Re: Power Supply Problems/ Bad Design

The moderator of this site seems to think that any external power supply can have the same problems as apple powerbook supply. "Not so", say I ! Most PC notebooks and yes, I do use them, have a fairly sturdy cord on both sides of the connection. Should one find oneself in a situation without a power supply for a pc notebook it is usually possible to get one from a local Radio Shack or international electrical store. Not so with apple powerbooks. the connections are specifically apple and although there ae a few generic replacement PSU they are not generally available only from mac speciality stores. Why apple decides to design what is obviously a flimsy (my electrical gaffer on my movie looked at it and just laughed)and possibly dangerous device is beyond me. It occurs to me that with all the innovative design apple has come up with in the past has gone to the designer's heads. Now we are faced with a 'magnetic' connector on the new powerbook pro line. Are you kidding apple ? Please just give us a simple, generic power supply and conmnector so that we travellers can rest in peace knowing we can replace the PSU anywhere in the world.
BTW my PSU was smoking and sparking when I awoke in my hotel room until it just gave up.
PBG4 1.25MHZ Mac OS X (10.3.7)

Two alternative power adapter manufacturers:
http://www.lindelectronics.com/cgi-bin/store/shop.cgi/!ORDERID!/ACAdapters/Apple/dbx_gen_mfg_ACAdapters?industry=
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/APLN2M/
The most common issues people have with Apple's adapters that I've seen are (not that this applies to you, but perhaps one will refer to something you've done that you didn't realize could cause harm):
1. They pull by the cord and not the bulb.
2. They push in without looking.
3. They let the cord bend at the bulb or at the brick. Give it at least two inches of slack.
4. They don't remove the plastic wrapping that is clear from the brick when they first get it. This under the wrong conditions could create an overheating condition.
5. They rely on unreliable power sources. Some older houses have issues with giving reliable power to outlets. Using a backup battery surge protector like those from APC can help.
By the way, my father's Dell power adapter had to be replaced too. Non-Apple notebook power adapters are actually more flimsy than you give them credit for. Part of the problem is designing the transformer to be in such a compressed space that is lightweight too. Until people don't mind the extra weight of a full fledged desktop power supply inside a notebook, thus allowing standard power cables, or a room temperature superconductor is invented, this will be a persistent issue. Take good care of your cords, and don't let them bend so much that they fray.
I might add, I went to Radio Shack, and they had the parts for me to build a power adapter for my Powerbook. Unfortunately the transformer brick would have been 3 times as large and as heavy.

Similar Messages

Replacing Power Supply Problems

Apple Care had kindly sent me a new power supply. It is a self servicing part, i.e. I have to install it myself. Tried for 2 hours yesterday to get the old one out...didn't work.
The problems:
1. Middle screw on back of power supply does not get loose [the screw close to the power cord connector]. I tried to pull the power supply up while loosening screw...no success. Did anybody run in the same problem...how did you get this screw unstuck?
2. Middle case screw [the one at the bottom of the computer] needs to be turned to the right...which is in contradiction to the downloadable manual...but the front ot the screw still touches the power supply...and possibly holds it in.
How easy should the power supply come out...how much force can I apply without breaking the computer's case?
3. Ambient light sensor connector: comes as separate cable. Since I have not gotten the old power supply out, I do not know how to connect the cable to the new one. There does not appear to be a designated hole on the power supply.
Experiences welcome!
Thanks
Jurgen

hi Jurgen.... i just get a new imac g5 and it presents power supply problems the very first day they bring it... so the retalier took it for a repair..i been wating for two months and no sings of a solution... i am looking for help but i can't reach anyone at apple .... so i need some tips here... what should i do?? i tried the chat agent but they are closed..and the retailer refuse tho give enough info to check out about the repair status..they keep saying that the frabric respond very slow and then that the new part they recieved from apple was defectous... well.. if anyone can give me some tip would be very nice and usefull.. i really don,t now what to do... some email to inform apple the situation ?.... thanks for read this... Fernando

Power supply problem a little better after unplugging imac for 24 hours

Hello,
I'm currently having power supply problems (at least I hope it's the power supply and not the mother board), similar to many others I've seen on these boards. What I've noticed is that if I unplug my iMac for about 24 hours I can get it to run again for a little while. Unplugging it for a few minutes (or even 8 hours) doesn't seem to help. My iMac won't get much further than the starting chime before it loses power. But it seems to me that unplugging it for 24 hours has gotten me between 5 days to 5 hours of use before I unexpectedly lose power.
Is there anything to account for this or am I just imagining things? Ultimately, I don't think the answer will help me much, but I am curious to know. I'm taking my iMac to a Mac Genius tomorrow to see if they can help diagnose the problem. I saw a little hit in my video today, which was a first, so I suspect the problem may be getting worse. I'll probably be buying a new power supply soon.

I'm having the same problem. They say to restart you have to unplug the power, wait 10 seconds and then plug it back in but apparently it's not enough. I have to unplug for about 30 seconds, plug back in, and wait anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours before it'll start up again properly. The last time I had this issue was in october '06- when I had a new logic board and power supply put in. Now I'm worried because my applecare is expired by about 3 months. I bought the computer in feb. '05. I hope a new board doesn't cost more than what the computer itself is worth but I'm afraid that'll be the case...

HT2811 If the display flashed short long short could the power supply be bad?

If the display flashed short long short could the power supply be bad?

Hello,
In order to determine what might be going on, I am going to need a little more information about your setup such as:
-what version of the cFP drivers are you using?
-where/what device are you outputting voltage to? at what voltage? how much current do those devices require?
-could you explain further by what is meant by '[at] approximately 30 seconds, all channels on that PWM shut off'. Are the lights on the modules still illuminated when the system 'shuts off' or do they remain on?
-Do you have another power supply you could try this with?
-Does the power supply meet the specifications for use with this module per p. 4 and 5 of the FIELDPOINT AND SPECIFICATIONS™ OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FP-PWM-520 and cFP-PWM-520 Eight-Channel, 5 V...
-Does the power supply continue to output 24VDC even after the 'shut down'?
Regards,
National Instruments
Applications Engineer

[PT880-Neo LSR]Power supply problem

Hello,
We've installed the new motherboard today, it model is PT880 Neo LSR. Well we've got everything plugged in, but when we try to turn on our computer it doesn't turn on.
There is a case switch, but when turn on, the fans work for like 1 second then it stop.
I've tried the Troubleshooting guide on the website, and studying the Manual, but I could not find a way to fix this.
Can anyone help us fix this power supply problem please?
Thanks

Quote
Originally posted by DarkDuelist
yea, it comes with the 4-pin atx1 connector and 20-pin atx2 connector.
But i just exchanged another mainboard, and still not work. the first time i test it, i only plug the 4-pin and 20-pin connector into the mainboard and it worked. i thought the problem was solved. so i put everything else in (cpu, hdd, cd-rom, dvd-rom...) then test it again. I only heard a sound psssst, and nothing run. I tested it many time and it still not work. Then I UNPLUG the 4-pin connector from the power supply to the mainboard, and test again, this time, only all the fan RUN except the the fan in the power supply DID NOT run. Is it because that the power supply got problem? I used another power supply 420w to test but nothing run either.
MATSONIC motherboard MS9087C
DDR 400
Intel celeron 2gh 400 fsb
Macron 350w power supply
The psssst sound----sounds like something shorted out. Pull everything out and put it back in with a different PSU.
Don't put a hard drive or floppy in-----just CPU, RAM mobo, vid card, fans, PSU-----see if it will post.

Ask your question.MC508LL/A power supply problems, Ask your question.MC508LL/A power supply problems, Ask your question.MC508LL/A power supply problems

I have just replaced my older IMac with a new one because of a cronic power supply problem. Now I see this one is doing the same thing. Is anyone else having the same issues with their MC508LL/A.

I'm with babowa there ... I would suspect the power souce, not the PSU. Where you live could be an issue depending on how reliable and 'clean' the electricity is to your home. If that is ok then it could be the wiring in your house ... if it were mine, I'd need an electrician to check it out.
Personally, I've had computers hooked to my electric service since 1995 and no UPS (despite recommendations) and never encountered a problem with the computers ... many electrical issues (brown outs, outages, etc), just been fortunate they didn't affect my machines.

Asus power supply problems

I am considering a new Asus netbook but have been reading a lot of failure issues on their power supplies going clear back to Sept. Even as soon as December I find people saying they cannot get them replaced because Asus says they are still out of stock. Has anyone got any updated information on this?

As I said I am considering purchasing a new Asus netbook. I do not have one yet. If you look at even the Best Buy customer ratings you will see several with the power supply problem. The internet is full of these complaints on other web sites.

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.

Mac Pro won't start; power supply problems?

Hi friends, I'm having some very inconvenient hardware problems. My Mac Pro system will not start up. I have done some preliminary searching for similar issues, and it seems there are too many possible outcomes for me to tell directly from their answers. I'm writing in hopes that someone has had the same experience and can offer advice.
Here's my symptoms.
• Mac Pro system, late 2009. Dual Quad-core Intel Xenon, I think. (I usually just go to System Profile, rather than memorise this crap.) Two internal drives (SSD for system, HDD for data); all other hardware standard.
• Power light indicator is solid white. No blinking.
• No startup chime and no audio bleeps
• Display is dark, no activity of any kind.
• This behaviour persists with no network connections, no hardware peripherals outside of Apple Studio display and its associated USB cable (which allows the keyboard)
Do we suspect it's the power supply? It seems to power on, and clicks to life as it does after waking from sleep, but doesn't boot. Pressing the power button again shuts down the machine instantly — no 5-second-hold required.
It could be the RAM, I guess. I have yet to do the diagnosis of removing DIMM pairs one-by-one to see if something is the problem.
Any advice you can offer is great. Thanks

There are LEDs adjacent to the RAM positions that, when lit, indicate a bad DIMM.
The side door is not interlocked, and there are no hazardous Voltages available to your unaided fingers, but components may be HOT.
A Bad DIMM will not preclude Booting. Your Mac will note the defect and attempt to boot without that DIMM. And 2009 DIMMs are independent, so losing one does not take out any others.

Sudden Power Supply Problem

Hello. My 17" PowerBook G4 is just over 1 year old. It's been working great until now. Suddenly the battery went dead. When I plugged in the charger, the "charging" light is blinking green. There doesn't appear to be any damage to the charger, plugs, sockets etc. If I "reset" the charger it continues to behave the same. Any ideas?

I'm sorry to say that after playing mix and match with my buddies Powerbook/Battery/PowerSupply for an evening, we pretty much isolated the problem to the PowerBrick. Don't know why it went bad, but it did. I'm going to have to agree with all the reviews/comments that say the PowerBrick is too fragile. On a personal note, I am very dissappointed with Apple for having such a weak link in their chain.
I have replaced the brick with a Kensington A0532 70Watt universal power supply for Apple Laptops and iPods. It works like a charm, and cost the same as a brick, $80. It is white, and comes with 2 different sized laptop plugs, and an adaptor to charge an iPod directly. It has a very long DC cord, but a very very short (1 inch?) AC cord. It works well for my purposes.
A friend of mine has a Targus 90Watt adaptor for the Mac (A14US?) which he loves. His was $120 but came with DC in plugs for the car and airplane.

New battery/power supply problems

i bought my ibook on ebay, put in some upgrades and am pretty happy with it. One thing keeps making me extrememly angry. Randomly, without warning, the power supply cuts out. When I look at the port, the light's still on. This wouldn't be so bad because usually the battery would kick in. However, mine came without a battery. So, everytime my power supply cuts, the computer shuts off. What's the problem?

Mike,Check your Energy Saver options (Apple Menu > System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options Tab > 'Schedule' make sure this isn't set to turn off your iBook.
I'd also try resetting the Power Management Unit. (Click this link and follow the instructions).
At least your clamshell's a good deal lighter! (Doesn't it tip back too easily without the weight under the front?).
The problem with running a machine like this is that the Clamshell has no internal battery (unlike every other Mac ever!) this means that you really do need the main battery for correct operation of the system. You'll be forever re-setting date/time etc so it may be worth inv a main battery - even if it's a really cheap one that only gives you 10 minutes run time - it will guard against this type of problem.
regards
mrtotes

No MAT = Power Supply problems?

Hi all,
i am unable to run performance mode in anything but SLOW. When i change the settings to FAST and restart, the computer posts but crashes when loading windows xp. I've tried leaving the timings by SPD, and I've tried setting them manually. My memory is rated at 2-3-3-6 but i've also tried 2.5-3-3-6, 3-4-4-8, and still doesn't work.
The weird thing is that OCZ tech support actually tried MY memory modules (i shipped it to them) and they were able to get ULTRA TURBO!!! at 2-3-3-6!! with the same board i have 865pe neo2 LS and the same bios (1.5) at 2.6 V. I also tried other voltages all the way up to 2.8 with no luck.
Is it possible that my power supply is the problem? I have a 350 W with 35A on the 5.5 and 24 A on the 3 V. Could it be the video card? What could it be? I am so tired of messing with the memory and i don't know what else to do.
by the way, i am not overclocking anything.
Thanks

Quote
i also noticed that my D-bracket lights are always off. Even during startup. Do i have a bad board?
Could be, but is the D-Bracket fully seated in the connector on the board?
Or maybe it's your D-Bracket that's dead.....
But about your "main" issue......
My guess is that it's your PSU..
When I build my system a few months ago.... it wouldn't even boot, only a few fans would start to spin, but that was it...
I've tried three MSi 875P mobo's, but the problems didn't go away.
Then my retailer tried it for me with his own PSU, and the **** thing booted...
So I bought myself a new PSU (Q-Tec 450W) and all my problems were solved. Afterwards it was an unstable +12V on my "old" PSU that prevented my system to boot.
So if I may suggest,
Try another PSU (borrow one from a friend before you buy a new one )
Good luck!!
Regards Arjan

MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU power supply problem

Hello !
I am a lucky owner of MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU motherboard but have one problem. My power supply Fortron (FSP Group) 300-GT 300W seems to have some kind of incompatibility with this motherboard. In my case, the computer can't be shutted down by software. With BIOS version 2.5 it was impossible to shut it down with button too. With 2.6 it is possible to turn the computer off by button but software shutdown still don't work. PSU is working on ALL other boards I have tested so far normally. Somewhere in discussions (not in this forums) I discovered that also some kind of weird sounds occurs with Fortron supply on this board and that it is incompatible. Have anyone some clues to solve this PSU problem ? I am not able momentally to buy some other kind of PSU because Fortron is the only brand from higher category to obtain, so I would be like to solve this.....
Thanks for any info !

Voltage readings from sensors (current data):
w83697hf-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
Algorithm: ISA algorithm
VCore: +1.76 V (min = +0.00 V, max = +0.00 V)
+3.3V: +3.34 V (min = +2.97 V, max = +3.63 V)
+5V: +4.89 V (min = +4.50 V, max = +5.48 V)
+12V: +11.89 V (min = +10.79 V, max = +13.11 V)
-12V: -12.44 V (min = -13.21 V, max = -10.90 V)
-5V: -5.01 V (min = -5.51 V, max = -4.51 V)
V5SB: +5.51 V (min = +4.50 V, max = +5.48 V)
VBat: +3.42 V (min = +2.70 V, max = +3.29 V)
fan1: 4560 RPM (min = 1500 RPM, div = 4)
fan2: 2033 RPM (min = 1500 RPM, div = 4)
temp1: +40°C (limit = +60°C) sensor = thermistor
temp2: +44.5°C (limit = +60°C, hysteresis = +50°C) sensor = thermistor
PSU is powering Athlon XP 1700+ processor, the other big power consumer is GeForce4 Ti 4200 GPU. I am not able read currents for specific voltage outputs, so I am not able to measure whole power consumption. Computer is working normally, it is NOT overclocked (but it is stable overclocked too) and the only problem is PSU shutdown by software (win & linux, both of them has this problem). From BIOS v2.6 it is possible to shutdown the computer by power button. If it is tried by software, computer resets itself and three beeps occurs.

IMac G5 bluetooth + airport + power supply problems - oh and the dvd drive

Yeah, seems like a lot is going wrong with my mac lately. I bought the iMac G5(no isight) model last year around july. I had some power issues (i.e. leaving the house with it turned on to come home and find it off) For the last year though that was all that was wrong. Once I had to reinstall OS X because it would not find the OS X harddrive during one of these power losses, but that was it.
Then about two weeks ago, I came home to a turned off iMac. I thought the power had gone out in my apartment, but the clocks were all right, and to my surprise the iMac would not turned on. Because I am not under warranty I searched online and found an extended exchange program for my emc model. (http://www.apple.com/support/imac/powersupply/repairextension/) I made an appt at the apple store and they replaced the power supply.
I got the machine back two nights ago and my bluetooth hardware wasn't recognized. And I now had a new "ink" system preference panel in the hardware section which aparently is some sort of handwriting recognition tablet. It ticked me off, but I just wanted to use my computer.
Well today I came home from work and my computer was acting funny. Everywhere I clicked brought up dashboard. This had never happened before and I had no choice but to force a shutdown. Powered it back up and poof, there goes my airport card. No hardware recognized. Now I have a 25 ft cable running the floor of my apartment. This was cause enough to call apple. I was told to make another apointment to bring the computer in. The guy made it sound like it was no big deal to lug a 30 lb bulky computer 40 miles and through a crowded mall. He also made no promises that the repairs would be covered under the exchange program.
I just wanted to hear any suggestions before I decide whether or not its worth it to bring in the computer. Nothing shows up in system profiler under bluetooth or airport. Should I just lie to the "genius" and tell them that my computer still shuts down randomly? I think that way they would at least replace the logic board (which I think is the problem) before telling me to sell my kidney and pay for repairs. I've tried reseting the SMU, and I looked at the bluetooth and airport cards to see if they had been accidently disconnected during the PS replacement. They are actually screwed into the logic board so I think their connections are efficient.
Oh and about the DVD drive. I have to use two cd's in order to burn a single disc. The first disc I put in the drive NEVER works. It spins for about 30 seconds then starts buzzing like blender and spits the cd back out. The second blank disc I put in USUALLY works, but sometimes it takes three discs. This problem has always been there since day 1, but I don't burn enough cd's for it to be an issue.
Thank you for listening to my gripes. I really don't think I'll make the mistake of buying the first issue of a model.
iBook G4 900mghz, iMac G5 20" 2.0 ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

OK, first thing -to restore your bluetooth, shut down, unplug for a few minutes and then reboot. Thay usually brings the BT back. You should also repair permissions. Reset your SMU nd your PRAM as well.
Try those four things and please post back,
Miriam

Wired Keyboard USB Power Supply Problem

Hello,
I'm a proud owner of an iMac 27" which I ordered with the Apple Wired Keyboard because it was equipped with two additional USB Ports.
I'm using the Astro Gaming Astro A40 with their Mixamp and it works perfectly fine if I plug it into the keyboard.
Now I installed Bootcamp with Windows 7 Professional and it tells me the power supply in the keyboard is to low for my headset and my Mixamp.
Does anybody know a solution for that problem?
Why does Windows cry about that while Mac is perfectly fine with this.
I hope somebody can help me. Thank You
With best regards
ChickenDuy

From
Support FAQ - Astro Gaming
For PC Users: Much like discrete graphics, audio, or physics hardware free up CPU cycles and make our games run faster, the USB drivers built into the MixAmp provide a simple plug and play solution to offloading communication and music duties to the MixAmp.
My guess would be that these drivers are not loaded in OSX. When you run Windows via bootcamp, these drivers are loaded. Based on the function described, they draw more power from your USB bus than they would in the OS X environment. Yet the machine is still only willing to supply 500 mA to the particular hub. I think, therein lies the problem. Or, atleast, a theory.

Re: Power Supply Problems/ Bad Design

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