Power supply burnt after adding SSD to 2011 iMac 21.5 inch

[finalfusion]

Hi guys,

I tried to add SSD to my iMac mid-2011 21.5 inch, which went wrong.

I used DIY SSD upgrade kit from OWC, followed the instructions well, except for the stupid mistake that I kept my iMac plugged in while dissembling the iMac(this is bad right?).

After the reassembly, iMac did not turn on. I noticed that no diagnostic LEDs were lit, so thought it was a power problem.

Then I noticed that the electrical wall outlet that my iMac was connected to was not working (eg. I plugged in my phone charger and it didn't work. Maybe iMac blew up that outlet??)

So I took my iMac to another wall outlet that was definitely working. Shortly after I plugged in my iMAC , there was a huge spark from the power supply (screen was already removed to see the LED lights, so I was able to see that), with some smoke and burning smell. And iMac still doesn't work. No LED lights == no power


My question is:

1. Anyone know why this happened? Only thing I did wrong was having my iMAC plugged in during the dissembly. This kills the power supply?

2. Do you think changing power supply will solve the problem? A bit scared that I may blow up newly ordered power supply as well.....



Thanks !!!(I'm not a native speaker of English so pardon my grammar...)

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Ohh dear that is very very bad!

Consider this. You are lucky you never went up with the iMac. Instructions from ifixit etc are very specific about unplugging and discharging the power supply.

This is going to be a pretty dear lesson, and your English is no doubt better than mine, but then we Australians don't consider oruselves English!

If you wish to have a go to replace the power supply, here is a tear down from ifixit. Note the warning in red, so you might appreciate the cost of the iMac was a small price to pay:-


https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2428+Power+Supply+Replacement/5962

 

[triptolemus]

You very likely created a dead short somewhere blowing the power supply. The power supply is obviously damaged, and I would guess there is likely significant damage to one or more components on any of the internal boards. You could have dead-shorted a capacitor, damaged/shorted the traces on the board(s), damaged a cable/wire... who knows.

The power supply shorted, sparked and smoked due to a short outside of the power supply. Simply replacing the power supply will not fix the problem.

 

[Fishrrman]

Frankly, time to look for something new or newer…

Aside:
I know you don't want to hear this, but this is why I would have advised you to buy an external SSD in a thunderbolt enclosure and use that instead.

Easier, and SAFER.

 

[cynics]

It could be a lot of things at this point. It could just be the power supply however it's not uncommon for a short like you are describing to take other components with it. Generally what happens is the the machine will power on and back off immediately, the user will keep hitting the power on button until there is a catastrophic failure.

Even if you replaced the power supply that is not saying A: Other components aren't damaged. B: The short does not still exist. With a short the weakest link in the chain will fail which isn't always the short itself.

Be thankful you weren't the weakest link in that chain, try to be a careful next time.