Yes, people have been killed screwing around with flybacks. You are looking at the potential discharge of tens of thousands of volts if you touch certain things together. At the least you are looking at the worst case of flash blindness you could never imagine. Unless you are skilled in CRT repair, LEAVE IT ALONE!
From: g3-5-list@googlegroups.com [mailto:g3-5-l...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 1:20 PM To: g3-5-list@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: PowerMac G3 AIO 'snapping/popping' flyback transformers are dangerous as hell. a layman can learn to repair apple computers easily, as far as replacing parts. as long as you know what to replace. CRT monitor components are an exception. this repair has more in common with TV repair, and involves handling possible high voltage discharges (tens of thousands) that can still get you after the unit has been powered down and unplugged for months ( capacitors hold a charge ). a TV tech can handle it safely. if you don't know what you're doing you can be hurt bad. i assume people have rarely been killed. the CRT related parts of an apple computer are typically not manufacturer rated for untrained techs to work on.. when it's an all-in-one,( including 9" monochrome screen units, the G3 iMac, the beige AIO, the 5xxx types and the eMac) the flyback transformer is often the issue, and unsafe to handle without some knowledge. in my opinion this is a fool's errand because of the safety issues. screw around with PCI cards.... or drives. they will get broken or fried, but the owner won't be harmed. if you know how to do it there is a procedure for draining power stored in the caps. not a safe procedure for a tinkerer making guesses. On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 2:10 AM, lrbarrios <lrbarr...@datastarusa.com> wrote: I just purchased a PowerMac G3 All-In-One from a flee market for $5. I was told that it works, so what the heck. As long as my wife doesn't find out, I'm okay. :) I powered it up tonight and it's making a 'snapping/popping' sound from under the hood -- like a bug zapper. When this happens, the CRT display also flashes. At first I just thought it might be dust. I can actually boot an OS 9.2 CD, but shortly afterwards, the machine will start snapping and popping and reboot itself. Eventually, after it gets warmed up, it's almost continually popping and interrupting the boot process. I know this can't be good for it, so I've turned it off until I can get some answers. Is it the power supply? -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
