It's Blue, but so am I

[AusNick]

Latest find, just today. At the Frankston Tip Shop

And the more I saw of it, the more excited I got. Price was right. $5

Sapphire slotloader, firewire ports, VGA out. Looked reasonably clean. Even the PC-using friend i was with liked the look of it.

Dead as a bloody doornail.

ARGH!

Nick

 

[macgeek417]

What's wrong with it? Do you know?

}

Is it plugged in?

Does your house have power?

:lol:

 

[Bunsen]

Nice one. Good luck with the resurrection.

I've heard the Frankston tip shop is a bit legendary. Is it run by Outlook Environmental, like the one in Reservoir?

 

[AusNick]

G'day Bunsen,

Dunno about legendary, but you do get the odd good score. And I don't just mean Mac hardware.

Nah, it's not run by Outlook but I think if it was, the prices would be higher.

Speaking of Outlook in Mornington, when I was there a couple of weeks ago, the place was looking really bare. Very depressing.

With the iMac, I honestly don't know where to start. I'll give it a couple of days and crack it open.

There was a smell, so it might be dead.

Nick

 

[Christopher]

Give it a week. My gigabit G4 did that and it's currently running software update for some iLife 06 apps I just installed.

 

[Mars478]

Whats wrong with it? Those are actually easy to open unlike a the bloody eMac...

 

[AusNick]

I hope it's a temporary thing, because if it is, I've be a very happy chappy.

Plus I've got a DVD drive that could go into this thing, chuck in some RAM…WOO!

I'm not optimistic though, instinct tells me it's BER.

Still It'll be fun cracking the thing open. Might have some handy RAMs in there.

Nick

 

[Mars478]

Whats wrong with it? I have worked in those. If it does not power on and does nothing, it is the PAV board or Power Supply.

 

[AusNick]

G'day Mars,

Yeah, it won't power on at all and gives off a warm plastic smell, so you're probably right as to the reason for it's deadness.

Bits of brittle plastic dropped out of it too.

I'll put it on the shelf till I need parts.

Spewing, because it would have been a good machine to have in the desk so I could have easy access to Service Manuals.

On the upside, I've pulled the RAM, a pair of 256MB DIMMS.

Score!

So it's not a total loss.

 

[Mars478]

The plastics around the speaker assemblies are brittle. When you move my iMac G3 Around, you here bits and pieces shaking...

 

[iMac600]

Bits of brittle plastic dropped out of it too.

If these pieces are a brownish colour, then it's most likely the bonding agent around the CRT rings flaking off. All 3 of mine have had this stuff flake off to some extent, and i'm yet to see any negative effects because of it.

 

[AusNick]

Nah, they were all grey bits, there was one bit of black plastic, still, I'm happy to have pulled the RAM out of it, 2x256MB sticks, wow. Dunno what to do with the rest of it. iMacs sort of scare me a bit, one step forwards in design, a leap backwards in easy access.

When I saw the thing had firewire ports I got all excited, still, worth it for the RAM.

I'm a bit PO'd, the parents usually gripe when I bring home machines to play with, I was able to sneak the iMac and the PC out to my shed, so they didn't notice, but I'd have really liked to have 2 out of 2 working machines. It's space on a shelf I can't really afford to waste on parts donors

I'm going to have to have a serious chuck-out soon. I dunno, there's so much good stuff, I gutted the remains of a blueberry slot-loader a few months ago, the electronics went into my junk box, and the remaining case parts went onto a shelf, I knew if I chucked it, someone on here would put their hand up needing them. Just like I've got two dead IIci's, mobos. are kaput, the dead innards will go into my junk box, and the PSUs and other good bits will go to whatever machine can use them, but the cases are nice and clean, it'd be a waste to chuck 'em. And just after I do, someone will say they need a case.

And with vintage Mac gear getting rarer every day…

Can't win.

Nick

 

[Mars478]

Why don't you try to fix it? The iMac are very easy to fix. Do you have an idea of what is wrong with it? Don't scrap it, it may just be the PAV board.

 

[mac2geezer]

If you want to try replacing the PAV board, I've got a good one here that would go pretty cheaply. Shipping to Australia would be steep though.

 

[iMac600]

I'd hope to think the availability of iMac G3's in Melbourne would be otherwise quite good. Even if you can pick up a cheap iMac G3, you could transplant the case plastics and the logic board into it. This is much simpler than removing the CRT and PAV board individually. Unfortunately not in all cases is it a direct swap, so here's the compatible systems.

If your current iMac logic board is a 350MHz or a 400MHz, then you can transplant the board into any one of these (which use the older positions for the chips and heatsinks):

iMac G3 350MHz (with or without Firewire)

iMac G3 400MHz

If your current iMac logic board is 500MHz or faster, then you can transplant the board into any one of these (which use the revised positions for the chips and heatsinks):

iMac G3 500MHz

iMac G3 600MHz

iMac G3 700MHz

However if you find another iMac with a board faster than your current one, you would probably rather keep the newer one and *maybe* transplant your case plastics onto it. Thankfully you don't need to remove the logic board or any electrical components to transplant the case plastics.

 

[Bunsen]

You might find my travails with a 450MHz slottie informative.

availability of iMac G3's in Melbourne

is indeed pretty decent, especially if you look for the "no shipping" auctions. Fewer bidders = lower prices.

here's the compatible systems. / 350MHz or a 400MHz / 500MHz or faster

Wait - what about the Summer 2000 iMac DV+ 450MHz? Which side of the line does that fall? :?:

 

[iMac600]

here's the compatible systems. / 350MHz or a 400MHz / 500MHz or faster

Wait - what about the Summer 2000 iMac DV+ 450MHz? Which side of the line does that fall? :?:

That's a good question. I've never seen inside a 450MHz iMac.

Perhaps my "guide" is a little generic... for all I know it could be all 400 & 500MHz models made after a certain date, rather than determined by clock speeds. I know for a fact though my 500MHz Indigo logic board fit into my 600MHz Graphite body shell, but my 400MHz Ruby board didn't. However the Ruby board swapped just fine with the 350MHz G3.

The only issue is in the position of the CPU heatsink. Since the heatsink is physically part of the dividing plate that holds the PAV board, it can't be easily relocated without transplanting the entire divider board (in which case it makes more sense to swap out the PAV only instead).

 

[Bunsen]

Well, lowendmac groups them thusly:

iMac (October 1999)o Blueberry 350 MHz CD

o DV 400 MHz DVD

o DV Special Edition 400 MHz DVD

iMac (Summer 2000), new color palette

o Indigo 350 MHz CD

o iMac DV 400 MHz CD

o iMac DV+ 450 MHz DVD

o iMac DV SE 500 MHz DVD

iMac (Early 2001)

o 400 MHz CD

o 500 MHz CD-RW, North American

o 500 MHz CD-RW, international

o 600 MHz CD-RW

iMac (Summer 2001)

o 500 MHz CD/CD-RW

o 600 MHz CD-RW

o 700 MHz CD-RW

I see four different build dates there for a "400MHz" model. Clearly, speed is not enough to go on.

BTW, AusNick, what model is your "Sapphire"?

/ETA/ Which iMac Is It?

 

[Byrd]

Hi Nick - how goes it

Just to confirm:

- iMac slot-loading 350 - 500Mhz (ceramic CPU) have interchangable logic boards

- iMac slot-loading 500Mhz - 700Mhz (IBM 750CXE G3) aka "Pangea" motherboard is also interchangable

Mixing up the two is an exercise in frustration; while the two motherboards are electrically compatible, physically they are not without some serious modding of the iMac chassis/tray. This involves removing the old raised rection on the tray where the CPU once was and relocating the heatsink. I'm not sure if you can remove the tray and put it in another iMac, but getting to it isn't easy and you'll most likely crack the plastic doing so. I don't think it's worth it.

I was given a Flower Power iMac 500 recently which is definately a keeper (pastel blue and pink Apple logos!), I had a spare iMac 600 board which I considered putting in there, but decided against it due to the extensive modding required. Got 550Mhz out of the original board though; thought it was best kept original instead of being a FrankenMac.

JB