Found on Yahoo Auctions, cheap g3 iMacs

[jerodhusvar]

I was cruising through Yahoo auctions, which is usually good for a laugh, and I came across this auction: http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/86558690?aucview=0x13 Heck, you can get a G3 iMac for $50 +$65 shipping. I wish I had the money to buy the whole lot of them.

jjh

Ok, it seems it would only be a a GREAT deal if you could negotiate to buy them all. Hmmm.... I wonder...

 

[Graeme43]

looks like theres dulls to replace them

they should of got G5's

 

[Padawan]

Seems like a nice deal to me, and if I didn't already have another classic Mac on the way, I might spring for one. I paid just about the same amount on eBay for my new Power Macintosh G3 All-In-One, which has similar specs (but a bit more expandability). Good deals can be found on the auction sites as long as you're careful and know what to look for. Can't wait 'til mine arrives next week.

 

[rberry88]

I just bought one of these eMacs from the Yahoo auction. I paid $60 + $65 for shipping/insuring and it will be here this Thursday. Will be good to use as a playtoy to sit next to my shiny new 17" iMac.

rberry88

 

[jerodhusvar]

I just bought one of these eMacs from the Yahoo auction. I paid $60 + $65 for shipping/insuring and it will be here this Thursday. Will be good to use as a playtoy to sit next to my shiny new 17" iMac.

rberry88

I hope you just made a typo and know you bought an iMac and not an eMac.

Glad someone found the link useful!

jjh

 

[rberry88]

LOL, yep I know I bought an iMac but when I was typing my message I was on my new iMac (that doesn't look like the old ones) and thought of eMac (because of the design) when I was typing.

Anywhoo, for the price I couldn't pass it up and they even e-mailed to tell me they were giving me the DOA guarantee so at least it should work for something.

rberry88

 

[jerodhusvar]

Anywhoo, for the price I couldn't pass it up and they even e-mailed to tell me they were giving me the DOA guarantee so at least it should work for something.

rberry88

Yeah, the price isn't bad, at all. And the machine has a LOT of potential. You can load it up with memory once you upgrade the firmware on the machine. It'll run OS X, if slowly. But you can also buy a 600mhz Sonnet Harmoni upgrade for it for about $350 that gives you more beef and also firewire.

jjh

 

[rberry88]

Okay, newbie question if you don't mind.

Could you point me to instructions on how to upgrade the firmware and what I might need. The machine will be here tomorrow (Thurs.) and I'll have some free time this weekend to play with it.

rberry88

 

[jerodhusvar]

Okay, newbie question if you don't mind.

Could you point me to instructions on how to upgrade the firmware and what I might need. The machine will be here tomorrow (Thurs.) and I'll have some free time this weekend to play with it.

rberry88

No worries about newbie questions, mate, we weren't all born with experiance (or spelling ability!)

I would start here: http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/imac.shtml it should give you all of the information you ever want or need about your Rev. A. iMac, or as link to someplace that has it.

jjh

 

[jerodhusvar]

Oh, and furthermore...

Oh, something else you're probably going to want to spend $10 is a 4mb VRAM Upgrade. It'll improve your video performance. You can get them on eBay: http://search.ebay.com/imac-vram_W0QQsokeywordredirectZ1QQfromZR8 for next to nothing.

jjh

 

[rberry88]

Cool, thanks for the info. I bought the VRAM upgrade from Ebay for $8.00 + $4.00 shipping and it should be here Friday, gotta love "Buy it Now".

Looks to be a fun project for the weekend.

rberry88

 

[rberry88]

Okay, ran into a little problem. I got the old iMac (233mhz), its got OS9.2 installed and it boots up and seems to run fine. The problem is there are some applications that are locked and I don't have a password (I contacted the seller but she said I would have to wait a couple weeks until the person with the passwords come back to get them). I don't have 9.2 install discs because my new iMac that I bought 2 weeks ago only came with the normal OSX recover/re-install CD's.

Is there a way to reformat the hard drive without removing or messing up the OS (9.2) on this old iMac so I can start fresh or am I going to have to buy OS 9.2 somewhere and then reformat?

rberry88

 

[jerodhusvar]

Okay, ran into a little problem. I got the old iMac (233mhz), its got OS9.2 installed and it boots up and seems to run fine. The problem is there are some applications that are locked and I don't have a password (I contacted the seller but she said I would have to wait a couple weeks until the person with the passwords come back to get them). I don't have 9.2 install discs because my new iMac that I bought 2 weeks ago only came with the normal OSX recover/re-install CD's.

Is there a way to reformat the hard drive without removing or messing up the OS (9.2) on this old iMac so I can start fresh or am I going to have to buy OS 9.2 somewhere and then reformat?

rberry88

Sorry, been out of the office for a few days, did you find a work-around for this, yet? You should be able to install OS X without wiping the drive. You just do an "upgrade." (and yes, I know, I have, in the past, said never to upgrade, but if you want to keep OS9 and have OS X, this is the path you take.

jjh

 

[rberry88]

Taken care of?? Yes. The proper way?? Not sure.

I e-mailed Broderbund Software (makers of FoolProof software which was what was locking the stuff) and they sent me directions on how to disable and un-install their software without the password. Fine so far but the process required an OS Install CD to completely disable/remove the FoolProof software so I used the Install/Restore CD that I got with my new iMac 2 weeks ago and it went fine. I wasn't able to install OS X onto the hard drive but I was able keep the OS 9.2 on there but now without the FoolProof software locking everything.

I think I just confused myself but its all taken care of and I upraded the VRAM with an additional 4MB, a new stick of 256MB RAM and a new 80GB Hard drive. It purrs superbly, especially for a 233MHz machine.

rberry88

 

[jerodhusvar]

Seems like a reasonable soloution to me. Are you planning on loading OS X on it? If you are, go over to www.fastermacs.com and check their inventory. They did have Panther media for $79.00, and the older revisions for even less. They had 10.1.5 for $6!

Glad this little project is working out so well for you! I keep thinking I am going to upgrade mine, but right now it is primarily being used by my 2 year old, so I can't really justify upgrading it to 600mhz.

jjh