just bought an imac G4 have questions

[kaitlin4599]

just picked up a used imac G4 its the 800Mhz model with 256mb ram for around 45$. boots up fine but its loaded with dust on the inside, how difficult or easy is it to take these things apart and clean the dust out. i got the can of compressed air, but dont wanna take it apart if its lots of difficult work but at the same time i dont wanna run it with all the dust .

lastly what the max ram this mac can take both official and unofficial and whats the best os to install on this just wanna mess around with it and play some games

 

[weckart]

Not difficult but you will need thermal paste. The bottom connects to the top half via a heatsink so needs repasting every time you open it up. Dried paste might make the first time you open it a little stiff but compared with other Macs, this one is fairly straightforward. Clean with an air can and use a paintbrush to clear more stubborn dust before blowing.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+G4+17+800+MHz+EMC+1936+Hard+Drive+Replacement/7043

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_800_fp.html


Best OS would be Tiger 10.4 or OS9 depending upon what you want to run. There are quite a few old OS9 games you might be interested in. Max the RAM, regardless. 256MB is too little to do anything.

 

[z970]

Use a paintbrush to clear more stubborn dust before blowing.

I've never thought of it that way... What a great solution to clear out dust!

 

[B S Magnet]

I've never thought of it that way... What a great solution to clear out dust!

Given the delicate solders on a logic board, I can attest how a typical natural-hair paintbrush, often with something like horse hair or whatnot, may be too coarse to use. I use an old Aveda blush brush from the ’90s, whose hairs are very fine and soft — and perfect for dusting off electronics.

A cheap blush brush from the pharmacy/chemist/amazon will work very well, even if you never plan to never wear makeup even once in your lifetime.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

When closing the iMac be carefully with the cables. The insulation of the power cables can be quickly clamped between the housing parts.

 

[kaitlin4599]

Not difficult but you will need thermal paste. The bottom connects to the top half via a heatsink so needs repasting every time you open it up. Dried paste might make the first time you open it a little stiff but compared with other Macs, this one is fairly straightforward. Clean with an air can and use a paintbrush to clear more stubborn dust before blowing.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+G4+17+800+MHz+EMC+1936+Hard+Drive+Replacement/7043

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_800_fp.html


Best OS would be Tiger 10.4 or OS9 depending upon what you want to run. There are quite a few old OS9 games you might be interested in. Max the RAM, regardless. 256MB is too little to do anything.

what ram do i need for the sodimm slot i hear people say the sodimm takes ddr1

 

[z970]

what ram do i need for the sodimm slot i hear people say the sodimm takes ddr1

The 800mhz will take regular SDRAM. No DDR, unfortunately.

More details can be found at the quoted bottom link.

 

[weckart]

Given the delicate solders on a logic board, I can attest how a typical natural-hair paintbrush, often with something like horse hair or whatnot, may be too coarse to use. I use an old Aveda blush brush from the ’90s, whose hairs are very fine and soft — and perfect for dusting off electronics.

A cheap blush brush from the pharmacy/chemist/amazon will work very well, even if you never plan to never wear makeup even once in your lifetime.

Logic boards are usually fine and the airblower will take care of them. It is the rest of the kit - fan fins are often caked in hardened dust, corners of cases etc. When I get a filthy machine, I usually strip it right down, including taking fans apart so that I can get all the dust off. If you have caked on spots on some of the fan fins and clear the rest with an airblower, you end up with an unbalanced fan that will rattle and wear against the spindle. For cases, I get a stiff paintbrush/toothbrush to get the crud out.

 

[CooperBox]

A good find for $45! I still think that the G4 iMacs are underated by many, and have a lot going for them - especially the later 1GHz and 1.25GHz USB2 models. I've torn-down and refurbished quite a number of these and so far have retained them all, much to the chagrin of my little lady.
The earlier models imho are slightly more difficult to work on, particularly to re-assemble the bottom housing to the main body. This is due to a 'floating' female connector within the main body, which must be carefully mated with the fixed connector within the bottom housing whilst reassembling top to bottom. I have seen cases where the 4 torx screws have been inserted and partially tightened before correct alignment with the aforementioned connector. The following helps to illustrate:

Early 700/800GHz model. Care required to correctly align connector (in centre of photo).


Later USB2 1GHz & 1.25GHz model.


iFixit doesn't appear to particularly recommend re-applying thermal paste, simply stating, "If you didn't remove or touch the heatsink you do not need to re-apply thermal paste."
I maintain that not only should the heat sinks be cleaned and new paste applied prior to refitment of the base unit, but during refurbishment the spring clip retaining heat sink over the processor should be removed, processor cleaned of old, hard paste, and new thermal paste applied. There's a good clip of this on YT which unfortunately I'm unable to immediately locate.
I DON'T recommend using a can of compressed air with the straw-type nozzle inserted through the lower air inlet cooling holes of the base unit without dismantling. This would only serve to redistribute the mass of dust and debris, most of which which would resettle over the logic board.
Maxing these out with RAM memory, and also adding an SSD is relatively straight forward.
If eventually you plan to install an SSD, I've found that an ideal IDE to SATA converter (although not the cheapest) is the Manhattan 158282. This model even includes a J3 jumper in order to set IDE Master, Slave or Cable Select mode. I've also used a generic converter costing just a few dollars, although you get what you pay for, i.e. no mode setting jumper, the soldering of components is of very poor quality with uncleaned resin deposits. I took a gamble on one, but spent over an hour meticulously cleaning off all the dried resin deposits. It worked, but whether it would have 'out of the box' is debatable. I've used both Kingston and 240 Gb Sandisk SSD's which functioned just fine.
Another tip if installing an SSD. Attach the SSD to the top of the optical drive using double-sided tape, or velcro tapes. I cringe when I watch a video like THIS (31:29 - 33:30) where an SSD is installed, pushed inside and 'hoped for the best!' It takes just a few mins longer to securely attach, and is a far more professional approach. You'll also note on the same video (at 38:28 onward) that he re-assembles the bottom housing to the main body without cleaning/re-applying thermal paste. Not recommended!
Like Weckart, I too remove the fan unit to ensure total cleaning. I've also disassembled the fan on both my 17" and 20" 1.25GHz iMacs in order to relube the spindle, but with hindsight this was probably overkill.
If anyone should find a G4 iMac with a bluetooth module installed, imho it's quite a rarity. I've retrofitted one on a 20" which necessitates removal of the logic board, not so difficult - but what is particularly challenging is finding the correct bluetooth card and cable. HERE's a link to the bluetooth card & cable. Happy hunting!

 

[kaitlin4599]

A good find for $45! I still think that the G4 iMacs are underated by many, and have a lot going for them - especially the later 1GHz and 1.25GHz USB2 models. I've torn-down and refurbished quite a number of these and so far have retained them all, much to the chagrin of my little lady.
The earlier models imho are slightly more difficult to work on, particularly to re-assemble the bottom housing to the main body. This is due to a 'floating' female connector within the main body, which must be carefully mated with the fixed connector within the bottom housing whilst reassembling top to bottom. I have seen cases where the 4 torx screws have been inserted and partially tightened before correct alignment with the aforementioned connector. The following helps to illustrate:

Early 700/800GHz model. Care required to correctly align connector (in centre of photo).
View attachment 879238

Later USB2 1GHz & 1.25GHz model.
View attachment 879239

iFixit doesn't appear to particularly recommend re-applying thermal paste, simply stating, "If you didn't remove or touch the heatsink you do not need to re-apply thermal paste."
I maintain that not only should the heat sinks be cleaned and new paste applied prior to refitment of the base unit, but during refurbishment the spring clip retaining heat sink over the processor should be removed, processor cleaned of old, hard paste, and new thermal paste applied. There's a good clip of this on YT which unfortunately I'm unable to immediately locate.
I DON'T recommend using a can of compressed air with the straw-type nozzle inserted through the lower air inlet cooling holes of the base unit without dismantling. This would only serve to redistribute the mass of dust and debris, most of which which would resettle over the logic board.
Maxing these out with RAM memory, and also adding an SSD is relatively straight forward.
If eventually you plan to install an SSD, I've found that an ideal IDE to SATA converter (although not the cheapest) is the Manhattan 158282. This model even includes a J3 jumper in order to set IDE Master, Slave or Cable Select mode. I've also used a generic converter costing just a few dollars, although you get what you pay for, i.e. no mode setting jumper, the soldering of components is of very poor quality with uncleaned resin deposits. I took a gamble on one, but spent over an hour meticulously cleaning off all the dried resin deposits. It worked, but whether it would have 'out of the box' is debatable. I've used both Kingston and 240 Gb Sandisk SSD's which functioned just fine.
Another tip if installing an SSD. Attach the SSD to the top of the optical drive using double-sided tape, or velcro tapes. I cringe when I watch a video like THIS (31:29 - 33:30) where an SSD is installed, pushed inside and 'hoped for the best!' It takes just a few mins longer to securely attach, and is a far more professional approach. You'll also note on the same video (at 38:28 onward) that he re-assembles the bottom housing to the main body without cleaning/re-applying thermal paste. Not recommended!
Like Weckart, I too remove the fan unit to ensure total cleaning. I've also disassembled the fan on both my 17" and 20" 1.25GHz iMacs in order to relube the spindle, but with hindsight this was probably overkill.
If anyone should find a G4 iMac with a bluetooth module installed, imho it's quite a rarity. I've retrofitted one on a 20" which necessitates removal of the logic board, not so difficult - but what is particularly challenging is finding the correct bluetooth card and cable. HERE's a link to the bluetooth card & cable. Happy hunting!

any idea what size the fan is i will just buy a new one from my local pc parts store since im taking the whole thing apart

 

[CooperBox]

any idea what size the fan is i will just buy a new one from my local pc parts store since im taking the whole thing apart

You normally can't do that. If your local pc parts store have replacement G4 iMac fans, you've hit the jackpot.
Why change the fan during a refurb unless it's damaged? Removal & clean is all that's required. If you insist on replacing the fan, make sure you get the exact same part number (they're different depending on the iMac model). An off-the-shelf generic model is not recommended- even if it fits.

 

[CooperBox]

HERE's an additional link to a previous post, where I show the installation of my SSD.
This was the cheap model IDE to SATA converter, as even after a good clean with isopropyl-alcohol one can still see white residue from solder paste.

It should also be noted that this is a 17" 1.25GHz model, so the fan you see in the bottom photo is probably NOT the same as yours. At a guess your's is probably a Panaflow model, but check whilst cleaning inside. It's rare that these require replacement.