Breaking down of old hardware

[Bodhitree]

I was watching this video which popped up on my YouTube feed about how old macs are starting to break down… have you guys noticed this?

I mean, the plastic of the cases of a PowerMac 9500 going brittle and falling apart? Streaks appearing on old LCD panels? PRAM batteries leaking all over the motherboard? Capacitors inside going pop and damaging circuitry even when the machine is not turned on?

What is the lifespan of an old Macintosh when it’s stored? I still have several older Macs sitting here in my loft, and quite a few old hard drives which still contain material that’s worth a few pennies but which I never got around to salvaging.

 

[joevt]

I had a Power Mac 9500. The plastic piece for the power button was broken. Trying to remove PCI cards will break the plastic tabs that hold the PCI cards in place because they are no longer flexible. it was not stored in sunlight.

I haven't had caps or battery problems. My Power Mac 8600 still works.

There's many old Mac restoration projects at 68kMLA.org some with horrible pictures showing the damage that an exploded battery can do. There's projects that include creating an entire new motherboard PCB.

 

[PPC_505]

Exploded/leaky system batteries (referred to as battery bombs) are a universal threat to Macs that have them. It's largely up to the conditions the unit has been kept in and perhaps a little luck to determine if a machine is affected or not. Beyond that, electrolytic capacitors all have a finite life and, when failing, can cause systems to become inoperable, but this is typically very easy to remedy by replacing them.

As far as build/material quality, it's largely dependent on model. The 8500/9500 is notorious for being extremely brittle, along with a number of other machines (largely made in the Spindler era). You'll find that earlier compact Macs and later units like the 9600/G3 tower are far more durable.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I have a Mac SE that was stored for ages and heavily cobwebbed and dusty internally. After a good clean and some soldering work, it works and is great for sessions of Tetris and Prince of Persia - albeit in greyscales.

 

[Bodhitree]

My older Macs were used by my stepfather, now passed away, and they include a grey tower with the loop handles (think this is a Core 2 Duo machine), and an early 27” iMac. So nothing terribly early although I used to have a PowerMac 9500 which I sold on.

 

[dmr727]

My older Macs were used by my stepfather, now passed away, and they include a grey tower with the loop handles (think this is a Core 2 Duo machine), and an early 27” iMac. So nothing terribly early although I used to have a PowerMac 9500 which I sold on.

Yeah, we're really talking about hardware from the 80s and 90s. That said, I wouldn't wait to back up important stuff from magnetic media, and even CD-Rs.

 

[davisdelo]

I don't know if it helps or not, but I've been using automotive platic conditioner on my tray loading iMac for about a decade. I haven't had any cracking or brittleness yet.