Inherited iBook G3

[Anglican-Mac]

So, I have been given an iBook, I think the G3 model. The Charger does not work and the optical drive does not work either. Also, the previous owner has told me that it needs to have the OS reinstalled.

Is it worth it to try and fix this mac?

 

[alust2013]

Not really. To get it in working order, you'd likely have to spend double or more than what it's worth, and even if you did, it wouldn't be any sort of impressive machine. It's got a low res display, slow CPU and is stuck 3 OS releases behind. It's really not useful anymore, just kinda something cool to look at.

 

[eljanitor]

You can instal the OS up to 10.3 (10.4 just bogs down anything G3) with an external cd drive. If you can get another charger and it works then you have a working computer for a bit. I wouldn't put much into it. Nicer new models out there.

 

[Des Zac]

Awe, come on, don't throw him off the path of preservation! Try and fix it! If it ends up that you spend some money the happiness that you get when you finally turn it on makes up for it! I just got a iBook G3 with a broken screen and why I finally got it working I was so happy I can't put it into words! Try, if you fail you can at least say you tried.

Sincerely,

-That guy

 

[KurtangleTN]

I'd sell it, it might be worth something to someone but you're looking at spending around $10 for a charger, $30-$40 for the OS, and if you don't have another Mac to use target disk mode on you're probably looking at another $15-$20 for a bootable external CD drive.

To add onto that unfortunately the white G3 iBooks are completely unreliable machines, they are practically ticking time bombs with the logic board failures.

 

[brycemason]

Chuck it. It's just a matter of time until the video chip comes loose anyway.

 

[tom vilsack]

You can instal the OS up to 10.3 (10.4 just bogs down anything G3) with an external cd drive..

not true! i have a G3 ibook and tiger runs better then panther...in fact it runs way better. (providing the ibook G3 you were given meets tigers min specs) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook



in order to reinstall osx the external drive would have to be firewire,as ibook wont boot from usb dvd drive..or could try target disk mode http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

you could try getting new power adaptor on craigs for cheap

some speed tips once (if) you get tiger installed

-in dock use scale effects and no mag or animate...also turn wallpaper off and use colored
-turn off dashboard and turn off spotlight,if has bluetooth turn that also off

To turn Dashboard off: use terminal
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

You have to restart the Dock after making either change for it to take effect:
killall Dock

To turn Spotlight off: use terminal

cd /etc
sudo nano hostconfig
SPOTLIGHT=-NO-
ctrl-x
y
enter

Then to get rid of the existing index, run these two commands
sudo mdutil -i off /
sudo mdutil -E /

reboot computer

try using camino as you browser......