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He just can't help himself!

Sites are becoming more bogged down by flash and scripts every day and it will only get worse.
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They keep making Safari faster though, or so they say. "300% Faster JavaScript" and all this other crap. Just turn off the bloat (Top Sites, mostly).

You can also get G3 optimized Firefox 3.5 builds. They added a faster JavaScript recently.

 
It has been exhibiting some worrying symptoms. The screen occasionally flicks off for a fraction of a second, with a click sound like it's regaussing. It's also spontaneously switched off a few times - in fact it did it just now when I was writing this post. Each time it starts up again fine when I hit the power button. Sometimes, the power button stays lit, and once the external monitor continued to show a scrambled screen, even thought the iMac itself seemed to be dead.

Question: If I run with an external monitor, can I switch off or sleep the internal display? If so, will this take some of the strain off the power supply and/or reduce the internal temperature?
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After a bit of searching, I found out this is impossible. The G3 CRT iMacs are not supported by Screen Spanning Doctor, and one forum post indicated that the VGA port is hardwired to mirror the internal CRT.

It's hooked up now to my 21" Compaq, which is certainly a lot easier on the eyes at 1024x768 than the 15" internal. However neither SwitchResX or ... the other one ... support changing resolutions on the CRT iMacs, either.

One forum post suggested turning the trimpot marked "SCREEN" on the flyback all the way down to dim the internal CRT. I've taken another approach (which doesn't involve opening the son-of-a-camel case again). I've reduced the screen height and width as far as they'll go (ie lower voltage on the deflection coils) in the Display prefpane, and turned the brightness and contrast all the way down too. I think that should reduce the strain on the internal components somewhat, fingers crossed.

 
spontaneously switched off / starts up again fine
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I think I've narrowed that down to a loose plug in the power board down on the floor by my straying feet /facepalm

 
Our 400Mhz DV SE iMac always had a loose power connector on the back. If it lost power unexpectedly it was pretty much always just the power cord partially coming out of the socket. :p

 
That seems to have gone away (touch wood). Now it's failing to sleep and wake properly on occasion. I'll have a look for any Apple tech notes about this issue.

 
It has been exhibiting some worrying symptoms. The screen occasionally flicks off for a fraction of a second, with a click sound like it's regaussing. It's also spontaneously switched off a few times - in fact it did it just now when I was writing this post. Each time it starts up again fine when I hit the power button. Sometimes, the power button stays lit, and once the external monitor continued to show a scrambled screen, even thought the iMac itself seemed to be dead …
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In my experience of four 500MHz iMacs (two Indigo and two Snow, from 2001, 2002 and 2000 respectively), this is a common phenomenon with the soft-silicone-clad multicolour cables. The cladding flows readily enough, especially when warm, to allow random misfit between mains-cable socket and the iMac's recessed plug. Solution? Replace the misfit with a cable bearing a conventional almost-rigid IEC C13 socket at the iMac end.

de

 
That seems to have gone away (touch wood). Now it's failing to sleep and wake properly on occasion. I'll have a look for any Apple tech notes about this issue.
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What OS is it running? My Beige G3 running Jaguar did this until I did something, I can't remember what exactly.

 
Aaaaand another one bites the dust. xx(

Now when you press the power button, the CRT starts and the internal HD begins to spin up, for about one second, and then spins down to silence. Nothing else happens.

 
From what you have written above there has been a wide variety of matters for the PMU to think about. The constant litany in Apple's literature for techs and wannabes is, if a New World Mac declines to start up, let the smoke clear and then reset the PMU. That's only slightly more painful an exercise for a slot-loading iMac than it is for a G4 tower, but it is also most often effective. The secret is, having deprived the Mac of both mains and battery power for at least 10min, that you press the PMU switch once only, without bouncing it by being tentative, for a second. None of my chilluns mentioned above, nor a 400MHz Graphite, ever failed to respond to such housekeeping. You have already been canny enough to allow the iMac breathing (or convecting) room, so if it will not respond to resetting the PMU you are obliged to conclude that there is indeed a debilitating hardware fault. Given that you probably know little of the Mac's provenance, that is entirely possible given that the FBT and PAV board are its statistically prominent failure-points as a result of overheated lives.

de

 
Thanks equill. The arrival of a Cube G4 has eased the pain considerably. :b&w: Nevertheless, fear not, I shall raise this iMac from the grave yet.

 
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