The mysterious, poopin-out iMac

[Michael CM1]

My dad has an iMac G5 from the generation before they got built-in iSight cameras. Last week, I noticed it was being a little difficult by kinda shutting down for no reason when IT wanted to, not when people told it to. It sometimes doesn't even boot up all the way, and it won't stay on very long. I tried plugging it into another outlet and still got the same issues.

Anybody got a clue what's going on here? It sounds like a power supply problem to me or some failsafe in the computer that's tripping a shutdown. I didn't want to drag it up to the Apple Store until I asked the **EXPERTS!** on here since I have never taken a desktop to the Apple Store (or anything out of warranty).

 

[chadrob30]

Sounds like it's getting hot and shutting down.

 

[Michael CM1]

Sounds like it's getting hot and shutting down.

OOH, you just made me wonder if a fan went bad inside. That's what always effed up every PC I had. I guess I'll take a look before dragging it to the Apple Store. I'm hoping it's a fan because I know there aren't any components as cheap as a stinkin' $10 fan.

 

[BlackMax]

If you check the heat possibility and it turns out OK, check your power supply.

My Mom has a G5 17-inch, 1.8 GHz (M9843LL/A) "Rev. B" iMac from 2005 that would go to sleep and not wake up (basically turn off). She'd have to unplug it and wait ten minutes or so to successfully start it back up. It turned out her power supply was going bad. Once the power supply was replaced it worked fine.

 

[Macky-Mac]

that model of the G5 iMac has a known issue with the power supply. Apple even has an extended repair program for it even tho it's past the 1 year warranty. Check this out and see it looks like it applies to your imac repair program