On Aug 26, 2010, at 11:06 AM, Tina K. wrote: > > > J. R. Rosen wrote: >> Got a 20" G4 (USB2) iMac the other day, and am going to put in 2 >> sticks-O-RAM (1gb + 1gb). So while I was in there, I thought I'd add a >> 500gb HDD and a 24x DVD RW. That's about as far as you can carry upgrades, >> as it already has bluetooth and wifi. >> >> I have printed the article on Accelerate Your Mac about the do's and don'ts, >> and I've been following the latest posts about the thermal paste. >> >> My question is... as y'all have been actively inside the G4 dome (Jim and >> Tina), are there any tips, tricks, or other nuances you could throw my way >> to help me through this endeavor? Any: "if I had only know about that then" >> kind of things, or is it pretty straight-forward? > > One think to keep in mind right off the bat is that an ODD much, or possibly > any, larger than the OEM unit will not fit into the carrier. I believe it was > a Pioneer 106 that Apple put in those machines but I could be mistaken. Also > the stock HDD is a 5200 RPM unit so if you install a 7200 RPM drive there > will be more heat generated, you will probably want to keep the inlet & > outlet clean and hopefully keep it in a cool environment. > > Dis/reassembly is pretty straight forward. The outer user cover is a no > brainer but be careful with the inner factory cover as it houses the MoBo and > has several wires and cables attached to it. The first gen G4s had a cable > that ran to the ODD/carrier that often broke upon disassembly but Apple > corrected that on the USB 2 models. You will want to keep an eye on the > Airport antenna wire during dis/reassembly too. > > Oh, and of course don't ruin all your work with a static jolt! >
Get all the dust bunnies out while you're in there. Replace the 1/2 AA clock battery with a new one, unless the one in there tests at 3.6 volts or slightly higher. Pay attention to the jumper settings on the optical disk drive (ODD) and hard disk drive (HDD). Set the new ones the same way, but be prepared to open it up again and reset them. I've set "new" ODDs and HDDs the same way as Apple did, only to find that some manufacturers' products don't always behave the same way as original equipment. Be aware that there are two different physical sizes of RAM sticks, with the longer 184-pin PC2700 stick mounted in a logic board slot and the shorty 200-pin PC 2700 SODIMM in the bottom user-accessible slot. If you can't find PC2700, PC3200 also will work. In fact, I've found PC3200 sticks that were installed in G4 Macs by Apple that were advertised as having PC2700 memory. Replace the thermal paste or pads with new top-quality thermal paste before you put it back together. Apple specifies using a T-15 Torx bit on the four case bolts, and that they should be torqued to 17 inch-pounds. I use my automotive tools to do that, but I've also successfully used a T-15 screwdriver and really cranked down on those bolts. Whatever you do, make sure those bolts are so tight that you can't easily loosen them by hand. That should be enough torque to clamp the heat sink/pipe pieces together properly. Be careful when torquing, as the six-point openings in those bolt heads are easy to strip out/misshape. I usually put 4 half-inch rubber feet on the bottom of an iMac G4 to raise it above the desktop and get better cooling/air flow. It doesn't take much to block those cooling holes in the base, and this at least gets keyboard and mouse cables out of the equation. Avoid putting too much stress on the neck and LCD. Apple techs use a fancy styrofoam holder, but I found that a firm pillow works just as well. I put the pillow on a table, then lay the back of the LCD and neck on the pillow. That puts the base of the iMac in the appropriate vertical position for disassembly while also preventing rolling movement. Have fun! -- Jim -- You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to imaclist@googlegroups.com To leave this group, send email to imaclist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist
