Power Mac G5 dirty PSU ;-)

Great pics/post/info, thanks! 🙂

Indeed, the PSU dust has been mentioned here a few times, but not seen the great pics before! 🙂

They could sell PSUs as Air Cleaners I think. 😉

Not surprised. I blew a power supply out last year, with a 100 PSI shop air blast. Glad I was outside when I did it, because it was a cross between some scenes in "The Grapes of Wrath" and other "Dust Bowl" movies.

That particular supply had been ingesting house lint for nearly seven years so I wasn't surprised to see what blew out.

That's why I have repeatedly advised taking the units outside to perform this maintenance.

BTW, lorange, I think we'd like it if you could keep those pictures up on your flikr page. I suspect that BD and I, among others, might want to link to this thread once in a while.

Message was edited by: old comm guy

lorange wrote:
Be my guest. Hope the picts will WARN sombody 😉

We'll see that they do. Thanks for the initial post, as well.

Back in my mis-spent youth, I worked with a few broadcast transmitters here and there. Cooling was, of course, a much bigger issue, and one of the standard maintenance areas was keeping clean air filters in place and also "policing" dust out of the electronics. (A couple of remote transmitter sites I worked were real bad about environmental dust, among other things.) I find myself these days getting a little more lax about dust bunny patrol in computers, though I know that any time there is a cooling fan, it is just a means of drawing in house dust and allowing it to collect somewhere it will eventually be able to cause mischief.

I guess the slogan should be, "*Blow it out now, before it blows itself out later.*"

"Blow it out now, before it blows itself out later."

I just might ---steal-- borrow that one, I like it! 😀

Great pics, and should be preserved somewhere for people who don't realize that dust kills computers. Knowing that the G5 was particularly sensitive to dust build up (I mean, the cheese grater case is way cool, but what is does to aid in dust deposits gives me a headache...) I researched dust elimination schemes prior to finding and purchasing a pristine G5 that had apparently spent a lifetime being ignored at a prestigious university in the midwest. It was spotless when I got it, and I wanted to keep it that way, especially the power supply. Besides the obvious issues with heat generation in these cases, dust makes the heat issue even worse, and that has to have a negative effect on component life. Before I put it into service, I purchased a supply of "pc filter medium", PuraPC, which is designed to be applied to the computer and effectively screen dust. While skeptical, I decided to try it, since I had nothing to lose. I also added Temp Monitor so that I could track temps, just in case the filter medium seemed too restrictive. I applied it all over the front intakes, including the lower curve of the case that acts as the front intake for the power supply. After 3 months, I checked the interior of the machine closely: it was spotless. Quantities of high pressure air dislodged nothing in the way of dust inside the care anywhere, and there was no internal sheen or build up of airborne contaminants on the internal surfaces - it looked new. The filter medium, on the other hand, was very dirty, full of dust and dirt.

I'm absolutely sold on this product - it works as advertised, and it's washable. While the G5 doesn't look very pretty with the filter material attached (double sided tape and small strips of duct tape on the outside) I don't care! I'd recommend this, or a similar product, at all times. I even applied it to my old G4 Digital (which just lost it's first power supply, by the way: the old trickle issue - 11 years in service).

One last thing - get the case off the floor. I keep it on the desk, because it really helps hold the dust down. Even the G4 was finally moved off the floor after cleaning and replacement of the PSU - I've learned my lesson.

Thanks for the tip! 🙂

PS. We could host the pics on my BBS if need be...

http://x704.net/bbs/

You know, and old nemesis phrase popped up in my mind the last time I visited this thread, to wit, "dirty power" which has been a problem I've had to deal with at several installations. This isn't that case, but it certainly could be an apt description. 🙂

hi lorange,

what did you use to clean the components of the PSU? alcohol?

all,

one of my psu fans started clicking, you guys think it's from being dirty? thanks

Hi nieves05, and a warm welcome to the forums! 🙂

It could easily be Dust... or a bearing going out.

Achoooooooo!!!!! thats a lot of dust in that power supply!! Good news is that the seller who sold me this G5 Quad just put in the new replacement power supply unit.

Thanks BDAqua,

might as well get in there and do some detailing

Mike (Accelerateyourmac) has some early dust-filled G5 photos on the site, as well as of course leaking LCSs.

"Impacted" comes to mind.

Pets and carpets = lots of furrr balls where it should not be!

Not just heat (and lack of any airflow or ventilation) causing fans to over-work (and stop working or self-destruct), what about sparking or electrical hazard?

I'm sure Mike would be interested (if you haven't already).
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/

And as if I needed more chores to add to the whole "spring cleaning" ritual 😟