Ohhhhh, I get it haha, now I have to calculate the exact amount of currency I could fit in this machine because I am genuinely curious
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How much money should realistically be put into a 20+ year old computer
- Thread starter Astro13
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I can’t seem to find the part number of my fly back, and I’m not comfortable opening the CRT compartment as I have zero experience with these things, I can repair a computer inside out, but I am useless when it comes to being near CRTs. I also cannot solder, my experience with soldering is replacing a single capacitor on a dishwasher.
My slot-loading iMac G3 has problems that from what I've read here are either down to the flyback transformer or the PAV board. I'm confident enough to desolder and replace the former and also renew solder points and/or capacitors on the latter. I suspect that given its age I might as well just attend to both components but the HR 46117 flyback unit is difficult/expensive to obtain. I've contacted so many sites that apparently stock it at a decent price and they don't even bother to reply.
This is excellent advice. I think that it's really worth taking the time to learn electrical engineering skills if you're a retro-computing enthusiast (or into retro hardware generally) in order to maintain your hardware because we're at a stage where we can expect no assistance from the manufacturers - if they're even still operating - and from my experience here in the UK, many of the businesses that would these services have closed shop. Those that are still around likely wouldn't be interested in tackling this stuff and if they do, a premium is going to be charged.
Also, it's really empowering and rewarding to possess the skills and knowledge to deal with technical issues yourself.
Have a look here for further info on which part your machine will need. Let it stand for a fortnight to be on the safe side - by that time it should be discharged.
Not entirely true, according to several people the CRTs charge up just from the rotation of the earth. However, I found out a way to discharge it with a battery jumper cable and a screwdriver. And I just ordered my first soldering iron so I can learn how to do this stuff, my plan is to fully re-cap that machine. It’s very important to me so recycling it is not an option.
Terrific news! Have you ordered a solder suction pump as well? I use a desoldering station myself.
Wonderful. I'm of a similar persuasion and very rarely abandon my gear unless they've truly reached the point of no return. Please let us know how you get on with the re-capping. I for one would love to see how it turns out.
I can’t afford the whole station, but the kit I’m getting includes a solder sucker
That's brilliant. I practised on scrap PCBs before tackling anything that I didn't want to damage.
I am in the process of acquiring scrap electronics to salvage for parts, I already have a bin full
Welp, g3 is dead, not entirely sure what killed it. Further autopsy found water damage, mold and corrosion. Also fbt is gone. Video board is not looking to good either. Found a crappy repair job on the down converter board as well. Fixing this thing is way out of my league. The logic board, hard drive, disk drive, ram and the tube itself are functional. Probably gonna part it out on eBay to afford to fix my 2008 iMac and 1991 Macintosh classic. Thanks for all your help on trying to get this thing into a working state. All of my apple computers are suffering from or have been killed by thermal issues. I’m getting to the point of wanting to cut vents in the back and install pc fans. Apples new slogan should be: “Apple: Thermal issues since 1990”
I believe this is the one downside of PowerPC Macs. During these years Apple put a premium on form over function. It wasn't until they were forced by higher CPU speeds to finally address heat that they did something about it. G4 MDD and G5 thermal designs to be specific.
You can cut holes and install PC fans, just be aware that it might not work. I had a hole knocked out of the bottom of my G4 Quicksilver case for a 120mm PC fan and I took out the speaker to use that hole for a 60mm PC fan. Even so, the Mac never stayed on for long because of all the upgrades I'd put in. You'd think that simply because Apple provided so many PCI slots you could use them all, upgrade the CPU and drives and other things and it'd all be fine thermally.
Nope.
Unfortunately the IMac no longer boots. After poking around with a multimeter, I found the pav board to be faulty as no power was getting to the motherboard. It’s like all Mac’s have these issues. My 2008 iMac Gpu hits 108 c and shuts off the display after being on the desktop for 30 mins
These old macs do all have issues after 15-20+ years of use. Components fail & systems need maintenance to keep going. The nature of the consumer who these were marketed towards and who bought these almost assuredly did not do this.
The 2006-08 iMacs absolutely need dust cleaning, the cpus need new thermal paste, the gpus need new thermal pads etc. and sometimes if the gpu is failing , a rebake which is at best typically are a 3 month to one year temporary fix, and smc fan control to max the movement of air. Anyhow Without this maintenance they will fail. None of these imo were even designed to last this long lol with the intent to go to recycling & onto a new iMac.
The 2006-08 iMacs absolutely need dust cleaning, the cpus need new thermal paste, the gpus need new thermal pads etc. and sometimes if the gpu is failing , a rebake which is at best typically are a 3 month to one year temporary fix, and smc fan control to max the movement of air. Anyhow Without this maintenance they will fail. None of these imo were even designed to last this long lol with the intent to go to recycling & onto a new iMac.
What is probably going to happen to the 2008 iMac is I am going to take it apart, re-thermal paste everything, then cut holes in the back and mount some noctua PC fans in it. It is sacrilegious according to my very Apple inclined friends, but I am sick of computers dying due to apples whole form over function crap.
Got it in one! Judging by the amount of used Macs that I've purchased that still had the stock RAM and HDD config, even those basic upgrades were beyond their understanding, let alone maintenance on a component level.
Yes, I've had to spend time (and money) on maintaining/repairing/overhauling computers that have reached - or passed the 40 year mark.
1980s and some early 90s stuff too.
I've got an Atari console that I need to work on too... Some, I bought from the classifieds, a couple were basically given to me and the others were found on eBay - many of them placed in the wrong categories, which meant that no-one else spotted them or their prices. If you'd like to know more, I can reply with links and further info.
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I would absolutely like to know more, all the computers on eBay are overpriced.
Honestly I think it depends on what you want out of this investment. If you're aim is to make it as good as possible to run old computer apps, then I think it'll be worth it. If you're trying to max it out to do modern stuff with it, don't bother. I'm on the fence about whether or not to convert my g4 into a modern intel machine so I can use it like so. Will cost me ~400-500 but for me, the modding is half the fun.
I think you should convert the g4, all the consumable parts are easily replaced and it’s a decent computer. The issue with the g3 is the CRT, it’s obviously built like crap, and the power board has failed and I don’t have the money to fix it. And a modern Intel Mac in a g4 would be neat. You can get scrap Mac’s of eBay for about 100-200 for one that boots and works.
Ok.
Unless I mention otherwise, these are all PAL EURO machines.
Purchased from eBay for around £100 GBP - boxed with a joystick, a couple of games and the manuals, I thought that it was a steal given the prices for other models with similar prices and bare bones. After a good clean it looked great.
£25 GBP from the local classifieds - and the printer was included for that price too, plus the dust covers.
I replaced FDD drive A with a Gotek unit which allowed me to load/save files from a USB stick. Drive B was retained in case I ever encounter any 3" disks that contain anything of interest which could be transferred, archived and shared with the PCW community.
It's a surprisingly capable gaming platform despite the mono display and beeper sound.
Of course, if we're discussing retro-tech then the world's best selling desktop computer of all time had to be present. The C64 was another acquisition from the classifieds. It cost me £40 GBP. You can read an entire post here in which I detailed my efforts to correct its operational issues.
Yet again from the classifieds. It was sold to me for £25 GBP with the repeated assurances that it was fully working.
As you can see here, that was clearly not the case.
I have a post here in which I document the process of repairs and overhauls to restore it to full working order and also implement some improvements to its performance.
This one, ranks as probably my best eBay bargain ever.
It was £5 GBP and just needed a RAM chip replaced - which was very cheaply and swiftly resolved. Check out this post for further info.
There's many more. If you want to see them, tell me and I'll show you.