What's easier? Replacing pram battery or hard drive and dvd drive?

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/iMac_g4/iMacg4_takeapart.html

Robert

iMac G4 uses thermal paste. be sure to get some thermal paste & replace / add more paste if contact is broken.

I like playing with the hardware.

from looking at the picture of the battery, I think this is the one you need.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/BAA36VPRAM/

My experiences lately with my NEW (to me) 20" iMac G4.

1.25 GHZ PPC 1 GB RAM 160 GB HDD

Purchased on eBay in the orginal box for $349.00 delivered.

When the computer arrive it appeared to be in excellent shape. It turned on and operated without any problems. I really purchased as a project, and intended to restore to as NEW as possible. The iMac arrive with the usual specification for the model (born on date 3/2004). Specification were 1.25 GHZ PPC, 1GB RAM 512/slot.

So I purchased some parts to get started (like I said above everything worked).

1. OWC RAM 1GB/slot for a total of 2BG's ($55.98/Free shipping)

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/2700DDRS1GBA/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/2700DDR1024/

2. OWC PRAM battery ($3.99/free shipping)

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/BAA36VPRAM/

3. OWC LG internal Optical Drive ($45.99/free shipping)

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical-drives/superdrives/imac/g4

4. IOGEAR Bluetooth (ver 2.1) Adapter (USB 2.0 Micro) ($13.99/free shipping)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833139019

5. Apple Wireless Magic Mouse (had a spare)

6. Apple USB Keyboard (newest) (had a spare)

Before installing the parts I cleaned out the dust and grim (nasty dirty), removed the Fan and cleaned (nasty dirty), I also removed the Thermal Grease and applied new Thermal Grease (used Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound). I used a powerful vaccum and a air compressor (120 psi), and damp Q-Tips.

On the outter shell and back of monitor I used SoftScrub/Bleach lite scrub and then rinsed with a damp cotton rag (looks brand NEW). Was sure to remove ALL of the SoftScrub.

On the screen I used iKlear and a iKlear cleaning cloth, screen is in MINT condition.

Honestly the computer looks and operates much better than I had anticipated.

I really didn't need to install a new Optical drive in the 20" but it was a cheap upgrade. And so. I have a iMac G4 17" with the same spec's as the 20" iMac so I opted to install the 20" iMac's Optical drive in the 17" iMac. The 17" would only play CD'd and not DVD's.

After putting everything back together I installed Leopard 10.5.6, then upgraded to 10.5.8. I installed Quicktime 7.7 for Leopard and iTunes 10.6.3. Installed iLife09 (no iMovie), iWorks09, Superduper (latest), and Disk Warrior 4.4,

I chose not to upgrade the HDD simple because it is working fine and I don't have any critical information stored on it.

My final upgrade would be to install a new FAN but I'll wait on that for a while. Since the Fan operates fine it does have a very, very slight whine meaning the bearings are starting to wear a bit. Probably because of the dirt and grime that was on there from before.

I would like to buy a NEW Fan to install but right now the only option is to buy a Apple Fan (part# 622-6215). I wouldn't mind a non OEM Fan but the little fins on the side of the Fan's walls are a concern for proper air flow.

http://www.welovemacs.com/9226215.html ($69.95 + $4.50 shipping).