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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Mac G4 Will Not Turn On
gsmith1644 - Sep 28, 2005 - 5:06 pm
My Macintosh G4 will not power on. I press the button on the keyboard with no effect. I've pressed the button on the tower - it lights up but then goes out when I release. I've turned off the surge protector and turned it back on, no effect.
We have had a storm recently in the area - I'm concerned the power supply may have fried. Any other options I should check before I make that conclusion?
If it is the power supply or mother board, suggestions on how to diagnose, what to replace and how?
I'm pretty comfortable inside the Mac and have replaced boards and peripherals before.
Thanks in advance.
Greg Smith
We have had a storm recently in the area - I'm concerned the power supply may have fried. Any other options I should check before I make that conclusion?
If it is the power supply or mother board, suggestions on how to diagnose, what to replace and how?
I'm pretty comfortable inside the Mac and have replaced boards and peripherals before.
Thanks in advance.
Greg Smith
TheBatman - Sep 28, 2005 - 11:16 pm
Greg,
Best case scenario would be that the surge protector did its job and got smoked in the process. Sometimes they do not get totally fried and will still let some power through, but not enough for the computer to boot. Check the computer cord for any damage and if it looks ok try plugging it directly into the wall and see if that helps.
If that does nothing you may want to try to reset the CUDA switch on the motherboard. It may be called something else depending on what Mac model you have, but they all do the same: It resets the PRAM and on some Macs the power management also. This is another long shot but worth a try before you start swapping out and testing power supplies.
Also unhook everything but the monitor, keybord and mouse while trying this stuff. Sometimes peripherals can mess stuff up while trouble shooting.
What Mac G4 model do you have? I am familiar with the pin outs on a few different power supplies and could walk you through trouble shooting it if none of the above works.
Best case scenario would be that the surge protector did its job and got smoked in the process. Sometimes they do not get totally fried and will still let some power through, but not enough for the computer to boot. Check the computer cord for any damage and if it looks ok try plugging it directly into the wall and see if that helps.
If that does nothing you may want to try to reset the CUDA switch on the motherboard. It may be called something else depending on what Mac model you have, but they all do the same: It resets the PRAM and on some Macs the power management also. This is another long shot but worth a try before you start swapping out and testing power supplies.
Also unhook everything but the monitor, keybord and mouse while trying this stuff. Sometimes peripherals can mess stuff up while trouble shooting.
What Mac G4 model do you have? I am familiar with the pin outs on a few different power supplies and could walk you through trouble shooting it if none of the above works.
gsmith1644 - Sep 29, 2005 - 8:59 am
Thanks for your note back. I resolved the problem - here's what I did. I replaced the lithium battery on the board, reset the cuda switch and zapped the pram. (I found another reference online with these suggestions, and recalled from a previous mac that sometimes just replacing the battery is enough). Anyway, worked like a charm.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
Greg
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
Greg
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