Mac G4 PSU dead
 

The PSU on our G4 Quicksilver powermac has died, well I think it has, it stays on for about 5 minutes then turns itself off. Everything works well beforehand however.

It is over 7 years old so has had a good run so far (far far longer than a PC would have lasted without upgrading everything twice, like Trigger's broom........).

Anybody know:

can you fit a PC PSU with a link cable as some of the pins are slightly different?

Where I can get a 2nd hand one (tried ebay so far).

Can I take out the hard disc (40GB) and put it into some kind of caddy so I can copy the data off it???

Cheers

Steve

I don't think it's PSU. Or it is much complicated than standart ATX ones. When standart PC ATX PSU dies, it just doesn't turns on. U push button, but only that can happen - fan can start spinning for half second. Is there everything ok with CPU? Isn't there excessive dust, dead CPU fan or detached heatsink?

I don't know what kind of filesystem uses mac os x, I only think that there isn't any of microsoft used outdated filesystems, so win will be unable to copy something from your HDD. At last without any third party addons/drivers/utilities.

P.S. About "unability to use 7 years PC without upgrade" - bullshit, microsoft crappy windows isn't only os for PC :)

OK.

I will take the case off (well open the door ) and check the CPU fan and stuff is OK.

I can get the PSU repaired here for £40:
http://www.cpsupport.co.uk/quicksilver.htm

And as the hard disc is an ultra IDE 66 something, I can get one of these and turn the hard disc into a USB drive, no sweat with MAC OS X......

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136250

Ah, u have case closed with warranty sticker, right? :moon:

er no.

To open a G4 case you just pull the handle. I'm sure even you could manage it.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42687

This was in 2001 when PCs still had fiddly screws at the back and sharp metal cases.........

I have opened the case about 3 times to press the internal reset button, but that is it. No need to open it more........

I don't talk about your G4. I'm talking about computer which u wanna use to copy data from HDD.

er no.....

click here:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136250

and read about it. I will take the HDD out of the G4, put it into the product above, and it turns a HDD into a USB HDD, so I will plug the drive in the case into my other Mac using a USB cable..........

I don't need to read about it, I know what it is. U wanna say that your G4 have paralell ATA HDD and un can't plug it into your "other mac"?

Not when it is a Macbook (laptop)............ which has Serial ATA apparently, whatever that is.

Sounds like an overheating issue. They probably have thermal cutout protection built in. Take the PSU out, take the lids off and blast 7 years of dust out with a compressed airline. Put it back together and try it. Nothing to lose...