Mac Pro - Strange smell from power supply - Mac-Forums.com

Obsidian · 07-21-2007, 10:11 AM

Hi Everyone,

My machine is a new 8 Core 3.0GHz Mac Pro with 16GB of RAM, two DVD burners, and four Hitachi 1TB hard drives. I have noticed a strange sweet smelling odor coming from the power supply.

Having been in IT for 20 years, I did some troubleshooting:

First, I removed all of the hard drives and the DVD drives and then booted (with the side panel open) from an external firewire drive. From this test, it is very clear that the power supply is the source. Everything else is normal.

Second, I took a high power flashlight and looked through the back of the case to see if I could identify any damaged components. I didn't see any burst or cracked capacitors or scorch marks (couldn't get a full view inside though) but I did see a white goopy substance that had been dripped on the power supply's heat sink as well as a couple of other components.

Based on problems I have seen with other cheap power supplies made in Mainland China, I suspect that there is some amount of resin flux that wasn’t removed during the manufacturing process which is getting very hot and burning accounting for the sweet odor.

It isn’t yet clear that the power supply will fail but it is a certainly a cause for concern.

Anyone else having this problem?

Best Regards,

Tim

Benjamindaines · 07-21-2007, 12:28 PM

Take it to an Apple Store and get it replaced.

Obsidian · 07-22-2007, 02:19 AM

Taking it back is the easy answer if you live in the US but I am in China and this thing is really heavy to transport. I will of course in the end if necessary but I don't want to replace it with a machine with even more issues (as has happened to several others as per their posts on various sites).

Below is the Apple Forum discussion on the topic:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....68023&#4568023

Finx_1 · 07-23-2007, 10:49 PM

First of all... NICE COMPUTER!!!!!!
I have seen a thread on here b4 about the same issue...
It is a well known fault... I have heard that the stores will replace the power unit with no questions... but with your situation you can always phone apple and act "very dissapointed" and apple have been known for bending over backwards for high paying customers. (and you definatly count as one of them with a computer like yours) Perhaps they can organise a courior of some sort to collect it for you????
Worth a try....