Another Leaking G5

[cal6n]

Awesome stuff, cal6n. Will you be posting pics in the mac setup thread?

Fraid not. It'd take too long to tidy up...

I had a feeling it would be a matter of time before struggling to supply spare G5 parts. I'm surprised its not even been discontinued completely by now. I just hope my G5 lasts for a long time, it'll be 3 years come summer 08 for me.

They may well add it to their extension program in the future. Meanwhile, there are a lot of G5s that are running faultlessly.

Mine being one of them (touches wood)

Mine was one of the very early ones so. Sort of a prototype Rev. A...

Nice one cal6n, really pleased for you. I have the same machine, two and a half years old, six months of AppleCare remaining... I'm scared. I wonder how Apple would compensate me for the 8gb of RAM I bought.

Obviously, I can't speak for Apple but, if it came to it, they'd have your purchasing records and I think they'd have to match any RAM and upgrades that you'd bought from them. My CR rep said that their policy is to provide superior spec to the original purchase. For example, my NVidia 6800 GT was mentioned but I decided to keep it and return my G5 with the original 9800 in it. I'm selling it and waiting for the next NVidia card to be released, rather than use an ATI X1900. As for upgrades from other sources, I don't know. It wasn't something that came up. Perhaps I should have asked as I'd put 2 GB from Crucial and 4 GB from Cancom into mine. They're for sale too, to finance a RAM upgrade.

 

[adream]

hiya Cal6n, how are ya mate, just got your pm all looks interesting !

anyway needless to say after reading about your g5 failure i went and had a look at my dual 2.7 and lo and behold theres a damn leak...

out of warranty grrrr ! i have just contacted apple etc and hope someone will be very nice like they where to you

theres no way these are isolated incidents so im sure we will see apple go for a repair scheme sooner or later, once the trigger point of failures reported is reached, fingers crossed

nothing like resurrecting an old thread

adream

 

[vohdoun]

Do you happen to know if the temperatures for the CPU's were above normal, adream?

 

[Oyseka]

Leaked G5

Hi all, My 19 month old G5 Dual 2.7 has now blown itself to bits with the coolant leak. The cost of the system new was R22,000 (AUS $3760) and the repair cost is R18,000 (AUS $3071). The response from Apple is ZERO. As we cannot get extended AppleCare in SA apparently we must not expect our "Quality" Apple products to last any longer than the warrenty. Let the buyer beware.

 

[Rustman]

Hi all, My 19 month old G5 Dual 2.7 has now blown itself to bits with the coolant leak. The cost of the system new was R22,000 (AUS $3760) and the repair cost is R18,000 (AUS $3071). The response from Apple is ZERO. As we cannot get extended AppleCare in SA apparently we must not expect our "Quality" Apple products to last any longer than the warrenty. Let the buyer beware.

That's pretty poor service. Whatever happens I think I'll be steering well clear of any liquid cooled product, Mac or otherwise. If Apple can't pull it off then I have no hope for other vendors.

 

[vohdoun]

Hi all, My 19 month old G5 Dual 2.7 has now blown itself to bits with the coolant leak. The cost of the system new was R22,000 (AUS $3760) and the repair cost is R18,000 (AUS $3071). The response from Apple is ZERO. As we cannot get extended AppleCare in SA apparently we must not expect our "Quality" Apple products to last any longer than the warrenty. Let the buyer beware.

Geez, talk about Apple royally shafting people. Thats seriously wrong. I hope this doesn't happen to mine. Even after the warranty is up.
I have just under 1 year remaining on Applecare now.

The 3 years expires June 08.

 

[adream]

update on my leaky dual 2.7 G5

i spoke to applecare UK today who passed me onto an engineer, who agreed to sort it out for me giving me an exception code (as the machine is out of warranty)

so i took it to our local apple repair centre and they said it would be fixed free of charge !

i'll keep you all posted as to the progress but so far so good

regards
adream

 

[Apple Corps]

Hi all, My 19 month old G5 Dual 2.7 has now blown itself to bits with the coolant leak. The cost of the system new was R22,000 (AUS $3760) and the repair cost is R18,000 (AUS $3071). The response from Apple is ZERO. As we cannot get extended AppleCare in SA apparently we must not expect our "Quality" Apple products to last any longer than the warrenty. Let the buyer beware.

Would you please expand a bit - you can not get Apple Care ???

 

[vohdoun]

update on my leaky dual 2.7 G5

i spoke to applecare UK today who passed me onto an engineer, who agreed to sort it out for me giving me an exception code (as the machine is out of warranty)

so i took it to our local apple repair centre and they said it would be fixed free of charge !

i'll keep you all posted as to the progress but so far so good

regards
adream

Interesting, where are they?

 

[GoCubsGo]

Awesome that you got a macpro but as you know...
Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[adream]

Interesting, where are they?

the applecare engineer on the phone (UK) is the one that authorised the repair and not my local apple repair centre

for your info i'm in brighton in the UK and the repair centre is Solutions ltd

regards

adream

 

[Dominik]

My G5 is dead and I created a database...

Hi everybody.

I'm also a victim of coolant leaks ! My G5 Dual 2.5 (2 years old) is dead
I created a database to register all breakdown caused by leaks coolant :
http://www.fusina.net/G5_coolant_leaks/index.php?lg=uk

Do it ! Register your G5 please.
The goal : to get a REP classment from APPLE or better, launch a class action against APPLE ! I'm furious to see that APPLE doesn't want to engage his responsability about their clients !

thanx

 

[Toolhead]

Hi,
I'm in the process of switching to MAC, and have been reading these boards for information.

I'm just wondering when the G5 first became available, if there was an option to get liquid cooling with it, or do they all have them? Does the Mac Pro have it, I don't see the option to customize it with liquid cooling on Apple.com

Thanks.

 

[mrbrown]

Hi,
I'm in the process of switching to MAC, and have been reading these boards for information.

I'm just wondering when the G5 first became available, if there was an option to get liquid cooling with it, or do they all have them? Does the Mac Pro have it, I don't see the option to customize it with liquid cooling on Apple.com

Thanks.

Not all of the G5's have liquid cooling. Only the faster, late Power Mac's have them (late 2005). All of the G5s have a somewhat advanced cooling system, though, because the PPC970 runs really hot.

The Mac Pro doesn't have this option, nor does it need it.

 

[vohdoun]

Only the Dual 2.5, Dual 2.7 and Quad 2.5 G5.

The 1.8, 2.0 and 2.3 are air cooled.


I wonder though, how hot the 2.3 on air would get under full load compared to the Dual 2.7 liquid cooled under load...

 

[adellas]

I have also had a leak in my G5 dual 2.5ghz. Bought November 2004, died sometime in March...tried local reseller ( i live in Greece so there is no Apple Greece and therefore no Applecare to extend warranty either ) but they wouldn't hear of it since it was past the 1 year warranty. Tried Apple Customers Services and Relations without any luck there either. Very disappointed. Comp has been used as a paperweight until this day. Cost to fix 1100 euros! for a machine that was 15 months old at the time and had an original cost of 3500 euros...

 

[Moof1904]

Great. Now I'm scared...

I have a Dual 2.5 with 3 months of Apple Care remaining. I'm scared that it's going to develop a leak after my warranty runs out.

I'm noticing on this thread and on some others that a large number of people with leaking cooling systems are not in the U.S. Is that coincidence or is there some difference in those G5s that were sold outside of the U.S., I wonder. A different production run, different batch of coolant systems. I dunno...

 

[geekgirl]

leaking G5s

I have a Dual 2.5 with 3 months of Apple Care remaining. I'm scared that it's going to develop a leak after my warranty runs out.

I'm noticing on this thread and on some others that a large number of people with leaking cooling systems are not in the U.S. Is that coincidence or is there some difference in those G5s that were sold outside of the U.S., I wonder. A different production run, different batch of coolant systems. I dunno...

I can say that this happens in the US as well. I have, or rather HAD, a lab of 20 dual 2.7GHz G5s bought in July of 2005. 4 developed leaks within a month of each other. One was able to be fixed (we buy AppleCare on everything - worth it), and three had to be replaced with MacPros after problems with getting working parts (a couple of items were DOA).

I am also keeping watch over my remaining 17 machines of this model. AppleCare runs out next July.

 

[vohdoun]

I can say that this happens in the US as well. I have, or rather HAD, a lab of 20 dual 2.7GHz G5s bought in July of 2005. 4 developed leaks within a month of each other.

I am also keeping watch over my remaining 17 machines of this model. AppleCare runs out next July.

Thats scary, as I got mine in June 05. Same model. You think you do the right thing as I checked places about faults and such with these liquid cooled system before buying, which there was none I could find. Now theres plenty as years pass. :/

Can you confirm if the system got hotter when it began to leak? as I've been using the iStat widget keeping an eye on the temps just incase. Just hope it lasts as long as it can even after when my Applecare runs out next June.

 

[geekgirl]

I can't really confirm that they got hotter just before they began to leak. The machines are used in a lab situation, and generally showed no signs of problems before failing.

Here are the symptoms that started off the whole mess:

Machine #1: Would not turn on. Sent to campus repair shop after exhausting possibile problems. I was first told about the leak problem. The machine was returned repaired the following week, worked two days and died again.

Machine #2: Died fairly dramatically. Tripped the breaker overnight. When I opened the labs in the morning, noticed a row of machines had no power. Noticed nothing out of the ordinary, so I unplugged a machine to check if a reduced load would work, then flipped the breaker back on, heard a huge snap, and it tripped again. Boss volunteered to watch for a visible sign of the problem, and saw a nice bundle of sparks issue from the back of a machine when I flipped it again. When I moved the machine, there was a nice puddle of fluid under it. That's when I checked all of the machines for leaks and corrosion and found...

Machine #3: Still worked, but the inside of the case had corrosion, and there was a small pool of liquid under the machine. Earlier in the semester, a student had spilled a small amount of soda near this machine. It is possible that this machine had already been leaking at that time, and that most of the fluid had already leaked. The service tech said that this one had NO fluid left in the cooling system. No idea why it kept working, except that the fluid missed the power supply. This one was eventually repaired.

Machine #4: Died about a week after machine #2. Just wouldn't turn on, and when moved, had fluid under the machine.

Machines #1, #2, and #4 were replaced after close to 2 months of waiting for working parts. This leak problem can kill multiple parts of the computer, some of which are not apparent until after another damaged part is replaced. The processors are usually dead, along with the motherboard. This is why you are seeing $1100+ repair bills. These are not cheap, even if purchased on your own. These were seriously messed up machines, and I am happy we had AppleCare.

 

[Moof1904]

How to tell?

I've looked online at the various pics of failed cooling systems, but they all see to show the effects after the leak has been ongoing for a while.

I'm going to start watching closely now for any sign of this failure. Are there subtle signs that it's happening or about to happen? Someone mentioned an increase in CPU temp. Is cpu temp a reliable predictor of failure or do the natural variations in temp make using cpu temp less than useful as a predictor?

 

[bobjohnson]

I've looked online at the various pics of failed cooling systems, but they all see to show the effects after the leak has been ongoing for a while.

I'm going to start watching closely now for any sign of this failure. Are there subtle signs that it's happening or about to happen? Someone mentioned an increase in CPU temp. Is cpu temp a reliable predictor of failure or do the natural variations in temp make using cpu temp less than useful as a predictor?

Umm keep the side panel off and keep a watch on it...

 

[Moof1904]

Umm keep the side panel off and keep a watch on it...

I was hoping for a performance-related indicator of something amiss, as my G5 isn't in a position to readily allow access to the side panel.

If I rearrange things so that I can see into the side of the G5 would it be harmful in any way if I were to leave the metal door off and run it with only the plastic inner shield in place? That would allow me to keep a better eye on things.

 

[geekgirl]

I can say that this happens in the US as well. I have, or rather HAD, a lab of 20 dual 2.7GHz G5s bought in July of 2005. 4 developed leaks within a month of each other. One was able to be fixed (we buy AppleCare on everything - worth it), and three had to be replaced with MacPros after problems with getting working parts (a couple of items were DOA).

I am also keeping watch over my remaining 17 machines of this model. AppleCare runs out next July.

Aaaannnnnddddd... a year later.... just lost another two machines in the last two weeks! Had one die yesterday, and one a couple of weeks ago. Just got off of the phone with our IT service folks, and they confirmed that it had the coolant leak, even though I didn't see any fluid leaking. Apple is replacing that one, and the service guys said the one I just sent over will probably be replaced as well... Six out of 20, down for the count, and only one could be repaired.

Just wanted to let people know that these leaks are still a big issue. I have to get another 2-3 years use out of these G5s, albeit farmed out to various mini-labs...

 

[xraydoc]

I have a dual 2.5GHz G5 that my wife is using. I'd love this machine to have a massive coolant leak! A nice, quiet Apple replacement would be wonderful. Heck, I'd even take an iMac or a Mac mini in exchange. The thing sounds like our vacuum cleaner. Even when it was new it was loud as hell. I hate that machine.