[iMac G5] dies spontaniously

I was able to buy an iMac G5 tonight for 50€. (17”, PPC G5 2Ghz, 512Mb, 250Gb, Superdrive, Airport&Bluetooth). The seller wanted to get rid of it because it gave the ‘folder with question mark’ when booting. I was able to fix that problem pretty easily, but it didn’t stop there.

I know these systems have Logic Board (capacitor) issues, but that’s not the case in this iMac. The ones on the Logic Board seemed to be in perfect condition. (That was the first thing I checked, before booting it when I got back home.)

So the search continued on Google, and I noticed that the G5’s also suffer from Power Supply issues. I can’t check the serial number on the Apple Website because the Extended Repair Program is closed, and I’m unable to find any information regarding the serial numbers affected. I have discovered that it is a common issue with iMac’s with EMC 2056, but my system has EMC 2055.

It does suffer from the correct symptoms:
* Does not always boot when pressing the power button. (I sometimes have to press 3x before it works.)
* System dies spontaniously.

In other words, I’m quite sure that the Power Supply is the problem. First it died while installing Leopard on a new HDD. After resetting SMC, PRAM and NVRAM, the system died about 15 sec after booting up, and refuses to boot at all now. The 2nd 'death' also came with a very unpleasant smell, if you know what I mean. (Which, sadly, also means my (Retail) Leopard DVD is stuck inside.) I don’t have the media that originally came with the iMac.

So, does anyone have any suggestions about things I can try/check? And do you happen to know good/cheap places to get iMac parts? (Preferably stores that can ship to Belgium.)

Selling is not really an option, I bought it because I wanted to get it back to life and be able to use it.

Took out the Power Supply today, 4 capacitors were bulging, so we discovered the problem.. Only thing remaining now is finding a new, compatible one and pray that it was the only problem.

Fan does make a bit of noise, but we can always replace that if necessary.

That's what we're planning to do on Monday, I'm a total dummy when it comes to soldering, but one of my colleagues at work is quite good at it. Thanks for the link.

Took some pics of the G5 today:






Logic Board looks to be OK.


2 leaking ones in the Power Supply.. (in the middle of the picture, +-)

Pics arent that great, taken with the iPhone4 and I uploaded the HDR versions. (The other ones were sharper but pretty unusable due to lighting.)

Victory!

Fixed the power supply with a colleague of mine today, it's working like a charm now.