A1289 Mac Pro "Early 2009" PSU (ACBel FS8001-291H, 614-0455)

[MeltedDuron]

So a couple of days ago I picked up a 2009 8-core Mac Pro in "as seen" condition at a price that was too good to pass up, got it home, eventually managed to install OS X on it, and then it died while downloading updates. This machine looks like it was used for heavy video editing work as it still had a Blackmagic capture card and two GPU's installed, but I expect we'll see a lot more of these 2009 Mac Pro PSU's failing soon.

After it died, the machine made some clicking noises, like it was trying to fire a relay but something wasn't working right, so it kept randomly clicking for about 30 seconds and then wouldn't power up.

My first thought was "oh, bad output caps in the PSU" so I pulled the PSU apart and replaced the 16v 1800uf Taicon HH's with what I had on hand - 2200uf 16v Rubycon ZLS' and put the machine back together. It now won't power on at all, and doesn't make the relay clicking sound that Mac Pro's/G5's usually make when you plug in the mains cable. I don't see anything resembling a relay in the PSU, so I'm unsure where the clicking noise comes from, or why it has now stopped, but I'd imagine that my 5vsb rail is no longer working.

As my PSU was now totally dead, I took it upon myself to pull the Mac to bits again, and remove, document and test every electrolytic cap in the PSU except for the 5x 450v 150uf Rubycon MXG's and a 3.3uf cap on what I assume to be the PFC board (PCB2).

Here is my list of caps and test results, I hope they can be of some help.

PCB1 Lower board w/ mains connector:
-------------------------Actual
-----------------------Capacity Vloss esr
c11 ltec LZG 63v 100uf 95.12uf .5% esr 0.23
c14 ltec TK 25v 47uf 49.9uf 1.5% esr 1.0
c16 ltec LZG 63v 100uf 95.86uf .5% esr 0.24
c17 ltec LZG 10v 2200uf 2571uf 1.9% esr 0.00
C18 ruby YXH 10v 1200uf 1206uf .8% esr 0.03
c20 ltec LZG 25v 100uf 98.05uf .7% esr 0.06
c23 ltec LZG 10v 2200uf 2510uf 1.8% esr 0.03
c25 ltec LZG 63v 100uf 96.01uf 0.5% esr 0.27 (horizontal by 8 pin connector)
c63 ltec LZG 25v 100uf 98.85uf .6% esr 0.06
c64 ltec LZG 25v 100uf 98.2uf .7% esr 0.05 (under heatsink)
(haven't tested 4x rubycon MXG 450v 150uf)

PCB3 Upper board w/ DC output:
c344 teapo SEK 25v 33uf 29.25uf 1.5% esr .65
c352: elite PET 22uf 25v 23.75uf .8% esr .79
c353 ltec LZG 25v 100uf 100.4uf .6% esr 0.06
c372-c376 Taicon HH 16v 1800uf 1775uf 2.3% esr 0.06 (only tested two caps, all looked visually fine but took A LOT of heat to remove and some leads were broken)
c381 ruby MXG 450v 150uf (not tested, looks fine, these rarely fail)


Here is my cap shopping list so far, any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.

4x ltec LZG 25v 100uf - Panasonic NHG 25v 100uf
3x ltec LZG 63v 100uf - Panasonic FR 63v 100uf
5x Taicon HH 16v 1800uf - Panasonic FR 16v 1800uf
1x ltec TK 25v 47uf - Panasonic NHG 25v 47uf
2x ltec LZG 10v 2200uf - Rubycon ZLS 16v 2200uf
1x ruby YXH 10v 1200uf - keep original cap or replace with Panasonic FC 10v 1200uf?
1x teapo SEK 25v 33uf - ??
1x elite PET 22uf 25v - ?? (all i have in this value is Elna Silmic II's)

Thanks,
Alex

[stj]

Re: A1289 Mac Pro "Early 2009" PSU (ACBel FS8001-291H, 614-0455)

did you try it without any expansion cards or harddrives?
clicking sometimes means a short on the power rails

[MeltedDuron]

Re: A1289 Mac Pro "Early 2009" PSU (ACBel FS8001-291H, 614-0455)

I had pulled everything out of the system other than one GPU and an SSD, but with every G5 and 2006/2008/2009 Mac Pro I've ever used, it's normal for the system to make a muted clicking sound when the mains power is switched on, and again when the system is powered up and shut down - I believe this to be mechanical relays but I can't actually see any in this mac or its PSU.

I did however discover and remove a small drop of solder in between two traces, which may have been shorting the 12v rail, but after painstakingly reinstalling all of the original caps with the exception of the 5x 1800uf output caps which were replaced with 2200uf Rubycon ZLS, I still have no "relay" click and no power.

I suppose the next step will be to get out the multimeter and check voltages with the PSU out of the Mac, and try to draw out a rough diagram of the circuit. I hope this info will be of assistance to someone in the future, similarly to how the Power Mac G4 MDD ACBel 360W PSU thread has helped me with my G4.