Anything that can be done to revive an old iMac (PPC)?

Which iMac do you have? The flat screen on an arm, the all in-one flat model from around 2005?

Updating the logic board is not a solution since each model had a unique internal design...I have tried to find a new logic board for my G5 2005 17" and they are very expensive.

Depending on the memory you have installed, you should be able to use a Mac OS X as high as 10.5.8 but that will not get you access to the Mac App Store, you need an Intel iMac to go to 10.6.8 for that access.

Could you be more specific about the Mac? Have you tried to go to the software update to see if there is anything available for your particular model?

Miriam

I think really what my question is, is can I hook up a Mac Mini to this.

If that is the question, you can google "mac mods" and find a lot of sites that show what has been done and, in many cases, how to do it. We don't talk about is much here because the "hosting company" has, in the past, frowned on posts about "unauthorized" tear-downs.

The topic of using an iMac G4 as a display, or otherwise totally modifying it so a Mini G4 or other

could be used with a gutted iMac G4 'look' have been covered since about 10 years ago, or so.

If you think of the iMac G4 as a potential collectors item, any major modification of this type would

take the original hardware function away; if done to the extreme required to try & make it work. A

major re-working leaves little of the original and also changes the design somewhat.

To be able to simply "screen share" will require being able to run Leopard 10.5.8 so the software

to share the iMac G4 screen is available in the OS X. However, then you are faced with still

having to run Two Macs just to have one used as a vanity piece; and the iMac G4 has to fully

function if it is used this way. There is no separate support for its display outside the GPU on its

logic board; so the display cannot be used independent. No separate power supply, & so on.

And parts to keep a vanity piece in running condition are increasingly scarce; so are sources for

qualified repairs so the remaining stocks of re-furbished original logic boards, etc can be reused.

There are no replacement parts being manufactured to restore the iMac G4 USB2.0 or earlier.

As a collectable, one has to consider which iMac G4 year build model you'd want to keep original

and then seek out a prime example in pristine condition, with original box, papers, and accessories.

Then consider a different computer for actual modern computing needs, with its own display.

The search engine approach to find out the topic spread over years of the same question asking,

may yield a variety of web pages to read through nowadays. To major re-work an iMac G4 is

well beyond most casual users abilities or practical effort, and it leaves the iMac G4 unoriginal.

If the iMac G4 has a processor of a speed greater 867MHz it can run (install direct from DVD)

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and be updated to 10.5.8; internal upgrades in software and replace

existing hardware bits, RAM (upgrade to max supported) another hard disk drive, perhaps a

superdrive (if it only had a Combo) still leave it as a PowerPC G4. It needs to have this system

configuration to support the display, because the hardware is integrated. Screen Sharing, as

part of Leopard 10.5, and running two fully functional computers, is how it can be done.

Read up on the limits of your iMac G4 (700MHz/800MHz/1.0GHz/1.25GHz) and note the last

models with USB2.0 (15"/17"/20") are the most usable of the entire series; & can run 10.5.8.

Extensive re-working of the hardware to otherwise use the iMac G4 as a display, or to use it

with a different processing unit so as to use the display as it looked originally, is major effort.

Sounds easy to think one could put a Mini in the half-dome, and somehow run the LCD panel

from it; but there is no separate graphic support for that panel, once the iMac G4 is gutted.

You really can't keep the unit original and use it as a display, without screen sharing; and that

requires running two complete computers, or making a frankenfish Mac or hack, otherwise.

To have a working iMac G4 into the future is difficult enough, by itself. Stock up on parts...

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

You could also play DVD movie media on there, and if the display is a 16:9 ratio

(17" or 20" model) that would be approximate to a full-perspective theater screen.

Some people who have recipes or other libraries of information, find these do not

use much processor capacity; so there are several re-purposes for these devices.

With the older OS X (and if dual boot Mac OS 9.2 Classic) and their vintage applications

these machines can still do quite a bit; when new, most did not put them to their limits.

However, as time goes on the great applications of that era are harder to find, and sites

where original free-ware and other fine third-party applications or utilities are also gone.

Though I have three iMac G4 17" 1.25GHz models, only one is currently functional;

one was acquired as potential parts, and another may need a new power supply. I

also have a Mini G4 1.5GHz, an iBook G4 12" 1.33GHz, and MacBook 1.83 CoreDuo.

Anyway, the deal with these great machines is part of the reason why some of us

hope to keep them working; or find a reason to restore them. To locate purposeful

software of the era is part of that mission, and part of the purpose in restoration.

PS: after a PowerPC or other mac sits around awhile, the PRAM or clock battery goes

dead and then it will likely require a replacement before it will start & run correctly. The

3.6v. 1/2AA Lithium battery is a tedious item to replace, and while inside one of these

iMac G4 computers that far, other items could be replaced or upgraded within reason.

There are some fair only guides and how-to's in various sites online for reference.

Mr Totes iMac G4 take apart:

http://www.mrtotes.co.uk/page1/page1.html

iMac G4 Take apart for Drive and RAM upgrades (also battery)

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/imac_g4/imacg4_takeapart.html

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

edited

So perhaps its just a cool music player.

That has happened to a fair number of G4 iMacs and kept then in service. A friend found his old G4 wouldn't even run the software his teenaged son used, so passing it down was not going to work. However, he had a three-season "indoor/outdoor" patio where they entertained a lot so the g4 ended up being the jukebox in the party area. Old versions of iTunes still play music, and he loaded a big collection of CDs on it, connected a $50 pair of nice external speakers, set up the visualizer to make cool patterns, and his party animal was ready to go.

The funny thing is that non-Mac people would see his G4 with its dancing screen graphics and ask if it was something just released!

I've seen a number of post here over the years where people have done the same thing.