Graham I'm glad you did this i just purchased a 2011 27-inch IMAC about a week ago I'm not having any trouble but this is good to know just in case, That is why i like watching your channel i have learned a lot watching you and i Still say you would be a great professor at a tech college.
Thank you for showing us the power button. With this knowledge, I managed to push the button inside and under the rim, exposing the culprit - the metal ring. It was easy enough to break it with a small screwdriver and to pull it out with needle nose pliers.
Amazing Solution and i really appreciate the way you setup your camera to make this video more helpful with all detail instructions ..... Bless you !!!!
Thank you, one of the most complete and clear video about procedure to dismantling and reassembling iMAC I seen on you Tube. Very Good. Only a dubt about the decision to remove the ring part of the switch on/off buttom. I have the same problem during switching with mine 2011 iMAC 21,5". Il try to repair it whitout removing metal ring and then I'll let you know.👍
Really been enjoying your videos! Just a helpful hint. When you want to place something back in the exact same position, use a sharpie pen to mark a line on the piece and on the case, then line up both pieces to the line. Saved me many a time!
Thank you very much for this video. I had exactly the same problem with my IMac 27 " from mid 2011 and now the power button - with the help of your instructions - works fine again!
Thanks for the hint with the debug led. That saved me from dissemble everything. It turned out my power cable was broken meanwhile. 😮 Just used a different cable and everything worked (even though I suspected the switch first). Thanks for you great video and help!💝
Extremely WELL DONE "how to" video. I'll be saving this for another night when I have not been enjoying toddies. Ironically, all I use this unit for is to listen to tunes off my thumbdrive, in my garage, as I'm working on things. LOL
funny, when I replaced the HDD I used two brand new toilet plunger, worked just great....people just gave me those looks....but it was a clean install.
Good instructions. I fixed my old Mac. I did add a bit of glue to the ring when I reinstalled it. Taking off the metal disc was difficult. I used a chisel to pry it off but it got bent pretty badly. Still, it is working. Good idea to take pictures of where the screws and cables go. When I had difficulty reinstalling the MB, I realized some of the cable around the base were obstructing. I know this because I had to take it about twice. Turns out I forgot to reinstall the RAM chips; I though I missed a connection. LOL.
Thanks, man, I am just doing exactly the same job here in my little office, gotta be so careful but I am stuck at getting that power button out, will heat it up from the back to soften the glue, that design though.... FARGIN unreal!! But glad you made this video so I can follow along.
I finally got my Imac work with removing the o ring, which is the major problem for this kind of issue, remember to remove all the memory before you start the job, it is a headache for me to put the motherboard back. This video is very helpful!!!!
Great video. I had the same, exact 27" iMac with a power button that was mashed in by my impatient sister. Four-hundred U.S. dollars was the price that was quoted to me to repair the computer. I chose not to repair it as it was five years old at the time.
I just had the same problem, but what if it was just a loose washer..? So I turned the imac around and gave it a good shaking, and boom! It started immediately! Saved me an hour or two of screwing/unscrewing. Thanks for your great work and inspiriation :-)
When reinstalling the logicboard I had trouble positioning it. Heat exchanger stuck on the power module. I removed the power module and it fit without any trouble. Again thanks for this helpful video.
Thank for the great video. It's been 35 years since i last stripped down a computer. It was an old 1984 Compaq portable. Nothing quite prepared me for this. It was in the end very complex and took about 6 hours for me as I had to double check each step. The on/off button had the same issue with the ring and I hairdryered the switch back on. But the resolution of the video as not clear enough to tell which plugs go in which sockets and it took 4 goes to reseat the mother board. it was not clear which way up some of the connectors go back in. The small ones seemed to be mostly with the silver leads showing upwards but for the load speaker sockets that was not the case. I had to try over and over again to which way round a plus was better seated and it was very marginal. Would recommend a bit of tippex on one side of all the plugs to confirm which sockets are used and which way the plug goes in, plus well lit close up photos - before you take things apart, and for each cable to label them with numbers and cellotape them to the casing to avoid getting them hidden under the mother board when you reseat it. (I trick I've used on mice getting into our humane traps to check we were not just reccyling the same mice - which we were. )First time I powered up at the end the screen was blank and the fourth LED was not lit so I assume a display comms issue - it thin ribbon connector was not seated properly. There was a huge sense of relief when the machine powered up and I could see the screen. I check the mouse and keyboard and after reinstalling they both worked. Everything seems to work . But, when I checked the network I got the error "Network preference pane not available" - I got this twice. Then for no reason it just appeared. Speedtest.net gave me 62 Meg download and 35 Meg upload - sop for the lockdown that's great. Spotify came out of both speakers. So we're in business. What a relief. Never again. In hindsight I would do what the other contributor did - drill a hole and put in your own switch in. Thanks so much Adamant IT for the great but rollercoaster ride!!
I still have a 27" iMac of that type. The spare SATA cable is used on mine for a hybrid drive. It has a 250GB SSD and a 750GB HDD which are combined into a single 1TB drive. The OS then shifts things around so the most commonly used files are stored on the SSD.
I found this video looking for how to add an external button. I think soldering a couple of wires straight to where the switch clips into the logic board should do it. Thanks for the detailed video.
For anyone who's still dealing with this issue, I have managed to push the button cover part inwards just far enough so that I could force slide it underneath the surface of the case, deep far enough to expose the actual button membrane (with the "culprit" metal ring, which I could then remove). You can see in this video that the plate holding the membrane with the button is actually glued to the case, not screwed it, so you can force it inwards. Now I can just push the button directly through the membrane and it works - the PSU is functional, so the Mac boots up. I couldn't fathom taking the insides apart bit by bit, so I decided to "brute furce". Mind that I haven't checked if I hadn't damaged the speaker casing, and thus the speaker itself this way, as the Mac is missing the hard drive, which I'm yet to replace - once I reinstall Mac OS I will check if the speakers suffered any damage during my break in :)
Thank you, this video is great and just what I need to do for my iMac that won't start. Do you know where I can have these steps printed out? I'm going to attempt to do this myself (Apple doesn't work on old Macs), and I need to have step by step that I can refer to it as I go. Thanks.
@9:22 - "and now I'm going to wait for that sodding alarm in the background to go away". I actually paused the video and looked in my server rack to see which machine had gone on the blink. "beep beep beep" ;)
Enjoyed your video. I've been running my iMac of an external drive for about five years now. This morning everything took a turn for the worse and after a bit of a fit a couple of days ago where it wouldn't power on, but "got better", today it's dead and won't power on, so looks like this is an opportunity to kill birds with one stone, and investigate the power issue while changing over the hard disk. Wasn't the purpose of the washer to ensure that the power button lined up properly?
Hello there ! Thanks a bunch for the great video. Unfortunately the trick with the power button on the logic board did not work for me… Nothing happened. the LED 1 is always on. Can it be the logic board? Interesting is that when i plug in the cable and hold the power button, all the fan are coming on in high speed. but nothing else. Shall i try with another logic board? Thanks for your advice? BR
I have a 2009 iMac that won´t start. It has my wife's photographs on it and when it failed, it must have been doing a backup as the backup file on the external HDD shows Zero bytes! And yes, I have only one backup drive. I followed this video - there are some board differences, but when I plugged it in, there were no lights showing. I had 240VAC at the PSU input and I proved the switch was good, so I can only surmise the PSU board is defunct. It looks OK, no burns or swollen caps. I ordered a used but good PSU from eBay for 45 euros. In the week I have till it arrives, I will try to find out what went wrong with the PSU. Thanks for putting this video up, the inside of any Mac is a daunting prospect and any help is greatly appreciated.
Hello! I need help. Someone removed the power button socket on my Imac before I bought it and soldered another button on those pads that you shorted with the tweezers. But that idiot managed to rip off one of the pads. Is there somewhere else I can make the connection to turn on the imac?
I thought I had a power button fault but looking at the diagnostic lights it may be another issue. When I plug the power cable in light 1 flickers once then nothing. Any ideas ?
...i have the imac... apart ...this one purchased in japan ...and a different but difficult left side to fit over the dvd...eek ...err... well we'll manage of course thanks for the tips and watch outs
My iMac is in use for 12 hours a day 7 days a week, I press the power button about 3 times per year. People just don't know what standby mode is they reboot their Macs every time they use them.
Hi mate , I have a problem with my iMac model mid2011 .... the problem it’s the Led no2 doesn’t want to turn on . I bought a new power supply and the problem still holding . Do you have any idea what else can be ? Regards MiLian
Find the PowerButton wire connecting to the logic board, and use some tweezers to short its pins together - this will ensure that it's not just a bad power button. Otherwise, given that you've already replaced the PSU, it sounds like the logic board has died. Power Button is more likely though.
Adamant IT so I been trying the trick with the pins... and doesn’t work . You think the issue can be the logic board ? To be burn ? Thank you for replying
I don't think so. There's nothing special about the iMac power cable, and if you've got Standby power (LED1) then the power cable is working. Logic board problems are pretty rare with iMacs, but it seems like that's what you've got =/
Adamant IT ok let’s say I will buy another logic board and it’s still no working ... what something else can be the problem ? I’m asking because I don’t want to start to buy all the spares one by one 😂 thank you reply back
Hey bro, I kinda want to fix it myself, but I'm worried I'll end up breaking it... Can I just send it to you so you can fix it? Just kidding xD ... I'm doing my best here to dont get overly depressed about my imac dying.
@Adamant it Hello there, I checked the power button as you said by shorting out the PWR Button cable and only 2 first lights (left to right) came on NOT all 4. Whatndoes that mean?
Amazing video thanks. I plugged my IMac into the power and the 1st LED Green light came on but went off very quickly, are you able to advise what this could be? Guessing logic board failure.
@@Adamant_IT I’ve had issues with it powering on now for a few weeks, it is very much a pot luck thing. I’ve tried now for 2 days and nothing, but when I was checking the LED lights it did power on and now it doesn’t again.
@@Adamant_ITthanks I have an iMac a1312 that someone brought me to repair but it doesnt have the gpu or heatsink. It was with another tech before wonder if they forgot to install it back. All it does is the fans turn on kinda loud and no startup chime.
Hi, when i press the power button/short the switch (which is done at around 8.00 in the video), the 1st green LED turns off and doesn't illuminate again until i reconnect the power cable. Any ideas on where to go from here? Cheers
Hi, I replaced the PSU and now the 1st green LED blinks once when the power button is pressed. Nothing else happens. Does this sound like a logic board problem?
You are a clever and talented Technician. But I am not in favor of the removal of the ring on the switch. It only needed to be aligned and to prevent it from being misaligned again a small amount of silicon glue would have been enough. My personal point of view ion “repair” is to restore the unit to its original state. I am sure the click sound of the power switch will not be the same without the ring.
Hi Adamant IT. Thank you for your well infomred video. I will apprecaite if you or anyone in your forum could tell me what is happening to my Imac mid 2011 27 inch not coming on. The stand-by LED light on the boards comes on and goes off immdiately when I insert the power cable. It is not stable for me to press the switch botton . So is the problem with my power board of the logic board. I need your urgent response for me to know what to buy as replacement
@@Adamant_IT Hi, Thanks for the advice. I just change my power supply . unfortunately my imac did not come on. it was behaving the way it was before changing it. that is the first led standby light on the logic board showing green was not stable when you put the plug in. It goes off and on rather than it to be stable. immediatly I press the switch nothing happens and the led light will stop flicking. After a while when I remove the plug and repeat the process the led light will continue to flickers rather than being stable. What else could be responsible please. Just to note also,When I tested my power supply with the meter, the input voltage was 240 but there was no output voltage to signify that a supply is going on to the board
Could be a dead PSU. If it's a 2011 or older model like in this video, I'd replace the computer. If it's a thin one (Late 2012 onwards) then you can find used PSUs on eBay.
Dude!!! Wtf is going on, my iMac screen is fixed from the inside. Mine doesn’t pop out? No one is explaining this on RU-vid. Can I open the back? What is going on?
