It Took Me Some Time To Admit...

[TurboCoder2022]

But my new refurb iMac Pro 27" that I got November 27th is going out already. There is a new electric smell that is steadily getting worse and stronger with use. I never did like the power cord it came with - it sticks out too far. And my new power cord won't be here until later today, so my iMac Pro is being retired for the moment.

Time to get in touch with Amazon since I am only 60 days in. Typing from a Windows laptop. Eeww. I miss my Mac already.

It's stressful when your new computer starts to go 60 days in. Especially when you're using it 18 hours a day WFH during the pandemic.

Year three of this pandemic is starting off sucky.

 

[velocityg4]

Unless the cord smells. I don’t see how it could be the cord. If the wire gauge is too high. The cord will get hot, melt, catch fire, &c. But it won’t prevent enough electricity from getting through.

I’d suspect something electrical in the interior. If you are getting a smell.

 

[TurboCoder2022]

Unless the cord smells. I don’t see how it could be the cord. If the wire gauge is too high. The cord will get hot, melt, catch fire, &c. But it won’t prevent enough electricity from getting through.

I’d suspect something electrical in the interior. If you are getting a smell.

Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of. Return request is pending so we'll see what happens. Thankfully I have a laptop backup for the time being.

 

[TurboCoder2022]

Wellp...found out what was causing that burning smell on my 60-day old refurbished iMac Pro...

 

[TurboCoder2022]

 

[velocityg4]

I assumed you were using an Apple cord not some aftermarket POS. A lot of those aren't rated for the amps heavier duty computers draw, like that one. Hopefully, the heat didn't permanently damage the plug on the iMac.

I'd just set up a return right away. Rather than risk it. If that computer qualifies for the holiday return window. You should have until January 31st to return it.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Hopefully, the heat didn't permanently damage the plug on the iMac."

Looking at the pic in reply 5 above, that socket IS "damaged".
I would not attempt to use it with ANY cord, until repaired.

OP:
Better get that socket REPLACED.
Or you could end up with a lot more than just a "smell".

Do you have an Apple Store anywhere near?
Take it to them.
It's going to cost you $$$ to get this fixed.
But I really don't see any choice at this point.

I'm thinking the power socket might be integral to the internal power supply.
Don't know. A power supply "swap" might do it.

Where did you GET this from?
From Apple's online refurbished store?
Or... from somewhere else.
I wouldn't buy "refurbished" from ANYWHERE other than Apple

 

[TurboCoder2022]

"Hopefully, the heat didn't permanently damage the plug on the iMac."

Looking at the pic in reply 5 above, that socket IS "damaged".
I would not attempt to use it with ANY cord, until repaired.

OP:
Better get that socket REPLACED.
Or you could end up with a lot more than just a "smell".

Do you have an Apple Store anywhere near?
Take it to them.
It's going to cost you $$$ to get this fixed.
But I really don't see any choice at this point.

I'm thinking the power socket might be integral to the internal power supply.
Don't know. A power supply "swap" might do it.

Where did you GET this from?
From Apple's online refurbished store?
Or... from somewhere else.
I wouldn't buy "refurbished" from ANYWHERE other than Apple

I agree with you. I don't see why I have to pay to have it repaired when I am within the company's 90 day warranty. Thankfully they will replace it. But the socket itself is on the back of the iMac, and if you look closely that white stuff is stuck. Permanently. There is no way I would even be able to use a power cord with it.

I went with them because it was $1500 on Amazon. And I needed a new computer ASAP and wanted to make the switch.

The million dollar question is how to wipe it to get my private info off of there before sending it back. Because I certainly don't want to send it back with my private information on it nor do I trust anybody else to wipe the computer correctly.

 

[TurboCoder2022]

I assumed you were using an Apple cord not some aftermarket POS. A lot of those aren't rated for the amps heavier duty computers draw, like that one. Hopefully, the heat didn't permanently damage the plug on the iMac.

I'd just set up a return right away. Rather than risk it. If that computer qualifies for the holiday return window. You should have until January 31st to return it.

I used the cable that came in the box from the refurb company. You would think they would be using the equivalent Apple cable with their iMacs...

 

[profcutter]

Honestly, from the photo, that looks like the original cable, it has the shroud, which most of those IEC cables don’t have. EDIT: OOPs! Nope, that‘s a generic IEC cable: no shroud. I mistook the last pictrue because I scrolled too fast. That’s a generic cable. Shouldn’t have caused a problem, but if made cheaply enough, maybe it couldn’t handle the iMac power draw. Maybe it’s a knockoff, but seems like a pretty silly part to clone. What, though, could have caused that kind of damage? Some kind of short in the power supply? Anyway, yes, send that sucker back. As for the data, that is a conundrum. Maybe ask Amazon?

Are there any markings on the cable itself indicating its capacity?

 

[TurboCoder2022]

Honestly, from the photo, that looks like the original cable, it has the shroud, which most of those IEC cables don’t have. EDIT: OOPs! Nope, that‘s a generic IEC cable: no shroud. I mistook the last pictrue because I scrolled too fast. That’s a generic cable. Shouldn’t have caused a problem, but if made cheaply enough, maybe it couldn’t handle the iMac power draw. Maybe it’s a knockoff, but seems like a pretty silly part to clone. What, though, could have caused that kind of damage? Some kind of short in the power supply? Anyway, yes, send that sucker back. As for the data, that is a conundrum. Maybe ask Amazon?

Are there any markings on the cable itself indicating its capacity?

The numbers say, on the damaged end: 227 IEC 53.

 

[velocityg4]

I used the cable that came in the box from the refurb company. You would think they would be using the equivalent Apple cable with their iMacs...

Computer or other electronic refurbishers are a joke. They don't refurbish anything. They just take a used computer. Check that it boots. Maybe clean install the OS. Then slap on the refurbished label. It's not like an Apple refurbished.

I wouldn't be shocked if that cable was all rubber and puny 20 AWG aluminum wires. Instead of 14 AWG copper wires. I've read an article before on how bad the cheap ones are. With images of bisected cables.

You want to get a cable from a reputable manufacturer. Rated for 15 Amps and stating it is 14 AWG. Assuming 110V US power.

 

[profcutter]

Computer or other electronic refurbishers are a joke. They don't refurbish anything. They just take a used computer. Check that it boots. Maybe clean install the OS. Then slap on the refurbished label. It's not like an Apple refurbished.

I wouldn't be shocked if that cable was all rubber and puny 20 AWG aluminum wires. Instead of 14 AWG copper wires. I've read an article before on how bad the cheap ones are. With images of bisected cables.

You want to get a cable from a reputable manufacturer. Rated for 15 Amps and stating it is 14 AWG. Assuming 110V US power.

Yeah the OP probably has one in a box somewhere that would work just fine. I know I do, hell I even have real apples ones in boxes. They’re not hard to find. The idea that a “refurb” company would save 10 cents by giving out a truly subpar cable seems ludicrous, but it is exactly what happens, and yes probably exactly what happened here. My wild guess here is that maybe the pins inside the cable end were making intermittent connections, and finally sparked and blew out. Cheap cable, cheap aluminum wiring, cheap pins on the end.

 

[TurboCoder2022]

The problem is, with the damage and the fact that part of the power cord is now fused to the power input on the back of the iMac (notice the white part of the power cable in the photo I posted above - the painted white borders around the plug inputs - is now fused to the power input on the iMac), there is no way to plug something in to even bother wiping my data.

I don't know what I'm going to do. It all depends on what happens during the refund process as the week resumes tomorrow.

I'm terrified of even bothering to plug it back in and turn it back on.

Thank you all for all of your input and additional detail. You've filled in a few blanks for me.

 

[VivienM]

Computer or other electronic refurbishers are a joke. They don't refurbish anything. They just take a used computer. Check that it boots. Maybe clean install the OS. Then slap on the refurbished label. It's not like an Apple refurbished.

Yup, and the iMac Pro isn't exactly a new model... this machine could have had 4.5+ years of heavy use before it landed with the OP.

If the OP still had a working power cord, I would have been very curious to see if some form of statistics could be gathered showing how much wear it had. Not sure what that data could be... do Apple SSDs have SMART counters that you can access? A laptop would have had data on battery cycle counts...

(Interestingly, up here in Canada, Apple has some iMac Pro refurbs... starting at CAD$6700. I guess no lower-end configurations... and the $6700 one sold out while I was looking at it. Now it's CAD$7100 for a 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Radeon Pro Vega 64)

Also, I should note that I've had good luck with Dell "refurbs" directly from Dell Financial Services Canada. They're clearly off-lease machines (rather than near-new returns/demo systems/etc like the Apple ones) bundled with new power cord, new keyboard/mouse set, fresh new Windows install, etc, but they've been fine.

 

[TurboCoder2022]

Well, very interesting. Check it out, the difference between the Odysson third-party QUALITY power cable (white) vs the one I received in the box from the refurbishing company (black). Unbelievable.

 

[profcutter]

Yup, the cable they gave you was junk, pure and simple.

 

[Fishrrman]

DON'T try to boot it again.
If the company that sold it to you will take it back for a refund, get it back to them AS SOON AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT DELAY.

And a lesson to be learned here:
DO NOT buy a used Mac except from the Apple online refurbished store.
Unless you can see and touch it first to "know what you're getting"...

 

[TurboCoder2022]

DON'T try to boot it again.
If the company that sold it to you will take it back for a refund, get it back to them AS SOON AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT DELAY.

And a lesson to be learned here:
DO NOT buy a used Mac except from the Apple online refurbished store.
Unless you can see and touch it first to "know what you're getting"...

Great points, Fishrrman. And thank you!! Don't worry. I am not booting it up again. I am in the process of returning that computer with the company.

And you are absolutely right - I am never doing that again. I was hoping to save some money. I didn't know doing that could potentially burn down the house as a consequence. Thankfully, that did not happen.

I am going to purchase one of the brand-new Macs (perhaps a Mac Studio and Studio Display) to replace the refurbished one.

 

[VivienM]

I am going to purchase one of the brand-new Macs (perhaps a Mac Studio and Studio Display) to replace the refurbished one.

I can't remember your exact needs from the other thread, but you perhaps might want to also look at a real Apple refurb mid-2020 27" Intel iMac?

 

[TurboCoder2022]

I can't remember your exact needs from the other thread, but you perhaps might want to also look at a real Apple refurb mid-2020 27" Intel iMac?

Thank you for the suggestion. I do graphics, video editing, along with web design and development and a wide variety of website work.

Anyway, the purchase has already been made. The $450 Costco discount on these was too compelling to pass up.

Expecting my new Mac Studio (10 core CPU, 24 core GPU, 32GB RAM, 512GB HD), and 27" Apple Studio Display delivery in the next few days.