White iMac won't boot at all

Hello,

A white plastic iMac here suddenly stopped operation this morning when someone was working on it, and won't boot after that. After holding the power button nothing happens, no chime or logo, not even the fans are audible. I checked the RAM if it's seated well and inserted it again. After plugging it back in the wall socket to check if that has fixed it, a 'pop' came from the machine. It wasn't a shocking sound, but more a dull hit. I immediately removed the cable from the socket since I still had it in my hand, and haven't plugged it in since.

I cannot find good info on the problem since I can't run any diagnostics because it doesn't do a thing. What do you think might be the problem and what could I try? Or is this iMac un-fixable?

Thank you

khedden said:

Sounds like the power supply. You can get them pretty cheap on eBay. $30 or so.

But if that's not it, you'll end up spending time and money for nothing. Unfortunately, there's not much to do except start swapping parts like that unless you take it to a repair shop and get them to diagnose or repair it for you.

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Thanks for your reply, I was suspecting that too. Is there any way I can be certain that it's the power supply and not the motherboard or something before I order a new power supply?

khedden said:

No. Like I said above, when something like this happens, just about all you can do is start swapping parts to see what fixes it. If you don't have the spare parts lying around (like most of us don't) then its impossible to do cheaply or quickly.

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jimsowden said:

Open it up and smell it (I'm not joking). A lot of times blown supplies will have a faint smoke smell. Then do an eye-check on the parts it connects to to see if anything else got fried.

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Unfortunately I don't have parts lying around, but I will open it up anyhow to get the HDD out so I'll check for damage too. Thanks

khedden said:

Doubtful that the HDD would be damaged. Likely the power supply and maybe the logic board if it got a jolt. I believe that's what jimsowden was referring to.

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I meant that I have to remove the HDD anyway to access the data, and when the iMac is opened up I'll check for damage on other components, I should have been more clear on that