HD problem in an old Power Mac G3, can you help me please?

Hello, i just made a search but i coudnt find a solution for my ancient Mac so here I am:
Specs:
Power Macintosh G3 233Mhz RAM: 64Mb, 4Gb HD. (or 3Gb, dont remember) ATA 0, v 3.08.
File System: HSF+ , OS: 8.1
My Disk Is having troubles, and as I dont have any other Mac I have to make some questions:
1) Is there any disk doctor or disk repair tool that boots from a floppy or CD?

If there is no bootable solution:
1) Is my HD a conventional ATA drive (compatible with PCs HD) ?
2) Can I install a new disk in my Mac, but a PC IDE Disk?
3) How do I dismantle my mac?
I saw there are only two screws, and as I take them, I dont get how to take out the plastics in order to change its HD.

I tried to repair it using Norton Disk Doctor, but as the disk I try to repair is the one in which the OS 8.1 is booting it cant repair all the errors.
I can Boot the OS, but I have problemas with files which dont save or just dissapear. As This Mac has no internet connection, its not a virus and I wanna check the disk.

Mainly, I do all these questions cos its something particular of this Mac and I couldnt find it neither in Wikipedia or just "googling". Sorry for bothering you. I dont have any iodea of Macs, I repair only PCs but its an extraordinarial case and Im in a country (argentina) in which an Apple technical Service is very difficult to find or very expensive.


PD: what i wanna do is to install a PC IDE PATA Disk, install Mac 8.1 on it, and from there using Norton Disk Doctor, repair the original Mac Disk.

Thanks for all and I hope you can help me.

Powered by AMD said:

1) Is my HD a conventional ATA drive (compatible with PCs HD) ?
2) Can I install a new disk in my Mac, but a PC IDE Disk?
3) How do I dismantle my mac?

Click to expand...

1. Yes
2. No such thing as "Mac" IDE or "PC" IDE. An IDE drive is just that, an IDE drive.
3. try here:

http://www.macopz.com/columns/imacrepair/disassembly.html

thank you very very much.
an other question BTW, can I install an 80 Gb ATA drive? or there is a size limit for attaching a HD to this old G3 ?

EDIT: I just checked the link for Disassembly my G3 and its for an iMac. This is a Power PC Power Macintosh, so it doesnt help me at all.
so the only thing i need now is a guide to Disassembly my Power PC 233Mhz.
it has an horizontal white case. thanks for answering !

Powered by AMD said:

thank you very very much.
an other question BTW, can I install an 80 Gb ATA drive? or there is a size limit for attaching a HD to this old G3 ?

Click to expand...

Only restriction is partitioning either 7 or 8GB for OSX and updating firmware for OSX. I attached an 80Gb HD to my iMac 233MHz after that and it works great.

yep, the problem is that it isnt an iMac, its a Power PC G3 horizontal case (older I guess)

Powered by AMD said:

yep, the problem is that it isnt an iMac, its a Power PC G3 horizontal case (older I guess)

Click to expand...

So partitioning for OSX and firmware updates ONLY apply to iMacs?

here's a guide to disassemble your mac: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~rakerman/g3-osx.html

im sorry to bother you again, or somebody, but the last link says how to install a Mac OSX in the G3 i have. I doesent say how to Disassemble it.

Besides, i dont wanna install OSX, the Power PC has only 64 Mb RAM, 233 Mhz CPU
and I have no money to upgrade it. Itll contiune with OS 8.1

Thanks and Im looking forward to get a link to Disassembly the Power G3, cos I really dont have a clue what to do besides taking out the two screws and looking at it trying to remove the panels

is this your Mac or this?

try this link out for disassembly:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50019

Its The FIRST one. the desktop beige one. Thanks, I couldnt find it nowhere.
Im reading those PDFs and it doesent say how to Disassemble my Power PC

You are really helping me, thanks deus ex, and BTW, great RPG your name´s inspiration.

Now googling I found this link too:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g3/stats/powermac_g3_233_dt.html
about my Mac.

New Info I found:
http://www.answers.com/topic/outrigger-macintosh
The case has an "Outrigger" format, so what I need is to know how to disassembly these outrigger cases
Ill try to send an email to apple.

I FOUND IT !!!!
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50122
there is a PDF with the info I needed. Thanks people, you are great, i couldnt have done it without your help !

Topic Closed Please.

I have a PowerMac like this but in the All-In-One style (basically an outrigger with a built in display) that runs 10.2 just fine. It's a 266MHz with 96MB of RAM. Also, PowerPC isnt a computer, its a processor type. Finally, the size limit per drive is 128GB, and you MUST have a partition in the first 8GB (I usually do 7GB) to install OSX, and you should have it in Classic too. The reason for this is that the IDE controller can only read startup files from the first 8GB of the drive. If a startup file leaves the first 8GB of space, the machine wont boot.

True it's the CPU that is a Power PC but people often refer to them as the Power PC Macs as all new Macs are now Intel.

This is a very old thread. The Original Poster is not even a member here any longer.