iMac won't power up

I brought home an old imac last night that had been sitting at work for over 2 years. It powered up fine, then my daugter turned it on...and off...and on...and off..etc. I finally got a hold of it and looked at a few things, turned it off and was planning to move it into another room so that I could hook it up to my net work and play (I know nothing about macs). When I plugged it back in and tried to turn it on...nothing. It won't power up. I have tried several outlets, including the outlet that worked before and I tried different power cords but nothing works. Any ideas???

Thanks,
Eddie

eeew... poor mac

welcome to mac forums, and hopefuly we can get your mac working

I read somewhere that someone had this problem similar or the same to yours. Only it just didn't go throu the beatings. Im assuming if its been there for 2 years its an old old mac, what color though?
ok you have the color casing over the monitor, take that off some how. (Be VERY CAREFUL, the monitor holds an electric charge as do all CTRs and could zap ya to friggen who knows where) Look inside and if you see any wires that are loose or disconnected. If you find any gently try to push them into place.

I could be wrong.

Thanks Graphite, I will give this a shot tonight. It is hard to get the cover off?

Yes, my daughter is almost two and it is amazing how quickly she found the power switch.

By the way, it is orange.

Thanks,
Eddie

this site might help

good luck.

Moderator/MacAddikt

Guys I've run into the same problem as Peloke did, unfortunately the problem was caused by sudden low voltage in my area, it stood for a minute then lights went out completely for about twwo hours, after energy was restored my iMac wouldn't turn on... I opened her up and everything was in place not even a sign of a burnt component.... I'm assuming the power supply on it just wen dead but by looking at the gutts of this iMac just scared the **** out of me... I've also been searching for any technical manual to determine if the power supply is something embedded or if I have to go further up the dome (i.e., dismount DVD Drive, HDD and so forth...I just went as far as the mainboard...any suggestions???

************
iMAC Flat Panel
G4 800 MHz
256MB
60GB HDD

imac won't power up- open your mac

Ok, now I know this is an old thread...but if my experience can help someone with this problem. About your iMac not powering up--I think I may know the solution. Mine did just the same thing a few days ago. The problem was the DOWN CONVERTER BOARD. Actually the real problem was a little resistor on the board had never been properly soddered in and with all the moving our computer does, the part finally just fell out. So my husband just put the part back in. KEEP in mind that only the SLOT loading (cd) iMacs have this board, so if you have a tray loading this may not be the problem. Go here ( http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/technowarehouse/slotload3.html ) to learn how to open your Mac and take out this part. Also look on Ebay for the part or go here to buy the part from a good mac parts retailer http://www.microdocusa.com/slotimacparts.html

Hope this helps!!!
Witznd

Thanks WITZND for trying to help, unfortunately my iMac is not like yours, I have is the Flat Panel version.

Incidentally, I managed to locate an apple techie in town who has better skills than I in this arena (Í mostly work on PC hardware, haven't had much training on Apple hardware) and to my fortune, my iMac just had to be resetted, somehow the power surge activated some protection device of some sort. I thought the power surge had blown away my power supply, worse yet, my mainboard fortunately it was a matter of resetting the unit.

If you have any other site that shows the insides of the new iMac G4 appreciate it.....I'll try searching thru this one and see where it leads me to eventually..

Thanks

Hey!...got my iMac back.....no big worries....the P.M.U. was the solution ...

My g4 won't power up

I have a g4 866ghz. Where is the reset button. There was a power outage in my neighborhood and since then the power button will not work it will flicker momentarily but that's it.

geacmbo said:

Thanks WITZND for trying to help, unfortunately my iMac is not like yours, I have is the Flat Panel version.

Incidentally, I managed to locate an apple techie in town who has better skills than I in this arena (Í mostly work on PC hardware, haven't had much training on Apple hardware) and to my fortune, my iMac just had to be resetted, somehow the power surge activated some protection device of some sort. I thought the power surge had blown away my power supply, worse yet, my mainboard fortunately it was a matter of resetting the unit.

If you have any other site that shows the insides of the new iMac G4 appreciate it.....I'll try searching thru this one and see where it leads me to eventually..

Thanks

Click to expand...

Resetting PRAM and NVRAM

• 1. Shut down the computer.
  2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
  3. Turn on the computer.
  4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
  5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
  6. Release the keys.

Your computer's PRAM and the NVRAM are reset to the default values. The clock settings may be reset to a default date on some models.

geacmbo said:

Hey!...got my iMac back.....no big worries....the P.M.U. was the solution ...

Click to expand...

Thank you for your time. I'd like to ask, how you got to start your slot loading iMac again using the P.M.U. (what's this again?)

God bless,
Alvin.

The PMU is a small switch located on the main board inside the iMac. To access it you need to remove the plastic case bottom and the internal shielding. Try this link for an illustrated guide to removing the case and shielding: http://www.appletalk.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=436. Once you have the shielding off the PMU (also called the CUDA) button is located close to the RAM slots. It is a small button, usually red or black rubber, with a square, metal base (about .5 CM). Push this button ONCE. Then you can put everything back together.

peloke said:

Yes, my daughter is almost two and it is amazing how quickly she found the power switch.

Click to expand...

My youngest is 15 months, and she already knows how to hold in the power button on her granddad's PC for the full five seconds to forcefully turn it off. And she started this when she was 12 months!

My favorite is when her sisters are playing on their iMac, and she walks into their room and reaches up to push the "green light" power button. I know this happens whenever I hear the two older girls' screams eminating from their room, followed by "Daddy!!! Trisha turned off the compuuuuuuuuuterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!"

Although I wasn't too happy when she crawled under my desk and turned the UPS off when I was in the middle of "real" work.

Kids...