MOTUnation.com

Good morning,

While doing some routine cleaning yesterday, I accidentally unplugged the power cord to my Mac (which was running).

After replugging, attempted a restart by pressing the power button on the display (normal power on)...Nada...tried the power button on the front of the computer...also Nada.

I've had similar power failures before (lightning, temporary interruption of electrical service) and never had a problem restarting.

I get zero activity...no lights, no fan noise, no chime, etc.

Checked voltage of 2 power cables, both good.

Researched and found info on resetting logic board (remove battery, etc. which BTW show a healthy +3 volts)...no luck

Tried resetting the Cuda/PMU also to no avail.

Anyone know of anything I've missed?

I have an appointment with the geniuses later today, but really don't want to lug this thing in if I can avoid it.

(I'm using my daughter's Mac to post this in case anyone is curious!)

Buzz

The internal battery probably went dead. Easy fix if you can find one locally (most can). They're about $6 and unless the Mac techs placed it in an obscure position (my 9500 requires the motherboard be removed to access it - and the RAM) you should be able to replace it in a few seconds.

Might not be it, but my guess is that will get you running again.

MLC...

Thanks, but I did check the voltage of the battery...it was showing over 3 volts (my voltmeter scale is 2.5 then the next is 50)

There's just one battery, right?

This one is cylindrical, about 3/4 of an inch in length and about 1/2 inch wide (lithium) and sits very prominently on the motherboard.

I'll sure try an replacement, though even though it's showing +3 it is 3 years old.

Buzz

That's the battery and it sounds like that is not the problem. I should have read your initial post with better attention to detail (late night last night).

It's not HD "sticktion" and I don't know if there is a fuse in there that might have gone bad. Other than that, I'm at a loss and Frodo is busy playing catch-up with his own system, so unless Shooshie or someone jumps in, it might be time to take a trip to the computer shop.

Funny, I have a 7500 and an original G3 desktop that my wife uses for her 2nd grade class. I was combining components yesterday trying to put them in my old 9500 tower when it went south (motherboard I suspect.) Then one processor went out and some RAM went bad. It seemed like it all went at once. Since they were older, I was manhandling them more than I would on my G5 or even my G4. Same sort of thing you experienced. Nothing! But after about 4 hours of swapping all the components, I managed to get one working Mac out of the 3. Oddly, it was the oldest of the bunch, the lowly 7500.

When I got it running it was light lightening (OS 8.6) and there was a fully functional copy of DP 3.01 that actually runs! Funny how much the GUI hasn't changed.

Good luck in getting going again. Hopefully you can drop the HD into another Mac if it comes to that. You can get a convertor to go to an SATA compatible Mac if need be ($30).

Well, it's now with the geniae at the Apple Store.

We'll see what they can find out and how many $$.

If it's "too much" I guess I'll be looking for a G4 PPC or a G5 PPC to replace this one and then be down a day and a half or so installing drives, hardware and re-authorizing some software...

After reading (especially Frodo's posts) of various Intel trials and tribs I want to hold off on a MacPro for maybe another year or so.

At least this occurred when I don't have anything major going on. I'm pretty caught up (which is both good and bad!)

Buzz

Good idea. I wouldn't go the Intel route just yet either. I just hope Leopard is stable and compatible with DP, Finale and Sibelius... Otherwise, I'm on my G5 PPC for a few more years. Not a bad place to be, however. Dual 2.0 is certainly fast enough for me. Heck, my old G4 at 1.4 gHz (single) was fast enough and I'd still be using it had I not won the G5 from a Macworld survey contest.

I just had the same problem last week and for me, I removed all the
extra ram and my machine fired up. I have 2 internal drives in my G4
and they both worked when individually mounted in an external firewire enclosure connected to my Powerbook G4.

I now need to replace some ram ••¦ Any ideas ?

HTH Schweats

Reset PMU:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449


and SD:

THIS NEEDS TO BE A STICKY!

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... p+problems

Update:

Had a new power supply overnighted and Mike the tech guy came by around noon.

Even before he got here I found (wasn't easy) the 24 pin/voltage configuration of the G4 MDD power supply.

Unplugged the power supply from the Mac, plugged in the machine and began taking voltages off of a combination of pins...no voltage anywhere.

Just out of curiosity, I'm going to disassemble the old power supply, and I bet I find a simple blown fuse. Mike said I could probably sell it on eBay once it was functional.

Anyway, the studio computer is back! Thanks for the input...

Buzz

buzzsmith wrote:...I'm going to disassemble the old power supply...

Buzz

Be careful of voltages that might be stored in components such as capacitors. Could cause a nasty burn.

I'll be very careful...the old unit won't even be plugged in for well over 24 hours or more when I check for the fuse.

Buzz