowed for a while but it still didn't turn on completely. After a few more minutes I tried again. Maybe I held the power button for too long, but I heard a long single beep, the fans whirred, and then everything started up as usual.
I've read a number of threads seemingly related to these issues, but am now not clear about whether this is a power supply issue or a logic board issue. I have yet to open the back and check for bulging capacitors. Just thought I'd ask here first.

I am having a very close issue too (posted also in a more recent thread about power button not functioning). My old iMac G5 20 inches got a power supply that went bad two years ago. I had it replaced and all went fine until two weeks ago.
My wife was using it, while I was away: machine shut down with a 'pop!' sound.
She tried to start it up again, but after pressing the button a couple of times - the last one longer - she had a long strong peep. The machine went on for a while and then off again. Scared, she left it off.
After checking, no reported issue seems to fit to the problems shown: power supply is working; logic board too. The machine is working fine, but on sleep, it dies out. While doing tasks, at undetermined times, it shuts down with a 'pop!'. Sometimes you can restart it immediately. Sometimes you can't and have to wait one or more hours. No evidently bad caps on board, led check returns 1 (no 2 flashing or attempting to turn on) with dead computer, otherwise all working fine. Hardware test also passed. Console messages have nothing relevant or clearly understandable to offer.
Still can't figure out a solution. Many user are pretty fast in suggesting to bringing the machine to Apple. Unfortunately not all around the world we have/need cars. And getting the 20 kg of iMac by feet/metro to the shop it ain't such a nice walk. When I fried the power supply, there was no sufficiently large box on sale to pack the computer and have it send to the shop. I had to wait for the technician - on a convenient day - do drop by and take it (and he knew he was going to repair it)!
Will post, if I have further developments.

IMac G5 20" power supply problem

The power supply on my 20" G5 recently fried. Somehow I had the activity monitor showing that the "FaxJobMgr" was using about 70% of my cpu. I had had that problem before and the computer was very warm. I quit that process but shortly after that there was an acrid smell that I ultimately found was coming from the power supply. When I re-started everything came up to the desktop but then it shut down just as if the plug were pulled. I see that there were many issues with the power supply on this first generation G5. I took it to the Apple Store and they say it is the power supply AND there appears to also be damage to the logic board. $734. I'm wondering if maybe its only the power supply and they are just being cautious that there might be damage to the logic board so just replace it or buy a new computer. I thought I might try to replace the power supply only, but then that seems to be about a $120 that might be gone. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Generally speaking, the defects which affect a logic board and power supply in that family of products are similar, but there typically exists no causal link between them. It is possible to have a logic board affected by the defective electrolytic capacitor issue, a defective power supply, or both.
You can readily determine if the logic board is defective by examining the clusters of capacitors on the logic board for bloating, distended tops or leakage. If they exhibit such symptoms, your logic board can be repaired for $ 189.00 by contacting this company.
You may also need to replace the power supply, thought that determination is best made once the logic board as been verified as good or bad, and replaced, if you elect to do so. Power supplies for this product family generally cost roughly $ 139.00, and are user replaceable. Replacing the supply in a unit which exhibits the defective capacitor issue will not correct the logic board related problem, and may—under relatively rare circumstances—cause the eventual failure of the replacement supply.
*I may receive compensation as a result of parts or services being ordered by users specified at the link shown in this message.

2008 iMac 8,1 still won't power up after replacing power supply

A few days ago my iMac powered-ON as usual at 8AM and was working normally, I checked email and left for a meeting. When I returned 30 minutes later my office had a slight odor of hot bakelite and the screen was dark, instead of displaying the screen saver. Thinking the power may have blinked, I pushed the start button on the back and nothing happened, tried several more times, then depressing and holding, still nothing - absolutely lifeless.
Presumed it was probably the power supply, so took it into the Genius Bar and my suspicion was confirmed; they checked the LEDs and advised that the power supply was mostly bad. Despite the hassle, the solution seemed simple enough: replace the power supply and I'd be back in business. That proved to be wrong!
Bought a new (NIB) power supply from a reputable dealer and carefully disassembled/reassembled the iMac feeling ever so confident that I'd hear the chime and fan whir when I depressed the ON/OFF Button. To my total disbelief nothing has changed! Its still dark and lifeless as before. Not discounting a theoretical chance that both power supplies could be bad I'm puzzled what to do next and where to look. Obviously, there isn't much in line ahead of the power supply, but given the fact there is no fan noise and no glimmer on the display, I can't fathom it could be anything other than something between the power cord and the power supply.
What could have caused the hot bakelite smell? The original power supply had NO bakelite odor and no burned chips, traces, scorched transformer windings or cooked capacitors. That had surprised me, so sniffed around the motherboard/backplane and detected a slight bakelite odor at or near the hard drive; I haven't cracked the case yet to examine the HDD - but, even if it were dead, I'd still hear the chime and fan, and maybe see at least a slight glow on the display, right?
And so, I'm calling on all you "pros from Dover" for some insights, wisdom and pointers to help me diagnose the problem and get the thing fixed. Your thoughts?
Thanks, much, compadres. AK

My assumption is the same as KT’s, the logic board fried. If the logic board is functional, even if the hard drive is dead, it should power on and perform the POST. Since it isn’t my advice is the same as KT’s - hope you don’t need Snow Leopard to run some older program(s).

Help! I need to upgrade my Dell Optiplex GX260 (tower) power supply!

Hi,
I plan on taking a trip to Best Buy today to purchase a video card and power supply for my Dell Optiplex GX260 (tower). I am looking to get at least a 500W power supply. Can you tell me the BEST power supply that will work/fit that Best Buy sells? Thanks very much.

I see that you posted back in March of 2009 so I hope that you haven't already fried a motherboard or PSU while learning the hardway, as I feel that I almost did. We have a Dell GX260 that my daughter wants to play some games on but I found out that the Graphic Card (ATI Radeon 7500 series) was not good enough for the games that she wants to play so I decided to upgrade the graphic card, unfortunately I found out that a lot of newer cards have PCI-Express connectors and not the PCI I need. As well, I found out that most of the PCI cards above what I have need more than the 250Watt power supply that I have. So I thought, why not just upgrade my my PSU and then I found out that Dell actually rewires their PSU differently than the industry standard ATX connectors but I see a lot of post and recommendations from people that say that you can use any store bought PSU to upgrade your Optiplex GX260 but BEWARE that if you bought your system after late 1998 then you have a Dell system that has their own proprietary wiring configuaration and even though you can buy a standard ATX PSU at bestbuy and it will seem to fit properly, it will either fry your new PSU or worse yet, it will fry your motherboard as well. In fact, I went to bestbuy three days ago and bought a graphic card and the salesman told me that if my PSU was not at least 300Watt, which is what the card required, that I can come back and buy a standard PSU from them and that would fix the problem. The salesman even knew that I had a Dell System so I wonder if BestBuy would be willing to replace my motherboard if I had fried it based on what the bestbuy salesman told me to do???? Anyway, read this link http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=339053 and see what you think!! I am glad I stumbled across the information and plan on upgrading my PSU with a compatible Dell PSU or look for a Dell Converter (if there is such a cable) or just replace both my PSU and Motherboard as directed. I also think I might actually build my next PC from scratch with all industry standard parts, as I was very ignorant up until now that Dell was doing this to their products and I have 3 of their systems in my house....but no more!!! I did find a Dell compatible PSU 500 Watt on PCPower.com but it comes with SATA drive connectors and my Optiplex GX260 has IDE connectors so I don't know if I can get a SATA to IDE conversion or not but as you can see I am still researching my options. I might actually find it will be cheaper to just buy a new system or build the one of my dreams!!
I know I wrote a lot but I hope that this information is helpful to someone else out there who is in the same boat as me.

Post Power Supply replacement problems

Hello,
I'm trying to resuscitate my PowerMac G5 after a power supply failure and I'm having some issues. I've reached the end of my expertise and so I need to reach out to the community in hopes of being pointed in the right direction.
So here's the series of event that led me to where I'm at right now along with some symptoms:
- My PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 (june 2004) died in a puff of smoke one day, smelled like burnt plastic. I was pretty sure it was a power supply issue. My computer does not qualify for the Apple extended PSU replacement program. After the death, the power supply would click whenever it was plugged in but otherwise the computer was unresponsive.
- I ordered in a new 600W power supply and replaced the toasted one. I took care to place the CPUs back exactly where they were to avoid having to re-calibrate them.
- I plugged my computer back in with the same configuration minus the second hard drive. The primary hard drive should be bootable.
- The first time I powered it on it had no monitor or keyboard/mouse connected. The fans went off at normal speed, the chime chimed and then the fans went full speed.
- I powered it off and plugged in a keyboard/mouse and monitor and now when I power it on I can hear the fans, then the chime then the CD drive reads a bit of the CD and then that's it. No video.
- It somehow seems to ignore the keyboard and mouse: I can't use the keyboard to reset the PRAM. I can't use the mouse to open the CD tray.
- Powering the computer down requires the "press and hold for 2 sec" versus the immediate power down like when the computer is in Target Disk mode.
- The power status led doesn't flash in anyway at boot, indicating no problem with the RAM, ROM or processors.
- The diagnosis lights inside the mac are not lit until I remove the plastic cover which triggers the default behavior of running the fans at full speed. Then the led lights up.
- I reset the PMU but it didn't seem to make a difference.
- I tried accessing the disk in Target Disk mode but since the keyboard appears to be ignored I don't think the G5 even gets in Target Disk mode. In any case it doesn't mount on the remote computer.
- I notice that the fan on the video card doesn't spin. The video card is an ATI 800XT with a Zallman fan and heatsync installed.
I'd be tempted to say that the video card got fried with the PSU failure but then shouldn't I be able to use the keyboard to reset the PRAM and such ? The fact that I'm unable to do that leads me to believe that perhaps a part of the logic board or the front panel got fried...
How would I go about troubleshooting this without buying a new logic board and front panel ?
Any ideas ?

Going through the exact same issue started about 1.5 weeks ago thinking about giving up and buying a Mac mini for access and snow leopard.

Replacement Power Supply

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement power supply for my Inspire 4.1(4400) speaker system? It is a 2VAC 2.9A power supply.

I have the same speaker system but im afraid that i have fried the subwoofer. so i dont need the power supply any longer. I would be happy to let you have it for cheeper than you could get it at a electronics store. if you are interested then you can email me @ [email protected]
and we can discuss it.
cool?
Jimbo

Mac Pro power supply failure

Anyone have any luck repairing A 2008 Mac Pro power supply? There are two fried resistors on the board and would like to save the 300 USD for a new supply.

Macitguy.com,
Image was not taken at starting, but to be sure here under are values taken 30 mn after starting with antivirus scanning from the start:
http://peloche.smugmug.com/photos/472815384_tAmam-X3.jpg
My MacPro is 2006 model 4 cores.
AMHA MacPro cooling system is (almost) like this:
http://peloche.smugmug.com/photos/93683908_t22JU-L.jpg
If I were you I'll check that nothing slows airflow around DVD location and I'll install Fan control to increase others fan speed (orange and red airflows on the drawing, mines are running at 1500/1600 rpm) this should help the whole system (AMHA), it doesn't cost to make a test.
Peloche,

Is it the power supply... or the motherboard?

Lets start of with specs...
K7T266 Pro2 Mainboard
AMD Athlon XP 1700+
nVidia GeForce 3 Ti 500
Creative Labs Audigy MP3
Western Digital 80 GB Hard Drive (7200RPM)
IBM 40 GB Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Mmkay now... I just installed some nifty lights and a window on my case, I don't think that is the problem though. Whenever I go to putting in the 20 pin ATX power supply thingee, nothing happens to the mainboard, nothing lights up... sometimes when I put in the cable different ways, or with my hand further away from the connecter, the lights get a faint glow, the fans turn on, but the hard drives don't. This has happened 3 times to me, and I don't know what the problem is.... the first time it happened I thought my power supply was fried so I ran out and bought a PSU tester, all was fine so I knew it had to be the mainboard. It wasnt. Some of the little doodahs inside the connecter from the power supply werent pushed in (or is it out?) far enough, aka some wires were just slipping out from the connector. The second time, I went to take apart the computer to dust it and the same thing happened.
This time, is the first time I had the lights and the window on the case, so when I plug in the PSU tester to the power supply, everything lights up and turns on (except the mainboard which isnt plugged in). So then I plug it into the mainboard's connecter, it doesnt turn on. I have been fiddling with it for 20 hours and even used a dremel to shave off some of the plastic on the PSU's connecter, so the wires in the mainboard would hit the ones on the connecter. They didn't.
Now I am asking you, if you can understand what I just said ( :D ), what is wrong with my computer.
I'll take some pictures and show you what is happening...

I do not think it is the connector to the MB, the PSU or the Mobo. I think you somewhere have a short-circuit. It might be that it is in a place so that it only occurs when you have "fiddled" with the innards of your case.
Try and search for anything that might be causing a short circuit.
Remember that some lights (dont know correct english word for the type here) might in some situation be considered a short circuit (and might cause your PSU not to power up).

Can I use the old power supply with the new unit?

I have a second generation Apple TV. When I install the new unit next week can I use the old power supply with the new one and the new power supply with the old one? This would save some messing with cords behind the units.

Hello:
I would definitely not try that..... The power supplies may be compatible - or may not be compatible. I think messing with cables is a small price to pay for not potentially frying a new device.
Barry

Dead motherboard and power supply.. now what?

I am pretty upset that my iMac had a meltdown. It worked wonderfully and perfectly until last week. The Apple store told me that the motherboard fried and so did the power supply. They told me it wasn't worth it to replace the parts since it would cost over 1200 dollars to replace. I seriously do not have money for a new computer and I do not have the credit rating that could help me finance a new one.
I've had the computer since 2004, you could say that over 4 years of perfect performance could be good, but the computer was a gift from my dad who has recently passed, and I don't think it's going to be easy for me to give it up. If I were to buy the parts myself and do the install, would be it be worth it? My questions are ... where can I buy the motherboard and new power supply? Can I buy directly from Apple and install myself? Thanks in advance for your help.

Welcome to Discussions - sorry about your loss, there certainly are places that sell replacement parts for your Rev A - look at [welovemacs.com] to get an idea of prices. Buying from Apple usually means higher prices, but you can check with them as well, part of the $1200 was surely labor costs.
Let us know how things turn out,

Power Supply Fried?

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