I found a PowerMac 8600 on Facebook Marketplace and picked it up yesterday. When I got it home I opened it up did a brief dusting (more to make sure none of it was sticking to capacitor goo), made sure the battery wasn't exploded, reseated the RAM, etc.
When I plugged it in and pressed the power button on the keyboard it fired right up. Previous owner used it in a graphics design studio and had a ton of software on it, so System 9.1 was very bloated. It looks like the machine was last used in 2007, according to the dates on some of the files. I plugged a cat 5 cable into it and backed up the hard drive. I had to do a clean install of 9.1 and backup the existing system file afterward as there was a file that wouldn't copy before. Played around a bit with it after that, and it is definitely zippier than my only other pre G3 PPC, which is a Powerbook 1400.
Anyhow, I couldn't find anything online during a very brief search about these machines needing capacitors replaced. Some of the ones on the board look very similar to ones I see on my SE/30, so I am guessing they do need to be replaced. Am I on the right track?
Also, it looks like RAM for this machine has become very difficult to find. About 20 years ago I owned a 7300, and RAM was plentiful, with the 16M sticks being throw away items. IIRC I paid $20 for a 128M DIMM back then. This machine has 160M in it right now, with two 16m and 2 64m sticks. I think they were even installed correctly to allow for interleaving. What kind of RAM am I looking for? The specs are pretty confusing to me with FPM and EDO, etc. Near as I can tell, I am looking for 168 pin, 5v, edo, 60ns. Anything else I need to know, or am I wrong on any or all of that? The RAM in it ought to keep me happy for a while, but there's empty slots in there! If I stumble across something that may work, I want to fill those slots.
Finally, it looks like there is a mounting bracket on the bottom of the case for two more hard drives. I have an extra 4Gig SCSI drive that I would like to install in this machine some day. The motherboard has 2 SCSI busses, one fast and one slow. The fast one is what everything in the upper bays is hooked to, with the slow being unused. There is a mess of ribbon cable and power connectors in that bay section, but it doesn't appear to be a good way to leave there. There are a few "hooks" by the handle you use to swing the bays out of the way of the motherboard. Are those meant to hold the ribbon cable and power cable? is there typically a cable included in there to get to the bottom of the case? If not, is there a cable set I should be looking for?
It's doubtful anyone made it past that volley of questions and is still reading this, so I'll quit for now. Thanks in advance for any advice!
J White
When I plugged it in and pressed the power button on the keyboard it fired right up. Previous owner used it in a graphics design studio and had a ton of software on it, so System 9.1 was very bloated. It looks like the machine was last used in 2007, according to the dates on some of the files. I plugged a cat 5 cable into it and backed up the hard drive. I had to do a clean install of 9.1 and backup the existing system file afterward as there was a file that wouldn't copy before. Played around a bit with it after that, and it is definitely zippier than my only other pre G3 PPC, which is a Powerbook 1400.
Anyhow, I couldn't find anything online during a very brief search about these machines needing capacitors replaced. Some of the ones on the board look very similar to ones I see on my SE/30, so I am guessing they do need to be replaced. Am I on the right track?
Also, it looks like RAM for this machine has become very difficult to find. About 20 years ago I owned a 7300, and RAM was plentiful, with the 16M sticks being throw away items. IIRC I paid $20 for a 128M DIMM back then. This machine has 160M in it right now, with two 16m and 2 64m sticks. I think they were even installed correctly to allow for interleaving. What kind of RAM am I looking for? The specs are pretty confusing to me with FPM and EDO, etc. Near as I can tell, I am looking for 168 pin, 5v, edo, 60ns. Anything else I need to know, or am I wrong on any or all of that? The RAM in it ought to keep me happy for a while, but there's empty slots in there! If I stumble across something that may work, I want to fill those slots.
Finally, it looks like there is a mounting bracket on the bottom of the case for two more hard drives. I have an extra 4Gig SCSI drive that I would like to install in this machine some day. The motherboard has 2 SCSI busses, one fast and one slow. The fast one is what everything in the upper bays is hooked to, with the slow being unused. There is a mess of ribbon cable and power connectors in that bay section, but it doesn't appear to be a good way to leave there. There are a few "hooks" by the handle you use to swing the bays out of the way of the motherboard. Are those meant to hold the ribbon cable and power cable? is there typically a cable included in there to get to the bottom of the case? If not, is there a cable set I should be looking for?
It's doubtful anyone made it past that volley of questions and is still reading this, so I'll quit for now. Thanks in advance for any advice!
J White