Show Time!

My Problem

We run a small IT company in Anchorage, Alaska and are also a sponsor/presenter/exhibitor of an upcoming conference. Our 27" iMac is to be used as part of our booth for displaying some of our promotional videos, etc. One problem: it wouldn't boot up. Not a bong, beep, or whir.

Although much of our business deals with managing Windows-based networks, we've worked with Mac's before, too. From experience, the best place to start in the teardown of any clean-frame, sealed device is the Internet. I'm so glad I found IFIXIT in my search!

My Fix

Using the IFIXIT guide, in less than 20 minutes we had the display out of this case and could look for the cause of its failure to start. All in all, the iMac looked pretty good inside with all circuit boards showing no sign of problems--except one: the power supply. It showed a "ghosting", almost a light dusting or frosting of a light discoloration on the PCB that faced us. I was pretty sure we nailed it as the problem, given the lack of any sign of life when attempting to power up and that none of the other PCB's showed anything like this discoloration.

When we tore into the iMac, we were 10 days away from the start of the conference, so we looked locally in Anchorage for a power supply. The closest we could get was a quote for considerably higher (almost double) what I'd seen w IFIXit. So we took a chance w IFIXIT to order the part and get it here on time.

Our order went in last Monday and by Wednesday we had the power supply in hand. Another 30 minutes and we had the system put back together and booting up!

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures, yet I'm not sorry about the results. We received this power supply at an excellent price and within 2 days of order--and our ability to use this system at the conference won't be hindered in the least. Thank you, IFIXIT!

My Advice

The one area where I approached this dis-assembly different was the order in which the old power supply was removed (and put back in). Attempting to remove the connector before removing the 4 screws was futile.

I disconnected the AC power clip first, then removed the 4 screws (putting them in 3 different containers w labels), and then was able to unclip and separate the connector from the board.