[nebulousforce]

Hi, I bought my girlfriend a Grape iMac DV 400 Slotter for Christmas. This is her 1st computer ever plus it's a Mac, and her favorite color is purple, not too shabby of a start up 'puter, right? She really hated computers, and used to be scared of 'em, but not of that cool lookin' iMac! I don't blame her for avoiding PeeCees if they're runnin' Win~Blows! ;-) Anyways, I purchased it from a nice lady from Ebay, and the only upgrades she had were 320MB of RAM and Jaguar, that were included when I purchased it in near mint condition with the original box, and all the original packing materials except OS 9. When I received it she had already formated the original 10GB hard drive and reinstalled and updated it to Jaguar 10.2.8 only. No OS 9.? and no dual boot set up just Jag. But, the big "but" here is did this formatting and reinstall of Jag. mess up the firmware update that she may or may not have installed? The only other thing I did was change the PRAM battery since I'd read many tales of this causing all forms of glitches and some annoying problems and in doing so, I was hoping to give her some trouble free times with the iMac. I see now that maybe I should have dug a little deeper.:-\ I won't be able to check it out till Sunday afternoon so I was hunting some tips to take along with me this weekend. I was informed today that her iMac had a burning smell and the green(?) light of death, although I'm not sure it was green or if it is orange? Like I've said, I haven't seen it yet. From what I can recall she can plug it in and use it to check her email etc., and shortly there after the "burning smell" returns, until it's unplugged. She says that even when it's shut down the light still blinks and so does the Powermate indicating "sleep mode". I told her to leave it unplugged just to be on the safe side and I know that the smell isn't too pleasant either. I then began my search for answers and I ended up here. If anyone can lend a few helpful tips they would be greatly appreciated!
Thanx!

[f1000]

Burning smell = no good. It sounds like a capacitor in your power supply may have gone bad, possibly due to a surge. Have it get checked out.

[nebulousforce]

Originally posted by f1000:
Burning smell = no good. It sounds like a capacitor in your power supply may have gone bad, possibly due to a surge. Have it get checked out.

Thanks! Does someone offer remanufactured units or do I need to search for a new one? Also if that's the case is it a cost effective repair?

[f1000]

If you sniff around inside the case, you should be able to identify the bad component pretty quickly (a component that has been burnt will usually smell pungent even when unpowered).

Someone else will have to tell you where to find a replacement unit. Try Apple, Google, and eBay.

WARNING: There are some high voltages inside an iMac case because of the CRT monitor, so don't poke around in there unless you know what you're doing. A CRT capacitor can hold a lethal amount of charge (even when the computer is unplugged).

[discotronic]

Originally posted by nebulousforce:
Thanks! Does someone offer remanufactured units or do I need to search for a new one? Also if that's the case is it a cost effective repair?

If that is actually the problem. Here is one on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

They are easy to install. Just take out 6 screws from the bottom of the iMac and it is right there on top.

[nebulousforce]

Originally posted by discotronic:
If that is actually the problem. Here is one on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

They are easy to install. Just take out 6 screws from the bottom of the iMac and it is right there on top.

Hey, thanx again! If this was a power surge or just a failed part could the missing firmware update also be a probable cause for this type of problem? Wow, that eBay one is super cheap when compared to one web sight I checked out where they wanted almost $90.00 more! Of course the eBay one is used and possibly the other one is refurbished. I'm willing to gamble on the eBay one since as I've seen on so many different posts here that it's not hardly worth investing too much on an old iMac when you can get an eMac pretty dog gone cheap these days. However, I still think the colored iMacs are cool! Too bad Apple won't offer the eMac or a refreshed new iMac design that incorporates that neat-o customization feature of a simple color choice. Maybe they'll realize how much it affects the sales of the iPod minis. I honestly believe that, women especially, would be more attracted to the Apple computer line if they'd bring back the more basic colors to the line up. I'm hoping that Apple will make an eMac G5 but with the industrial strength case design mimicking the Powermac G5. Damn! That would be ultra cool!

[f1000]

Originally posted by nebulousforce:
Hey, thanx again! If this was a power surge or just a failed part could the missing firmware update also be a probable cause for this type of problem?

Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Originally posted by nebulousforce:
I honestly believe that, women especially, would be more attracted to the Apple computer line if they'd bring back the more basic colors to the line up. I'm hoping that Apple will make an eMac G5 but with the industrial strength case design mimicking the Powermac G5. Damn! That would be ultra cool!

There's always spray paint!

[nebulousforce]

There's always spray paint! [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah, but that translucent "hard candy" look wouldn't be there if it was painted. :-\ A better idea would be interchangeable shells. I've seen these offered for a couple of years for the video game consoles such as the XBOX and PS2 and the ol' Dreamcast.

[nebulousforce]

I finally had a chance to pry her sweet lil' hands away from it last night ready to bring it home and start to carefully diagnose the problem. She's going on a family vacation and won't be needing it for at least a week. Well, after I packed it up safely in my Ram pickup she adds another tidbit of information that she kinda forgot to mention. (Hmm, is it a woman thing? Like asking what's wrong with your car hun? Anyways, she said that if she unplugged that 'whatchmacallit/dogahmaflitchit' the light quit blinking, and the smell went away. So I asked what are you talking about? She points to the 4-port mini USB hub by Meritline and it's AC adaptor.http://www.meritline.com/usb-mini-po...f-powered.html
"When I unplug this [AC adaptor] the iMac's power light quits blinking and the smell goes away. Oh, and the smell it's much stronger after the iMac is on for a little while and it gets much worse after I shut it down." I'm assuming that it's just a bad AC adaptor for the USB hub, but I decided to take it home just to be sure it's going to check out ok. Now I'm curious if the USB hub could've possibly damaged the iMac since it's self powered? I know that the keyboards USB connections cannot handle many devices that require power, but what about the 2 ports on the iMac itself? Actually, it's only one after you connect the keyboard. When I gave her the iMac I included that USB hub thinking she'd need one that was self powered, as I read of some Macs power supplies being overtaxed with too many USB devices requiring hub power. I suppose that's what I get for reading too much! How many devices, in theory, can be safely connected to a bus powered USB 4 port hub? Right now she's got the keyboard and mouse together, leaving a Griffin Powermate, flash card media reader, and a printer/scanner combo. I'm hoping it's just the hub's AC adaptor that's bad and was the iMac signaling a "rejection or overload" when the light was flashing? While I have it I'm going to check it out and if it's just that hub, I'll do the software update thing and check for the correct and latest firmware update, run some maintenance scripts, I've been satisfied so far with OnyX, and maybe bump up the ram another 256 for a total of 576MB.
Any tips and or suggestions would be most welcome! I appreciate everything you've suggested so far. I sell automotive parts for a living and I'm fairly decent at diagnosing and or passing along tips for those kinda problems. Maybe I can return the favor?

[f1000]

Test your iMac:

1. Boot your iMac without connecting it to the hub. Any odors?
2. Test the iMac's USB ports by plugging a mouse into each of them. Do the ports work?


Test your USB hub:

1. Plug the transformer by itself into the wall. Any odors?
2. Add the hub to it. Any odors?
3. Connect the hub to the iMac. Any odors?
4. Connect a mouse to the hub. Does the mouse still work?

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by nebulousforce:
I finally had a chance to pry her sweet lil' hands away from it last night ready to bring it home and start to carefully diagnose the problem. She's going on a family vacation and won't be needing it for at least a week. Well, after I packed it up safely in my Ram pickup she adds another tidbit of information that she kinda forgot to mention. (Hmm, is it a woman thing? Like asking what's wrong with your car hun? Anyways, she said that if she unplugged that 'whatchmacallit/dogahmaflitchit' the light quit blinking, and the smell went away. So I asked what are you talking about? She points to the 4-port mini USB hub by Meritline and it's AC adaptor.http://www.meritline.com/usb-mini-po...f-powered.html
"When I unplug this [AC adaptor] the iMac's power light quits blinking and the smell goes away. Oh, and the smell it's much stronger after the iMac is on for a little while and it gets much worse after I shut it down." I'm assuming that it's just a bad AC adaptor for the USB hub, but I decided to take it home just to be sure it's going to check out ok. Now I'm curious if the USB hub could've possibly damaged the iMac since it's self powered? I know that the keyboards USB connections cannot handle many devices that require power, but what about the 2 ports on the iMac itself? Actually, it's only one after you connect the keyboard. When I gave her the iMac I included that USB hub thinking she'd need one that was self powered, as I read of some Macs power supplies being overtaxed with too many USB devices requiring hub power. I suppose that's what I get for reading too much! How many devices, in theory, can be safely connected to a bus powered USB 4 port hub? Right now she's got the keyboard and mouse together, leaving a Griffin Powermate, flash card media reader, and a printer/scanner combo. I'm hoping it's just the hub's AC adaptor that's bad and was the iMac signaling a "rejection or overload" when the light was flashing? While I have it I'm going to check it out and if it's just that hub, I'll do the software update thing and check for the correct and latest firmware update, run some maintenance scripts, I've been satisfied so far with OnyX, and maybe bump up the ram another 256 for a total of 576MB.
Any tips and or suggestions would be most welcome! I appreciate everything you've suggested so far. I sell automotive parts for a living and I'm fairly decent at diagnosing and or passing along tips for those kinda problems. Maybe I can return the favor?

the number of devices that can be connected to your computer depends on if the devices have seperate power supplys if they have their own power you can connect many(i'm not quite sure how many maybe 187?) devices. however if the devices use the computers power then one per usb port is the general rule mouse and keyboard not counting but you might want to check witn someone cause im not quite sure.

[nebulousforce]

Hmm, I didn't fall off the potato truck yesterday so I already had this test in mind. But this post could help someone else in the future perhaps. So I'll say thanks.

Originally posted by f1000:
Test your iMac:

1. Boot your iMac without connecting it to the hub. Any odors?
2. Test the iMac's USB ports by plugging a mouse into each of them. Do the ports work?


Test your USB hub:

1. Plug the transformer by itself into the wall. Any odors?
2. Add the hub to it. Any odors?
3. Connect the hub to the iMac. Any odors?
4. Connect a mouse to the hub. Does the mouse still work?

[discotronic]

Have you found out anything yet?

[nebulousforce]

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
the number of devices that can be connected to your computer depends on if the devices have seperate power supplys if they have their own power you can connect many(i'm not quite sure how many maybe 187?) devices. however if the devices use the computers power then one per usb port is the general rule mouse and keyboard not counting but you might want to check witn someone cause im not quite sure.

Hey, thanx! I know in theory I've heard something to the effect that you can connect "literally hundreds of USB devices" in a daisy chain fashion. Like you, I don't know exact numbers and I know on this application the max of non-self powered devices wouldn't exceed 7 total with one port on the iMac suppling the keyboard with the mouse connected to it and the rest through, as of now, bus powered only 4-port USB hub. Hmm, I may try a different connection method however, and plug the keyboard and attached mouse to the 4-port hub w/o the ac adaptor, since it's not required and any devices that need more 'juice' directly into the iMac. My main concern was any possible damage to the iMac itself which, as of today seems non existent.
Test results:
Yes, I tested everything throughly and I suppose that the iMac resisted the power from the USB hub when shut down possibly causing a feedback that resulted in the "burning smell" coming from it's AC adaptor, along with the blinking iMac power light/button. Everything works perfectly as long as that ac adaptor is unplugged from the hub.
Thanks again for all of your help, comments and or suggestions. I ended up with 2 of those Power Supply/Down Converters from ebay but I'll keep one of them for a future possible breakdown. The other? I'm going to sell it soon on ebay since, hopefully, I won't need 2 of them anytime soon. Advise to myself:"check it out throughly before trying to diagnose over the phone and get much more extreme details from my girlfriend. Better yet just get the basics from her [hi sweetie, my computer is acting funny, weird, it's broke.etc] and go get the details myself! LOL! Again, thanx to all and I do mean all of you guy's & gals(?) for any and all tips!