Computer Repair the Hard Way

[Tom Bender]

We have an I-Mac (desktop) which has been great for the 6 years we have had it. But since desktops have no batteries it was a little frustrating having to restart it. We have a whole house generator but the few seconds startup time caused the computer to shut down. So we added a UPS, all good till the UPS died. It is on the bench for 'investigation'. Since then the computer has been shutting down whenever it was left alone. Ok so some online research and a few experiments, including an update I had been putting off. No good. A call to Apple help lasted over 2 hours. Props to Apple, they have great support. Very knowledgeable, pleasant and patient. Left me with a cleaned up and virus scanned machine and instructions to upgrade the OS if it was still not fixed.

Today it was still shutting down, grrr. Time to do the OS swap. Started that long process and walked away, glanced back and it was off again. That was quick.

Doh!! When removing the UPS I had plugged it in to the top of the outlet. That was a switched socket. Directed wife to apply a firm head slap, which she did.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I ran into a problem like that when I was putting a heat tape on a pipe in the basement of an old farmhouse. I would plug it in, the red light would come on, I would leave the basement and shut off the light, and then it would have no power. I couldn't see the heat tape from where the switch was at the top of the stairs. I didn't know there were any switch controlled outlets in the basement. It took me a while to figure out what I had done wrong.

[Jim Koepke]

So we added a UPS, all good till the UPS died. It is on the bench for 'investigation'. Since then the computer has been shutting down whenever it was left alone.

A UPS has a storage battery that will loose its ability to hold a charge after a few years. At my old employer we used to replace the batteries every few years.

jtk

[Bruce Wrenn]

A UPS has a storage battery that will loose its ability to hold a charge after a few years. At my old employer we used to replace the batteries every few years.

jtk

UPS batteries are CHEAP on Ebay. If you have the space, and UPS uses 12V battery, replace it with a deep cycle marine battery. Be sure to put battery in a battery case. There are you tubes showing how to do this.