Identify this iMac, if possible

[tecneeq]

Someone next town sells a broken iMac. I placed a bid. Even if it's broken beyond repair, some parts should be salvageable. :lol:

The seller says it's a M5521 in green. The seller hasn't answered my questions for a couple of days. It seems to me it's a third gen iMac with the new HK-speakers and slot loading. Is there any more one can say?

Here are tiny pics: http://www.ebay.de/itm/251243180450

 

[Bunsen]

http://everymac.com

 

[bibilit]

Even if it's broken beyond repair, some parts should be salvageable

Not really, very few indeed, Imacs are prone to suffer from Flyback transformer disease.

I have collected several, and most of them where affected, just kept the Logic board and drives (but those are more or less common) and unless you want to hack the Logic board, there is not much you can do with it.

Anyway, 1 € is not a big deal.

 

[tecneeq]

Flyback transformer? Would that be the cause for snapping/flicking/clicking of the display? Because all iMacs do it by now. It's a tiny bit scary. :-O

My highest bid is 3 Euros and it's about 10 km away, so even if i only get a used harddisk out of it, i win.

Anyway, about the iMac in question. It seems only the green iMac could be a G3/450 in sage, the fruit colored green is more a lime. However, people are known to claim that indigo is green as well. I guess there is no way of telling which model exactly it is.

 

[bibilit]

[Would that be the cause for snapping/flicking/clicking of the display? Because all iMacs do it by now. It's a tiny bit scary.]

Don't remember really, but i could see sparks everywhere on my worst one.

The display won't work anymore in the end (the switch will blink orange and will not turn green)

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Isn't Lime one of the rarer colors?

 

[mcdermd]

I don't think that's Lime. I think that's a 350MHz Blueberry Slot Loader.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Would that be the cause for snapping/flicking/clicking of the display?

That or a short. My first iMac G3 (see other thread) did that, then one night went berserk, emitted a massive spark-crack and wouldn't power up again after that. (It also blew out the CX5M on the same circuit, which really p*ssed me off.) This new one doesn't do it, but I imagine it's a matter of time. I'm thinking of putting it on its own surge protector to protect the other machines from *it*.

Anyway, I agree with mcdermd; it's a blueberry slot loader.

 

[tecneeq]

I had hoped it's a 450 MHz sage DV+. :lol:

 

[TheIanMan85]

For what it's worth, I agree that it does appear to be a Blueberry model. With any luck it's the 400 MHz model with FireWire. M5521 is what they used on all the slot loaders. If they had angled that second picture a little more we'd be able to see if the FW ports are there or not.

Unfortunately it's not Lime, or Sage. I don't think I've seen a Sage iMac in person since they were brand new on display at MWNY 2001 now that I think about it. Certainly a color I'd like to have though. Snow was one of my favorites, and I've got a 600 MHz one of those though that still has a spot on the desks in the back room. The Indigo 400, Graphite 600 and Grape 400 w/bad DVD+HD are in the basement. I had a Blueberry 350 from a yard sale that I traded for the Graphite 600.[/off topic ramble]

Did you end up winning the auction?

 

[mcdermd]

I wish I still had my Sage. I think it's my favorite iMac G3 color.

 

[CC_333]

Hi,

I'm not totally sure which color is my favorite.

When I first got my iMac back in 1999, I liked Tangerine a lot, but I think I have gotten a bit bored of it over the years.

I now rather like Indigo and Strawberry, but I basically don't have a favorite. I like them all more or less equally.

c

 

[tecneeq]

It went to another buyer, for 3,50 Euros! Darn.

 

[techknight]

The focus/G2 block shorts, thats why you get the snaps/pops.

Easiest way to fix it is find a G2/focus block that is powered from the HV, and isolate the original away from the CRT. I had to use that hack a few times back in the CRT tube TV days.

 

[tecneeq]

Valuable information i guess. But i lack the skill to use it.

I just let it snap for now, it's not that they snap that often. Yet.

 

[thinkdifferent]

It will get worse, I use to have a 17" Studio Display (CRT) and the snap/pop would happen every few days, but after a few weeks of that it started to do it as often as every 5 minutes, rendering it unusable. :-/ The problem is the flyback transformer as an earlier poster said. You can repair it yourself, but it requires soldering very high-volate parts. A better alternative would be to buy a new board for the display on eBay, if you can find one.

 

[techknight]

Another thing, you can bake the moisture out of the flyback. This has a good chance on curing the problem, as I have done this in the past with older TVs. The problem is dust and dirt attracted by the high voltage, and it carries with it, moisture... It gets into the focus/G2/Tripler block which is integrated into the flyback, and you get the symptoms you see...

As far as a replacement, its obvious that you wont get the exact one. However flybacks are still very available for other TVs, and etc like sony monitors. and especially RCA TVs.

The trick here is, on a working imac, the secondary voltages/pinouts of the original flyback needs recorded, as the secondary voltages are used for the scan drive circuitry, and x-ray protection. Once the pinouts are figured out, and the voltages are figured out, You can match one up. Because most of the TVs that flybacks are still available for, service information is out there and you can look at the schematics/service data to figure out if those flybacks will mostly match up. Then once you find one, its only a matter of making a "mate" PCB to change over any mis-pinouts. As long as secondary voltage windings are close enough.

This kinda falls in james department ;-)