Thread

mac mini woes

68kMLA Hardware 14 posts Dec 10, 2008 to Dec 13, 2008

#1 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 03:14 68kMLA

I have two mac minis, both are G4. When i plug one in, the fan just turns on. The other one does nothing when plugged in or when the power button is pressed. Any ideas what could be wrong?

#2 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 03:39 68kMLA

Power supply is my guess on the second one. The first *might* be the case too. When you turn on the first one, hold the power button until you hear a long beep and the power light should flash.

#3 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 04:50 68kMLA

Just off the top of my head the first one sounds like a bad mobo.

#4 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 04:58 68kMLA

Just off the top of my head the first one sounds like a bad mobo.

I was going to say that but didn't want to succumb to that first.

#5 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 14:04 68kMLA

I heard those things were quite tough and least likely to be returned for servicing. The small size could have let heat build up and cook your mobo or powersupply. If you figure it out, let us know.

Have you looked for the Apple Service manual for those models?

#6 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 14:17 68kMLA

well i am pretty sure that the power supplies are good. I havnt found an apple service manual and have actually never heard of those. I think my next step is to pop out the mobo and inspect for broken solders joints and shorts. I will keep you updated.

#7 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 14:54 68kMLA

Try disconnecting the power and removing the battery (test the battery too). I've had problems with my old Mini starting up, and following those steps seemed to solve the problem. (1st generation Intel Mac Mini in my case.)

#8 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 19:33 68kMLA

Same problem with my mini G4: the machine died a few days ago in performing a restart. After a test of components swapped separately from a working unit it seems as if power supply and motherboard both are toasted.

At least it is a good reason to get a recent machine :-|

#9 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 - 20:27 68kMLA

I havnt found an apple service manual and have actually never heard of those.

Here you go:

http://a4.s3.p.quickshareit.com/files/mac_minid397b.pdf

#10 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 - 18:51 68kMLA

Hey thanks, I will try that out. As far as one of them goes, I am sure the mobo is toasted. It has a burn mark on it on the bottom where there is an visible break with solder joins around a chip. It looks almost as if there was an explosion under the chip! I hope it is a power button or a battery on the other one though. I cant see any problems on the mobo, but the components are small. The thing stopped working one day when i was watching a movie on it. It just shut off. It was pretty weird.

#11 Sat, 13 Dec 2008 - 09:34 68kMLA

Here you go:

Thankyou!! And just when I need one too.

#12 Sat, 13 Dec 2008 - 10:01 68kMLA

Here you go:

Click to expand...

Thankyou!! And just when I need one too.

You're welcome!

I found a pretty big archive of those manuals a couple of months ago, so now I've got a bunch of them; mainly old 68k's and current. Just let me know in case anybody needs one particular…

I'd be happy to upload them somewhere, but if I'm right, it's still highly forbidden to share those little useful pdf…

#13 Sat, 13 Dec 2008 - 16:18 68kMLA

i reset the PMU on the other mobo and it was to no avail. I think that the motherboard is dead. I did all of the things in the manual. bummer man.

#14 Sat, 13 Dec 2008 - 16:19 68kMLA

i reset the PMU on the other mobo and it was to no avail. I think that the motherboard is dead. I did all of the things in the manual. bummer man.