[SigmaXIX]

I've seen some similar posts, and was wondering if anybody can help me troubleshoot what's going on with this iMac?

I bought a B&W iMac 233 from the local school system, and brought it home to realize it didn't start up:

Push button, AMBER light comes on.
A few clicks, the light turns green then instantly turns off the power.
Must leave iMac unplugged for a while until can try again.

Without checking any internet sites, I decided to "dig around" the internals. I noticed what looked to be an obscene amount of residue on the Power Supply Board of the iMac, it looked as if Coca-Cola had become a brown glue on the back of the PCB. One of the Yellow copper solenoid spindles looked to be a sponge to this stuff. I took a fine wire brush and gave the PCB a thorough beat-down to get the hardened brown syrup off the thing. Still, the computer displays the same issues.

I just bought a new Power Supply board, because it doesn't look like anything is damaged other than that piece. It was not until today, 2 days after purchasing the Power Supply, that I came across a bunch of discussion on the MacNN forms talking about FLYBACK TRANSFORMERS. With the situation I illustrate, was it a waste of $50 to get the Power Supply Board?

Any other suggestions? Whenever the solenoid that got covered in Coca-Cola tries to pass energy to the monitor (green light), it clicks and shuts down the iMac (power off).

Thank you!

[SigmaXIX]

[/EDIT] I did some other troubleshooting, and when I disconnect the monitor cable (the long cable) from the bottom of the iMac, the computer appears to boot up, however the light stays amber. Actually, when I say amber, it appears really like Amber, Green, AND Red are all on at the same time... maybe I broke the light, but it still turns green right before it turns off with monitor plugged in. Yes, I hear a chime, anyway... [/edit]

Also, could that dark-brown and semi-sticky coating have been some type of solder-related substance?

BTW -- I have NOT received the Power Supply via USPS, yet.

PS -- I am learning about Macs to further my capacity as a senior-year Computer Scientist.

[Jacke]

This certainly sounds like GLOD (Green Light Of Death) as it is known among other things. Find another monitor you can plug into monitor cable and you should be good to go. It's not a regular VGA connector but rather the old-style Apple monitor plug you're looking for, if you have a friend with old Apple stuff maybe he/she has one you can borrow. Otherwise it should also work with a regular VGA monitor and an adapter like this one.

[SigmaXIX]

Damn, couldn't get a MAC monitor this morning . I was wondering if the Power Supply Board could really be responsible for this GLOD issue, rather than the deadly Flyback Transformer? I mean, i think the solenoid-looking yellow copper spindle thing looks to have been innundated with Coca-Cola. This is on the Power Supply Board, not the Analog Board or the Flyback Transformer.

Any suggestions where I may still salvage the studio monitor and the other materials in the AIO? The flyback really does look ok, how can I judge visibly without danger of severe electrocution whether that part suffered from the "Bondi Blue Melting" issue?

[Detrius]

You really can't tell by looking at it. You can generally tell by listening though. If you EVER hear something the sounds like a high-voltage short on any CRT Mac, it's the Analog/Video board. As techs, we don't have info on repairing the boards themselves, but the bottom line is that a "bzzt" followed by power-off is the analog/video board. Therefore, the power supply board won't help you out any.