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CC's Latest...

CC_333

Well-known member
Oh, Wow! That's neat!!

No it wasn't too hard. Just had to resolder the contacts, which seems to be a common cause of inoperative power ports on these.

I did notice the writing on the battery cover, but it's not too noticeable, so I'm OK with leaving it there (besides, it adds character).

Did you want it back, now that it's in tip-top working condition?

c

 

mrpippy

Well-known member
No thanks, I had actually bought it off eBay (advertised as untested/broken) not long before just to harvest the CD drive bezel. I have an Indigo iBook that I got from shopgoodwill last year, in great shape except for that missing bezel. 

 

CC_333

Well-known member
2 years almost to the day since my last post here!

I finally have something that might be worth mentioning here: a free Dell UltraSharp 2007WFPB I rescued from a dumpster at the local transfer station.

It's intact, with no apparent cracks or breaks in the LCD (some hefty scratches, though), but it won't power on.

I suspect it's due to bad caps in the power supply, but before I spend $12 on the thing, I want to know for certain if that will fix it. Otherwise, I'll put it back where I got it (except the stand, as I have another display that could use it if this one's permanently shot).

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
And, 11 months later...

I actually have something worthwhile to post here:  I was just given a decent looking 2009 iMac!

It's the smaller size (22"?), and that's about all I know for now.

I'll post more when I dig in tomorrow....

In the meantime, here's a quick 'n dirty picture of it:

IMG_0896.jpeg

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CC_333

Well-known member
Before I continue, I'd like to thank @Cory5412 for re-integrating my 2017 Latest... thread with my 2013 thread, which I thought was lost until I accidentally rediscovered it a few days ago.

OK, so with that out of the way, let's discuss the iMac!

It's the Early 2009 20" model, with base 2.4 GHz Core2 Duo E8135 CPU.  I'm not sure of RAM, but I suspect that it's either 2 or 4 GB (I'll have to boot it up and check).

Anyway, I'm thinking of ways I can upgrade it to be a bit more useful.  However, being that it's at the extreme edge of what's considered usefully modern, I'm not expecting to gain much out of the effort, save perhaps for the experience gained in disassembly (I've never operated on any of these iMacs before; only with the G3 iMacs do I have any significant experience), and am aware that it's not a super cost effective machine to dump upgrades into, but I want to anyway "Because I Can."

That being said, I want to know if I can upgrade the CPU.  I've read conflicting reports on exactly what's possible, so I'm not exactly clear on the matter.

Be that as it may, if it is possible, I'd like to upgrade it with a Core2 Quad of some kind (allegedly, the Core2 Extreme X9100, Core2 Quad Q9100, and Core2 Quad QX9300 are at least mechanically compatible, as are the C2D T9900 and E8435, the latter of which was apparently Apple's top-end BTO CPU option for this model), because I think that would offer the best performance.

Aside from that, I'll at least want to max out the RAM (8 GB, I believe), and upgrade the hard disk (I have a 1 TB drive that's seen minimal use, so I think I'll use that).

Soo... thoughts?  Suggestions??  Comments???

c

 
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davidg5678

Well-known member
Soo... thoughts?  Suggestions??  Comments???
What looks exciting to me is that you can use the Catalina Patcher on this model of iMac to install Mac OS Catalina. Big Sur might also be possible with a bit more work. In terms of maxing the computer out, I think you should opt for an SSD drive over anything else, even if its an $18 256GB drive. The computer will be considerably more usable and faster this way.

I still regularly use a 2010 27" iMac. I have installed an i7 870, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an AMD RX560. My computer is still completely usable, and if I wanted to, I could even install Big Sur onto it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this 2009 iMac will take quite as many powerful upgrades, especially in the CPU & GPU department (256MB of VRAM might be a bit rough to use, for instance), but I do agree that it would be pretty interesting to max the computer out just to see what it is like.

I'm sure there must be some sort of faster CPU that you can install. My 2010 iMac's CPU is just a standard Socket 1156. Do keep in mind that it might not be worth buying the absolute best CPU, but rather something very close to it. The absolute best CPUs for a given socket have inflated prices, and you are likely never to notice a difference.

Have fun!

 

CC_333

Well-known member
@davidg5678 That's good to know!

However, I just made a mistake:  it's an Early 2008, not 2009 as I had originally said. 

So far, the main thing that changes is that RAM is limited to 6 GB DDR2, vs. 8 GB DDR3, and the GPU is a measly Radeon 2400 XT w/ 128 MB VRAM, so I seriously doubt Catalina would be a very pleasurable experience, especially with this iMac configured as is. 

I think I can maybe get High Sierra on it, though, and perhaps with an SSD and a GPU upgrade (if possible), performance therein will be decent., even with 6 GB RAM. 

We'll see...

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
OK, did some more reading, and it seems the Early 2008s don't work with quad core CPUs, which is too bad. 

However, I can upgrade from the stock C2D E8135 (2.4 GHz) to a C2D E8335 (2.93 GHz), which was available I think as a BTO/CTO option on the 24" iMac, which isn't earth shattering, but an improvement nevertheless (and, I can find them for about $10, so it's cheap). 

Next I'll research possible GPU options, as I don't think the stock graphics will perform terribly well on anything past El Capitan. 

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Progress update to self...

I just finished tearing down the iMac and giving it a good deep clean so it doesn't have all kinds of tobacco residue in it (it's not the grossest I've seen, but it wasn't great), so now it should run a bit cooler.

I didn't refresh the CPU/GPU heatsink paste because I don't have any handy, but I did install a 1 TB spinning drive, so while it may not be substantially faster, it will at least have more storage space.

Anyway, it's back together now, with only one extra screw left over :)

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Don't recall if I had posted anything here since Feb 11, but since it's seemingly gone to oblivion anyway, I guess it doesn't matter anymore....

That being said, the only major conquest I can think of is a Performa 575 I received from @Huxley several months ago. I'm not sure if it works, and if it does, I have yet to find the time to actually find out, but at least in the meantime, it makes a nice, albeit somewhat dirty looking display piece sitting alongside the iMac:
IMG_E0549.JPG

c
 

joshc

Well-known member
Nice. I wouldn't mind a 575, but I don't have room for one, and I've never seen them survive shipping. Perhaps one day...
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Nice. I wouldn't mind a 575, but I don't have room for one, and I've never seen them survive shipping. Perhaps one day...
Yes, I actually like the 57x, if only because it was one of my first 68k Macs.

Fortunately, as this was a local transaction, shipping wasn't an issue, so it was at essentially zero risk of being damaged.

c
 

CC_333

Well-known member
OK, I haven't had any reason to post here in awhile, but today I may finally have something: an iPhone 3GS.

I took a chance on a fairly priced 32 GB example on eBay last week, hoping it was an old bootrom model so I can experiment with downgrades.

Anyway, it paid off, because not only does it appear to indeed be an old bootrom model, it actually still works!

It runs 6.1.3 at present, but I'd like to preserve that somehow, even though the differences between it and 6.1.6 are minimal.

Anyway, I gave my other 3GS (an 8 GB new bootrom model) a nice full refurbishment with all new parts (the logic board is one of the only original parts) back in 2014 or 2015 (or maybe 2016? I don't remember anymore), and I thought maybe this one can get a similar treatment, even though its days as a phone are numbered (3G is pretty much gone, and 2G is slated to die soon). Pleasantly, this one seems to have a working battery which hasn't bulged (perhaps it had been replaced once before?), so all it would need is a new back (I refurbished my other one so extensively because the battery bulged, causing damage to the back and display).

c
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Ugh, parts for these aren't quite as cheap as I remember.

I'll keep looking. I want to replace only the housing and the home button; the rest of it seems to be in decent condition (everything seems to work), so there's no need to throw parts at it.

In the meantime, I'll see if polishing the original back might be good enough (I already have one that I restored to almost like new condition; I'm not sure I need another).

c
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Yeah, the parts situation for the 3G and 3GS isn’t great the last time I checked. My 3G is in dire need of new display glass, a new back housing, and a battery while I’m at it but I’ve held off due to the absurd cost of parts. I guess that’s what you get when no one makes them anymore. What did you use for polishing?
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Ha, I never answered!

Since it was about 7 months ago, so I don't remember what I used.

Anyway, I shelved this 3GS because I got busy.

In the meantime, I recently got a Nokia 3390b (primarily because I want to get one before the prices go nuts, since it's been gaining in popularity lately), which is relatively clean, has a battery that kinda-sorta works, and is T-Mobile branded, so already works with Ting's SIMs (I'm glad I don't have to unlock this one, since there's really no reason to unlock these old phones anymore unless they're locked to some other, defunct carrier).

Anyway, it needs a good clean, probably a new battery (I got it to take enough of a charge that it powers on and works, but I saw some light corrosion on the terminals, so I doubt it has much runtime), and, well, I don't know? These things are pretty simple, thankfully, so they rarely break at the IC level (I had a 5190 that suddenly went mute, though, and I could never figure out why).

c
 
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CC_333

Well-known member
I conquested something!

Today I found a Power Mac 8500!

And the cost? $30!!!

It's missing the CD-ROM bezel (aren't they all?), hard drive and probably other things, but it looks to be in relatively decent condition overall.

I tried to look inside for signs of a battery bomb and didn't see anything, save for some rust on the AAUI port. Hopefully nothing major is wrong.

it's probably at the point where a recap wouldn't hurt, bot probably isn't strictly necessary yet, like it is for older models (the few I saw looked OK enough).

Does anyone have a spare bezel?

c
 

Durosity

Well-known member
I think I have a spare bezel, but with broken hooks. I think I saw a 3d print part for them a while ago. I’ll need to check if I actually do have one though if it’s of interest
 
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