Help: Imac G3 233mhz Upgrade

[bagwis]

My wife's high school classmate dumped an iMac G3 233 mhz, with 64MB of RAM, 4GB of Hard Disk Space, running on OS 8.5, with a broken internal 56k modem in the house just this morning. She wants me to help her make it work so that she could surf the net, do some spreadsheets, chat with my wife, and for her sons to be able to play some games.

I've found a lot of reference for upgrading this mac in macworld , the imac, and lowendmac but they all seem to be really complicated. I would just like to know if anybody here has a first hand experience of what I am about to do? I only know that I have to upgrade the RAM and the Hard Drive to make it at least useable for current apps. While technically it could run on OS 10.3, wouldn't this thing crawl and become less productive if we make it run on Panther?

And of course, would it be worth upgrading this very cool mac?

Thanks in advance.

[Edited on 7-14-2004 by bagwis]

[gonz]

Maximum RAM: if it's a Rev. A Bondi iMac, 256Mb
If it's the newer Rev. B Bondi iMac, 512Mb

Type of RAM required: PC-66 144-pin SO-DIMM

If you want to install OS X and your hard drive is larger than 8Gb, you must partition the hard drive, and the first partition must be smaller than 8Gb. You must install OS X on the first, smaller-than-8-Gb partition.

Should you install OS X? If you can install at least 256Mb RAM and a large enough hard drive, then the final factor is, do you need OS X-only apps? Will your friend be satisfied using the iMac under OS 9.x? Yes, the iMac will not be a speed demon under OS X, but Safari will run. Mail.app will run.

This iMac is not a good gaming platform, either under OS X or OS 9.x, because of the limited video RAM. Unless your friend has access to older classic games, or the software being considered has low system requirements, then gaming isn't practical.

Please feel free to ask any more questions you may have.

[marcus]

i have a 333 imac running on panther, put in 320 mb of ram and changed the HD to a 20 gig 5400rpm. don't use the newer 7200rpm HD's since it runs hotter than the 5400 and it might cause heat issues on the older iMac. i'm not sure if you could use a USB modem though. it would work well for surfing and doing some spreadsheets even under OS X. works well with my five year old son's jumpstart games.

[bagwis]

gonz: Thanks! I've been having a hard time looking for a PC66 144Pin SODIMM here. I think this is a REV A iMac Bondi. How can I tell if it's Rev a or Rev b? Would it having a tray-loading cd-rom be an indication of what rev it is? You and Henjie (thanks, man!) suggested the same partitioning scheme for the bigger HD if I'd like to use Panther with it. At first I was confused here as to which OS and Disk Utility I should use to partition the HD, but logically, it should be the current OS (which is 8.5). Am I right here? I'd like to do this myself. I haven't really tinckered with an iMac. Would you strongly advise against it? She is on a very tight budget that's why.

Don't we just love Safari and Mail?:lol: These are the two main reasons why I'd like it to run on OS 10.3. The main reason why I went back to Mac is because of OS X.

marcus: Thanks, too! Would you mind if I ask you how much your upgrade cost you? Those are the exact specs I would like this iMac to have. (except of course for the RAM because a Rev A, as explained by gonz, could only take up to 256MB - two 128s, and maybe a 40GB HD) I've been looking for a USB modem just in case the internal modem replacement is unavailable, (or expensive :lol Did you do the upgrading yourself or did you bring it to a shop?

Thanks again!

[penmanila]

hi, bagwis--i have an original rev A 233 mhz bondi blue imac like yours, came to me with factory specs; i upgraded it myself to 288 mb ram (32 + 256), a 40-gig 5400 rpm HD, and panther. it's running just fine, connected to my DSL by ethernet.

yes, i did observe the prescribed partitioning scheme before installing panther. if you don't do this right, you run the risk of losing your video (see www.lowendmac.com for the details).

the rev B imacs ran at 266 mhz and came in those funky colors. hope this helps!

[PatrickGaerlan]

Originally posted by bagwisAt first I was confused here as to which OS and Disk Utility I should use to partition the HD, but logically, it should be the current OS (which is 8.5). Am I right here?

I used Disk Utility from the Panther Install Disc 1 to partition the hard disks when I upgraded two Strawberry iMacs. Just insert the disc in the drive and hold the "C" key down when the Mac restarts to boot from the CD.

[Edited on 7-14-2004 by PatrickGaerlan]

[bagwis]

Thanks, Sir Butch. I called up Apple Center yesterday for the price of a 128MB PC66 144pin SODIMM RAM, and it would cost around 6,000.00. (Medyo mahal)

Thanks, Patrick Gaerlan.

[marcus]

it's easy to add RAM on that iMac, i actually put in the 256 mb ram i took out from my old iBook 500 when i upgraded it. was not really sure if it was the same kind of ram but it looked the same so i tried putting it into the iMac and it worked. had the HD put in by Diversitec, bought the HD from villman. Diversitec charged me 1,500 for installation of HD, partinioning and OS installation.

[opd]

Originally posted by marcus
it's easy to add RAM on that iMac, i actually put in the 256 mb ram i took out from my old iBook 500 when i upgraded it. was not really sure if it was the same kind of ram but it looked the same so i tried putting it into the iMac and it worked.

oh, it worked? in that case, i have a couple of iMac G3s, 333 mhz that could use a memory boost. if anyone has extra RAM from an old iBook 500 or similar, anyone want to sell it to me?

[penmanila]

bagwis, apple center is the last place you should go to for memory, mahal talaga diyan! go to pc express or one of those gilmore avenue places, look for generic PC66 or PC100 or even PC133 SO-DIMM RAM (it'll work, but at the slower speed--henjie, you might want to confirm this).

didi, yes, the old first-gen imacs (not all--just the rev A and rev B, i think, before the 350 mhz blueberry) used the same SO-DIMM RAM that the old G3 ibooks and tibooks used. the later imacs (old model, not flat-panel) used the more PC-standard and cheaper SDRAM.

Originally posted by bagwis
Thanks, Sir Butch. I called up Apple Center yesterday for the price of a 128MB PC66 144pin SODIMM RAM, and it would cost around 6,000.00. (Medyo mahal)