eMac won't turn on out of the blue

[Project Alice]

Hey everyone,
I have had my eMac plugged in and hooked up as long as I've owned it, somewhere around a year. I don't turn it on a whole lot but it's been used a few times. It's always worked before now.
It's a 1GHz "ATI Graphics" model. I tried turning it on tonight and it just won't. I went through the hassle of taking the stand off and pressing the PMU reset button, plugged it back in and still nothing. Wth?
I'm pretty sure I either removed or replaced the PRAM battery when I got it, usually the first thing I do.
Any ideas?

 

[DeltaMac]

Could be a dead PRAM battery.
Test the PRAM battery, should be 3.6 volts, but must be more than 3.5 volts.
I have 2 eMacs. One of them has a power button that is very stiff. I have to press exactly in the right spot, and takes a firm press before power will come on.
Try the battery, that's a likely fail on eMacs.

 

[Project Alice]

Could be a dead PRAM battery.
Test the PRAM battery, should be 3.6 volts, but must be more than 3.5 volts.
I have 2 eMacs. One of them has a power button that is very stiff. I have to press exactly in the right spot, and takes a firm press before power will come on.
Try the battery, that's a likely fail on eMacs.

I don't think it even has one, I usually take them out if I don't have a new one. But I'll double check.
The power button on this thing has always been stiff, mines the same way. I screwed with it for about 10 minutes after I pressed the PMU button, it would've turned on unless the button is totally broken now. I have a keyboard with a power button hooked up to it though and it doesn't power on with that either.

Edit: It doesn't have one as I thought so that isn't it. I pressed the PMU button again while I was in there and it still won't work.
I guess it's just dead. Probably the PSU.

 

[retta283]

Yeah, I'd try a multimeter or similar on the powersupply to see if it's getting enough juice to turn on. If not that leans towards bad PSU, as if the logic board or other part is fried the PSU should still be getting power fine.

 

[DeltaMac]

The eMac does not have the capability to boot from a keyboard power button, so that choice is not available to you.
Also, the eMac power supply is part of the display/analog assembly. You can check for power on what Apple calls the blind mate connector. It is where the logic board plugs in to the display assembly.
But, also inspect the down convertor board (which is perpendicular to the logic board, and distributes power to the logic board and the drives, etc. It has a bunch of capacitors that I see occasionally fail (They swell and may leak the internal electrolyte - brown slime!)
And, the eMac is known for problems caused by swelling capacitors on the logic board. You can see some of the culprits right inside the bottom access door, but there are others on the logic board that you can't see until you remove the rear housing to be able to look at all areas on the logic board.
All of this is why I use one eMac almost daily, and keep a second identical eMac for possible future spare parts.

 

[philgxxd]

Great guide by @DeltaMac. I would do it like he said.
I had to change the caps on my 1.25Ghz eMac also because they were buldging and i wanted to give it away and was not comfortable thinking it could break down on him in the forseable future.

 

[AL1630]

eMacs were made right in the middle of the 'capacitor plague' era, so it wouldn't surprise me if that's what went wrong. Good luck finding the problem!