Upgrading an iMac G3's drives

OK, well this is what I just bought :

Graphite 400Mhz iMac G3
Slot-Load DVD-ROM drive
128MB RAM
13GB HD


And here are the parts what I want to upgrade with :

Combo drive from an iBook G4
512MB RAM
40GB HDD


My Questions:

I've heard that an iBook's combo drive will work with the G3 iMac. True?

The RAM I have is PC133 from NEC. Are they compatible?

Finally, the hard drive's question [note it contains Windows] . What all do I need to do to install OS X on the hard drive?


The iMac arrives in less than a week and I'd like to get some help to know what to do before then. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

papadopolis1024 said:

the combo wont work (I think)


you will need to format the HD for OS X

Click to expand...

Oh, thanks!


How do you format the HD? Is there a link you can point me to? Thanks again.

PseudoWoobie said:

The PC133 ram would work just fine. I'm not sure about the CD drive though

Click to expand...

Cool. Well my questions are answered. That was fast!

Cool. There weren't any brackets or anything on it. I bought it thinking it would fit an iBook G3, but after failing [of course] I just left it alone.


A question about my hard drive.

I realized that "Cable Select" has to be enabled in order for the iMac to boot to it, correct?

The hard drive, like most others, has a diagram on how to enable it. There are 2 diagrams per option. Or at least it seems that way. For the Cable Select, I followed the bottom diagram. But there's also another diagram for Cable Select [so I think] that requires me to block 2 more "prongs" . Which one should I follow?

I have a 20GB HD that is definitely Cable Select ready, but I'd really like to use one with twice as much space.

Thanks.

OK...so how do I get the hard drive formatted to boot to OS X? I don't have another Mac to "Target" it with...is there any way I can hook it up as a 2nd drive on my PC and format it from there then take it out?

Anyone?

I just took off the bezel from the CDRW/DVD drive that would allow it fit an iBook. Then there was another piece right under where the iBook bezel was [made of metal/steel] held on by a screw and removed that. I think that's right. Somebody could tell me if that's right.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

diehardmacfan said:

once the hard drive is installed you will have to boot up from the mac osx install DVD by holding the c key at boot.

you will then use disk utility to reformat it as mac os x extended (journaled). It is under the erase tab

then you will install the os on it

good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks!!!! I've been wondering which format it needed.

So if my hard drive supposedly has cable select enabled, it can boot with this one?

shu82 said:

I don't know what "cable select" is, but just set the hard drive to master. Put the Jumper over the 2 pins with the M, not the S. It should work great. I have an exact clone of yours in my kitchen 400 G3, 40gb hd from an HP, and 512 ram. It works great as an itunes jukebox and the dasboard radar and recipies is nice too. All together it cost me $65!!

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Thanks! That really helped! Did you use any online instruction sites on how to take apart the iMac? If so, could you point me there? Thanks!

shu82 said:

ifixit is a good one. But nothing beats just going at it.

Flip it over, remove the VGA out cover, take the 4 bolts out. Take the 2 bolts out by the front. Remove the bottom. Take out all the little screws that hold on the heat shield, i believe there are 8. Be very careful and use a magnetized screwdriver. You dont want to fish those out of the imac, it sucks. After you get the shield off you have it. 4 bolts on the HD and the same for the disk drive.

Have fun, tell us how it goes

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Thanks! I looked at ifixit but I think they only supply guides for notebook take-aparts. And I sure will let you guys know!

tuc said:

I have an iMac G3 with busted optical drive. What are you going to be do with the Slot-Load DVD-ROM drive you will be replacing?

As for the hard drive, if you look around you will find some web pages to the effect that you shouldn't put in 7200rpm drives for heat reasons. Others say that modern 7200rpm drives put out less heat than the original iMac G3 drives did, which makes sense.

I would guess any 40GB drive would be fine. (Were you to try a hard disk larger than 128GB I'm told the drive controller will see only the first 128GB.)

Click to expand...

Well...I have no idea if the CDRW drive I'm replacing it with would work. It could either work, or could do nothing . But, if the one I replace it with works, I'll PM ya!

Yeah, I've seen those websites that say they don't recognize anything after 128. Has something to do with the controller. But I think you could partition the drive to make the iMac think it has more than 1 drive. But I'm using an extra 40GB I had laying around.

OK, back from Branson with the iMac now

I have...taken it apart several times for practice now. So now I have used all drives.

Now...for all but the original drive, I have gotten the blinking folder icon [of course] so I need to format the drive and install OS X on the drives.

And so I insert the Mac OS X disc and the blinking folder disappeared and came the Apple. I would let it sit for up to 30 minutes before I got impatient waiting on the "spinning wheel" .

Well, for a 400MHz/512MB ram iMac, how long should I wait for the installation menu to appear?


Thanks...

Well, now it's given me more problems.

I booted into 10.2 normally and afterwards I connected it to an Ethernet cable and ran Software Update. It downloaded Safari, 10.2.8, Quicktime, and StuffIt [all updates]. Right when it was just about to finish installing the last item, 10.2.8 update, it said "Your computer needs to be restarted. Please hold down the power button for several seconds or push the restart button." . So I held down the power button until it shut down, restarted it, and it turned out different.

The hard drive made much louder sounds, and took a bit longer to boot into OS X. When it did, I noticed that the keyboard worked, but not the mouse. I tried switching USB ports on the side and no difference. I also tried different mice and they did the same.

So I inserted the Mac OS X 10.3 Panther disc, a window for it popped up [although it didn't show anything], then it closed but the disc image remained on the desktop.

Then I switched hard drives. I gave it the 40GB set to "Master" and got the iMac running. Even though the disc is in the drive, it's acting like it can't see it now. I get the "blinking folder/?" and every few minutes I hear the disc drive start going...then it stops, and the blinking resumes.


So I have no clue what went wrong. I think I'll see if I can trade the iMac + RAM + 3 hard drives for an iBook