Bondi Blue iMac Power Issue

[Juliet Elysa]

Hi everyone!

When I was younger the main computer in my family was a tray loading Bondi iMac running 8.6. It was used for hours each day for at least ten years (that's a conservative guess, it was very probably longer). A couple years ago it started having a minor issue. The power button needed to be pressed two or three times to get it to boot. Other than that everything was working great.

One morning I got up and heard from a sad family member that the iMac wouldn't start up at all. No chime, no lights... nothing. It's currently sitting in my cold, lonely closet, and after reading what some of the people on here can do/have done I'd like to take it out and try to revive it.

Given the computer's history my suspicion (what I thought when it died too) is that the power button broke. I don't have access to a keyboard with a power button so I can't test that for sure.

My question is, how does one replace an iMac power button? And, if that doesn't work, would the next logical idea be looking at the power supply itself? Is there something I don't know that I should know?

Thanks!

 

[XBHS1997]

Sorry that I can't help you, but I'd be interested too! One of my 11 iMac G3s doesn't want to boot, like yours (the "Snow" one in my profile pic, actually! ^^). 

Hope that someone can help!

Nicolas

 

[techknight]

time for a recap. alot of those had a run of bad capacitors that love to go pop in the power supply unit. 

 

[Juliet Elysa]

Is there a guide or something to do that safely? I'm pretty clumsy so I'm afraid of breaking something.

 

[SuperToaster]

you could always send the board to someone here on the forums if you don't want to do it yourself

 

[Juliet Elysa]

It's the type of thing I'd like to learn how to do, maybe not with a board as important to me as this one (may send the ones I have to someone once I get more money, still thinking on it).

 

[uniserver]

just start taking it apart… i am thinking the bad caps will present them selves.

dome at the top or broke vent is a tell tale sign.

i have a garage with over 80 G3 iMacs…   when i loaded them in.. they would all power on and run.

233 - 500mhz  I bet my self a steak dinner if i went out there to power them up… half would need something.

 

[XBHS1997]

I think bad PSUs on the iMac G3 are not so common, if you treat your Macs well... I've only one (600 Mhz) that has a similar problem. But it does make a strange "electrical" noise when I plus it in and try to power it up.

Juliet said that the power button needs / needed to be pressed more than once to boot it. Maybe it's really stuck (OK, I don't know why it should, but it seems to be! ^^)

I'd try first a keyboard with a power button, before you tear it apart for nothing. Take any old G3/G4 keyboard, a "coloured" one I mean. Later clear Apple Pro Keyboards don't have a button. (I think that a keyboard with button from the first Slot Loading iMac G3 series should also work, and so should a B&W Power Mac G3 Keyboard, etc.)

 

[MJ313]

i have a garage with over 80 G3 iMacs…  

I actually had to read that twice.

 

[XBHS1997]

You know, some years ago you could pick up dozens at the same time for 2-5 bucks each, in the best case (sometimes school that changed all their computers) ^^

 

[MJ313]

Yeah, it makes sense! I guess it begs another question...  if Uni's got 80 iMacs in his garage... how many of everything ELSE does he have in his garage

I will live vicariously through him... I don't even have a garage.

 

[Juliet Elysa]

And people around here call me crazy for keeping the four vintage computers I have! That's the nice thing about the internet, you can talk to people across the world, not just in your backyard. There was a time when the Salvation Army here had the occasional vintage Mac (that's where my Plus came from). I don't recall any times when you could find more than two at once though... the joys of living in a small town in the middle of nowhere! At one point, when I was maybe ten years old, I had picked up another vintage Mac, but it didn't work so I took it apart to make jewelry out of the components. :-/ At least I got something out of it.

I'll look for a keyboard with a power button to see if that really is the problem. I have a feeling it won't be that easy, but it's worth a shot.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Crazier things have happened.

People often find collecting habits odd, especially Macs. I'm likewise in a small town, that's largely been a rural farming community for its entire life, and where I never expect to find anything, but odd things have happened.

Professor friend of mine had an older gentleman bring in a mint IIc a few weeks back with a 12" monitor (pretty sure it's the RGB monitor) and he just gave it to him. And I actually found a pair of Sega Saturns at a yard sale for $15 a few months back.

Still, nice to see you appreciate the Bondi iMac. They're cute, I'll get one one day as I remember the day I went into the computer lab at school and they had boxes of them stacked up. Teacher said "just wait until next week".

 

[Juliet Elysa]

Yeah, they definitely are cute. I have a blueberry iMac in the basement that runs OS 9.something - I used that one for my Bugdom addiction as a kid. Maybe it's still installed, will have to check sometime. Bet I've forgotten all of the cheats though.

I talked to the person who first told me the Bondi had died, she said that the keyboard we were using at the time had a power button and she remembered that it didn't work.  xx(  Couldn't find the keyboard to test for sure, but from what I can tell there's no dice. :-/

Where should I go from now? I'm thinking of finding a way to practice soldering before trying to recap anything. By the way, what do you all think is the worst thing that could go wrong during a recap (in terms of accidentally breaking hardware) and would it be repairable? I'm accident prone and hope that someone who's more skilled than I am could help me out if I mess up and make something worse. 

 

[XBHS1997]

So the keyboard's power button didn't work even when the mac was still working? Bad luck...

Oh yeah, if you can manage find another keyboard and if you want the original colour, be careful to not buy a blueberry one (sometimes ebay pictures are not so good...). If you want an original keyboard in bondi blue, you'll maybe have to search some time, but if any colour is ok, you should be able to find one... 

Or maybe you know someone who was one for a test?

 

[Juliet Elysa]

Borrowed a keyboard from a good friend today... and nothing. It's still just sitting there looking pretty (though it does a good job at that ).

 

[XBHS1997]

Just an idea – but I really don't know it:

If the power button was stuck in "on" position (you mentioned that it was stuck, or almost) and if you plugged the iMac in, should it boot? I mean, is it possible that the power button already is in the "on" position and therefore doesn't "recognize" the power-on-command by the keyboard? We should try to plug in a working iMac G3 while having pressed the power button – but I don't know if this would be bad for the PSU? :-/

 

[Juliet Elysa]

That would definitely be interesting to try! I would do it with my working iMac, but the power cord is at an extremely awkward angle so I wouldn't be able to reach it and the power button. If it ever gets moved somewhere more convenient, though...

 

[XBHS1997]

You have a Rev. A or a Rev. B; I tried it on a Rev. D (still a tray loading iMac G3, the last tray-loading generation): pressed the button (on the mac itself) and plugged it in –––> boots after 1 or 2 seconds.

So forget about my idea. :–/