IT BURNS!

[techknight]

it wasnt much of a problem back then, but nowadays the hot-cold-hot-cold of convection cooling, or poorly fan cooled components have a tendency, and a strong one at that to break the solder connection between ICs and circuit board. (xbox360, ACER laptops, ibook g3/g4)

 

[mac-man6]

The Rev A-D (233mhz-333mhz) had the internal fans. The ones with 350mhz or higher don't have fans. Having a 333mhz and 500mhz indigo the only problem I found was burning discs. I usually got a media error, I would have a fan blowing on the case and shut down the mac, after that the same project would burn no problem. I also agree with the person said that said that the CRT throws off a lot of heat.

 

[iMac600]

I've blown one PAV assembly in a G3/600 from excessive heat. The machine still worked, but it took a while to build up the required charge for a successful illumination of the tube and the horizontal sweep. Even once it was running, it would dim and brighten, flicker, etc. (That board has since been replaced) It's of my opinion that the convection cooling is adequate but only under strict scenarios. Correct elevation, lack of obstructions and other room temperature and environmental factors.

Upgrading the cooling system inside an iMac G3 would only prolong the life of the machine and further harden it against the many variables in airflow. I pondered installing a fan in my iMac G3, but it hasn't been booted up in a while and now the lower case has cracks, so it seems less and less likely that I should sink any major funds into it. Probably just fix the lower case and sell it.

 

[techknight]

i had an imac slot load 500mhz fail from heat. I never could fix it so i trashed it.

it would power up just fine, but then after a little bit, you could see the picture pulling in on the sides of the CRT, basically the horiz sweep was starting to loose its width. then it would suddenly pull in much faster and poof. machine would shut off. resoldering every solder joint and testing every capacitors ESR didnt turn up the issue. so i junked it.