Today I was reminded of my early life in the Apple PC world when someone asked me a question in regards to fixing an old Macintosh Plus computer.

The Macintosh Plus computer was the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US $2599.

Let me tell you a short story. Many years ago, I purchased an Apple Macintosh SE and then later purchased a PowerPC 6100 series computer. Both of these computers made life working with a PC fun. Of course, I am using the term “PC” in a generic form here. The 6100 brought color (actual color monitor) into my computer life, and it even trail blazed the path to the Internet when most people didn’t have a clue what the “Internet” was about, nor had they even hear the “Web” term, or being “online” with a computer.

I was an early alpha and beta tester for the Mosaic browser which was the precursor for Netscape Navigator, which ultimately morphed into Mozilla Firefox. Mosaic’s direct descendant on the coder line, via Marc Andreessen, was Netscape Navigator. Netscape Navigator’s code descendant is Mozilla Firefox. It was around this time I started doing some basic website customization and web design for fun.

I knew the early Apples inside and out. However, the business world was using mostly all DOS PCs with software from Microsoft and IBM. So, when Microsoft introduced Windows 95 and then Windows 98 and ME became available, and PC makers were starting to build computers for the masses, my wife and I purchased a Tiny Computer, which was not so tiny after all, but was a brand name manufacturer of computers.

Tiny Computers, was Britain’s third largest computer manufacturer at the time, based in Redhill Business Park in Salfords, Redhill in Surrey, England. The Tiny brand of computers were sold in the United States at retail outlets at extremely competitive pricing. Tiny used the advertising slogan ‘Think big about your PC – think Tiny.” During the late 1990s they were a highly successful firm having units throughout the major retail stores of the UK, but their profits eventually began to fall due to competition from other major computer brands and they were bought out of Administration by their rival TIME. However if you look around now, there seems to be a lot of new tiny computers, i.e. mini laptops such as Acer, ASUS , HP Mini, Dell Mini, other Netbooks, Apple MacBook Air, Apple iPad, and a host of other manufacturers’ netbooks and minis are now on the landscape.

As the electronics in these computer devices have shrunk, the power within the boxes have expanded exponentially. Battery technology has greatly improved along the way, making the devices quite portable in their usage for long periods of time. However, that does not really paint the whole picture of what is going on today. We tend to think of the computer as a device we store things in, and a device we use for emailing, writing, and even research through the Internet. We store documents, pictures, songs, programs, books, track our finances, and do social networking with our friends and relatives all over the world using the PC, and now even using our smart phones like the iPhone and Androids to quickly post a picture, send a message, or check our emails.

What many of us fail to realize is the impact that the cloud is making on our lives, and how the PC might simply be a thing of the past in our thinking. In fact, it is quite likely that the near future, the PC will simply be a device that is so cheap, and common place that it will be like having a watch on your wrist. Just about everyone has a watch, and very few get excited about having one. Yes, you might want a Rolex, but seeing the time on a Timex will do just fine.

First off, what is the cloud? Or, what is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet).

Believe it or not, most of us use cloud computing every day. In fact, I am using cloud computing just writing this document. As I type this document on my MacBook Pro, the computer is simply being used as a terminal that is tied into my web host server, where my website is located, where I have WordPress blogging software and content management software installed, and where the physical files are stored.

Another form of cloud computing is Google’s Gmail application, where all the emails are stored online, and access is provided through all types of devices, i.e. PCs, Apple laptops, iPads, netbooks, iPhones, Android smart phones, and even our new smart TVs have Internet access capabilities.  Even the Amazon Kindle, Kindle Touch, and Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, has Internet Wi-Fi access available for it. The days of using one PC device for everything is long gone. In fact, that is one of the reasons the cloud is here to stay. People want instantaneous access to their information through all the different electronic devices available to them. They want to be able to check their email from the cell phone, or check their friends Facebook pages from their iPad, or conference on their laptop when on the road, or even download a new book to read when ever they want.

No doubt about it, this generation is living in the cloud whether they realize it or not. Now, even businesses are moving to the cloud too. The same things that have occurred in the consumer world is also happening in the business world. Companies are looking for ways of reducing their costs, and one area of expense that are being looked at with a critical eye is the IT department. IT departments have traditionally had their plates full. They have had to juggle all types of activities; server integration, software, backups, computer laptops and desktops, email configuration, email maintenance, email backups, and one of the most important items, security. All of this adds up to big money. The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, it is in the cloud.

Google Apps for business is one of the cost saving enterprise solutions available for small, medium, or any large business today. With the adaptation of Google Apps integration for a business, a company can realize enormous savings, reduced headaches, elimination of concern over hardware server problems, backups, power outages, and of having to deal with other interface items related to PC hardware, software, email integration, and more.

Need help with your business? Contact Jim at Professional Web Services today.

Well, I’ve had my iPad for about two weeks now and I thought I would see what happens to my voice dictation when I’m recording using an application called “Dragon Dictation” to automatically go from voice to text. That first sentence was entered into this blog posting using the dictation mode and then editing a few of the words as I went forward. I would start by hitting the recording button and then I would stop that after one or two sentences and go to keyboard mode and place periods and punctuation marks as required. It actually worked pretty good except I know that I would pause (with rather long pauses) and try to gather my thoughts together. I think part of the problem with dictation, it’s hard to keep your thoughts running along in a progressive manner which makes what you want to say sound logical. Keep in mind you can not dictate directly into WordPress. You must first use the app to do your dictation note, then copy from the app to WordPress.

I started off this sentence by saying, “new paragraph” to see what would happen. I also added the word “period.” Believe it or not it got the word period correct to add a period (.).

From here forward I started typing on the iPad keyboard. In any case this was a test of the free “Dragon Dictation” iPad app, blogging in WordPress (WordPress also has a free iPad app), using the keyboard, using the free iPad app “Terra” browser, copy, paste, fine keyboard edits, and scrolling in the WordPress edit window (tip: use two fingers, close together, to scroll in a division or text box inside a web page).

One of the nice features with Terra browser (unlike Safari), is you can have multiple tabs open at the same time. This makes it quite convenient to go from one tab to the other. Right now, I probably have a dozen or so tabs open.

I did notice that WordPress doesn’t seem to display properly in the “Visual” mode, but it does seem to display semi-properly in the HTML edit mode. What happens as this article got longer, WP edit window would run down longer and longer, to the point you would have to scroll up the entire page to see the editing tools at the top of the WP edit window. Maybe this has to do with the default number of lines in the editor.

The issue with the visual edit mode is that the editor goes wider than it naturally should. It goes behind the right column items. I suspect that is because this version of WP wasn’t exactly designed around the iPad. However, I certainly could see the iPad used to quickly gather your thoughts in more ways than one. The free WordPress app doesn’t have those same issues with the display mode. I’ve tested the WP app a little, but until I use the WordPress app to write a compete blog posting, I won’t be able to give you the details of how well that app works.

It seems that the more you type on the iPad, the more proficient you become at using the virtual keyboard. Note that there are portable Bluetooth keyboard options available through third party manufacturers that could make things go a lot faster. That would probably be a good idea if you were to use the iPad as your main input device. With the long battery life, and the portability of the iPad, I think it is a really cool device for doing some amazing things.

I have downloaded a ton of free apps already. Some of my free apps are: Compass HD, Planets, Google Earth, Pandora radio, Craigslist app, ABC player, HBO GO, Netflix, XFINITY TV, Google Books, Kindle, Free WiFi, KNBR, WordPress, a bunch of free games apps, several free browsers (I really like the Terra browser app), Dragon Dictation, NASA, Weather apps, Calculator Pro, Logos, and others.

The iPad that I have is the 64 GB, Verizon 3G version. I have used it both in WiFi and 3G modes. I have to say I really like having access to the web with Verizon, no matter where I am located at the time. The iPad is great for business and personal use.

Well, that is just a short overview about using the Apple iPad to write a blog posting in WordPress.

Jim

PS. I did not cheat when I wrote this blog post. Everything in this posting was done from start to finish with the iPad. I even used the add link hyperlink to my signature “Jim” with the WordPress editor and also copied the video link and YouTube embed code for posting the video at the top of this article. Though, I have to admit that it took me some time to figure out where the YouTube code was hidden.

Note the YouTube site knows you are using an iPad browser, so it brings a slightly different user experience. I had to change the settings in the Terra browser to make YouTube think I was using Firefox so I could get to the embed code. Google’s engineers need to think through that YouTube embed video code into a blog posting process a little more.

After nearly two months of having the hard drive in the box, I finally got around to installing the hard drive in the PC computer yesterday.

The hard drive I purchased is the Hitachi Deskstar 3.5 Inch 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA II 32 MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 0S02860

Using my SATA and PATA to USB internal hard drive desktop adapter, I was able to do a complete clone of my old 400 GB internal HD with the new drive hooked up to the adapter and a USB port. Prior to cloning the HD using the backup software Acronis, I first formatted the new drive using the administrative tools, in the control panel, and navigated to the computer management, disk management area to format the hard drive. Note that the hard drive is a virgin drive and will not be seen properly by the operating system until it is mounted and formatted.

Once the hard drive is completely formatted (which I think took more than an hour and a half),I  then used Acronis backup and cloning software to make a complete image backup. When doing a clone of a HD, everything is exactly the same as the original, expect for an increase in the storage capacity from the old to the new.

The version of the cloning and backup software I am using is: True Image Home 2011 Plus

Acronis Product Features Include:

• PC Backup and Recovery of Systems, Applications, and Files – Have you ever accidentally deleted a file, had a virus corrupt your files, or had a disk fail?
• Fast and Easy Backup and Recovery – Acronis True Image Home 2011 provides complete system image backup and recovery of your home PC’s operating system, applications, settings, and personal files.
• New Windows 7 Integration – True Image Home 2011 scales to the needs of novices and advanced users alike
• New Graphical User Interface – We have redesigned our recognized user-friendly interface with new features like Drag and Drop for faster navigation.
• Continuous Data Protection – Acronis Nonstop Backup automatically creates incremental backups every five minutes allowing users to roll back their systems, files, and folders to any point in time in the past.

After the cloning process was finished, I then shut down the computer, pulled the old drive out and installed the new, turned the computer back on, and voila, the computer had 1 TB of HD storage space instead of the 400 GB and all my programs were as they should be.

It is interesting to note that the old hard drive was a IDE cable parallel ATA “PATA” type, and the new HD is a serial ATA “SATA” type. Since my motherboard on the computer had the capabilities of running either the old PATA or SATA HD, this was the first time since I had last built the computer that I was installing a larger hard drive. The old drive was actually out of my old last generation computer. Once the new hard drive was installed, I definitely noticed speed improvements to the system. I plan on using the 400 GB PATA drive in the old external HD case which has a USB port on it.

Speaking of computers, it is somewhat difficult to tell what generation of computer I am using at any given time. Here I am typing away using Windows Live Writer (which only runs on Windows operating system software), on my MacBook Pro, running VMware Fusion, running Windows 7 Ultimate, on the MAC OS X Snow Leopard operating system software, with 8 GB of RAM (which I just upgraded from 4GB to 8GB).

I am very impressed with VMware Fusion 3 for being able to run all the PC based programs that you can imagine. It is actually cool to be able to run both the Apple OS side and the Microsoft Windows side at the same time. I tend to run these programs in different spaces (Apple OS feature that lets you have multiple desktops in four different quadrants, with different programs and files open in each space). It can get a bit confusing when trying to remember which system I am using at any given moment. Windows updates just like on a PC, and Apple updates on the other side too. In fact, Windows 7 just came out with a major update in the form of “Service Pack 1.” This took a bit of time to download and install. It required turning off the virtual computer and then virtually rebooting. I did not have to reboot the whole MacBook Pro.

Once I had performed the updates on my MacBook Pro on the Windows side of the coin, I felt it was important to do a Time Machine backup on the Apple side of the coin. Any case, it is like having the best of both worlds on this computer.

OK, that is the computer story of the day. Now is the time to get your website found online. Professional Web Services provides Internet marketing services and SEO services for all types of B2B and B2C businesses on the web. Visit us today for your business solution.

Jim Warholic

The more things we have, the more things there are to break. At one time, there is no doubt about it, it was the simple life.

I went to do a backup today of my PC computer onto my external hard drive, and low and behold, the backup hard drive would not work. I only use the external hard drive to do complete backups, and hardly ever turn it on. However, when I turned it on this time, I heard a very strange loud motor noise. I turned the hard drive off, and noticed when I turned it side to side, there was a clunking sound coming from inside the drive itself. This obviously was not a very good sign. The external hard drive is basically an internal drive with an external case around it. The HD was a Seagate Barracuda, 500GB PATA IDE drive, inside a SimpleTech case.

When I pulled the hard drive out of the case, and then disassembled the HD itself, I found that the motor shaft had sheared off the platters section, and all the four platters were still locked together, but the spindle section itself was separated from the motor, and was loose.

Keep in mind, failures eventually will happen on any device, and the SimpleTech Seagate drive has been very dependable for three years or more. This can happen to any drive and I do have experience with other internal drives dying on me too.

So, I did not feel comfortable without having a backup of this computer, and ran over to Costco to get another HD drive. I got a pretty good deal on a 500GB Ultra Portable Hard Drive for $60.00 plus tax. Yes, I could have gotten a much bigger drive, but I wanted to do more research in this area of large hard drives before spending more money, and this drive provided a backup bridge so to speak.

The new external hard drive is actually pretty cool in that the drive comes with a desktop USB dock and a separate USB cable, along with a small protective soft case for storage. It also comes with backup software and other software that is both Apple Mac OS X operating system 10.4.11 or higher; 10.5.8; or 10.6.2 and PC Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 operating systems. The portability of the drive is nice in that it does not require a power cable. The drive gets all its power directly through the USB 2.0 plug.

I already had Acronis backup software [ Acronis Backup Software ] installed on my PC, and even as I write this from that PC, I am doing a complete backup to the new external hard drive. I will be feeling much better once that gets done.

I have come to the conclusion, you can never have too many backups. In fact, it is good to have a backup of the backup, and then if you want to go further, store it in a firesafe, or better yet, store one of those backups off site. I am still a bit reluctant to use online backup file storage at this time, though there are merits to doing that too.

01/20/2011 Update:

I am very happy to report that the computer is backed up. Now I am thinking I should upgrade the internal hard drive to a SATA 1 TB and remove the two old PATA drives (C and D drive), using one of them in the old SimpleTech enclosure, since that enclosure is set up for PATA IDE drives. Note, my computer MOB is new enough that it has the PATA connectors built into it. Maybe I might even consider changing from Windows XP and loading in Windows 7. Or, maybe I should get a 2TB drive and make it dual boot, or maybe a tri boot with Linux, or maybe even consider making it a quad boot to Google Chrome operating system. Oh my, the possibilities are endless!

01/21/2011 Update:

After I completed the backup, I started thinking about my wife’s computer, and the backup that was on the backup drive, which was no longer viable. I had some extra PATA drives, and decided to try installing one of the extra drives in the chassis of the SimpleTech box, even though I have a SATA and PATA to USB internal hard drive desktop adapter. I am happy to report, it worked. So, with that in mind, I now did a fresh backup of my wife’s computer. I would really be in trouble if something happened to hers. As I always say, you can never have too many backups.

Also, I took the plunge, and ordered a 1TB SATA internal drive from Amazon for my PC computer. I think I got a great deal on this Hitachi Deskstar SATA 2 HD. What do you think? Hitachi Deskstar 3.5 Inch 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA II 32 MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 0S02860

Jim

Below the ripple voltage chart explanation is an email thread that I thought would be interesting to share. Note, permission was provided to reprint it here. The subject of the email is: Fat Caps & Ripple Current…

The following ripple voltage chart is provided for reference material.

Capacitor Discharge Results in Ripple Current

Understanding the Ripple Voltage Drawing Above

The faster the capacitor discharges, the more ripple will be present. If the capacitor in the circuit is underrated or completely bad, it will not properly hold a charge, and thus the electronics circuit will have maximum ripple present. When a capacitance filtering circuit is faulty, picture the valleys on the voltage being very deep relative to the peaks, and the ripple current will shoot up proportionally in the circuit, with the result of a major increase in heat being generated in all the circuits supplied by the power supply voltage that should be a regulated level DC, which would now effectively be an AC ripple voltage. This will quickly result in thermal breakdowns in various components on the circuit boards, causing a cascading component(s) failure(s) affect.

Picture Courtesy of HyperPhysics Department of Georgia State University – Development of Ripple Expressions

I thought it would be interesting and educational to hear from an expert in the engineering and circuit design field. The following is the email dialog conversation I had with Dean Palmer, engineer/owner of MicroDyne Engineering, LLC, an electronics research, design, and development services company, located in Queen Creek, Arizona, USA.

Dear Jim,

I stumbled upon your very informative “Capacitors” web page today and enjoyed your article on DIY lead free soldering and circuit repairs. I too encourage people to try to service their own stuff where possible. And this leads me to the following question:

I have a Panasonic DVD player/recorder (Model DMR-ES15) that has a recurrent “U61″ error that, in the owner’s literature, is stated more or less to be a power related problem. So I open up the unit and discover a single (but large) aluminum electrolytic cap on the main power converter sourced directly from the DC rectified AC mains. A check around the Web and I see that many owners of this product have been experiencing similar “U61″ problems with their units; some failing after only a few months of operation; most just after their 1 year warranty expires. So I get my trusty Tek 2467 scope on the circuit and I see a HUGE amount of ripple at the pins of the capacitor, yet the capacitor tests good! I replace it anyway with a good quality low ESR hi-temp Nichicon and still there is terrible ripple on that node. The power supply seems to have a load related voltage regulation problem and there is a lot of ripple and harmonic noise on the output. Doubling up on the capacitor even though there was no room on the board (had to dead-bug it) was the only way I could quiet down the circuit.

After visiting your page, I too thought that this part (or others) had possibly been damaged by the lead-free thing and the higher heat production methods used to build this unit – there is lead-free solder everywhere, even though the date of manufacture was 2006. But now I’m convinced that the part was actually under-designed for the requirements of the circuit. And, I’ve seen high ripple on computer mother board caps from time to time that caused all sorts of malfunctions and random errors/reboots, and also in a couple of LCD displays I worked on. In addition, there is an under-designed heat sink on the video processor chip in this DVD player – it gets seriously frying hot when playing back or recording a DVD – which cannot be good for the chip or it’s tiny ball grid array solder connections.

So my question to you is, why are manufacturers under-designing the circuitry in these products? Are these companies so desperate to maximize profits that they apply MTBF and service data back into the manufacturing process to find ways to cut back on design quality and circuit components to just get them through the warranty period? I’ve heard they can actually tweak this down to a granularity of weeks. Or, are we just seeing rampant designer incompetence all across the board – engineers who do not know how to do simple calculations for ripple current and thermal dissipation? Could these guys even balance their check books? What are they teaching in the EE programs these days???

I would be very interested in your thoughts on this! At any rate, Ha, it keeps me in business.

Thanks very much!

–
Dean Palmer
Engineer, NPD

MicroDyne Engineering, LLC

Queen Creek, Arizona
USA
480.888.0600
www.microdyneeng.com

—

Jim W. wrote back:

Hello Dean,

Wow, you got my mind filled with all types of thoughts. First off, my experience in the electronics field goes back more years than I care to imagine: http://jimwarholic.com/about.

I constantly see problems related to component failures more and more frequently. I honestly believe that everything is designed with a time value. Capacitors have a certain time value to heat rating. If you operate a capacitor near its maximum rating, the capacitor will last X amount of time. If you operate a capacitor at 1/2 the maximum rating, you will likely get 2X life or more out of the capacitor. So, it comes down to the engineers specifying the ratings on the capacitors without fully understanding the time value. The differences in costs are very very minuscule if anything at all. But, when they call for a value of 2200 uF cap at 10 volts because the maximum voltage might be only 10 volts, but the circuit is actually operating at 10 volts, then in essence the capacitor is operating at 100% of its maximum voltage. They could just as easily installed a 16 volt capacitor, that might be slightly larger, (though they would have had to design for this larger size) but would have lasted probably more than twice as long, because it would have only been operating at 63% of its maximum operating voltage, and more than likely would have operated at a cooler temperature too. So, the engineers need to take into account the time value, which is probably not being stressed at all.

These power circuits generate tons of heat on their own, and that also is not being taken into account. This causes a cascade effect, which causes more heat, and more breakdown, and more heat, etc.

Here are a couple of pointers to consider when troubleshooting power supply circuits. Most power supply circuits start with full wave rectification. If only one half of the rectification process is working, the capacitors will not be able to filter the voltage properly. Also, there are many times the regulator circuits are failing. So, the voltage drops under load, the regulator can not keep up and therefore the caps try to maintain the voltage, but heat builds up due to excessive current draw.

With the push towards smaller, more compact designs, this causes the engineers to simply go with the smallest of the specs that they can get away with. So, when the final design comes out, and it goes out for build, the builder (assembly house) simply follows the component specs and then gets its supply of components sent from the manufacturer. Once again, at each leg of the manufacturing process, the specs are used as the guide. If the specs are just of a minimal value, and the manufacturer supplies the component with that value, the question comes down to, who’s fault is it?

Did the engineer look at a data sheet of components and see that the standard is a 2000 hr. rated capacitor at TEMP, OP. MAX:105(DEGREE C) and in essence say that will be good enough? Probably. Did the manufacturer of the component, simply target the minimum standard? Probably.

Have computer companies looked at the life cycle of computers being somewhere between three and five years, and say, that if it lasts for four or five years it’s probably good enough? My guess is yes.

However, computers have gotten to the point where even if you go twice as fast for most activities, it really doesn’t matter much. So, more and more of us are keeping our computers for a longer period of time.

Does the manufacturer hold some degree of responsibility for a design that should last longer than the warranty period? And if so, how long? The short answer, is yes. However, the long answer is much more complex than meets the eye. There is always a trade off between price, design, and life expectancy.

I was really ticked off, and still am ticked off to this day, when my Apple failed, two months out of warranty, and the Genius Bar folks said, “Why don’t you just buy a new iMac? The price of a new one is only several hundred dollars more than the parts for the old one.” It was at that point, I had to taken action in my own hands. http://jimwarholic.com/apple

Thank you for listening. Maybe I will post this online, without adding your name to the mix.

Regards,

Jim

Dean Palmer wrote:

Thanks Jim for answering my question! I appreciate your comments very much. And I am right with you on being very upset that your MAC dies right after the warranty period is up. I think that manufacturers should be held accountable for the quality of their products. I know that in reality, it’s “Buyer Beware!” – “If you don’t like my brand, buy someone else’s” … but really, is that the way you’d want YOUR company to do business? The whole attitude out there seems to be “make as much money as you can with as little cost as possible put into it…” – that seems to be capitalism at its worst where greed and lust for wealth and profit creates an environment where crap is king and corporations are driven to make things as cheap as they can get away with! But in the end, we are ALL consumers of products and services. Even the CEO Of SONY, or Toshiba, or in my case, Panasonic – all are consumers. When he goes to buy his Mercedes Benz, would HE be satisfied that it just (barely) meets the warranty period before some major failure occurs? No! He’ll be on the phone to Mercedes to raise hell about it!

So whatever happened to having pride in your product and its quality of workmanship? As you pointed out, for just a few cents more, a better suited capacitor could have been used in the circuit and this would have avoided thousands of upset consumers and calls to service centers. The way I see it, it’s a reputation thing as well as being an ethical matter. When I do a design for my Clients, I want my design to be the best it can be. I was raised by a very demanding and “military authoritative” father who insisted on perfection; to do the best job you can do – or don’t do the job at all. So it’s in my makeup to give my Clients 110 percent on every project that crosses my desk. I will cut corners in design or materials ONLY if they tell me to do so, but with great reservation and reluctance. And for the money I pay for a new TV set, I expect it to last for many years. My parents had an old Motorola Quasar “Works In The Drawer” TV that we had for probably 12 or more years. It was a hybrid design made with tubes and transistors, and a couple ICs. It lasted until the picture tube finally gave up. Wow! But these days, this kind of quality and reliability just isn’t seen anymore. It’s very sad really, especially in the light of technology being so advanced – you could build a DVD player that should last 20 years. And as consumers, have we, for the most part, become used to mediocrity in everything we buy?

No matter what brand I choose, it’s gonna have problems? There just has to be a balance between profits and getting your new gizmo to market before the competition, and building a product of decent quality and reliability. And it seems that the consumer public – you and me included – needs to drive this shift in corporate paradigm by DEMANDING high quality and exceptional reliability from manufacturers. And by the same token, we should also be willing to pay a little extra for it. If I want to buy some off-brand TV set for 79 bucks at Walmart, I can do that, and I’ll get what I get. But when I pay $895.00 for a bran new shiny SONY with all the bells and whistles that even pours me coffee, I EXPECT it to last and last and last. Maybe I’m too much the old school, I don’t know. But I would NEVER design in a 10 volt capacitor into a 10 volt circuit! I “might” design a 20 volt part in there if I’m in a good mood. But I’ll probably and most likely use a 50 volter! And really, what does that do to the end cost of the product? Not much.

There are so many other factors that go into the total cost to manufacture and sell an appliance. One of the biggies is that damn paranoia about lead in the environment (RoHS)! For God’s Sake, don’t people know that lead comes from the ground in the first place? How much of this is political and how much of it really makes sense in the name of public health and the environment? And a lot of the cost to make a product comes from efficiency and the internal structure of the company. Some companies are so wasteful and inefficient that they could build their products lined with gold if they’d just cut out the waste and inefficient practices, and perhaps limit those million dollar bonuses to CEOs. The list is endless, but taking such clean up measures would pay for a better capacitor, diode, or heat sink a thousand fold. And personally, I will pay more as long as I KNOW that I am buying quality. The tires on my car and the brakes I use are the best money can buy. There are some things you just don’t cheapen your way out of! I can buy a cheap DVD player if I want. But I probably won’t. I want good quality at a reasonable price. And I adhere to the Three-To-One policy: for a one year warranty, a product should last three years at the very minimum! Really, warranties are to protect the consumer from DOAs and accidental defects that can sometimes occur in manufacturing or materials. It should NOT be an indicator as to how long I can expect the product to work!

I’ve enjoyed our conversation Jim! Thank you for allowing me to rant. And you may use my name in connection with any of my comments you wish to publish. I hope if you do publish this dialog, it will get people visiting your site to thinking – and demanding – quality and reliability. Next to a fair price, what else matters?

-Dean Palmer

Dean Palmer
Engineer, NPD

MicroDyne Engineering, LLC

Queen Creek, Arizona
USA
480.888.0600
www.microdyneeng.com

“MicroDyne Engineering provides Electronics Design, Research and Development (R&D) and Prototype Design and Assembly services to customers and clients who wish to bring a new technology product idea from concept to actual hardware realization. Their goal is to provide clients and customers with product designs and solutions for markets and applications that would benefit from innovation and value-added product designs.

Reverse-Engineering services can also be provided for existing technology products and devices where the original documentation and component sources are non existent or no longer available.”

Thank you Dean for sharing your insight into the wonderful world of electronics research, design, and product development, with this first hand look into engineering and design of electronics’ products. The mind of an engineer is …

I would also like to extend a big thank you to Dean for granting permission to reprint this here.

Note, all copyrights are reserved.

Regards,

Jim Warholic

This was an email from Marty S., who wrote, "Just wanted to let you know that there are bad caps on Apple G4 eMac logic boards. There were 5 different models, and I think there were only slight differences between the logic boards. The one in the photo is Apple part # 820-1591-A, from a 1.25 GHz system. Needs 5 units of 1000 uF 16v, and 8 units of 1800 uF 6.3v. One happy aspect that these are pre-RoHS machines, which means you can actually get the failed caps out without a struggle."

Thank you Marty for the information, and the insight about the standard solder. I have the high quality, low ESR cap kits available for sale at www.jwestsales.com.

Order your Apple eMac Capacitor Kit here.

Exactly how how do you test the PSUs out on the Apple iMacs?
How do you turn on the iMac G5 power supply when it is out of the computer?

Apple iMac G5 PSU With Ambient Light Sensor Shown

iMac G5 Power Supply Connector – P-1

On the 661-3350 power supply and other similar PSUs, jumper pins 15 (gray) and 16 (blk/gnd) to turn the PSU on. With the power supply on, you should be able to read all the voltages listed above with a DC voltage meter. Between pins 22 and any GND pin, you will see approx. 24vdc, which is needed for the backlight. Note that the plug is numbered on the wired side of the connector plug. You will need some good lighting to see the numbers. A small flashlight comes in handy.

When reading the voltages, it is always a good idea to check both for proper DC voltage and AC ripple voltage. Note that AC ripple voltage should be relatively low, in the low millivolts range.

From what I have been able to tell, the other power supplies in both the 17 inch and 20 inch iMac G5 computers all used the same DC voltage pinout arrangements. I believe the voltage pinout arrangements are different on the Intel iMacs and some of the iSight models.

Please read the detailed information for repairing Apple iMac G5 power supplies.

Note: (see comment #13 below) PG acronym represents the Power Good signal and VSB represents Voltage Stand By.

If anyone has more information for any of the power supplies (especially the pinout arrangement) used on the various Mac products, including the various PPC models, Intel Models, and Power Macs, please send it to me.

Thank you.

Regards,

Jim

Pictured below are the capacitor locations and values for Apple iMac G5 iSight Mother Board 820-1766-A motherboards.

For high quality, low ESR, computer and switching power supply grade, long life, high temperature rated, and high current rated capacitors, go to www.jwestsales.com, your source for the Apple in you.

Note that there are at least two different iSight G5 models with different logic cards. Take a look at this one to confirm which model iSight you have.

Click the following link to purchase the iSight Mother Board Capacitors Kit.

Here is a down-loadable procedure for G5 iSight dis-assembly which can take you all the way down to and including the iSight motherboard removal.

Regards,

Jim Warholic

Deflationary forces and technology improvements in the computer industry have resulted in significant savings to be realized in hardware storage devices. The one terabyte hard drive would have sounded like something out of the “X Files” just 10 years ago. Now, check out some of the great prices on: 1 TB External Hard Drives.

These USB external hard drives can be used in both a PC world and the Mac world for key backups of your system. What would you do if your computer went down? What if your hard drive were to die on you, would you be lost? Would you lose it all?

If you haven’t done a backup of your system yet, I recommend it ASAP. Be prepared is the Boy Scout motto, and now is the time to do it before your system puts you in a bind.

This is your insurance policy to keeping your pictures, documents, files, applications, and complete software system backups up to date for your future computer health and welfare.

Get your company online welfare updated today. Learn more about Internet marketing and how you can receive additional customers online now. Get a free website evaluation.

Pictured below are the capacitor locations and values for Apple iMac G5 iSight Logic Card 820-1783-A motherboards.

For high quality, low ESR, computer and switching power supply grade, long life, high temperature rated, and high current rated capacitors, go to www.jwestsales.com, your source for the Apple in you.
Click the following link to purchase the iSight Logic Board Capacitors Kit.

Here is a down-loadable procedure for G5 iSight dis-assembly which can take you all the way down to and including the iSight motherboard removal.

Regards,
Jim Warholic

Jim Warholic is President of Professional Web Services, Inc., an Internet marketing services company dedicated to helping B2B and B2C companies gain a larger online footprint through Internet marketing, SEO, online advertising, web branding, and strategic marketing to help companies increase their sales and improve their bottom line results. Prior to starting Professional Web Services, Jim has had a lifetime of experience and engineering expertise in the electronics field in circuit board drilling, routing, and electronics equipment maintenance and field service engineer repair services.

How do you disassemble the Apple iMac G5 iSight Intel Duo Core Mac?

I first removed the memory modules by unscrewing the bottom access panel.

The Plexiglas on the front is held on by a magnetic strip around the lip.

I used a piece of clear tape to grab it and gently pulled it away. A small suction cup works also.

From there you can get to the screws that hold the outside bezel in place.

From there, you can lift off the front bezel (disconnecting the camera cable at the top) and gain access to the display bracket screws on each side.

Once you take those out, then the display will lift out of the chassis. Just keep track of the four sets of cables that plug in the back side of the display and there is one main MOB display connector cable with a clip.

Here is a video that shows a few of those items:

Note there were more connectors on the bottom of the display on the Aluminum iMac G5 that I had an opportunity to work on. I noted which connecters went where before disconnecting them.

Below are pictures of the Apple iMac G5 iSight Intel Core 2 Duo model.

Pictured above is the inside of the iMac G5 Intel Core 2 Duo. Note the power supply in the upper left corner, followed by the hard drive in the upper middle, and the DVD/CD Super Drive on the right side. Located directly below the hard drive is the mother board (main logic card) with the main heatsink screwed directly to the mother board (MOB). To the right and left of the MOB are the fans. To the the right and left side of the fans are the built-in small speakers.

Pictured above are the onboard status lights (LEDs) located on the main logic card. These LEDs can also been seen in the first picture of the Apple iMac G5 Intel with the bezel removed. However, I don’t believe these status lights match up to the older iMac G5 PPC onboard status lights. Citation required.

Here is some additional information on some of the Apple iSight G5 models.

Below is a video of an earlier generation iMac G5 iSight model. I believe this video is of an interim iMac G5 model.

Note the memory is located in the bottom of the iMac. Access is by removing a small screw in the access panel. I also suggest you remove the memory first.

Article by: Jim Warholic

Jim is President of Professional Web Services, Inc., an Internet marketing services company specializing in both the B2B and B2C market place. If you would like to find out more information about getting your business more sales and qualified leads online, contact Professional Web Services today.

My PC friends probably think I am crazy, but the weight of the decision of why I purchased an Apple MacBook Pro fell on five key points of comparisons to other laptop computers.

Apple MacBook Pro vs. Netbook PCs

1. Ease of Use
2. Quality
3. Versatility
4. Form Factor
5. Value (Price divided by the first four points)

My notebook story begins with searching for a good quality, fast speed, good display screen, a comfortable track pad, good software, ease of use, long life battery, ability to do videos and pictures well, but low priced netbook or small laptop for mobile/portable/travel use. I quickly found that there is no such creature like this.

I stopped in over at Fry’s and started playing with the various new Windows 7 Netbooks from Acer and MSI. At first glance I wanted to really like these netbooks, but it was only a short lived infatuation. There were more than a few barriers to taking these netbooks from a foolish liking to an in-depth affection. For one, they were small. Now, that may be good in one aspect for portability, but for another aspect of screen size, it was very difficult to get comfortable with the small screen size. Those of us that are requiring reading glasses are sure to find these screens are much too small. Sure, the price was low at around $350.00, but look at what you are getting for that.

With these netbooks, this really is a case of getting what you pay for. Slow processor speeds, low memory, no dvd/cd drive, and a new operating system with Windows 7 that is all déjà vu. The Windows 7 operating system loaded on these netbooks feels like an upgraded version of Windows XP, with things moved around a bit and other things very difficult to find. Of course, this is the dominate format for these netbooks. Simple things like how to change the icon sizes on the desktop took me 10 minutes to find. And, that was after I spoke with the sales people, though that brings up the topic of the sales people may not have the best of training either. That’s another story. In any case, three of the sales people that I spoke with could not figure it out. It wasn’t located in the Windows 7 control panel area, as one would think. Finally I did what would be a right click with a mouse on the desktop, though I am not sure how I did it with the netbook trackpad, but I was able to change the default icon size to a smaller size.

Speaking of touchpads or trackpads, I have grown up on a mouse in the house for both PCs and Macs. So, this really was my first time investigating and comparing track pads. The trackpads on these netbooks and mini laptops seemed to be engineering afterthoughts. Actually, they lacked quality engineering and no consumer testing. The one that bugged the heck out of me the most was the trackpad on the MSI mini laptop. It felt like sandpaper on the tips of my fingers after playing with it for 10 minutes. Actually, I ended up pulling another customer over and asking him what he thought of the touchpad. His thoughts were exactly the same as mine. The trackpad had a very textured finish that was not comfortable to the touch. I can only imagine what it would be like after navigating with this trackpad for an hour or so. I would have to put Band-Aids on my fingers. Definitely not a very good touchy-feely experience.

So, I decide that maybe I needed to move up in price and screen size. I moved up to the mid range for laptops. However, there seemed to be a void in the size from the 8.9 inch – 11 inch version mini laptops to the 15 inch larger laptops. Price started going up significantly as I wanted a more powerful laptop that could do various types of mult-tasking, and still stay with a useful but compact size. Next thing I knew, I was up around the $700.00 price tag. But, still I had issues with trackpads, and the lack of ease of use.

So, I ventured over to the Mac table. Being an equal opportunity user of both Windows PCs and Macs and am well versed in both the PC and Mac land, having owned many versions of Windows PCs and an iMac G5 for a number of years. I have also had the opportunity to have hands on experience by having friends allowing me to play with their MacBooks for various applications. When I went over to the Mac table, it was a breath of heaven to feel and touch the new MacBooks.

My First Thoughts on the MacBook and MacBook Pro

The first thing that stood out to me was the ease of use. The trackpads are very very easy to use. Having a Multi-Touch Trackpad that is large, smooth, extremely powerful, two finger scroll capable, two finger pinch zoom capable, two finger rotate, and even two finger right click or secondary click capable with the full complement of right click commands available. Additional trackpad features include three finger swipe navigation to go forward or back in browser history, four finger swipe left to right to switch applications, or four finger swipe up down for exposing the open applications. You can even set the one finger to tap to click, dragging, drag lock, and secondary click to bottom left or bottom right corner. Track speed, double-click speed, and scrolling speed can all be individually adjusted to just the way you want them.

With this MacBook Trackpad, you will quickly find out that a person can go from using a mouse to very easily using the Multi-Touch Trackpad in no time flat.

Another aspect of the MacBook that makes it a joy to work with, is the ease of use of the Mac OS X Snow Leopard. While any new software will take time getting use to, the learning curve for the Mac OS X is very fast. I think part of the reason for this is the intuitiveness of how the things are laid out. Apple also has some very good quick training videos that are quite helpful. Take a look at some of the Mac tutorials on how to do things.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard operating system is a pleasure to work with. It is very intuitive, which makes for a very easy transition to go from working with a Windows based machines to a Mac based operating systems. Of course, I am a bit biased in this area, since I have been using both Windows and Mac machines for quite some time. Never the less, some friends of mine who had been with Windows their whole lives, recently made the switch to Mac, and the operating system switch proved to be a very easy transition for them.

The high quality of the Apple MacBooks can not be overstated. Everything fits together like a form fitting glove. The opening of the screen display has just the right amount of hinge tightness. As I stated before, the trackpad is very smooth, and seems to just fit perfectly for your hands and fingers on the keyboard area. The keyboard has automatic backlighting, which in dim environments is great for quick reference. The MacBook Pro comes in a very sleek, 1.08 inches thin, aluminum unibody construction.

I bought the 13.3 inch MacBook Pro with the glossy widescreen display. This for me was the perfect fit for size and portability, but has plenty of desktop space with a screen of 1280-by-800 pixel resolution, made this one the ideal laptop solution for viewing documents, web sites, videos, and pictures.

The weight of the MacBook Pro 13 inch at 4.7 pounds is very manageable. It easily fits into a briefcase or backpack. I also suggest a carrying case to protect your MacBook. I decided to go with the Incase Nylon Sleeve Case for the Apple 13 inch MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro fits perfectly in this padded case and provides extra storage areas on both sides for accessories. The case and the MacBook Pro worked out perfectly for a recent vacation trip from California to Florida with several layovers. The case added the extra protection and allowed me to quickly place the MacBook in my carryon suitcase, and quickly remove it for airport security checks. The case also comes with a removable shoulder strap and is available in three colors, black, graphite, and mustard.

The MacBook Pro is such a pleasure to use for all aspects of computing. For example, when it comes to viewing video on the screen, it is second to none. The display is rich in color, bright, and vivid to look at. Movies are cool to watch and when it comes to catching up on your television shows like Flash Forward episodes, it is incredible to watch it on the MacBook. It’s as though watching it on the MacBook Pro is better than on the TV screen. The stereo sound quality from the computer is great too. The audio level has decibels of sound to spare. You can actually make the sound too loud for others in the room. Forget trying that with any other netbook.

With the built-in iSight camera and microphone, doing a Google Video Chat was simply amazing. The camera and built-in microphone worked great together. I was able to use the camera in both low light and regular lighting conditions. The chat session was perfect. There was no audio feedback and the person on the other end said the audio and video were perfect too.

The battery life is rated at 7 hours, but that is under somewhat controlled conditions. Apple quotes the following from their website:

Testing conducted by Apple in May 2009 using preproduction 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pro units. Battery life depends on configuration and use. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information. The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%.

I typically like my screen brighter than 50%, and was able to generally get about 5+ hours of battery usage on three battery cycles. However, I was playing videos, browsing the Internet through wireless connections, and searching for other wireless Internet connections during this time.

The charging plug is held in place with a super strong magnet, which if someone catches the cord will simply pull the connector off the MacBook without pulling the MacBook down to the floor. Definitely a great safety feature. the charger is very compact, and fits nice and flat inside one of the Incase pockets I bought for the MacBook Pro.

The MacBook Pro 13 inch that I purchased has the 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; which supports up to 8GB of memory, 250GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm hard drive, and 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW).

MacBook Pro Features

Left Side View of MacBook Pro 13 Inch Model

Connections and Expansion Ports

• MagSafe power port
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
• Mini DisplayPort
• Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
• SD card slot
• Audio in/out
• Kensington lock slot

Communications

• Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

Audio

• Built-in stereo speakers
• Built-in omnidirectional microphone
• Combined optical digital output/headphone out (user-selectable analog audio line in)
• Supports Apple Stereo Headset with microphone

Read more about all the MacBook Pro features today.

By the way, if a person really wants to have their cake and eat it too, in the form of Windows 7 on their MacBook, there is another feature that lets a person load any operating system they wish. Boot Camp is a utility included with Apple Inc.’s Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" and v10.6 "Snow Leopard" operating systems that assists users in installing Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7 on Intel-based Macintosh computers. Boot Camp guides users through non-destructive re-partitioning (including resizing of an existing HFS+ partition, if necessary) of their hard disk drive and using the Mac OS X Leopard disc to install Windows drivers. In addition to device drivers for the hardware, the disc includes an applet for the Windows control panel for selecting the boot operating system.

In addition to Boot Camp, there are other avenues that are also available such as, VMware Fusion 3 and Parallels Desktop that provide the means of loading Microsoft Windows and other non Windows operating systems such as Linux OS onto the MacBook computers. Both VMware Fusion 3 and Parallels Desktop are helpful software applications that allow folks to run Windows applications directly and concurrently on their MacBooks and quickly switch between the two.

VMware Fusion 3

Parallels Desktop

VirtualBox

There is also an open source software, VirtualBox, available from Sun. VirtualBox is an x86 virtualization software package, originally created by German software company Innotek, now developed by Sun Microsystems as part of its Sun xVM virtualization platform. It is installed on an existing host operating system; within this application, additional operating systems, each known as a Guest OS, can be loaded and run, each with its own virtual environment.

“Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris, and OpenBSD.”

I have to say that the MacBook Pro is really a great all purpose laptop computer for business, school, and personal use. With ease of use, superb quality, immense versatility, and an awesome form factor, the value of this MacBook Pro computer is outstanding. You won’t want to leave home without it! Checkout the online Amazon Apple Store deals today.

Jim Warholic

Jim Warholic is President of Professional Web Services, Inc., an Internet Marketing Services firm specializing in B2B and B2C Internet marketing, SEO services, online advertising, and online branding strategies. Contact Professional Web Services today.

The days of using a 20 watt soldering iron from Radio Shack are long gone when it comes to repairing lead free soldered circuits in Apple Computers, PCs, and other lead-free electronics equipment.

With multilayer boards, thick ground planes and power planes, and high temperature circuit board materials, along with countries having bans on the use of leaded solder in circuit boards; electronic components are now being attached using lead-free wave soldering or pick-and-place machines using conductive epoxy flux adhesives and then heat cured. All of this adds up to quite a bit of difficulty in reworking and repairing circuit boards today.

While it is good to keep our environment clean, I think the wide spread use of lead-free solder in printed circuit board assembly processes is a case filled with a manufacturing life of unintended consequences. There are major challenges that have and continue to affect printed circuit board manufacturing around the world. First off, PCB materials must be able to withstand lead-free soldering temperatures of up to 260[degrees]C during the assembly operation. [1] This in itself, requires the use of more expensive, and much more difficult materials to work with at the PCB manufacturing stages. Not only is the multilayer construction much more difficult to deal with, but the drilling of the holes in thick multilayer circuit boards, with circuit board materials that are of a “harder” material nature, as compared to traditional FR-4 resin systems (not designed for lead-free), directly adds to the manufacturing costs involved.

I also find it interesting, that about the time where the world (pushed by the European Union) started converting over to using lead-free PCB manufacturing techniques, there seems to be a correlation between the electrolytic capacitor failures that started to occur a short time later in TVs, Set-Top Boxes, Computers, PCs from Dell, Apple, and other computer manufacturers, along with a host of other high powered electronic gadgets. I have no way of proving it, but I suspect that many of these components were hit with a large temperature blast through either high temperature wave soldering processes or oven based curing used in the finished component filled PCB assemblies.

“With a melting point of 217°C, SAC solder also is closest in melting point to the conventional lead–tin solder. This does mean, however, a yet-unquantified increase in energy use. Furthermore, the higher temperature may pose problems for the electronics industry. Higher temperatures mean more stress on components and the entire manufacturing process, notes Geibig. Higher temperatures also mean increases in the time it takes to make products, because more time is required to heat and cool the products during the course of their manufacture.” [2]

On July 1, 2006 the European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) came into effect, prohibiting the intentional addition of lead to most consumer electronics produced in the EU. California recently adopted a RoHS law and China has a version as well. [3] In order to meet the new directives established by the EU on removing the lead from electronics, has greatly affected the PCB assembly world at large. In effect, countries that did not have directives for the use of lead-free electronics assembly, were forced by default of having to build to meet the international requirements from the EU.

“This directive (EU Directive 2002/95/EC) places a restriction on the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical or electronic equipment sold or used in the European Union (EU) after July 1, 2006 with some exemptions.” [4]

‘Within the United States, California’s Electronic Waste Recycling Act imposes a fee on “covered electronic devices” currently being sold within the state. This fee is intended to cover the cost of properly disposing of the products when they become waste. Second, it requires “covered electronic devices” sold in California after January 1, 2007 to meet the same requirements as those found in European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation. Electronic devices containing toxic metals and not complying may not be manufactured, sold, or imported into California after January 1, 2007.’ [4] Other states have enacted similar laws.

So, what does that mean for circuit board and electronics repair folks today looking for ways to extend the service lives of their equipment? Well, there are some special soldering techniques that are involved to do the electronic repair jobs right.

What is required to repair lead-free circuit boards with large discrete components?

These lead-free soldering tips are specifically geared toward the large discrete components such as: electrolytic capacitors, transistors, diodes, bridge rectifiers, and coils (inductor chokes). Information on how to repair and replace surface mount devices with lead-free soldering techniques is waiting for a later date to be written.

1. The minimum wattage for a soldering iron needs to be 60 watts. The 60 watts rating is only part of the specification to consider. Be aware that some soldering irons actually get hotter than others given the same wattage ratings. Additionally, you will need to consider using a proper soldering tip for the job at hand. If you are trying to solder on a thick multilayer PCB, then a wide tip is absolutely required to do the job right. There is also a difference in the coatings between the lead-free tips and the old standard Pb tips used for the standard 60/40 Tin Lead (60/40 Sn/Pb) Solder. 60/40 Sn/Pb melts at 370 °F or 188 °C while various lead-free solders used in PCB assembly have a melting point range of 415-441 °F or 213-227 °C . It is important to note that the increase in the melting temperature for lead-free solder, does not tell the whole story for proper solder joints involved with component replacements and PCB repairs.

You might be thinking, that the soldering iron I will be using gets up to 850 °F, I should be able to repair any lead-free soldered component on any PCB. That is wrong thinking here. I mentioned at the beginning about having a wide tip when soldering a thick multilayer. But, you need more than a wide tip. The soldering iron, at the tip, must be able to quickly recover on the heat cycle. It must also be able to supply the heat continually at a constant temperature, or near constant temperature to do the job right. This is where the wattage of the soldering iron is a factor for delivering the heat continually.

A thick multilayer PCB acts like a huge heatsink, sucking the heat away from the area that you want it, and dissipating it over the area where it is not required. If you use a small caliber soldering iron to try and remove components on this type of PCB, you will more than likely simply heat up the circuit board in a wide area, including the component itself before the solder will ever melt. In fact, it is quite likely that the lead-free solder will never melt, because the soldering iron can not quickly and effectively localize the heat in a high enough concentration to do any good. Actually you will probably do more harm than good.

I have heard from some folks, and talking from experience, that you will end up throwing a few choice words around that will not endear yourself to your spouse, if you try to use a low powered soldering iron. Even if you do manage to remove the component, the new component you install will have either the poorest of a solder joint, making you look like an amateur, or worse, an overly heated and damaged component that will result in early failure. Solder joints made with a low wattage soldering iron will likely result in cold solder joints, which will result in poor electrical connectivity and a non-working circuit board.

How about a portable butane powered soldering iron, won’t that work better? Been there and done that. Take it from experience, the answer to that question is no. I tried a wide tipped butane powered soldering iron and I was not able to even make a dent in the lead-free solder on a Apple iMac G5 motherboard.

What about a soldering gun? Once again, been there, done that. It doesn’t work with even the highest powered soldering gun. Soldering guns are not really designed for circuit board repairs. Take it from experience, put this idea out of your mind, it won’t work.

So Jim, what do you recommend in a soldering iron? Do you recommend a lead free soldering iron or a lead free soldering station? Let me first say here, that I have recommended some soldering irons and soldering stations to folks that have written to me and asked for my advice on various Apple repairs, and I would be more than happy to recommend something if you send me an email request. I will say this, that you can get a very good one at a very decent price. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a soldering station. However, don’t make the mistake and think you can get by with the old hobby soldering iron that you have in the desk drawer. Trying to use a substandard, low wattage soldering iron for lead-free motherboard repairs will give you headaches galore.  Actually, I would like to hear more from readers of what you have used for lead free soldering.

2. What is the best way to remove the electronic component such as a electrolytic capacitor off a thick multilayer PCB once I have a good soldering iron or soldering station? I suggest you have the PCB standing up on edge, so that you can work from both sides of the circuit board. Check out the Chip Quik kit for removing the capacitors in difficult circuit boards. While heating up one leg of a radial electrolytic capacitor from the bottom, and at the same time slightly pushing the capacitor from the top, away from the leg being heated, at which time the solder starts to melt, the capacitor leg will start to move out of the hole. Do this for the other leg, alternating back and forth to each leg, and slowly work out the capacitor from the hole as the solder melts. After the capacitor is removed, a solder sucker can be used to remove a lot of the excess solder in and around the circuit pad. Using solder wick, (also referred to as desoldering wick or desoldering braid) on the thicker boards does not work well because of the extra heatsinking that occurs when the solder wick is applied. At this stage of the component replacement repair, invariably, not all the solder will come out of the holes with the use of a good quality solder sucker. This is where I suggest using my next soldering tip.

3. Try using a sewing pin, with a plastic head, (even a correct size safety pin works) and heat up the tip and the solder pad at the same time, once the caps are removed. This will push the solder out of the holes and solder will not stick to the steel sewing pins. Stop in at your local sewing machine center and you will find a large assortment of sewing pin sizes. Select a sewing pin size that matches up to the size of the leg of the capacitor. Once the pin is pushed through the hole, continue to apply heat to the pin and the pad, and move it in and out, making the hole the right size for your new components.

4. Is it best to use lead-free solder when installing the replacement capacitors? I have mixed thoughts on this. On the one hand, since the board is already using a lead-free solder, I would say stay with using lead-free solder. Yes, standard 60/40 lead solder is much easier to work with, due to its lower melting point, and some folks say it seems to work fine, but I have some reservations about using it. One negative item to be aware of here is that it is much more likely to end up getting cold solder joints when mixing solder types, and the other concern is, there may be a reduction in the soldering iron tip life if using the special plated tips designed for lead-free soldering, and using leaded solder.

I do have one major item that must be adhered to; only use a rosin core type of solder. Do not use acid flux. No acid flux. Acid core solder and acid flux will damage the circuit board and/or the components. With that being said, it is important that what ever solder is used, that the old solder and the new solder join (melt) together when installing the new components. Be careful with this that you don’t under heat or over heat your work. Just the right amount will do. It is hard to describe how much, and how long the heat should be applied to get a good solder joint. Take a close look at your solder joints. If they seem to be loose, then reapply the heat until the old and the new become one. As an additional note, and I have to say once again as a matter of importance, remember that the components themselves do not like it too hot for too long.

To properly solder motherboard capacitors on thick MOBs, you will need to operate the soldering iron or soldering station temperatures at or near maximum temperature settings. Heat up the pad on the bottom first and foremost by having most of the soldering tip on the pad; while at the same time having the tip touch the capacitor leg. I strongly suggest using lead free rosin core solder with a no clean residue; which you can purchase with your capacitors order at www.jwestsales.com. The no clean flux rosin core solder simply means that the center of the solder has a flux rosin core that is activated by heat, and the remaining residual flux does not need to be cleaned off the circuit board and will not harm the onboard circuitry. Remember also, that the MOB has residual lead free solder already present on the circuit pad and lining the circuit board hole walls, and must be melted (typically referred to as “wetting” action) with the new solder to form a good solder joint. If you use standard 60/40 lead solder for soldering, it is much more difficult to do the job just right, and is much more likely to produce cold solder joints because the different types of solders melt at substantially different temperatures and will not properly join together.

Be careful of other small components and surface mount devices (SMD) on the bottom and top of the boards. These devices are so small, that many times they can be damaged or unattached to the PCB simply by accidentally placing the soldering iron tip on the surface mounted component soldered leads, either moving it or bridging the leads with solder. So what I am saying is, try to use a steady hand.

The picture above, of the custom circuit board clamping hands-free support system, is the brainchild of Paul N. — Grayslake, IL. Paul writes, “You can buy a 12″ x 2.5″ (depth) wood-working clamp from Home Depot for about $10 and a 3″ ‘C’ clamp for another $5. Then apply some adhesive-backed, dense foam rubber on each face of the wood-working clamp. Note that I removed the hard rubber covers that were on the clamp originally.” Paul calls the device the, “Kludged Circuit Board Clamp.” It is important to note that when clamping the circuit board with any clamping device, that you do not position the clamps on top of any components or the very small low profile SMDs on either side of the PCB.

There is another lead free soldering/unsoldering components helper that is simply amazing! Check out the video of the Chip Quik lead-free unsoldering kit and system of replacing components on circuit boards. I highly recommend this patented SMD and discrete components removal kit.

Read more about Apple iMac G5 Motherboard and Apple Power Supply Repairs.

Feel free to contact me at anytime.

Jim Warholic

Years of experience in the electronics industry.

Sources:
[1] The effects of lead-free on PCB fabrication: assemblers may bear most of the brunt of the…

[2] Getting the Lead Out of Electronics

[3] Solder: Wikipedia

[4] Why Should I Care About RoHS and Lead-Free Initiatives?

When an Apple iMac G5 locks up on you, it might mean the hard drive is bad.

Many folks have contacted me over the past number of months about their Apple iMac G5 problems they have been having because of bad motherboards or power supplies. Well, I thought I would share a story of my own, in regards to trouble shooting a bad iMac G5, in the hopes that it might help some of the folks out there in Apple iMac Computer land.

I recently picked up a used iMac that was giving the previous owner fits, in that it would eventually, after some time of being turned on, would lock up on them and only show the Apple logo at startup with the little circle going round and round. The fans would start turning at full speed. Once this occurred, the only way to get it back up and running was a fresh load of the software from the DVD disk back on to the hard drive.

Prior to loading the software back on the hard drive, I had gone through the procedure of checking out the capacitors on both the motherboard and the power supply unit, but did not see any signs of capacitor trauma, as in; bulging, leaking, or blown capacitor bodies. When having an iMac G5, it is always wise to begin with a visual inspection of both the motherboard and the PSU. Refer to my write-ups on repairing the Apple iMac G5 motherboard and how to repair an iMac G5 power supply unit for complete details.

I tried resetting the PRAM (Parameter RAM) and also tried resetting the SMC/PMU [System Management Controller (Intel Macs) or Power Management Unit (PowerPC Macs)]. I also tried replacing the PRAM backup battery (Energizer 2032) that retains the small amount of nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) for the PRAM. This is where the date and computer settings are stored when the computer is turned off. None of this made any difference on my iMac lockup problem. Here is a very good article overview of the PRAM and SMC/PMU failure symptoms and when to reset the PRAM and SMC/PMU.

Well, after repeated hardware tests, with no indications that any hardware was bad (so much for hardware tests), I pulled out the old Maxtor 250 GB hard drive and tried reformatting it externally and backing up one of my other iMacs to this hard drive using a USB connection and an external hard drive adapter. The backup was completed successfully, and I returned the hard drive into the original iMac G5 cassis, and it booted up. Well, this was only a short term success. The iMac locked up when trying to do a software update. I was thinking that the software might be locking up because it was installed on the other iMac and registered on the other iMac. So, once again I took a brand new Leopard software disk family pack, and tried loading it on the hard drive again. No luck on this software load either. It bombed out part way through the loading process and returned to the Apple logo going round and round on startup.

Well, I am not one to let a little Apple logo roadblock stop me from getting to my iMac computer land destination. So out I go to my local Frys store (Frys is a large electronics store on the West Coast and another 8 states) to find out the best deal on a serial ATA hard drive. I didn’t want to spend a fortune, and I wanted to get the best value for the money. I ended up purchasing a Hitachi 640 GB HD for around 70 dollars. I figured I could always use this drive on something else if it didn’t work to fix the problem on this iMac.

So, I brought it home, opened it up, placed the mounting brackets on the new hard drive, mounted it in the iMac, and buttoned the whole computer back up. I then placed the Mac OS X Leopard DVD install disk in the slot, turned it on, held down the “C” key on startup. I then used the disk utility to format and mount the hard drive. Then loaded a fresh installation of OS X Leopard, did the updates, and have been running terrific for three weeks or so with no problems. I even added a “matched set” of PC 3200 1GB memory sticks for a total of 2GB of RAM. Now, I am a bit jealous for my own original iMac G5 computer with Mac OS X Panther installed. I think I will upgrade my other 20 inch iMac G5 to Leopard too. But that is a project for another day, and I am told that you have to do a fresh install too. Which means backing up and transferring the files over to the new installation.

Well, for the time being I am on happy trails to you, until we meet again.

Update to article: 12/25/2010

Just last week, I had another iMac G5 computer with a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160 GB hard drive (Apple identification:  160GB C6SER 655-11109D “KA45304C7RT9A)   go out. I went to FRYs again and selected a 1TB Seagate drive (drive only, not boxed) and installed it. I had a problem that it would not show up with the Apple Disk Utility. However, when I used my adapter plug to plug it into a PC, the drive would display. I tried using the jumper to force it to a slower access speed, but it still would not show up in the iMac. I then took this one back and got another brand (Hitachi 500 GB hard drive only, not boxed) from Frys again, but this one was completely dead. It would not spin. It was an old drive that was the last one in stock. I took that one back also, and Frys confirmed that the drive was indeed dead.

However, I did find another Hitachi 660 GB SATA hard drive online at Frys that I did order. When that one came in, it plugged in just fine and showed up with Disk Utility, formatted, and laded software with no problems.

I believe that other brand internal drives will indeed work with the iMac G5s, I just have not been able to confirm that.

Jim Warholic

Here is the procedure that I used to replace the capacitors on the Apple iMac G5 MOB.

When you take it apart, start with this order:

1. Lay the iMac face down on a soft, protected surface.
2. Back cover removal. (Loosen the three screws on the bottom lower edge, then lift up carefully from the bottom up).
3. Take close up pictures of your G5 mother board and inside the iMac for your reference in case you need to refer to something for proper installation.
4. Power supply removal ( http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/imacg5_17inch_Power_Supply.pdf ).
5. Verify Power Supply capacitors are not bulging or blown out.
6. Hard drive removal.
7. CD removal.
8. Memory cards removal.
9. Right fan cover removal.
10. Lower left two small plug connectors undo by carefully taking needle-nose pliers and tug the plugs upwards to disconnect them.
11. Fan plugs – disconnect.
12. Airport option removal, being careful not to break the very delicate antenna wire clip. You might want to leave the wire attached and just move the Airport out of the way.
13. Then remove the Torx mounting screws. See the special 12-in-1 screwdriver with Torx and Phillips bits.
14. Carefully lift out the MOB, making sure all the mounting screws were removed. Do not force it.
15. Heat up the soldering iron, with a wide tip attached, and working from the bottom and the top of the MOB, with the MOB tilted up on edge, heat up one leg of a capacitor on the backside and rock the capacitor slightly from the top. Then do the other leg, and the cap will come out of the hole.
16. Remove all capacitors in the groups.
17. Once the holes are clear, (pins work well), then place the high quality low ESR capacitors in the holes, making sure the positive and negative legs of the capacitors are properly situated in the holes. Do not install caps backwards. Major damage will most likely result.
18. Apply Arctic Silver thermal paste heat sink compound to the small area (make sure it is cleaned with isopropyl alcohol), on the bottom of CPU. Cover it and the matching heat sink area with a thin layer (not to excess). Use a small razor blade as a scraper to remove the excess. Keep it thin, thin, and thin.
19. Reassemble the motherboard, (don’t forget the white light tube that displays the “power on” light on the front cover of the iMac), hard drive, DVD/CD Super drive, cables, plugs, fan covers, memory modules, and make sure you don’t have any extra screws left over.
20. Double check and triple check your work.
21. Place the back cover on.
22. Plug everything back in and turn it on.

Important Notes:

• Don’t forget to put new heatsink compound back on the bottom of the processor chip, which is located on the bottom of the MOB, and the solid plate heatsink assembly located on the chassis: Arctic Silver. Several heating up and cooling down cycles is required for maximum thermal heatsinking effectiveness.
• At least a 60 watt soldering iron is recommended and a good solder sucker and some plastic headed sewing pins for heating up and push removing solder from holes. Read the article: Soldering Tips for Lead-Free Solder for more detailed information.
• Use rosin core solder only. Do not use acid core or acid flux. Use lead free, or, in my opinion even standard 60/40 leaded solder will work (although there are few lead-free caveats) for soldering the new caps. Just make sure there are no cold solder joints.
• How to Tip: Use a few small pins to clear the holes when the soldering iron is used to heat up the holes to remove the old solder.
• Don’t try to bypass this advice. Highly recommend replacing all the caps in both groups. Even though one or two caps might be visibly bad, the others are more than likely weak or on their way out too.
• It’s up to you if you want to attempt the repair. It depends on how comfortable you feel about doing it yourself. The degree of difficulty on MOB caps replacement on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest; a 7.
• Double check your power supply unit. Open the PSU to check those capacitors too.
• Degree of difficulty on PSU caps replacement on a scale of 1 to 10; a 3.

The procedure above is going off of memory.

Suggestions:

• Layout your screws as you go.
• Have lots of room to lay it out.

Refer to my articles, read carefully, and suggest printing them out for reference.

iMac G5 Motherboard repairs procedure
iMac G5 power supply repairs

Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

Jim

When it comes to fixing your Apple iMac G5, I’ve got the repair solutions for you.

• Do it yourself motherboard repairs.
• Do it yourself power supply repairs.
• MOB and PSU capacitors for sale.
• Specialty screwdrivers and Torx bits for sale.
• Arctic Silver thermal heat sink compounds for sale for Apple, Intel, AMD CPUs and for use between other modern high-powered CPUs and high performance heatsinks or water-cooling solutions.

J West Sales Store – eCommerce to the World

Find Apple iMac G5 capacitor kits for mother boards and power supplies available to purchase online. Arctic Silver Thermal Heatsink Compound and computer tools are available too. Apple iMac G5 extra long life (10,000 hours) low ESR Caps.

See What’s on the Computer Tap Today

I’m adding new items for sale on a regular basis at J West Sales eCommerce Store, so check back with me later. In the mean time, if you are looking for something special, or would like to see me carry some other products for sale, let me know, and I’ll see if I can track them down for you. Contact Jim Warholic today.

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Best regards,

Jim

Please help bring my beautiful Apple G5 back to life.

Apple Capacitors For Sale - Click Here

Are you having problems with your Apple iMac G5 17 and 20 inch consumer, university, or student models? Does your iMac turn off by itself? Are you seeing strange graphics on the video screen? Is it to the point where it doesn’t even turn on anymore? Is it running hot and the fans sound like a vacuum cleaner?

Well folks, here is one of the problems with many of the Apple power supplies manufactured for their iMac G5, 17 and 20 inch series computers. But fear not, I have put a “How to Fix Series” together on how to fix an iMac G5 power supply and mother board. Power supply information is located right here in this article. I would also suggest reading the latest article on Fat Caps and Ripple Current to have a better understanding of what is happening with Bad Caps inside these Apple iMac G5 power supplies and logic cards.

Also, you can read and see how to fix the G5 mother board over here.

If your Apple iMac G5 power supply doesn’t match up exactly to what you see pictured below, feel free to send me your pictures (inside and outside of the iMac MOBs and PSUs). I also have provided additional pictures for comparing which PSU capacitor kits are available for the various power supplies over at “Inside the Apple iMac“. You can also click the buy now buttons to purchase the power supply kits.

As a side note, if you need to get the data quickly (pictures, files, and programs) off the HD for your old Mac, and place it on your HD on the new Mac, read about the ›Apple iMac G5 Hard Drive Data Recovery. It is designed for those that want to recover the information from their hard drives on a dead PC or Mac. This HD device works really great for Apple iMac backups too!

Purchase Caps Here

Updated 9/12/09: High Quality Low ESR capacitors, computer motherboard grade, 105ºC, 10mm X 16mm, now available for sale in kit form for the Apple iMac G5 computer MOBs and the PSUs.

The capacitor sizes, included in the MOB kits, are the actual original sizes of the capacitors on the motherboard; making your job much easier to replace them. They are the perfect fit for both diameter and height. Note: The PSU cap kits have been upgraded.

International shipping is available for many countries. If your country isn’t listed for a shipping destination, please let me know to add your country to the list. Please provide your full name (first and last name) when ordering capacitors. Read the Shipping for shipping and delivery information.

If you are interested in more than 10 MOB cap kits, please send me an email with a total amount of how many iMac G5 cap kits you are looking for, along with a note of which of the two different cap kit sets you are interested in. Note: Apple early model and late model iMac G5s with the PowerPC processor have different quantities of caps required on the MOB. Click the eCommerce link. Capacitor information is provided there. Verify what capacitors your Apple iMac needs, and bring your iMac G5 back to life today.

Send me an email with your questions, or special order requests. I now have all the power supply cap kits available. Feel free to contact me any time, with any questions. Take a look at the PSU cap kits that are available for purchase.

Just a brief update for those that have been out of the capacitor loop. About the time Apple was building their G5 line of personal computers, several Taiwanese electrolyte manufacturers began using a stolen electrolyte formula that was incomplete, and lacked key ingredients needed to produce a stable capacitor. The missing ingredients caused the electrolyte in the capacitors to break down, evaporate, leak out of the cap casings, caused overheating of the capacitors themselves under normal load conditions, and subsequently caused exploding poppers. Consequently the capacitors started bulging, overheating, and exploding in many of the power supplies and mother boards manufactured by Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and others which has been documented by numerous articles online. In fact, Dell took a “$300 million financial charge on its earnings to cover costs associated with the replacement of motherboards with faulty capacitors in some of its Optiplex workstations” in late 2005 early 2006. For those of you that are interested, I have documented a do-it-yourself repair procedure and an educational information manual on the Apple iMac G5 motherboards along with students’ user comments.

Note: Apple provided an iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues: See the frequently asked questions section at Apple about which models and serial numbers are/were covered. Howeve
r, in all likelihood (“As of December 15, 2008, this program is now closed.”), the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program has run out its course for most, if not all iMac G5 PowerPC owners. See Apple information on the power supply and the video and power issues documents. You can read the actual repair extension program text in the Apple iMac Mother Board article, exactly as it was in the original Apple documents. The program was available for certain iMac G5 PowerPC models that were sold between approximately September 2004 and June 2005 featuring 17-inch and 20-inch displays with 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz G5 processors. You may also go to any Apple Retail Store with a Genus Bar and have the Apple folks take a look at your iMac for you. Find the nearest Apple Retail Store – Genius Bar in your area, and even make an Genius Bar appointment online too. Apple provides technical support for your Mac, iPod, Apple TV, and iPhone at the Genius Bar too.

Identifying the Apple iMac Power Supply Problem or iMac G5 Motherboard Problem

Apple provides a diagnostic guide for determining whether the problem is with the motherboard or the power supply. See the following link to the: iMac G5: Troubleshooting when your computer won’t turn on. Included in that Apple document are instructions of how to turn on an iMac with the back cover off. There are two small buttons located under the fan cover as displayed in the document. One button is the internal power button, and the other button is for resetting the System Management Unit (SMU) which is located right next to the internal power button. “Note: If you’re using an iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor) computer, your SMU was already reset when you unplugged and replugged the computer. You won’t see an SMU reset button to press, and that’s OK, as this action has already been done. (If you aren’t sure which iMac G5 model you have, click here for help.)” Source: Apple

Since, I feel that I have been somewhat of an online trailblazer on documenting the iMac issues and the Apple iMac G5 motherboard repairs project, I thought I would take the time to dive into another area that many of our readers have stated is also a big problem with the Apple G5 line of computers. That big issue has to do with the main power supply installed in the iMacs are dying and dropping like flies. From what I understand (though not confirmed) about the iMac PSUs, is there are at least several different power supplies used by Apple in their iMac G5 model lines. The part numbers are located on the back of the PSU case. This power supply is Apple P/N 614-0293 Rev. A 180W. The serial number has a barcode graph. The various models associated with this particular DIY repair document are for Apple: iMac G5 (20-Inch), iMac G5 (20-Inch iSight), iMac G5 (17-Inch), iMac G5 (17-Inch iSight), iMac G5 ALS (17-Inch), and iMac G5 ALS (20-Inch) consumer, university, and student models. See the Apple Power Supply, 17-inch Replacement Instructions for how to remove and install your power supply unit. If you have an Apple model with the ambient light sensor, pay particular attention to not breaking the wiring or the sensor that is mounted to the lower portion of the power supply when removing the PSU. Ok, that gets your power supply unit out. Now what?

There are several service repair or replacement options available for your iMac G5 power supply.

1. Order a new power supply from Apple Parts & Services.
2. Order a new PSU, rebuilt power supply, or have your PSU repaired from an outside source.
3. Repair the power supply unit yourself.

Before I talk about option number three, I would like to point out that when you buy a used or new power supply from Apple or another vendor, you have no idea whether the capacitors that are used in this new or used PS are any better than the ones that were installed in your particular iMac. In all likelihood, the new or rebuilt PSU might not last either. I have heard stories of Apple Service replacing a person’s iMac power supply, and several months later having to do it again. With that being said, it seems obvious that you are taking a chance no matter what you do. By-the-way, the cost of a power supply for an iMac will likely set you back 150 to 200 buckaroos. To me, $150.00 or $200.00 seems like an awful lot of money to shell out for such a small power supply that might not last more than a few months. Capacitors actually get old just sitting on the shelf.

With many of my readers sharing their iMac G5 stories, both in the online comments section and sending emails to me documenting their problems they are having with their Apple iMacs, I thought it was prudent to take the next step and see if I could discover first hand what was going on in the field with these 17 inch iMacs. I already own an Apple iMac 20 inch model but I needed a 17 inch one for further investigative work. So, I went searching for a broken iMac G5 computer that I could get my hands on for a fair price. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a broken Apple to do my research, but I needed to do some more engineering and technical failure analysis of the problems of iMacs not turning on because of mother board problems or a power supply situation. Many people kept telling me that they had an iMac G5 17 inch model computer with no physical signs of bad capacitors on the motherboard. I wanted to verify this for myself. I found an iMac G5 17 inch on Craigslist from a guy that felt he got ripped off by someone selling a supposedly good working iMac to him a short time back and then when he plugged it in, it didn’t work. He took it to the local Apple Genius Bar folks and they said he needed a new motherboard. So, after talking with the seller and asking him some questions about this particular iMac, we settled on a fair price, I met him in San Ramon, CA, and purchased it from him. In my opinion he was a straight shooter, and was nice enough to allow me to open the back cover up before I purchased it in order to make sure all the hardware was inside, i.e., hard drive, motherboard, power supply, fans, memory, cd/dvd SuperDrive. However, he had given away the keyboard, mouse, and the software to some friends. Oh well, keyboards and mice are not very expensive, and if I need Mac OS X software, I can purchase that too.

So, I get my new, broken, what an oxymoron, iMac G5 back to the office and I plug it in, push the power button, and it just sits there staring at me with a blank screen. Nothing powers up. Dead in the water. Dead on arrival. DOA, just what I wanted. Really! Yes, it was time to go to start my engineering class work. I opened the back of the computer once again and took a much closer inspection of the motherboard and the capacitors. Believe it or not, all the capacitors look good on the MOB, just like some of my readers have documented with their own stories in written emails I received from them. This is a completely different issue than what I saw on my iMac G5 20 inch motherboard problem with the bad capacitors on the MOB, with some caps just about ready to pop. All the capacitors on this motherboard looked completely intact, with no signs of swelling, bulging, or electrolytic juice leaking out anywhere to be seen on this 17 inch model.

The next step in my troubleshooting analysis probe was to remove the power supply and do the smell test. Yes, use your other senses other than eyesight when troubleshooting electronics or checking out other industrial equipment. The smell of burnt electronic components can sometimes be detected months and years later, even after a burnt component has been replaced. I placed the power supply up to my nose, and I thought I got a slight whiff of that unforgettable smell of burnt electronic components. Now, it was time for the 20/20 vision eyesight test.

Danger High Voltage Electrical Shock Warning!

This information is provided as a safety precaution and to be careful. A warning at this next stage of the technical analysis is warranted. Electronics, and power supplies in general have high power electronic circuits which can cause a body harm if you touch the wrong thing, even if unplugged. First off, make sure your power supply is not plugged into the AC power outlet. Note also that power supplies typically have a primary high voltage input side and a secondary low voltage(s) output side. The high voltage input side can have large filtering capacitors which can store an electrical charge (DC voltage potential) for a long time, even after a power supply is unplugged from the AC power outlet. Take the precautionary step, and discharge these primary capacitors (after it is unplugged from the AC power) with a screwdriver or place jumper wires across the leads prior to working on the PSU printed circuit board. If you have a different type of supply than what is shown here, with large cylinder capacitors standing up on the primary side, you will not be able to get to the leads on the bottom of the circuit board in order to discharge them. However, if a power supply is left off, unplugged for a period of time; certainly if it has been off and unplugged for an hour or two, the majority of the charge will have dissipated from the capacitors due to in circuit resistance and time.

The iMac G5 PSU case design, is one by which Apple’s engineers designed their power supply units with security torx fasteners (screws) attaching the metal cover housing to prevent unauthorized disassembly, and also I am sure to prevent anyone from getting hurt. I do not own one of these security torx drivers, as I suspect most people can say they don’t have one in their tool box either. I was having an email conversation over the past week with a physics professor at a university. He mentioned he has ten 1.6GHz 17″ G5 iMacs at the university, four of which have already collapsed completely. He was also the first to mention to me, about the security torx key being required to open the PS cases.

In this case no problem on the mother board, but big trouble in the power supply (lots of caps in trouble, one totally blown). One can see some of them through the power supply case, so you might want to take a look at yours.

Be careful of the two high capacity capacitors in the unit, they can be lethal. Ph.D., ARCS

I was able to unscrew the torx screws using a precision miniature screwdriver, and broke out the small internal security tabs within the head of the torx screws themselves. Once I did that, the torx screws were relatively easy to remove.

Here’s a confirmed list of the secondary (low voltage) side PSU capacitors installed in the iMac G5 17 inch model. It maybe different on the iMac G5 20 inch, ALS, and iSight models. Please send me an email confirmation or comment on the iSight models, iMac G5 20 inch models, and ALS (Automatic Light Sensor) models, along with any capacitor sizes, quantities, and values would be much appreciated. Please include the Apple p/n and the last four digits of the Apple EEE Code (The last four digits on the serial number). See Cap Note:

• 3x- 1000uf 6.3V 8mm x 16mm
• 2x- 2200uf 10V 10mm x 24mm
• 1x- 1200uf 16V 10mm x 24mm
• 1x- 4700uf 6.3V 10mm x 30mm
• 1x- 1000uf 35V 12.5mm x 20mm
• 1x- 330uf 35V 10mm x 20mm

What you are looking at in figure #3, once you remove the cover of the PSU, are signs of bad capacitors all over the printed circuit board. The first image (Figure #1) above shows the blown capacitor, burnt on the top, and burnt residue on the cover too. If you look closely at Figure #3 and Figure #4, you can see telltale signs of capacitors that are bulging and getting ready to blow their tops. Note the gray silicon rubber adhesive that has been squeezed into and between the electronic components on the circuit board. Some believe that this goop was used for anti-vibration and noise dampening as can be seen with the application of a small amount of goop on a potentiometer adjustment located in the top middle of the PCB, next to the transformers. I can understand the use of it to hold the large primary capacitors in place. However, in my opinion, I believe this was an attempt by the manufacturer (Apple) to make it more difficult to repair the PSUs when using it so liberally throughout the entire PSU. If however, I am wrong, and this is not the case, and the designer intended this goop to be used for anti-vibration noise dampening purposes, the assemblers seem to have gone overboard on their use of it, and it has had an unintended consequence of heat build up. If you look closely at the tall boy cap, I think this one ended up sandwiched in an oven, right next to the coil choke (see closeup picture on Figure #4). In my opinion, it’s not like the small capacitors are going to move once they are soldered in place. It’s also likely that this silicon rubber filler was instrumental in the early failure of the other capacitors too. Excessive heat buildup likely resulted from the insulating characteristics of silicon rubber encapsulation which would result in a runaway thermal chain reaction and cooked the components. Cool air circulation was none existent in these encapsulated areas of the PSU. This silicon adhesive must be gingerly picked at and cut away, in order to get proper access to all the bad capacitors, and be able to remove them when they are unsoldered from the PCB.

Directly below in Figure #4 is a slightly angled picture view, with a closeup of the capacitors on the iMac G5 Power Supply printed circuit board in view and most of the silicon rubber goop removed.

The tools I used on the PCB for cutting and picking away at the silicon adhesive are on display in Figure #4 too. I used by trusty precision miniature screwdriver (Husky model HD-74501 S “a gift”) with multiple bits in the handle, which came in handy for removing the torx fasteners and picking away at the small sections of silicon adhesive, the small retractable utility knife box cutter was used to cut away the big gobs of silicon rubber, and the inch/metric 6 inch scale was used for measuring the capacitor physical sizes.

So, the bottom line is most of the secondary low voltage side capacitors must be replaced on this particular G5 PSU. I will probably replace them all. Some of the capacitors I am told are difficult to find. This is especially true of some of the smaller diameter capacitors. Spaces are limited on the PCB. Also, note the one 350 microfarad 35 volt 10mm x 20mm capacitor (Figure #4 with close up view) that is located under the copper heat sink in the middle of the PCB. This is going to be most certainly problematic for capacitor replacement, since it is most likely that I will have to remove the 1000 microfarad cap in front of this 350uf capacitor in order to slide it out from underneath the heat sink assembly. The heat sink assembly is mounted to what appears to be voltage regulators that are impossible to remove without first removing other inductor choke coils, capacitors, and other components in front of the heat sink assembly.

Surface Mount Technology – SMT
Surface Mount Components – SMC
Surface Mount Devices – SMD
Figure #5

A word of caution about the bottom surface of the PCB before you proceed with on-board capacitor replacements. Be careful not to damage any of the SMC, Surface Mount Components (Figure #5 pictured on the right) located on the bottom of the printed circuit board. These discrete SMT, Surface Mount Technology micro components are very small (some of the SMD, Surface Mount Devices, are hard to see with the naked eye) and consist of SMC diodes, SMC resistors, SMC capacitors, SMC transistors, and SMC IC chips in close proximity to where the large electrolytic capacitor leads protrude through the bottom and are soldered to the plated through holes of the PCB. Be extremely careful when soldering next to these SMDs. If you heat up a SMD by accident with the soldering iron, (see lead-free soldering tips for more soldering information) you will potentially dislodge it from its PCB pad. Figure #3 shows the PCB top side surface before picture, with all the silicon rubber adhesive stuck between the electronic components. Figure #4 picture is after the silicon rubber, for the most part, has been removed from the components on the secondary side of the PSU.

Now, the next step in the process is to purchase the nine electrolytic, radial leads, low ESR capacitors designed for tight spaces. For most folks out there in Internet land, I realize there probably is much technical information to digest here in one quick reading. I feel like I have written and photographed a technical documentary. I will most likely publish an updated technical article or add to this document when I locate new capacitors and proceed with the the installation of these new low ESR electrolytic capacitors. Cap Note: I suspect I will have some different suggested sizes to use for cap substitutes. You are free to print out this document using the “print button” for your personal use, but you are not granted permission to distribute or publish it anywhere else without my prior approval. That goes ditto for all the articles published on this website too.

All information provided here is for instructional purposes only. Please note that I cannot be held responsible for any damage that you might do to your computer or yourself. This website is for educational purposes only and you are responsible for everything you do with the given information. You are responsible for the health and welfare of your own body and computer.

I hope this iMac repair training course series of articles helps everyone that is facing a decision of possibly having to go to the precious and non-ferrous metal reclamation and computer electronics recycle center with their crippled or broken down Apple iMac now and in the future. After all, I believe that these Apple G5 iMacs are not an EWaste product, and are most precious and beautiful machines for their owners to use. I think there is a lot of life left in these very powerful iMac G5 computer machines for today and tomorrow. At least I have a documented road map and general circuit diagram schematic of the main power supply components, along with engineering failure analysis that I will be using myself for technical reference for now and in the future. By-the-way, I now have a large quantity of high quality, low ESR, electrolytic capacitors available for sale for the DIY Apple iMac G5 motherboard repairs. See motherboard repair posting for quantities required. Or, you can order directly from my online store at Out West Sales today.

Power Supply iMac 20 Inch Model Apple Part Number — Apple p/n: 614-0326

Capacitor List and Diameter Sizes For Power Supply Apple iMac 20 Inch

• 330uf    35v    10mm
• 1200uf   16v    10mm
• 3300uf   10v    10mm
• 2200uf   10v    10mm
• 1000uf   25v    10mm
• 1000uf   10v    8mm
• 120uf    50v    8mm

This particular power supply is (Apple p/n: 614-0326)

Note: According to Alex, capacitors would not exceed 32mm length. But also note that the cable wiring comes over the top of some of those capacitors on the right front section of the PSU. If the capacitors are too high, the wiring will not clear the PSU cover.

Additionally, if anyone finds a source available for engineering prints, technical drawings, or electronic schematics for Apple iMacs, please send me an email notice or send attachments to James. James is my clickable email address located on the right side of the website, just above “Chat with Jim Warholic” when I’m available online. I and others would really appreciate the circuit board schematics if you have them. Thank you, Jim Warholic

There is another option worth exploring for the Apple iMac G5 Power Supply. The option is to possibly convert a standard PC ATX power supply and use it for the Apple iMac. Wiring changes on the P1 pin-outs have to be made first. See the following note and image.

Accelerate Your Macintosh! News Page

iMac G5 Power Supply Connector Pin-Out (Voltages)
“I haven’t been able to find this anywhere using Google, so I took apart my iMac G5 (17-inch rev A) power supply and made a pin-out diagram.
-Chris N.”

Do not attempt the following if you do not know what you are doing. Severe damage could result. See note above concerning the information provided here. Compare the Apple iMac Pinouts diagram with that of the ATX Power Supply Pinouts Diagram. Pin modifications need to take place before plugging it in. Note also, there is a 24 Volts output on the Apple iMac Pinout diagram that is missing on the ATX Power Supply Pinout diagram. However, based on a thread in an online Apple Forum at InsanelyMac, titled iMac G5 Power Supply Question, a person as recently as January 2008 modified an ATX power supply and didn’t use the 24V, but I think he used an external monitor, and the iMac worked with this setup. Some folks indicate that the +24V is used for the internal backlit display. See quotes: “+24V is used to power the LCD inverter” and “24VDC line looks to be for the display (backlighting)”. Read full quotes in context at InsanelyMac Forum.

With that iMac G5 mod in mind, maybe someone can come up with an external power supply box, and just plug it in to the iMac P1 plug on the motherboard. Another person also emailed me in October of 2008 and mentioned he had this ATX power supply working for an Apple iMac g5 too.

This was recently posted as a comment by another person for the pin outs and voltage information: Note, I have confirmed this pin out information. Update: The various pinouts have been confirmed by at least one other customer also. Click the how-to link for more details about how to measure the iMac G5 power supply voltages and turn on the PSU when the PSU is removed from the iMac computer.

My 20″ iMac Power Supply connector – P-1

1. +3.3 – BlackA3B	12. +3.3 – BlackA3B
2. +3.3 – BlackA3B	13. +12v – BrownA3B
3. GND – BlackB4B	14. GND – BlackC4B
4. +5v Gray/PurpleA4B	15. On/Off – Gray
5. GND – BlackB4B	16. GND – BlackC4B
6. +5v Gray/PurpleA4B	17. GND – BlackC4B
7. GND – BlackB4B	18. GND – BlackC4B
8. PG – Blue	19. +12v – BrownA3B
9. +5.1Vsb – Purple	20. +5v Gray/PurpleA4B
10. +12v – BrownA3B	21. +5v Gray/PurpleA4B
11. GND	22. +20v – Brown

FYI: More information for measuring the voltages can be found at my how to measure iMac G5 power supplies article. Be sure to read the article comments section for additional details.

Pin 22 supplies Panel voltage. Using a modified ATX Power supply (Need 12+ on pins 12 and 18), and the good 20 volts on the dead Apple Power Supply and a ground, I was able to boot my 20″ iMac using the combination of both power supplies. Someone else posted the pin out elsewhere on the web. I replaced just the domed capacitors on my power supply and still no luck. Can some of the capacitors be bad and not be domed? Can you check capacitors on the board without removal? Some go to infinite and stay, other go to infinite and fall back to zero when using an ohm meter?

A few points to consider when checking capacitors in the circuit and on the circuit board. It doesn’t always give the correct reading with a ohm meter whether using digital or analog  meters because of other components affecting the readings of what you might be trying to check in the circuit. Yes, capacitors can be bad without physically looking bad. The electrolytic juice can dry up on the inside. And one more point that I would like to make, it sure would be nice to have a circuit board schematic for the power supplies in my hands. Feel free to send me one if you have it. Thanks.

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3/18/2009 Update: Installed new power supply in this iMac 17 inch G5 computer. Success! Installed keyboard and mouse too. Now I need new software for the white house.

A important note here is that I recommend only using “new” low ESR, long life, computer motherboard grade and switching power supply grade capacitors for all repairs. Do not use unknown surplus caps, or even new or surplus caps that have been sitting on the shelf for ages. My power supply was too far gone. It had something else blown in it.

I have the extra long life capacitors (rated at 10,000 hrs. on the large uf rated capacitors) and all are low ESR ratings for the power supplies, in stock now. Please take a look and compare these Apple iMac power supplies to your power supply before purchasing.

If your iMac power supply doesn’t look exactly as above, or would like to have a free consultation, and provide a visual evaluation for me to take a look at please send in your Apple iMac G5 pictures, to compare.

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It is possible to install an extra monitor on an iMac G5 computer and have what is known as “screen spanning” which is an extended desktop mode of operation.

Screen spanning is where your screen desktop area is extended to include the extra monitor (not a duplicate of your existing display). There is a small Apple mini VGA to regular VGA plug short adapter cable that is required to go from the small VGA port on the back side of the iMac computer and plug the other end into the monitor cable.

The original Apple OS X software for the iMac G5s did not provide screen spanning capabilities. The hardware can handle it, but Apple chose not to enable it in the software. Not sure the reason behind Apple’s decision on that. Apple only supported dual monitors with both monitors displaying the same information on the screens at the same time. However, there is a free software modification that can make use of the hardware capabilities of the internal video card on the motherboard in the iMac G5 computers. The video card on the iMac G5 20 is a built-in nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 directly mounted on the motherboard. The iMac motherboard essentially provides the means to have two monitors using the Apple Mini-VGA to VGA Display Adapter for a Mac. The mini-VGA adapter will cost you somewhere around $20.00, including shipping charges, to purchase from Amazon. You might be able to buy one for a little bit less.

You can download the latest version of the Screen Spanning Doctor (v0.3.3) software. Screen Spanning Doctor (0.3.3) supports Tiger. Click on the link to be sure your Apple computer is compatible and able to make use of this software mod. The software patch was for the iBook, eMac, and iMac computers. You can view which models are supported. Please note, the site has the following disclaimer that I would also have to echo too:

“Please note that I cannot be responsible for any damage that you might do to your computer. This site is for educational purposes only and you are responsible for everything you do with the given information. …”

The cool part about this addon monitor screen spanning mode of operation, is it can have its own separate monitor configurations for screen resolutions, and even the background picture for the desktop can be different too. The screen saver program can display different designs on each monitor. It doesn’t mean you can have different screen savers running at the same time, it just means that a Screen Saver like Cosmos, which has different images from the universe, each monitor will display a different image at the same time. I personally have installed the screen spanning software on my iMac G5 and it works terrific for me.

If you are thinking to use an extra monitor because your Apple iMac G5 20 or iMac G5 17 inch is having main display problems, your problem might actually be a bad motherboard. The capacitors for the video display unit located on the iMac G5 Mainboard go bad (burst open, leak electrolytic fluid, and dry up) along with additional filtering capacitors that blow up on other areas of the motherboard. Refer to the article I wrote about How to Repair Apple iMac G5 Motherboards and replace those bad capacitors. Or, the problem may be with your Apple Power Supply Unit.

When an extra monitor is plugged in to the port on the back of the iMac G5, the Apple software senses a new monitor is installed and provides the available screen resolutions for each, on each monitor. So, when you go to System Preferences, and click on Displays, the configuration settings appear on each of the monitors’ screens with each specific configuration particular to each monitor. Arrangement of the monitors can be on the left, right, top, or bottom by simply dragging the monitor to the position you would like. If you decide to have your monitors stacked on a shelf, one above the other, you can place the monitors under one another on the setup screen. If you wish to have them on your desktop, side-by-side, then place the setup screen on the left or right. When your monitors are set up the way you want, the mouse will track accordingly. For example, if you have your monitors side-by-side, then when you move your mouse to the right, you will then go over to the other screen. This is handy if you regularly have lots of windows open and wish to expand your Mac desktop area. Or, you can have one application on display on one screen and have another running on the other. Just drag the open software application screen to the other monitor. Colors can also be calibrated between each of the screen monitors too.

With the price on large screen LCD monitors having dropped significantly over the years, now is the time to add more real estate graphic exposure to your desktop area today.

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Apricorn DriveWire – Universal Hard Drive Adapter

SATA 2.5″ or 3.5″ Hard Drives and Parallel HDs, IDE 44 Pin Adapter, or IDE 40 Pin Adapter for Laptop Drives & Desktop Drives to USB Interface

Have you ever wanted to get information off an old Windows PC internal hard drive or just a dead computer? Maybe you have a dead Apple iMac G5, G4, or G3 and need to recover the data off the hard drive. Have you ever wanted to be able to install a new larger hard drive in your notebook computer, MacBook, MacBook Pro, or other Intel-based iMacs, or a desktop PC and do it quickly, with all the drivers, and software intact? Well, I’ve got the answer for you.

Here is a cool device from Apricorn that makes it easy to plug in any new or used internal hard drive from a laptop or desktop (Mac or PC), to any external USB port on another Apple MAC or a Microsoft OS PC.

Apricorn includes both the DriveWire hard drive adapter hardware, with AC power adapter, cables, and USB cable, and software to be able to clone virtually any PATA/IDE or SATA, 2.5 or 3.5 inch, hard disk drives.

The DriveWire provides a hi-speed USB 2.0 interface to: SATA, 40 pin PATA/IDE, and 44 pin PATA/IDE.

DriveWire is bundled with Apricorn’s “Upgrade Suite” which features the award winning “EZ Gig II” cloning software for Windows and “Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper!” for Mac

System Requirements

PC
Pentium CPU II or later, 64 MB RAM or more
Available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port
CD ROM or CD-RW drive
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows XP Home and Professional
Windows Vista

Mac
Apple G3 or later, 64 MB RAM or more
Available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port
CD ROM or CD-RW drive
Mac OS 9.2 or later, Mac OS X 10.2 or later

Five Star Recommendation * * * * *

I have used this universal hard drive plug-in adapter quite extensively myself for all types of applications. I have cloned Apple hard drives, tested old parallel IDE disk drives, used it to backup old computer systems, recovered files off a bad PC, and used it as an external connection for a spare hard drive for both PC and Mac computers. People have used it to quickly backup their system on an old hard drive and then placed that backup into a secure fire safe, not to be touched unless all else fails. The HD adapter has been a lifesaver for me. I don’t like to touch a computer system unless I have a backup to begin with. You do not need to install any backup software or other special device drivers if you are just plugging in various hard drives.

Follow the simple instructions and make sure to set your IDE PATA hard drives only, to “Master mode” (not cable select) with the jumper setting on the hard drive, and you are set to go. Note, master mode is a jumper setting that only applies to 3.5″ PATA hard drives and determines which hard drive is the main device on the ATA bus. Most newer PC Bios systems and motherboards utilized cable select mode jumper settings on the hard drives to automatically identify which drive is the primary and which drive is the secondary based on cable hookup. In “Cable Select” mode, the black cable connector plugs into the primary master drive, gray cable connector plugs into the secondary slave drive, and the blue connector attaches to the computer motherboard or host IDE controller.

Once you have confirmed this important “master” jumper setting on the HD, then simply plug in one hard drive at a time to the DriveWire adapter and plug the USB cable into your USB port, and it shows up on your “My Computer” on a PC, or your desktop on a Apple Mac. You can copy and retrieve information from an old HD drive. That is the beauty of this plug-in device. Fast, easy to use, reliable, and really really handy too.

Pictured below, from left to right is the Apricorn adapter, USB cable, AC cable which plugs into AC adapter, AC adapter with drive plug, and software disk with both PC and MAC software included.

This device is great for IT departments, techies, and even the ordinary person that simply wants to easily plug in a hard drive to see what is on it. Check out the video on how easy it is to use.

Apricorn DriveWire – Universal Hard Drive Adapter How To Use Video

How To Instructions For Cloning or Copying Old Laptop Hard Drives to Large Hard Drives – Article Addendum 12/15/08

Here is a question from a reader in Internet land about his laptop hard drive.

I have a question. I have a small laptop hard drive (dara-206000), 6GB ATA/IDE IBM Travelstar. I want to transfer all the data from this small hard drive to another hard drive with the same features. Does this universal hard drive adapter would work for me?

Here is the answer.

It depends on how you intend to use it. First off, if the hard drive is still in the laptop, then you need to have a USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port available on your laptop to clone directly with the adapter to the computer’s internal hard drive. Then once you’ve done that, simply pull out the internal HD and replace it with the new higher capacity laptop drive.

If you have the hard drive in your hands, then you can copy the entire drive onto another computer then copy the the contents back directly onto your new hard drive and then install the new hard drive into your old laptop with all the software intact. You will probably need to use the included backup software to get all the system files transfered. You can also use backup software such as Acronis. See: Upgrading Computer Hard Drive and Backup Software

It’s important to note that the adapter is designed to only hook up one drive at a time to the output port of the adapter and then hook up the input to a USB port of a computer. The hard drive will show up as an external hard drive on the computer’s “My Computer” page for a Microsoft Windows OS PC or display on the desktop for an Apple Mac OS computer.

The Adapter is for SATA 2.5″ or 3.5″ Hard Drives and Parallel HDs, IDE 44 Pin Adapter, or IDE 40 Pin Adapter for Laptop Drives & Desktop Drives to USB 1.1 and 2.0 Interface.

Buy it Now: Apricorn Drivewire Universal HDD Adapter USB To 2.5IN & 3.5IN Sata & Pata

Hope that helps explain the details of how to go about transferring the HD information from one HD to the other. By-the-way, you could even use the Apricorn DriveWire adapter to clone to a solid state hard drive – SSD HD too.

Best regards,

Jim

PS Learn more about quickly retrofitting to a SSD, Solid State Diskdrive in a laptop, notebook, and Apple & PC desktops too.

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