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The power supply is located at the top.
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The hard drive cages (two of them), optical drive
cage and CPU fan had to be removed.
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The part number is API1PC36 and it is a 360W unit which Apple started
using after complaints about noise with the 400W.
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I had to use a philips screwdriver with a medium
tip to remove five screws. Three are on the top of the cover...
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...and two are on the side.
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The cover has two hook tabs preventing the removal
of the cover.
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I had to slide the cover in the direction of the arrow...
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...and lift to disengage the cover.
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Hook tab and the slot it goes into.
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This wire tie that holds the main cables had to be
carefully cut. I slightly nicked the cover of one of the wires.
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The fans had to be removed (four screws) to allow
easier removal of the circuit board.
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There are four screws that hold the circuit board
in place (three can be seen here) and one for the ground cable.
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The fourth screw holding the circuit board was located
underneath this yellow thingie which was glued down over the screw.
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With the screws removed, I can now try and remove
the circuit board from the housing.
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Upon removing the circuit board, I noticed a burn
area on this once translucent white plastic.
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There's the burn area and the corresponding spot on
the circuit board.
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This was the source of the sparks, or the flashes
of light I saw.
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A close up view shows the lousy soldering job by whoever
assembled this board.
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After a little cleaning with a q-tip and a drop of
isopropyl alcohol, I performed my own lousy soldering job. I'm not
proud of it, but it worked.
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I plugged in the circuit board (be very cautious because
high voltage is now out in the open) and used a voltmeter to test
these two connectors. I got 5 volts.
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Since I had the power supply open, I decided to replace
the fans with some new ones. Something I had planned to do back in
2003, but never got around to it.
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There is nothing wrong with these stock fans...
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...but I had these Verax fans,
ready to install, since 2003.
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And besides, they're brand new.
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Removing the fans connectors from the circuit board
resulted in breaking one of the locking tabs. Oh well, I decided
to break the other one off too.
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This photo shows the Verax fan connector in place.
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One
of the most difficult part of this entire ordeal was installing these
new Verax fans. The rubber grommets had to be guided through the
corresponding holes in the housing and pulled through. My fear was
breaking these grommets. Luckily they did not. Now I had to retrace
my steps to install the power supply back in my G4 MDD.
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Everything's up and running and seems to be working well now. I saved
quite a bit of money by making the decision to explore the interior of
the power supply. I had hoped that installing the Verax fans would make
the G4 a bit more quiet, but I think the main fan noise is still coming
from the CPU fan. Anyway, the most important thing is, I'm getting a
few more miles out of my G4.
