MP 1,1-5,1 My Trusty 2010 cMP seems to have an issue…

[paulcons]

Needless to say I am freaking out big time. Unfortunately too much of my life in my old age depends on my computer. Pushed the button, nothing. Tried various length presses, nothing, not even a click. Tried a SMC reset, nothing. Verified power was flowing through the power card. Took the side cover off hoping I could see any kind of diagnostic lights… oh, a single processor system. No lights. Pretty sure I had replaced the button battery maybe 3-5 years ago, could that be the issue? Naturally I totally forgot where said battery was located, perhaps in the area of the slots. Am I right?

Wrestling this machine around is a problem for me, late 70s and I have severe spinal stenosis. Still I should check it because one never knows… even though I doubt this is the issue… I may have read that even without this battery, one should get some clicks out of it.

So assuming the battery is ok, next thing I think about is the power supply. Is there any was to diagnose it as the issue? Could I even get someone to bring and install a new one (NYC upper west side)? Reliable repair shop in NYC?

 

[MrScratchHook]

Needless to say I am freaking out big time. Unfortunately too much of my life in my old age depends on my computer. Pushed the button, nothing. Tried various length presses, nothing, not even a click. Tried a SMC reset, nothing. Verified power was flowing through the power card. Took the side cover off hoping I could see any kind of diagnostic lights… oh, a single processor system. No lights. Pretty sure I had replaced the button battery maybe 3-5 years ago, could that be the issue? Naturally I totally forgot where said battery was located, perhaps in the area of the slots. Am I right?

Wrestling this machine around is a problem for me, late 70s and I have severe spinal stenosis. Still I should check it because one never knows… even though I doubt this is the issue… I may have read that even without this battery, one should get some clicks out of it.

So assuming the battery is ok, next thing I think about is the power supply. Is there any was to diagnose it as the issue? Could I even get someone to bring and install a new one (NYC upper west side)? Reliable repair shop in NYC?

in my experience it could be the power supply or the backplane aka motherboard. i blew about 3 backplanes in the last 4 years so i have some experience with that. but you should always have extra parts for trouble shooting.

 

[paulcons]

I remembered I had a shop repair my CPU tray a while back, so I took the machine to him. He also thinks power supply. He said he might be able to board level repair the power supply. Crossing my fingers…

 

[macguru9999]

there is a button on the backplane near the front panel, google it. if lights come on when you press it (plugged in) then the PS is prob. OK. Then 90pc the backplane has failed. you can buy a spare working mac for dianostics, or try to get a backplane. not sure if its worth it, check prices on ebay. good luck

 

[paulcons]

Turns out it was both the power supply and the backplane that were of issue. For 50 bucks more than the repair cost he is selling me a 2012 dual core machine with 2 3.4GHz 6 core chips in it. Of course I went with the dual core. The sad part is that my old one had a really cool running Northbridge, usually around 50° C.

 

[MrScratchHook]

Turns out it was both the power supply and the backplane that were of issue. For 50 bucks more than the repair cost he is selling me a 2012 dual core machine with 2 3.4GHz 6 core chips in it. Of course I went with the dual core. The sad part is that my old one had a really cool running Northbridge, usually around 50° C.

so just re-paste the dual tray processors...

 

[fatespawn]

The sad part is that my old one had a really cool running Northbridge, usually around 50° C.

Don't sweat the Northbridge. My repasted northbridge has been idling at 75C for the past 5 years. I'm sure your good.

 

[paulcons]

Well, a little Macs Fan Control and I've got it pretty quite and the NB running mid 60s. How I got one that ran 50º is kind of a mystery, given the tray look totally unused, I can surmise the NB runs hotter the longer it is in service.

 

[fatespawn]

Well, the NB runs cooler under load because the CPU fans actually blow. Otherwise it just sits there stagnant. Right now my NB on my dual CPU is idling at 76C. My single processor in the basement running at 100% load (running BOINC) is at 55C. So, it really doesn't matter. I have a 15 year old machine idling at 75C - unless you're idling above 80 or pop a rivet or something, the NB is nothing to worry about.