Picked up a new G5 powermac Thur evening. Set it Fri AM and on three occasions there loud pops coming from the machine. After the last it was dead. Took back to Apple store and they think power supply blew and replaced unit. Set up new unit today and another loud pop. Unplug and get an outlet tester and find the outlet does not have an active ground. Change to good outlet and run off of an APC uninteruptable power supply that I was using for my PC box. Just ran the Apple extended hardware test and it passed. Am I OK? Are macs that sensitive to non-grounded outlets? Thanks for your help.
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Non grounded outlet and G5 Powermac
- Thread starter pfoiles
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pfoiles said:
I think you answered your own question.
Some people run their Macs on power conditioners that cost half as much as their machines, so yeah, get a GOOD UPS and conditioning unit with sufficient power (not some $9 power strip).
The presence or otherwise of an Uninterruptible Power Supply is not relevant to what you're asking. If the supply is not earthed (or grounded as you US folk say) then the UPS won't be earthed either. Any electrical appliance with exposed metal should be earthed. If it's not then a fault will not allow current to leak safely to earth, and often won't be detected by a residual current device.
Computers in particular are sensitive to static electricity (which won't come through your supply, but the earth connection will allow a static charge to be dissipated safely). That may be the source of your loud popping - a static charge that can't leak away through the earth connection, and builds up to the point where it arcs to maybe the live or neutral terminals.
As a side issue, on an un-earthed machine if you take the lid off to work on the inside, touching the exposed metal will not earth your own static charge and you run the risk of frying something.
Even though your supply is only 110v (am I right here?) I strongly suggest you sort your mains supply out with a proper earth conductor, for your own safety.
Computers in particular are sensitive to static electricity (which won't come through your supply, but the earth connection will allow a static charge to be dissipated safely). That may be the source of your loud popping - a static charge that can't leak away through the earth connection, and builds up to the point where it arcs to maybe the live or neutral terminals.
As a side issue, on an un-earthed machine if you take the lid off to work on the inside, touching the exposed metal will not earth your own static charge and you run the risk of frying something.
Even though your supply is only 110v (am I right here?) I strongly suggest you sort your mains supply out with a proper earth conductor, for your own safety.
Just to clarify, the Powermac is now connected to a properly grounded outlet. I was just wondering why I had never had a problem for years running a PC off the same outlet. It seems the first machine may not have been defective afterall. In which case can I now trust this one to not self destruct as long as it is properly grounded? And did the single static pop cause any problems that the hardware test would miss? Thanks again.