Games That I MissedMay 19

In what is practically blinding speed for me, I have already started poking at the Power Macintosh G3 desktop that was delivered by relatives over Mother's Day weekend (https://mastodon.social/@GamesMissed/114492147791660882).

It's this lovely example of beige right here. Note the correct Apple case badge in the upper right corner of the front bezel (even my kids, who were born well into this century, feel strongly about this).

#Retrocomputing #PowerPC #Apple

Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19

I was worried about leaked batteries and/or capacitors, but that was until I picked up the computer to carry it outside to blow out the dust. With the sound of rattling inside the case, now I was worried about broken plastic.

The interior plastics are more brittle than dried spaghetti. Seriously, this is awful. Some of these were loose in the case already. The panel to cover the expansion slots just cracked off when I flopped it open and let it rest under its own weight.

Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19
This would be much more fun to work with if I weren't worried that anything not made of metal was about to crack off in a stiff breeze.
Show threadGames That I Missed
Also loose inside the case was this plastic bag containing plastic bits that had broken off before I got in here. Clearly, the relative had been at this at some point in the intervening 27 years.
May 19 at 9:00pmWeb
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19
But aside from the plastics problem, this is surprisingly clean inside! Yes, there are a few dust bunnies, but I was expecting much, much worse.
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19
A close-up of that hard drive. I can read some of this? "Sept 05 Found 9 GB Win95 FAT32" Clearly not the original drive.
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19
This was the sole piece of metal rattling around at the bottom of the case. I can't tell what it's from, but I've stashed it in the sandwich bag in case.
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19
Oh, and I took out the battery and tested it. 3.642 V! It's still good! I can't imagine when this was last used, it can't have been within the past decade, maybe not two?
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19
At this point, I figured it was looking good enough to risk powering it on. Plugged it in, hit the power button on the front, and immediately got the startup "BONG" through the case speaker. Nice. Now, I just needed to try out one of those Mac-to-VGA adapters I bought at the #MITFlea yesterday, paired with the AOC flat panel monitor I picked up off the curb earlier this month.
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19

The first adapter didn't seem to be working (see the attached picture) no matter what DIP setting I tried, but the second proved much better. It's running!

And I don't have a keyboard or mouse attached, so I had no way to shut it down gracefully so I can plug those in. I pulled the power cable from the back, plugged in the ADB input devices that were delivered with the computer, and started it up again.

The OS complained about being shut down improperly, but the system check came out fine.

Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19

This thing is definitely not stock. I'm not familiar with Macs of this era -- I mean, at all -- but I was already pretty sure that this wasn't the original CPU.

Also, this thing is snappy! It's much, much faster than I was expecting.

To anyone reading this: is there a program I can run on this computer that can get me the system information? I'd love to see what this processor is. Without taking off the heat sink, I mean.

Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19

Ok, I found the Apple System Profiler (bear with me, please). It has all that additional RAM beyond its original 64 MB, but this says the CPU is in fact the 300 MHz PowerPC G3. Unless that's just being read from a system file?

I remember using a friend's 233 MHz original iMac, it felt much slower and worse than this.

Show threadLikesOldMacsMay 20
@GamesMissed nice score! 300mhz without needing to dip into virtual memory is indeed pretty zippy. The iMac you remember probably had less cache than this desktop and a slower HDD. Enjoy!!
Show threadJohn ClearyMay 21
@GamesMissed I reckon you’ve forgotten how fast old Macs used to be for Finder etc. I was shocked first time I used an old one to browse files etc too.
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 20

After @mike shared that no, this really was how the CPU daughterboard would have looked in a stock system, I was curious and wanted to check it out. I'd been hesitant yesterday because I didn't want to deal with the potential mess, or even damage, of trying to release the thermal adhesive between the heat sink and the chip.

Well, that wasn't an issue at *all* because the only think holding that heat sink in place, even notionally, was the retaining clip. Otherwise, it was just sliding freely.

Show threadGames That I MissedMay 20
I can't just leave that to stand, so I pulled the board. Any thermal compound or pad had long since desiccated to dust and crumbles. I cleaned it all up with isopropyl alcohol and a few cotton swabs, confirmed that this is the original 300 MHz processor, applied some new thermal compound, and installed it back into place. The heat sink has given up its restless ways and is staying in one place for the foreseeable future.
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 20

Same relative has texted that they also found two printers that went with this Macintosh. Not sure I want to see a late '90s inkjet ever again. But, they also think they have a G4 upgrade in there somewhere as well!

Space is a real consideration in my office; I do need somewhere to put this (and the new G4 tower), or I'm going to need to consider selling them on. Maybe I'll need to get a table at the #Swapfest again, later this year.

Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]May 19
@GamesMissed it could be the original CPU, there were definitely systems that shipped looking exactly like that. Don't know how to pull the CPU type info in 9.2 myself, but unless it shows as a G4 somewhere it's likely just the default.
Show threadGames That I MissedMay 19
@mike Thank you, that's good to know. To my untrained eye it looks like something dropped into a socket after the factory, but I don't actually know much at all about this system (yet).
Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]May 19

@GamesMissed I'm personally most familiar with the Blue & White G3 which has an almost identical CPU and heatsink setup from the factory.

There's a very good photo of one in this thread here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/powermac-g3-blue-and-white-no-monitor-signal.2253022/

PowerMac G3 Blue and White no monitor signal

Hi All, I have picked up a PowerMac G3 this weekend from eBay. It booted into MacOS 9.2 but crashed every time I got to the desktop with no input through mouse or keyboard possible. Booting from a 9.2 CD did let me go into System Profiler to verify all the hardware was present as p[er auction...

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