Power Supply Blowing Up Like A G5

[digiddy]

Hey guys,

I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to Mac repair. I did alot of PC tower work back in the day but I've recently been working on a MacPro tower for my student run TV station on campus.

Basically I plugged the machine in and before pressing any button it will click, the light will turn on simultaneously and it won't respond to the button being clicked. Also when I pull the power out it will click as it did when I plug it in.

So I figured this was some sort of power supply issue. After spending hours trying to find the right tool to get the heat sink off I pulled the power supply out. I looked in through the vent holes and it looked as if some sort of grey plastic had melted all over the internals. This was the second power supply for this unit and I found the first unit had the same grey matter inside but not in the same places.

Do you guys think it's worth my time to drop the money to get a new power supply or am I dealing with a bigger issue?

Thanks !
-Louis

 

[nanofrog]

The click you hear when you plug it in is normal (relay). That said, a bad PSU is a possibility.

You should also check the LED fault indicators on the Logic Board, to see if there's something going on there (in case it's not the PSU).

Ideally, if you've access to another MP (same year or series - hard to go from this, as you've not provided a model number/year of that system), and try swapping PSU's (if no LED's are showing any faults on the current unit).

 

[ActionableMango]

Two blown up power supplies in the same computer tells me there is a bigger issue. I would start to suspect that there is a problem in the computer or the electricity from the wall socket.

Can you identify the actual part that blew up?

 

[philipma1957]

Two blown up power supplies in the same computer tells me there is a bigger issue. I would start to suspect that there is a problem in the computer or the electricity from the wall socket.

Can you identify the actual part that blew up?

bingo! Do you have it on an UPS sometimes stepped sinewave ups devices can kill a power supply.

 

[digiddy]

Well I'm not 100 % sure it "blew up". I looked inside the power supply through the small circle holes and on both the supplies it looked as if it got hot enough that grey plastic melted and got all over the internal parts.

Thanks for your replies guys.