All computers require electricity, which is hardly a shocking notion. Pun intended. As a matter of fact, when we take apart computers, electricity poses our greatest occupational hazard. Granted, we hardly put our lives on the lines, but any tech that has spent any amount of time inside of a computer has experienced his or her fair share of shocks. The biggest culprits are iMacs.
iMacs contain a power supply that is hot virtually all the time, plugged in or not, working or not. Even power supplies not plugged into a computer can shock. They generally lose their juice only if they have not been plugged in for hours. As iMac power supplies can and do go bad, it is not an exaggeration to say that an iMac power supply replacement can be one of the most exciting repairs we encounter.
The power supply is a piece of hardware inside the iMac that sends electricity into the logic board and into the rest of the iMac’s components. Sometimes, it goes bad and simply can’t give the iMac the electrical power in needs to power on (or stay on.)
A bad power supply on an iMac can manifest itself in a couple of different ways. One is simply the iMac not turning on at all. While a failure to turn on can in an of itself be indicative of many things, with iMacs the power supply is generally to blame. Another sign of a bad power supply is an iMac that turns on but won’t stay on, spontaneously shutting down after a few minutes (or even a few seconds).
If you are having power issues with your iMac, feel free to bring it in for a free diagnosis. We will be more than happy to risk a few shocks to take a look at your power supply. Rest assured this is a relatively common repair, especially if your iMac is getting older. We have sent countless iMacs back out the door with working power supplies!