PowerMac G5 Power Supply Repair Extension Program Initiated

[MacBytes]

http://www.macbytes.com/images/bytessig.gif

Category: Apple Hardware
Link: Apple addresses PM G5 power supply issue
Description:: Repair extension program for pro desktops sold between Oct '05 and August of this year

Posted on MacBytes.com
Approved by Mudbug

[DMann]

Upgrade those PSs -- outsourcing has its complications......

[decksnap]

Lets hope this extension program expands to include the large group of us Powermac Dual G5 owners experiencing random shutdowns.

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Apple has initiated a repair extension program for the latest generation PowerMacs sold between October 2005 and August 2006 (including Dual 2GHz, Dual 2.3GHz and Quad 2.5GHz G5 models). According to Apple, if your PowerMac fails to start up after the power button has been pressed and its serial number falls within the given range (listed below), your computer may be eligible for repair free of charge.

CK539xxxxxx - CK608xxxxxx
G8539xxxxxx - G8608xxxxxx
YM539xxxxxx - YM608xxxxxx
RM539xxxxxx - RM608xxxxxx

More information about the program is available via Apple's support website.

[Wilz]

Ah, so it was a general thing to Powermacs of that time

I've been through it already, when my bloody power supply went tits up

Got it fixed free of charge within a week

[MacinDoc]

Originally Posted by decksnap

Lets hope this extension program expands to include the large group of us Powermac Dual G5 owners experiencing random shutdowns.

That's the first I've heard of a large group of Power Mac owners experiencing RSD. Funny, a recent survey by PC Magazine found that not only were Apple desktops by far the most reliable of any major manufacturer, but their already industry-leading reliability had improved to the point that the editors described it as unbelievable.

[skoker]

Good to hear.

*looks for dead PM on eBay*

[gugy]

interesting. I had the issue of not staring up 4 times. I pressed the power button and the computer mad all the noises but the screen never come up. I had to start again to be fine. lately my Quad is fine. But makes me wonder if it will happen again.
My Quad was the first Mac that gave me a serious problem while back. I had quite a few Macs in the past without any issue. Too bad.
Look forward o upgrade soon to the Octo-core

[MM2270]

I for one can confirm that the power supply on those generations of G5s are a big problem. Our company purchased about 25 of these PM G5s earlier this year and I've already had to have about 6 or 7 of them repaired due to failing power supplies. That's about 1/4 of our purchase!

Fortunately we bought full APPs on them, so I demanded on site repair service each time I had to call them in to AppleCare. The repair guy from a local dispatch was coming out here on almost a weekly basis. Mostly they were PS replacements, but in a few cases, they had to replace the Mobo and RAM too to get it working again.

These are all dual cores BTW. We have a batch of the former dual procs and had no issues with them. Beyond this obvious flaw in the design, they're good Macs.

[Jetson]

I experienced a similar problem with my iMac 20" 2.33GhZ G5 computer last week.

My computer was running as normal and I stepped away to get a snack. When I returned it looked like it had gone into sleep mode, but moving the mouse didn't wake it.

I pressed the power button, and the fans came on full blast, but there was no startup chime and the screen remained dark.

After pressing the power button several times with no response (fans still at full blast) I unplugged my iMac. Then after a few seconds plugged it back into the the UPS. When I pressed the power button the computer restarted as normal and I haven't have a recurrence.

This is the first glitch I've had with my iMac since I bought it about 6 months ago.

[bretm]

Originally Posted by Jetson

I experienced a similar problem with my iMac 20" 2.33GhZ G5 computer last week.

My computer was running as normal and I stepped away to get a snack. When I returned it looked like it had gone into sleep mode, but moving the mouse didn't wake it.

I pressed the power button, and the fans came on full blast, but there was no startup chime and the screen remained dark.

After pressing the power button several times with no response (fans still at full blast) I unplugged my iMac. Then after a few seconds plugged it back into the the UPS. When I pressed the power button the computer restarted as normal and I haven't have a recurrence.

This is the first glitch I've had with my iMac since I bought it about 6 months ago.

Just wanted to make sure you knew that to shut it down there's no need to unplug it. Hold the power button down for 5 seconds or so and it will shut off. No doubt more amicably than pulling the plug!

[lorductape]

it's good to know that their doing something about all the macbook problems.

[Dont Hurt Me]

I think its been very clear that the G5 machines have had lots of issues, both PowerMac and iMac. I wonder if old Steve wasnt telling us everything when he jumped off the IBM train. Good thing is Apple is standing behind its stuff.

[Jetson]

Thanks, bretm for reminding me about that feature. I forgot about it

[thejadedmonkey]

Originally Posted by lorductape

it's good to know that their doing something about all the macbook problems.

This is the Power Mac, a desktop model running on a PPC G5 chip, not a notebook running on an intel CD chip.

[thejadedmonkey]

Originally Posted by Dont Hurt Me

I think its been very clear that the G5 machines have had lots of issues, both PowerMac and iMac. I wonder if old Steve wasnt telling us everything when he jumped off the IBM train. Good thing is Apple is standing behind its stuff.

Could you expand on that.. please?

[twoodcc]

glad to see Apple taking care of their customers and mistakes

[scottlinux]

From MacinDoc:

That's the first I've heard of a large group of Power Mac owners experiencing RSD. Funny, a recent survey by PC Magazine found that not only were Apple desktops by far the most reliable of any major manufacturer, but their already industry-leading reliability had improved to the point that the editors described it as unbelievable.

Wow. Ever visit the Powermac G5 forum on apple.com discussion page? It's a nightmare of a problem.

I'm on my third power supply in my G5.

[shawnce]

I had my Quad G5 power supply make a loud pop when I was spinning up a GPU heavy task last week after many months of solid heavy use (high-end video adapter under load, CPUs under load, PCIe adaptors for fiber channel, etc.)... sounded and smelled like a classic capacitor blow out ...anyway it gave me a good excuse to grab a Mac Pro (nice to have an Apple store under an hour away). I just slid in the drives from the PowerMac and used the account migration tool and after a short bit my Mac Pro was a drop in replacement... faster and with more storage of course.

I had planned to contact Apple for repair if under warranty or attempt a repair of my own in the coming weeks but I guess I need to go home a look up its serial number.

Looks like some bad or under specced capacitors (assuming it is just a cap) got into power supplies, good that Apple has put together this warranty extension program.

EDIT: Yup my PM Quad G5 falls under this warranty extension program.

[decksnap]

Originally Posted by MacinDoc

That's the first I've heard of a large group of Power Mac owners experiencing RSD. Funny, a recent survey by PC Magazine found that not only were Apple desktops by far the most reliable of any major manufacturer, but their already industry-leading reliability had improved to the point that the editors described it as unbelievable.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. I have the problem I described, and in my research in trying to solve it, I've found there are a great deal of people with that problem. We are really hoping they will acknowledge it and expand this extension program.

[mdntcallr]

Originally Posted by scottlinux

From MacinDoc:

Wow. Ever visit the Powermac G5 forum on apple.com discussion page? It's a nightmare of a problem.

I'm on my third power supply in my G5.

well, lets hope it is solved now. they did the right thing by coming clean and offerning to fix them. should have been sooner though

[Willis]

Originally Posted by Jetson

I experienced a similar problem with my iMac 20" 2.33GhZ G5 computer last week..... .....This is the first glitch I've had with my iMac since I bought it about 6 months ago.

2.33Ghz iMac G5....?!

[Jetson]

Okay, okay - it's actually a 2.1 Ghz iMac G5

[shawnce]

Originally Posted by mdntcallr

well, lets hope it is solved now. they did the right thing by coming clean and offerning to fix them. should have been sooner though

I don't understand this kind of statement... it presumes things that you have no supporting evidence for... the simple fact of the matter is that it takes time to isolate an issue like this back to the source (given the noise of countless other issues that have similar symptoms) and then work out from that to the serial numbers of the likely affected systems. Then get the support chain and suppliers revved up to deal with the issue.

[Moof1904]

The PS on my DP2.5 G5 died when it was only six months old and was replaced by my local Apple store. I've experienced two random shutdowns in the past month. I attributed them to crappy electrical service from my crappy electric company.

I'm still within AppleCare. I wonder if my report of two random shutdowns in the past four weeks would be sufficient to get another PS.