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Mac G3
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FrankLW
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Apr 7, 2009, 08:03 AM
 
Hi all, I bought yesterday for 50 euros a perfectly working iMac G3. 400 Mhz, 512 Mb Ram, 40 GB HD, ...

The only thing that is annoying me is the sound he's making, high and irritating. Are there any methods who could fix the sound, what could be the problem?
     
FrankLW  (op)
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Apr 7, 2009, 08:18 AM
 
I browsed the internet a bit more and I noticed I have the same issues as this (http://discussions.apple.com/thread....hreadID=203163) guy had four years ago. It was his hard drive. I don't have any idea about the specialities of my HD. But does anyone know if there less noisy HD's on the market who'll fit? And is it easy to replace it in a iMac G3?

Thanks already and my excuses for my horrible english-skills
     
Maflynn
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Apr 7, 2009, 09:34 AM
 
Its probably the bearings that are creating the sound, so if you replace the HD you should eliminate the sound
~Mike
     
P
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Apr 7, 2009, 05:48 PM
 
There are two potential sounds: A humming noise, often quite high frequency, from the CRT/PSU/analog board, and a more scratching noise from the HD. Since fixing the humming noise is very difficult, let's try the HD. You need a regular 3.5" IDE HD, UATA or PATA as they're called now (NOT SATA). It should be 128 GB or less.

Replacing the HD is not precisely easy, but it's not terrible either. I've done it, and as long as you're careful with all the screws and take your time, any reasonably handy person with a screwdriver can do it. Here's one guide with pictures that looks accurate.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
FrankLW  (op)
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Apr 11, 2009, 12:48 PM
 
Hi, a last question. What is a good, quiet hard drive capable to put into a iMac G3? ID HD, UATA, ...?

Thanks
     
FrankLW  (op)
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Apr 11, 2009, 12:58 PM
 
Would it be a problem to run a 7200 rpm drive instead of a 5400 one?

Btw: would something like this reduce the noise already? Of wouldn't it fit it into my iMac?
( Last edited by FrankLW; Apr 11, 2009 at 01:40 PM. )
     
seanc
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Apr 11, 2009, 04:28 PM
 
Most modern drives are quiet, Seagate and Western Digital are good examples that I can vouch for,
7200rpm is fine to put in, they spin faster so that the data can be accessed quicker, they sometimes generate more heat though.

All hard drives, as long as they're 3.5" are the same "size". Some may be thinner as hard drive makers advance their technology, but they will never be thicker than the set standard.
     
FrankLW  (op)
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Apr 11, 2009, 04:57 PM
 
Sounds great! I made an offer for a new 'Seagate 160GB P-ATA HDD INTERN', 7200 rpm.
I have a dvd with os X.4 on it. Will it recognise it immediatly? No firmwire updates as needed to upgrade 9 to X ?

Thanks already anyway for the great support on the forum!
     
Langdon
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Apr 11, 2009, 11:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by FrankLW View Post
Sounds great! I made an offer for a new 'Seagate 160GB P-ATA HDD INTERN', 7200 rpm.
I have a dvd with os X.4 on it. Will it recognise it immediatly? No firmwire updates as needed to upgrade 9 to X ?
No, it will not see it as a 160GB drive.
That iMac will only see the first 128Gb of any hard drive. It is a limitation of the computer no matter what OS you are running on it.
     
FrankLW  (op)
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Apr 12, 2009, 03:54 AM
 
Originally Posted by Langdon View Post
No, it will not see it as a 160GB drive.
That iMac will only see the first 128Gb of any hard drive. It is a limitation of the computer no matter what OS you are running on it.
I am aware of that limitation, and it's no problem. I was just wondering if the OS would be installed easily...
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 12, 2009, 04:53 AM
 
As for firmware: You can destroy the iMac by running 10.4 on it without having upgraded to the latest firmware. (It may boot fine a couple of times though.)

In order to upgrade the firmware on these boxes, you MUST have an OS 9 installed - but that's as simple as taking a working OS 9 System Folder and copying it onto the internal disk, then selecting it as the startup folder. (If it's not recognised, it may be necessary to briefly drag the Finder out of the System folder and back in to "bless" it.)



Installing 10.4 on that drive should be no problem whatsoever - provided the DVD drive is working properly (which it may not after eight years).
     
FrankLW  (op)
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Apr 12, 2009, 09:48 AM
 
And I suppose I don't need the firmwire if I would install the PowerPC version of Ubuntu?
     
seanc
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Apr 12, 2009, 10:22 AM
 
I second Speheric Harlot, I actually wrote a similar reply but it got eaten during a forum glitch and I forgot about it.

I would think you don't you need the firmware update if you install the PPC version of Ubuntu, but it's worth doing it anyway, it doesn't cost anything.
     
P
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Apr 14, 2009, 03:43 AM
 
Originally Posted by FrankLW View Post
I am aware of that limitation, and it's no problem. I was just wondering if the OS would be installed easily...
Just make sure to partition the drive first so the install partition is less than 128 GB.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
   
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