Something new every day

For the last couple of days, my iMac G5 at work has been powering itself off randomly. It's been very dependable ever since the motherboard replacement to fix the bad video that the first generaton iMac G5s suffered, so to see it appearantly eating a power supply was disappointing. Resetting the SMU and the PMNU didn't help, and it died in the middle of the test CD run (so it wasn't software).

Then, I found a page that said to change power cords. Appearantly the power supply in them is very sensitive, and if the cord isn't pushed in 100%, or if there are problems with the cord, the machine can randomly shut off. I dragged an ugly (but heavy-duty) black cord out of the desk, and switched it after the last power-off. No more problems.

Apple's stock cord is sitting in my trash can, cut in three pieces, (NEVER leave a bad cord intact; someone will want to use it again.) and my iMac is happy. Hopefully, that's the only problem and my iMac can keep humming along happily.

Upda te: It wasn't the power cord. The power supply is dying. Fortunately, my employer bought AppleCare, so the repairman will be there in a day or two.