Should I take a risk on this beige motherboard?

[croissantking]

I recently won a ‘sight-unseen’ beige G3 at auction that turned out to have an exploded battery onboard, so I am trying to locate a replacement motherboard to drop into the case. There is only one listed for sale on eBay (in the UK) at this time:

Apple G3 motherboard mainboard 820-0864-A for parts or repair | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Apple G3 motherboard mainboard 820-0864-A for parts or repair at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Should I take a risk on it? Could I assume that it just needs a recap, or is it better to keep my cash until a working one comes up for sale?

 

[demik]

Beige G3s motherboard are solid. I've yet to run on one that need a recap.

For the price I would give it a try.

 

[Byrd]

Looks cheap enough and clean to BIN I reckon

 

[croissantking]

BTW the seller said to me in a message: ‘I tested it with known good components, and it doesn't start.’

Still worth the risk?

 

[CircuitBored]

BTW the seller said to me in a message: ‘I tested it with known good components, and it doesn't start.’

Still worth the risk?

More information is needed to say for sure. What was the extent of the seller's testing? What were the "known good components" they used? Does "doesn't start" mean that it doesn't power up at all, it doesn't chime, or it doesn't begin loading the OS?

The images on the listing show that the CPU, VRM, VRAM, and the ROM are missing. Did the seller test the board with these installed? I'm also not sure that you can boot a beige G3 board without a personality card installed. I've solved boot-up trouble with my G3 Desktop before by reseating the personality card, so they can definitely have a profound effect on the machine's apparent health.

There is also a jumper on these boards that allows you to switch between the "Desktop" and "Minitower" power supplies. It is by the PCI slots. I can see in the images that it is set to the Minitower "PS/2" position. If the seller tested this board with the PSU from a Desktop model then it definitely won't have worked. Similarly, if they tried to use a regular ATX supply it probably won't have worked either.

As others have said: these logic boards are just about one of the most durable Apple ever made. I have never encountered one that is completely dead. Honestly, I'd take a punt on it if you can afford it. Even if it turns out to be toast I am sure you can pass it along to one of the enthusiasts here (or me ).

Did you already throw out the original logic board? I'm curious to see what sort of state it's in after a battery bomb.

 

[croissantking]

I still have the old 'board. I'll put up pics shortly...

I put in an offer for the one on sale, so let's see if the seller bites. I think it must have come out of the rusty case he is also selling here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324951070138?hash=item4ba897d5ba:g:nIwAAOSwJ5xhwGiK because I can see that the ports of the board are a bit corroded. Maybe it just needs a good isopropyl alcohol bath to clean up any residual corrosion, as it does look fairly clean.

 

[croissantking]

Here's my G3 board as received:


Here it is today. I've been using it to practice my SMD capacitor soldering technique.

 

[croissantking]

So I won a different auction in the end for a used logic board (complete with RAM, ROM, VRM, personality card, etc) in excellent condition. Cost about £25. I spent some time grinding off all the rust out of the old case and generally cleaning it up as best as I could. Installed the new board and it all works great. So I have a fully working Beige G3 DT now, and am well chuffed.

 

[croissantking]

Here he is. Down the line I'd like to get a 17" Trinitron monitor for it, and a Radeon PCI card.

 

[Unknown_K]

Nice monitor.

I have a Beige G3 motherboard that would not boot and I tried swapping parts from a working machine until I gave up (had enough of that model that worked it wasn't a pressing issue).

 

[croissantking]

Nice monitor.

I have a Beige G3 motherboard that would not boot and I tried swapping parts from a working machine until I gave up (had enough of that model that worked it wasn't a pressing issue).

Thanks. I thought those monitors were usually paired with a Performa 6400/6500. To me it looks weird on top of my beige G3, but that’s what it came with.

 

[Cory5412]

Great to see this is working, thank you for the update!

Those monitors did come out a few years before the Beige G3, but I believe they may have shipped alongside it. Or, to be honest, Apple and Mac stuff at retail in the '90s and early 2000s stuck around long enough even if Apple stopped making them, it's possible the original owner of a beige G3 picked one up, either at its new price or on old-stock sale, so I'd say it's "prototypical enough".

(That's above and beyond the 7200+ macs in the same case shipping alongside this monitor.)

The G3 had a very wide range so it's not necessarily out of the question to imagine one having been bought to replace a performa or someone's home Mac either, even though it's a pro machine on paper, it could well have been bought by or for someone who didn't need a bigger monitor or a particularly high quality one, by the standards of the day.

It matters more what you think than what I think, but I do think it looks good!

 

[croissantking]

Great to see this is working, thank you for the update!

Those monitors did come out a few years before the Beige G3, but I believe they may have shipped alongside it. Or, to be honest, Apple and Mac stuff at retail in the '90s and early 2000s stuck around long enough even if Apple stopped making them, it's possible the original owner of a beige G3 picked one up, either at its new price or on old-stock sale, so I'd say it's "prototypical enough".

(That's above and beyond the 7200+ macs in the same case shipping alongside this monitor.)

The G3 had a very wide range so it's not necessarily out of the question to imagine one having been bought to replace a performa or someone's home Mac either, even though it's a pro machine on paper, it could well have been bought by or for someone who didn't need a bigger monitor or a particularly high quality one, by the standards of the day.

It matters more what you think than what I think, but I do think it looks good!

Oh, glad you approve!

The job lot came with an AppleVision CD, so the owner could have originally had a different monitor, and replaced it.

Back in the day my Dad bought our family a beige G3 MT with a behemoth 850AV monitor. This is a trip down memory lane for me. I’m particularly fond of the internal Zip drive, and the sound it makes when it ejects — I thought it was so cool in 1998 and it made floppies seem completely outdated.

The picture tube on this 15AV is a bit dim, and the right hand speaker doesn’t work. So unfortunately, not the happiest CRT.

 

[LaPorta]

That really is a nice setup there. I have never seen one of those monitors in the wild, only in photos. As far as if the monitor is "correct," we all know that through the years if you have a monitor left over from your previous machine, and it is good, you could well have used it with the next generation. Heck, my LED cinema display was new in 2010 when I got it with my then-new iMac, and now it is the second monitor for my 2020 iMac.

 

[Byrd]

That Apple monitor is definitely period correct for the beige G3, in fact it was around this time that people gave up on overpriced Apple CRTs and looked to other brands (the 15 - 17" Sony Trinitron was the main monitor I saw on beige G3s), and then a couple of years later, an LCD.