jgstratton
Member
I was given an eMac (G4/1.25 USB 2.0) recently that needed some recapping (one bad cap on the motherboard and almost all of the caps on the DVD drive / hard drive power supply). After re-capping, I thought it was good so I bought some stuff to max it out (RAM and an SSD).
After installing the SSD (and a few attempts after putting the thing back together with no power), it now boots. However, the video doesn’t come on. Obviously I pulled the SSD and reinstalled the Hard Drive, but the issue persists. I’m concerned that its the flyback transformer somehow.
I do recall a faint whine that would come up for a few minutes, and would go away occasionally. I wasn't concerned until it happened again after recapping, as I assumed it was one of the bad cap.
I also recall smelling a very slight burning electric smell on one of the attempts putting it back together for the second time (but that may be just how my apartment smells these days).
When it powers on, I hear two clicks that I don’t recall hearing previously. One that happens before the chimes, and one that happens during or after the chimes.
At one point I dropped a screw in the analog board(?) and shook the thing to try to get it out (maybe I shook something loose?). It was, to be blunt, lost in the computer for a few boots. I later found it under the analog board (but stuck to it magnetically), but it didn’t seem to be shorting out anything.
I did notice one cap slightly bulge on the analog board, but its on the other side from the transformer.
I’ve booted the thing with the case off in the dark to see if I could see any sparking around the transformer, and did not. I’ve checked the fuse, reset the pram, put the pram battery in backwards, pushed the button on the motherboard, cleaned all the connections with contact cleaner.
First question, is there something else I should be doing? Is the cap on the analog board worth attempting (it looks like a lot more work)? Or is if fairly clearly the flyback?
Second question, this thing has a mini VGA port in addition to its internal video connection. Would it be possible to power this thing with a normal PC power supply and put it in a case with no CRT? I HATE the idea of scraping a working non x86 computer.
After installing the SSD (and a few attempts after putting the thing back together with no power), it now boots. However, the video doesn’t come on. Obviously I pulled the SSD and reinstalled the Hard Drive, but the issue persists. I’m concerned that its the flyback transformer somehow.
I do recall a faint whine that would come up for a few minutes, and would go away occasionally. I wasn't concerned until it happened again after recapping, as I assumed it was one of the bad cap.
I also recall smelling a very slight burning electric smell on one of the attempts putting it back together for the second time (but that may be just how my apartment smells these days).
When it powers on, I hear two clicks that I don’t recall hearing previously. One that happens before the chimes, and one that happens during or after the chimes.
At one point I dropped a screw in the analog board(?) and shook the thing to try to get it out (maybe I shook something loose?). It was, to be blunt, lost in the computer for a few boots. I later found it under the analog board (but stuck to it magnetically), but it didn’t seem to be shorting out anything.
I did notice one cap slightly bulge on the analog board, but its on the other side from the transformer.
I’ve booted the thing with the case off in the dark to see if I could see any sparking around the transformer, and did not. I’ve checked the fuse, reset the pram, put the pram battery in backwards, pushed the button on the motherboard, cleaned all the connections with contact cleaner.
First question, is there something else I should be doing? Is the cap on the analog board worth attempting (it looks like a lot more work)? Or is if fairly clearly the flyback?
Second question, this thing has a mini VGA port in addition to its internal video connection. Would it be possible to power this thing with a normal PC power supply and put it in a case with no CRT? I HATE the idea of scraping a working non x86 computer.
