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Will Cheyney

Will Cheyney

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 13, 2005
701
0
United Kingdom
OK, I'm slightly worried.

I was just checking my email on my G5, when all of a sudden it made a crackle sound, followed by a loud bang/pop. The machine went dead and the room then filled up with a smell of which I can only describe as 'gunpowdery' (kind of like a party popper).

I checked the fuse on the plug and that had blown. So I replaced it. I powered up my machine - everything looked good. It made the startup chime, started to boot - then BANG! Same thing happens. More gun powder smell too.

I opened the machine up and it appears that the smell is emanating from from the CPU enclosure.


Help!
Does anyone have any idea what this problem is? Overheating CPU's?

Many thanks.
 
Will Cheyney said:
OK, I'm slightly worried.

I was just checking my email on my G5, when all of a sudden it made a crackle sound, followed by a loud bang/pop. The machine went dead and the room then filled up with a smell of which I can only describe as 'gunpowdery' (kind of like a party popper).

I checked the fuse on the plug and that had blown. So I replaced it. I powered up my machine - everything looked good. It made the startup chime, started to boot - then BANG! Same thing happens. More gun powder smell too.

I opened the machine up and it appears that the smell is emanating from from the CPU enclosure.


Help!
Does anyone have any idea what this problem is? Overheating CPU's?

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Uh-oh. You might have the coolant leak problem. Look inside and see if there's any fluid at the bottom of the G5. If there is- don't plug it back in and call Apple right away. They have a replacement plan that'll most likely cover it.
 
Sounds to me like you blew a capacitor on the motherboard or power supply.

Tim
 
Would the machine even turn on if that was the case, let alone start to boot?

I'll give Apple a call in the morning and see what they say.
 
Probably blew a component off the motherboard but I'm not sure seeing as I don't have one but yea give apple a call.
 
Will Cheyney said:
Would the machine even turn on if that was the case, let alone start to boot?

I'll give Apple a call in the morning and see what they say.
Click to expand...

It depends where in the chain the problem component resides.

I've had power amplifiers blow caps (and when they blow its STINKY!) and still work, but maybe one channel is out or less output.

If a cap did blow on the board it will be very easy to see. They usually vent out the top.

if its the power supply, you would have to remove it and take off a cover, but then you risk electrocution due to components keeping a "charge" even with the power turned off and cables removed from the mains (your electrical outlet)

Do not replace the fuse again and power the machine on, you will just cause more damage. It's like dominoes. One piece may fail and more will if you futz with it.

Good luck and let us know what happened.

Tim
 
You let all the Blue Smoke out.

Sounds like a power supply issue (and that's the one thing I DON'T like about :apple: hardware)

My guess? Something's going to ground in the PS itself - that's why the fuse went catastrophically. At least with a peecee it's about a $30 and twenty-minute fix.

If it made it to the logic board, then that is definitely not good news (and a failure in the PS to prevent exactly that).

A close visual inspection of the logic board will likely show any damage - it's generally pretty obvious.
 
I agree with lee on this personally.

Its probably coolant leaking out of the radiator and into the power supply.

Unplug it and take it into your nearest Apple store/Apple Service Provider.
 
I'm intrigued and a tad concerned. My G5's nearly 3 years old and running out of AppleCare.

Hope it's not too serious Will. Let us know the outcome ;)
 
OK, sports fans, one rule.
Popping sound and smoke: don't just replace the fuse -- the fuse is a symptom, not the problem, here. By powering it back on with a new fuse, you are adding to the damage of whatever it was that cause the fuse to blow.
 
This really isn't the place to get help for this type of problem. It needs to be examined by a competent technician.
 
I love how certain people chime in, the first thing they think is its the liquid cooling thats leaking. Like the trend that started last time. Like people with G5 and water cooling means its evil!
Sure its a possibility it could be leaking.

Will Cheyney said:
Would the machine even turn on if that was the case, let alone start to boot?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. I had this with my uncles PC once, he couldn't work out why the OS would take forever to boot up. He brought it over to me, nothing shows any signs. I let it run for a few minutes, as the PSU would heat up. Then the HDD started clicking, screen went blank as well etc.
Once I got him a new PSU all was well. Though it took a good 10 - 15 minutes to find out what it was. Luckily I had a spare PSU laying about.

It depends on how it goes. I've heard some crackers, just like yours but worse. You could be lucky the PSU never took everything out with it. The same thing has happened to some PC users.
Loud bangs, even flashes, but their PSU fried mostly the memory and motherboard. Sometimes taking the CPU with it.

Some power supplies can die quietly on their own, or the power degrades like what happened to my uncles. Things just start slowing down until it can't power things up. Others, like yourself, burning smells loud bangs etc.
 
vohdoun said:
I love how certain people chime in, the first thing they think is its the liquid cooling thats leaking. Like the trend that started last time. Like people with G5 and water cooling means its evil!
Sure its a possibility it could be leaking.
Click to expand...

I think most people chimed in about that because he said it appeared to be coming from the CPU enclosure. And what's under there but... the liquid cooling system.

My first thought would have been powersupply... perhaps a capacitor or two. That would be on the very bottom though, not from the CPUs.

Hope you have AppleCare.
 
vohdoun said:
I love how certain people chime in, the first thing they think is its the liquid cooling thats leaking. Like the trend that started last time. Like people with G5 and water cooling means its evil!
Sure its a possibility it could be leaking.
Click to expand...


I love how some people think they know it all. :rolleyes: BTW- I also happen to own a PM G5.

chipchen said:
I think most people chimed in about that because he said it appeared to be coming from the CPU enclosure. And what's under there but... the liquid cooling system.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 
CanadaRAM said:
OK, sports fans, one rule.
Popping sound and smoke: don't just replace the fuse -- the fuse is a symptom, not the problem, here. By powering it back on with a new fuse, you are adding to the damage of whatever it was that cause the fuse to blow.
Click to expand...

I agree, the correct course of action is to cut the head off of a 1/4-20 bolt and use it instead of a fuse. This is known as a 900 amp slo-blow and will cause your real problem to go poof. Makes isolating the defective part easy.

Back to reality. It sounds like your power supply died. Don't use the bolt unless you want a fire. Take it to a real tech if you don't have a heavy electrical/electronics background.
 
This happens occasionally if you browse the discussions.apple.com forum. It's a blow power supply. You can buy them used and put in yourself, or pay apple to replace it.
 
leekohler said:
Wow- Will having not been back probably isn't a great sign. Either that, or it wasn't a huge deal and he forgot to come back and tell us.
Click to expand...

Or Apple is taking a feckin long time with it. This seems to be the normal for getting things fixed is it not? 4 - 5 days. Though I've heard some as long as 10 days.

scottlinux said:
This happens occasionally if you browse the discussions.apple.com forum. It's a blow power supply. You can buy them used and put in yourself, or pay apple to replace it.
Click to expand...

Aren't they a bitch to replace. From what I see its somewhere in the lower bay of the case. I'd imagine it would require stripping most of the tower, or does the PSU compartment slide out without having to haul the CPU assembly out?
 
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