Stupid ancient iMac.

January 13, 2007 3:14 PM

I have one of those crappy old iMac G3s that is pink and looks like a piece of bubble gum and it won't turn on. Help?

So I have this G3 and I wanted to use it as an external hard drive, but I can't get the derned thing to turn on. I haven't turned it on in probably a year or so, but I just realized that I could use it as an external drive and now it won't turn on. It's just been sitting here. Could it just be dead from not being used? I don't think it's the electrical cord because it's just been sitting in a box for the past year untouched. I finally have a use for the stupid thing and I can't get it turn on. I'm sad.

posted by bash to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Are all the plugs properly seated? Are you trying to start it from the keyboard or the front of the iMac? Does it do ANYTHING (make any sounds, whirr a bit, etc) or just not respond at all?

By the way, the pink G3 iMacs had pretty small hard drives (I want to say 10gb) and only had USB 1.0 connections (no firewire), so you might be disappointed in its usefulness as an external drive. But if you want to forget about the body and just salvage the hard drive, they're not that hard to take apart. There is a guide to disassembly from an old issue of MacWorld that might be handy for that.
posted by bcwinters at 3:32 PM on January 13, 2007

Try a different power cable. Other than that, what bcwinters said.

If it is totally hosed, you can make an aquarium out of it.
posted by chillmost at 3:39 PM on January 13, 2007

Thanks everyone. I think I'm just going to yank it apart. It will be more fun that way anyway. I think it is old and probably won't do what I want it to do anway.
posted by bash at 4:28 PM on January 13, 2007

By the way, the pink G3 iMacs had pretty small hard drives (I want to say 10gb) and only had USB 1.0 connections (no firewire).

There were 3 models of iMac available in pink (self link). The last one has FireWire.

You probably need to press the power manager reset button. Instructions here.
posted by cillit bang at 4:28 PM on January 13, 2007

Whoa, I stand corrected. I could have sworn they didn't go firewire until after the five-color line was abandoned. I've never seen a slot-loaded model of that series in the wild.
posted by bcwinters at 6:14 PM on January 13, 2007

If you decide to take it apart, be very wary of the CRT. It still might have enough residual charge to give you a decent jolt.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:52 PM on January 13, 2007

By 'decent jolt', nathan_teske means 'lethal jolt'.

That said, I've taken countless G3 iMacs apart, and as long as you don't go poking around bits that you clearly shouldn't (you don't need to touch anything related to the CRT), you'll be fine.
posted by armoured-ant at 4:45 AM on January 14, 2007

If all you want out of use is an external drive, pull the HD and then sell the iMac, use the proceeds to buy a good FireWire/USB drive enclosure.

The length of time the iMac has been disused suggests to me that the PRAM battery has died, and for some Macs if this battery is dead, the machine won't power up. The batteries are usually less than $10 if you look around.

Be sure to have the take-apart instructions handy. In my experience, the iMacs are among the worst machines (except laptops, of course!) to take apart. Be prepared to put it back together at least twice :) Good luck!!
posted by kuppajava at 2:25 PM on January 14, 2007