Restoring my new Toy

[comda]

Greetings MacRumors!

As many of you saw, last week i collected a beautiful iMac G4 along with an eMac. Since the eMac just needed a fresh install of OSX, i need some help restoring the iMac to its former glory.

First off, the LCD slants to the right ever so slightly ive narrowed down the issue to a loose bolt in the arm, the one closer to the LCD panel not closest to the housing. IS there a specific tool i need or any other tool i can use to tighten this up and straighten out the screen?

The main issue of this machine is that apparently it was getting kernal Panics and thats why it was finall retired (according to the seller around 2010) and he since has removed the hard drive. Ive been using the machine without altering ANY internals by using the eMacs hard drive via firewire and have not had any issues. Im planning on putting a nice 80GB Seagate drive inside there, but i would like to know what im greeted with upon opening up this little beast. I know i must repaste the system, but while im inside i wish to clean it from dust. Any tips? i will be following Ifixits guide.

Finally, the last two. Clean up. The LCD plastic trim is kinda dirty so is the ball itself. Also i want to put Leopard on it, but would tiger be a better suggestion? it has a gig of ram currently.

Specs are:
Original 700Mhz G4
1GB Ram
no Hard drive
Airportcard
All suggestions/tips/ ideas are well appreciated. Thanks

 

[128keaton]

Greetings MacRumors!

As many of you saw, last week i collected a beautiful iMac G4 along with an eMac. Since the eMac just needed a fresh install of OSX, i need some help restoring the iMac to its former glory.

First off, the LCD slants to the right ever so slightly ive narrowed down the issue to a loose bolt in the arm, the one closer to the LCD panel not closest to the housing. IS there a specific tool i need or any other tool i can use to tighten this up and straighten out the screen?

The main issue of this machine is that apparently it was getting kernal Panics and thats why it was finall retired (according to the seller around 2010) and he since has removed the hard drive. Ive been using the machine without altering ANY internals by using the eMacs hard drive via firewire and have not had any issues. Im planning on putting a nice 80GB Seagate drive inside there, but i would like to know what im greeted with upon opening up this little beast. I know i must repaste the system, but while im inside i wish to clean it from dust. Any tips? i will be following Ifixits guide.

Finally, the last two. Clean up. The LCD plastic trim is kinda dirty so is the ball itself. Also i want to put Leopard on it, but would tiger be a better suggestion? it has a gig of ram currently.

All suggestions/tips/ ideas are well appreciated. Thanks

1) The Screen Bolt. You could be careful and try a small screwdriver and a hammer, just get an angle an tap. Or, get a small piece of wood, that is rectangular shape. In the middle, drill holes in the same pattern, and stick small nails (about the size of the interior hole). Now you have a nice bar for tightening.

2) Its really easy to do, don't sweat it. Just don't pinch the antenna cables or the screen cables.

3) On the ball, get a Mr. Clean magic eraser, and for the trim, just some light soapy water on a damp rag should work. If you really wanna kick it up a notch, a buffing tool with some compound would 'sand' it and make it shinier.

4) Depends on what spec. I'd say anything 1Ghz and up (with more RAM) would run it fine. Tiger wouldn't look pretty on that marvelous LCD.

 

[havokalien]

full take apart to the top to clean the whole dome. The dust clings all the way up to there.

The dust on the side actually shows through the dome making it look dingy.

 

[CooperBox]

1) The Screen Bolt. You could be careful and try a small screwdriver and a hammer, just get an angle an tap. Or, get a small piece of wood, that is rectangular shape. In the middle, drill holes in the same pattern, and stick small nails (about the size of the interior hole). Now you have a nice bar for tightening.

2) Its really easy to do, don't sweat it. Just don't pinch the antenna cables or the screen cables.

3) On the ball, get a Mr. Clean magic eraser, and for the trim, just some light soapy water on a damp rag should work. If you really wanna kick it up a notch, a buffing tool with some compound would 'sand' it and make it shinier.

4) Depends on what spec. I'd say anything 1Ghz and up (with more RAM) would run it fine. Tiger wouldn't look pretty on that marvelous LCD.

1: I don't suggest using a screwdriver & hammer on the arm, as there's a high risk of slippage and marking the highly polished chrome. The idea of making a simple three pronged tool is certainly the way to go. Place a piece of white paper over the arm bolt and rub lightly with a soft pencil. This will leave a precise imprint of the hole locations, which is the template needed to glue onto an ideally sized piece of wood in which you drill and insert 3 small metal rods which form the 'legs'. I made something similar (albeit more elaborate) in order to release the valve seal cap of a Walther LP2 air pistol.

2: Having worked on several iMac G4's, I wouldn't exactly say they are 'really easy'. Agree that one must be very careful to avoid damaging interior cables, especially when refitting the base unit.

3: Totally agree that Magic Erasers work wonders on these.

4. I have 3 of these (2x 15" and 17") with Tiger installed - which looks great and operates flawlessly, and imho is the OS to go for. Am saying this as I also have two 20" 'Sunflowers' with Leopard installed, both with 2GB RAM. Ok but I prefer Tiger.
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full take apart to the top to clean the whole dome. The dust clings all the way up to there.

The dust on the side actually shows through the dome making it look dingy.

Totally agree with this, exercising special care when cleaning the fan blades (the fan is right at the top.) I was once a little too vigorous with the cleaning cloth, and broke one blade. Attempted a 'temporary' repair using a special plastics superglue, then added a reinforcing epoxy, subsequently sanded to smooth profile. Thought that the repair may throw the blade and hence the fan slightly out of balance. It didn't, and that 'temporary' repair after a year or so can now be assumed long-term.

 

[gooser]

in addition to tiger your machine will also run os9 if you're interested.

 

[comda]

full take apart to the top to clean the whole dome. The dust clings all the way up to there.

The dust on the side actually shows through the dome making it look dingy.

Will do. Quick Question, does the 700Mhz only have 1 point to Re-paste inside? I only found one point?
And also, can i remove the tiny heat pad off the CPU itself and repaste that too?

 

[catzilla]

I have a 17" 1.25Ghz on the way, I think I'll try a restore. I have a 17" 800Mhz which I have had apart in the past. I love the style, hopefully the speed boost will make it a little more usable for whatever I choose to use it for.

 

[gooser]

I have a 17" 1.25Ghz on the way, I think I'll try a restore. I have a 17" 800Mhz which I have had apart in the past. I love the style, hopefully the speed boost will make it a little more usable for whatever I choose to use it for.

if you're still into ripping cd's you'll find the extra speed very useful.

 

[davidg4781]

Just a thought... while you have it open you may want to fully upgrade the internal RAM and put a good sized HDD. If you're good with 80 go for it.

The only reason I say that is while you may be able to take it apart and put it back together fine now, next time you may end up pinching a cable. I purchased a new wifi cable and pinched it when putting it back together a 2nd time. I don't know what I was thinking.

I also purchased some of that copper tape and re-taped a few areas. Check YouTube videos and posts on here too. They're not too bad to work on but completely different than standard Windows PCs.

 

[fhall1]

To install Leopard you need an 867MHz or faster CPU, or you need this - http://leopardassist.sourceforge.net/

 

[comda]

Just a thought... while you have it open you may want to fully upgrade the internal RAM and put a good sized HDD. If you're good with 80 go for it.

The only reason I say that is while you may be able to take it apart and put it back together fine now, next time you may end up pinching a cable. I purchased a new wifi cable and pinched it when putting it back together a 2nd time. I don't know what I was thinking.

I also purchased some of that copper tape and re-taped a few areas. Check YouTube videos and posts on here too. They're not too bad to work on but completely different than standard Windows PCs.

I was lucky, as the previous owner had already maxed the ram out on this unit. All it needed was a hard drive and i good thorough cleaning. And it got both!
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To install Leopard you need an 867MHz or faster CPU, or you need this - http://leopardassist.sourceforge.net/

Thank-you. Thats very useful. However, i actually plugged my eMac into the iMac via firefire and imaged the drive. Lightbulbfun helped me out.

 

[yoyo8558]

Did you end up opening up the half-dome? I just picked up a 20" and used the magic erased on the shell, it worked wonders. The bezel is all yellow, and I think I'm going to buff and re-wax it. I'm hoping the yellowing is on the plexiglass itself and not the white frame behind it (is that part even accessible if you take apart the LCD?)