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macman0911

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
3
0
I have an iMac G3 Snow and I was wonderring if anyone had any ideas or information on how I could upgrade it in any way or modify it in any way. It would be preferred if you could give a guide with your posts. Thanks!
 
I have an iMac G3 Snow and I was wonderring if anyone had any ideas or information on how I could upgrade it in any way or modify it in any way. It would be preferred if you could give a guide with your posts. Thanks!

Sorry but if you need to ask what can be done then you don't have the skill to actually do modifications in the first place. There is a bunch of stuff you need to learn before you can ever even attempt this.
 
Look at the link below.
Download the document "iMac G3 (summer 2001)".
First go through the first 40 pages to decide, whether you want to do it.
- You are shown RAM upgrade (2x 512MB PC100 or PC133 SDRAM),
- HDD upgrade (max. 128GB, if you want to add more, you need to install a firmware hack).
- optical drive (some drives require installing patchburn, a firmware hack. it is easier to connect a firewire (or USB1) external drive instead. you can also add a second HD, instead of opt. drive, but external firewire will be faster.
- airport card can be upgraded, but it will only give 11mbit, same as adding a USB-Dongle (USB1) which will give 11mbit, use the ethernet port instead for speeds of up to 100mbit.

http://home.earthlink.net/~strahm_s/manuals.html#imcs

If there is OS 9 or 10.2 installed, you will have to first install OS 9 on the new drive and download apples newest firmware for the iMac G3 DV. Then you can upgrade to Tiger (10.4).

Go to Ebay and search for the items you want to upgrade, then choose "ended auctions" from the left (you have to scroll down maybe a lot). Then decide, if you want to put that money in the machine. There is no way to get youtube videos play faster then 240p, so you might want to buy a newer Mac, if youtube-capability is the decision point for you.

There are more links explaining it in detail, but first decide, if you want to really do the upgrade. You may want to google for "iMac G3 upgrade" or "installing HD iMac G3" "installing hard drive iMac G3". There are several people that have done online guides to especially iMac upgrades.

Some will tell you, that you can add a IDE-SATA-adapter and use a SATA drive or a SSD...
 
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The point I was trying to make is that some will see some random mod online or some guide on how to mod and think they can do it. A guide tells you steps to take but doesn't give you the needed skill to do all this stuff.

Do people think the needed experience will be beamed into their brain? These abilities take time. Start off with something you don't mind harming because I can promise you that you will harm hardware while you're learning.
 
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There are also possible outcomes that can be very bad and even fatal when taking apart anything with a CRT. You need to know WTH you're doing before you go opening computers up.
 
He should be fine as long as he stays away from the CRT half of the iMac. I've never had any problems working inside the eMac.
 
Create art for the imac cover or find an artist friend to help out with ideas and the implementation of said art. Then there's always the fish tank route.

Art, that's what I would do beside getting more ram, bigger HD, airport card (iirc some imacs didn't come with a card installed but could be added later). I personally wouldn't try upgrading the MHz.
 
There are also possible outcomes that can be very bad and even fatal when taking apart anything with a CRT. You need to know WTH you're doing before you go opening computers up.

Ok, I missed thinking about what could eventually be unknown to the mass of people.
I thought things like that, are general knowledge. I mean, I thought since CRTs are out so long nearly everybody should have come across this. Since every manual of a TV-Tube says it. I am sure the apple manual I linked to mentions it, too, that you need to be carefull not touching the "volts" on the CRT.
Another point I thought should be clear is, that one can harm electrical parts, by giving his own electricity to the parts (btw. to OP: which is why one should wear an anti-static-wrist-strap or at least touch metal without electricity, like a heater on the wall to unload the electricity people can add up in them selves).

PS: most online guides clearly warn about the risks... and one should always read more than one guide.
 
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