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iMac G4 won't boot, fan twitches

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Oblak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2016
7
1
Alright guys, so I'm having some troubles with an old flowerpot iMac. About a month ago I knocked a glass of water on the desk where the computer is sitting. There was no splash to speak of, the water just spilled around the base of the iMac. I immediately pulled the plug, but didn't feel like doing much else, as it was 3AM. Anyway, I left it like that for over a week before plugging it back in and trying to turn it on. Well, it didn't boot. I was kind of surprised because it was a relatively small amount of water and I didn't think it would get inside from under the base.

Now, I'm far from an expert, so I did some Googling and tried resetting the PRAM on the switch on the motherboard to no avail. I also checked the CMOS battery, which seems to still have some charge in it. Today, I decided to take apart the iMac for the heck of it. I cleaned it to the best of my capabilities and reseated the RAM. Tried turning it on while it was taken apart and noticed that the fan twitches when I plug it into an outlet. Nothing happens when pressing the power button. I don't see any blown capacitors on the motherboard or psu. I tried turning it on without the HDD and optical drive connected, just in case, and again the fan twitched when I plugged it in.

Any help is appreciated!
 
CooperBox

CooperBox

macrumors 68000
Nov 28, 2010
1,890
2,165
France - between Ricard & Absinthe......!
Not sure if I can really help you here.
Imho any water spilling around the base of a 'Sunflower' iMac could fairly easily enter any one of the many cooling inlet holes, situated only 6mm or so above the base itself. That could easily occur if any spillage started to 'pool'. If this was the case, opening and peering inside on top of the logic board, one would not necessarily see any evidence of spillage or signs of oxydation. Any untoward signs would have to be viewed on the underside of the logic board, which would mean its removal in order to check. A relatively simple additional task if you have already opened the base unit itself.
Simple question follows. What's a 'flowerpot' iMac......:rolleyes:
 
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Oblak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2016
7
1
CooperBox said:
Not sure if I can really help you here.
Imho any water spilling around the base of a 'Sunflower' iMac could fairly easily enter any one of the many cooling inlet holes, situated only 6mm or so above the base itself. That could easily occur if any spillage started to 'pool'. If this was the case, opening and peering inside on top of the logic board, one would not necessarily see any evidence of spillage or signs of oxydation. Any untoward signs would have to be viewed on the underside of the logic board, which would mean its removal in order to check. A relatively simple additional task if you have already opened the base unit itself.
Simple question follows. What's a 'flowerpot' iMac......:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Lol, my bad! Anyway, the underside of the board looks fine to me, here's a Google Photos album with some pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TiF1wUOPPoC3OIVs1

I changed the PRAM battery just in case, but no luck.
 
CooperBox

CooperBox

macrumors 68000
Nov 28, 2010
1,890
2,165
France - between Ricard & Absinthe......!
Oblak said:
Lol, my bad! Anyway, the underside of the board looks fine to me, here's a Google Photos album with some pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TiF1wUOPPoC3OIVs1

I changed the PRAM battery just in case, but no luck.
Click to expand...

Looks like something more serious in that case.
As troubleshooting is not my forte, I will leave it to those brighter than myself to offer suggestions.
I guess you've read THIS iFixit link.
 
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Oblak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2016
7
1
TC_GoldRush said:
Dude you spilt water around the base of your iMwc G4, and left it there for a week! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN?
Click to expand...

I meant I left the computer for a week before attempting to turn it on. Of course I didn't leave the water on my desk for that long, I thoroughly wiped it first thing in the morning. It wasn't even a half glass, or I would have cleaned it when it all happened. But yeah, I'm not going to say I expected everything to be A-OK, but given the relatively small amount of water spilled, and the time that had passed, I kinda hoped it would be alright. Alas, seems like the ol' G4 is done for :(

@CooperBox, yeah I already tried this. Thanks for the suggestion though!
 
TC_GoldRush

TC_GoldRush

macrumors 6502
Dec 6, 2017
283
272
Nevada, USA
Oblak said:
I meant I left the computer for a week before attempting to turn it on. Of course I didn't leave the water on my desk for that long, I thoroughly wiped it first thing in the morning. It wasn't even a half glass, or I would have cleaned it when it all happened. But yeah, I'm not going to say I expected everything to be A-OK, but given the relatively small amount of water spilled, and the time that had passed, I kinda hoped it would be alright. Alas, seems like the ol' G4 is done for :(

@CooperBox, yeah I already tried this. Thanks for the suggestion though!
Click to expand...
Sorry mate. Fact still remains that there was a containment breach. Ontop of that, the water was wiped first thing in the morning. . So it was sitting there wet for at least 4 hours. Good luck.
 
O

Oblak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2016
7
1
Candykane75 said:
https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/60258/Why+is+my+iMac+G4+not+powering+up+(after+a+power+outage)
did you read tis thread ?

second take apart manual
http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/imac/imac_usb2.pdf
your board looks oke im more worried about the Power supplly in the top part those old caps could be leaking or failing in ld computers
Click to expand...
Yep, I tried the 10 second thing but no luck. Also tried resetting the PMU. I took the whole thing apart, the PSU looks pristine to my untrained eye. No leakage.
 
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