Mac G5 with blown power supply

[TorturedChaos]

I was sure whether to put this under Alternative OS or General Hardware but here it goes.

We have a Mac G5 that just stopped turning on last Tuesday. I don't know much about Mac's, and had trouble even getting it partially apart, let alone getting to the power supply, so I took it to a local computer repair place I have used in the past for them to check it out.

Their verdict was dead power supply. Gave me a quote of $600+ (for parts and labor) to replace it, which seemed REALLY high to me.
They claimed you have to take apart the whole mac to replace the power supply.
So does anyone know if thats true, and does $600+ sound as outrageous to everyone else as it does to me, or is that about right??

Also, does anyone have a good guide to replacing the power supply. I can't seem to find one.

Thanks.

 

[SNGX1275]

That does seem incredibly high. I had a PowerMac G3 and now have a G4 and they are really easy to work on. It appears the G5 is much more involved

Here is a guide on replacing the power supply: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-Power-Mac-G5-Power-Supply/1893/1

I've used the ifixit guides for several things on Macs and found them to be very good.

The price they quoted you is probably for a "new" PSU, and since its a Mac they have crazy replacement part costs. I think ebay is going to be your best bet here. Prices seem to vary quite a lot. Looks like the best you can do on ebay is somewhere around $100 (one for $89 now).

 

[TorturedChaos]

Sweet! This might be something I can do myself. None of the other guides I found really walked you through from start to finish .

Thanks So Much .

 

[Leeky]

That's actually surprisingly involved just to change a PSU. They did well to hide it right down there! :haha:

Its a bloody good guide though!

 

[TorturedChaos]

Well I found a power supply on ebay for $125 with shipping. Should be here next week. Also found a guy at another computer repair place that specializes in Mac's and we are going to have him in stall it.

Total bill for everything (install and parts) will be around $200. Much better than the $600+ the other place wanted .

 

[ChinoNYC]

For $600, I would have said, "You can keep your parts and labor and I'll just continue shopping around with $600 still in my wallet."