Side Note: the iSight model will accept SSD's without any fuss, the older models are very picky about SSDs. Also the iSight model has a button cell battery, on the back of the friggin logic board, so you have to take the enter logic board out to replace it. Any time you open your Imac G5 replace the battery!
I agree, the G5 iMacs (up to mid-2005) were relatively easy to work on. I used to work for a local AAR (Apple Authorized Repair) store and we got these in frequently with power supply and logic board issues. The early revisions, they had you loosen a bunch of screws holding a metal wrap-around frame that held the logic board, hard drive, power supply and such. You basically disconnected all the smaller assemblies (hard drive, RAM, Airport card, etc.), leaving the frame holding just the logic board. That whole assembly went back to Apple; just a direct swap out of the bad part for the replacement. The replacement parts usually got to the shop within 2 days time, so the turn-a-round for repairs was very fast. In the next revision, around mid-2005 (I think), Apple decided to save costs and had us keep the metal frame. All the replaceable parts were sent separately and swapped out. It was again a pretty modular design machine, but the procedures to replace parts was changed for the sake of saving money here and there.
I have an iMac G5. It is one of the smaller ones. Besides not having the camera, it is a totally maxed out one. I found it in the basement of one of my resident halls. The display did not work, so I decided to replace the caps myself. After completely botching the job (literally some of the caps are not even attached) I plugged it in for kicks and giggles and the thing sprung to life. Anyway, it still works and it is a remarkably well engineered device.
Own a 20-inch G5 iMac that, I love. Well, I really have three (two are for spare parts because, over time my monitor display chip dies). The one, I am currently using is in mint condition and in addition, to having an Airport card it also came with Apple's blue-tooth 1.0 (smile...smile).
Kind of a janky idea, but who knows. Maybe try installing OS X on a known functional Mac and setting it to turn on after power loss, throw the drive in the broken one, and see if it’ll want to start itself up? Worked for me on my 2014 Mac mini once, but idk if it’d work in your case. Worth a shot maybe?
Yes, I fully agree. Today, what most people forget is that when these were being sold new, everything was a build-to-order option. So, on my 20-inch G5 iMac you had to pay extra not only for more RAM and a larger hard drive but, also for an installed Airport card and for a factory upgrade with Blue-tooth. This is why, Apple made this model easy for the average home user to be able to, just open its back and perform most of their own upgrades (smile...smile).
I always thought all G5 iMacs had vertical ports, and starting with Intel they went horizontal. I was mistaken! We had a lab of G5 iMacs in high school. Ahh the nostalgia!
The iSight models are a nightmare to open. Refrence my iMac G5 teardown livestream from 2018 when I got mine, it took about 20 minutes just to get the cover off the stupid thing. Thankfully, it gets easier the more times its opened. If you are looking to buy one, the iSight models are more reliable than the original models. Weird thing is that the iSight camera has a firewire type connector, but is actually USB.
Own both a 20-inch G5 iMac and a 24-inch Intel iMac learned that the larger models teen to be more reliable. Keep my G5 iMac on OS X 10.4 Tiger, and my Intel iMac running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. So, I can have fun with "Front Row" and Apple's white remote control (smile...smile).
If you use Apple's method to remove the front bezel of an iSight iMac, it will take a long time and you will struggle. There is quick and easy way to pop off the front bezel of all iSight iMacs in under 30 secs. I may do a video of it one day.
A good video Steve. That power supply you pulled out was universal to all iSight iMac 17" and 20" models (G5 and Intel), except for one iMac 17" Educational model which used a square power supply. So you can test one good power supply in virtually most of your iSight iMacs. The iMac 24" used a different power supply altogether. There is quick and easy way to pop off the front bezel of all iSight iMacs in under 30 secs. I may do a video of it one day.
Steve, are you getting trickle voltage (+5VDC) anywhere? If so, and you're getting higher level voltage elsewhere on that PSU, I'd say the power supply may be good. Is there an SMC or PMMU reset button on the logic board, maybe nearby a lithium 2032 battery? Try replacing the coin cell, press the reset button and then the power button. Even without RAM, it should still come to life.
The Beige stuff is your bread and butter, but this is an interesting seasonsing. Especially since these computers aren't supposed to be easily servicable. Keep'em coming!
back in the day when i was a high school student this is my dream computer, it just fits the design along with the ipod. i bought one working but the capacitors are bulging a bit. all capacitors are replaced and using it as a backup storage for old music files. with a small white acrylic table it perfectly blends in the house and yes since it's kinda rare now where i live so i think i have like 3 more of them just in case
Great video!! I got a 2006 iMac G5, I decided to converted it on a monitor but it was a nightmare to open the case and remove all the internal parts. Either way I made it and now I'm waiting to receive a LVDS board and inverter board for 2 lamps for the LCD display. Greetings from Colombia.
I got a broken iMac G5 motherboard AGES ago, just as a parts donor. I eventually reused the CPU heatsink as a cooling heatsink for precision power amplifier I designed to power and provide signal reference for a Attitude Director-Indicator... Basically an "artificial horizon" instrument out of an aircraft. I'm using it to build an instrument panel for the game Kerbal Space Program. I'm using the heatsink to cool the power transistors that drive the power + reference signal. It takes a 400Hz sine wave from the reference oscillator and amplifies it to 120vac. The ADI is actually powered by the reference signal, in that the sensors are referenced to the 120vac 400Hz power supply.
I have always, loved the line of glossy white iMac systems from the 2000's. Currently, I own a 20-inch G4 iMac, 20-inch G5 iMac, and 24-inch Intel iMac. However, when Apple went to a silver design, I lost interest. With the only exception being the 2017, "space gray" 27-inch iMac Pro model which, I think also looks great and would some day ilke to add to my collection (smile...smile).
i just got a pristine 20" g5 isight 2 weeks ago, after searching for more than a year for exactly that model and yesterday i installed the owc 500gb ssd kit with the 2.5" to 3.5" adapter. works like a charm for retro gaming and is actually usable even nowadays with morphos. next week the 4gb ram upgrade from the existing 2gb module will arrive. i hope that 4gb module will work. even after 17 years its an amazing machine, beside the disassembling pita. your video made me smile as i found it today, just one day after i did basically the same ;)
Nice video! My aunt and uncle had an original iMac G5 17" and after a couple years the capacitor issue plagued it. They ended up replacing it with an Intel Mac Mini since it wasn't worth spending $300 or so to fix it at the time. I ended up with it, along with its box, but it's definitely not worth the hassle at this point. I ended up getting a working iMac G5 of the same model at a yard sale for cheap a few years back, and about two years ago got a 24" 2006 iMac from a coworker for cheap too. Those still work great! The 24" is a monster, so heavy!
the nice thing about the iMac G5 is that you can use USB floppy drives if your going for a bit of a retro feel. and if you have a dead iMac G5 best case is to throw a Raspberry Pi into it, hook up the monitor and run connecting cables to the back of the case , though hooking up a switch would be interesting. then just mount the USB type C connection and your off to the races.
nice collection! i got a 2.0 20 inch ALS model a few weeks ago that was suffering from a roach infestation (20+) and a smokers lung. it took a lot of work, but its in near-perfect condition now and i love it dearly. i never cared much for these plastic imacs until i had one in my hands.
I’m subscribing! I’m Steve number 4. I like to think of you as Steve number 3 after the two Steves that founded Apple. Nice video. These computers though shipped with way too little RAM and thats why Apple increased ram rapidly after the Aluminum was introduced
My worker took me to the computer dept at a local electronics store so I could geek out and teach her about what to get for her next computer. They had the M1 iMac there too. So tempting! If only I had several thousand dollars at hand... lol I actually had some G4 MDD towers (3 of them) for a few months but their previous owner wanted them back, he's getting old and wants all his favourite stuff close by I think, even though only one of the towers had a working power supply. And none of them chimed.
Yes The 20"iSight G5 Share the Same Case as The 2006 intel 20" Just The bottom inside of the front Bezel the metal inter frame ram slot openings are different you have to swap it with the other metal frame that what I had to due when I got The 2006 intel front case Bezel replacement for my G5 iMac 20" iSight front cover Bezel Great Video Steve
Interesting collection there, but DAMNIT I want to attend VCF East at some point, but it's too short notice for my to come down from Boston this year... Bah... I thought it was later in the year.
I have a dead iMac G5 that also was dumped the only response it has to the power button is turning one of the diagnostic lights on and making the CPU slowly heat up over time
I had to replace the power supply in my 2.1GHz iSight G5 to get it to work so I guess the power supplies are prone to dying? Fortunately white Intel iMac PSUs seem to work as replacements.
Have both a glossy white 20-inch G5 iMac and a glossy white 24-inch Intel iMac. While, I open and upgrade my G5 as needed prefer to pay someone whenever, my Intel model needs an upgrade or repair (smile...smile).
My 2006 Intel iMac blew itself up, tripping the fusebox. Must've been a batch of the bad caps they had lying around. Was out of warranty so I trashed it (can't solder to save my life)
For some reason, Mac OS X is really good at server-oriented tasks. It can RAID together tons of completely separate storage blocks, handle multiple cores, and manage VMs at high speeds. I wonder if it's possible to fully cluster Macs together with this.
I’ve heard that the G5 17” and 20” LCD panel can be used on the 17” and 20” iMac G4 models. I don’t doubt that there might be some screw holes or a bracket that need to be swapped.. but electrically, it’s just plug and play. Can anyone or @Mac84 confirm this? Pretty please? 🙏
It varies a lot, at least in the UK. The time of year, the number of other G5s for sale etc. Plus, some people think because it cost them £1500 when new, it must be worth £150 or more 15 years later. But an iMac G5 can be had for £30 to £50 if you're patient.
Side Note: the iSight model will accept SSD's without any fuss, the older models are very picky about SSDs. Also the iSight model has a button cell battery, on the back of the friggin logic board, so you have to take the enter logic board out to replace it. Any time you open your Imac G5 replace the battery!
the wild EEP in -9:00- really got me
The iMacGuy!
I agree, the G5 iMacs (up to mid-2005) were relatively easy to work on. I used to work for a local AAR (Apple Authorized Repair) store and we got these in frequently with power supply and logic board issues. The early revisions, they had you loosen a bunch of screws holding a metal wrap-around frame that held the logic board, hard drive, power supply and such. You basically disconnected all the smaller assemblies (hard drive, RAM, Airport card, etc.), leaving the frame holding just the logic board. That whole assembly went back to Apple; just a direct swap out of the bad part for the replacement. The replacement parts usually got to the shop within 2 days time, so the turn-a-round for repairs was very fast.
In the next revision, around mid-2005 (I think), Apple decided to save costs and had us keep the metal frame. All the replaceable parts were sent separately and swapped out. It was again a pretty modular design machine, but the procedures to replace parts was changed for the sake of saving money here and there.
I have an iMac G5. It is one of the smaller ones. Besides not having the camera, it is a totally maxed out one. I found it in the basement of one of my resident halls. The display did not work, so I decided to replace the caps myself. After completely botching the job (literally some of the caps are not even attached) I plugged it in for kicks and giggles and the thing sprung to life. Anyway, it still works and it is a remarkably well engineered device.
Own a 20-inch G5 iMac that, I love. Well, I really have three (two are for spare parts because, over time my monitor display chip dies). The one, I am currently using is in mint condition and in addition, to having an Airport card it also came with Apple's blue-tooth 1.0 (smile...smile).
Kind of a janky idea, but who knows. Maybe try installing OS X on a known functional Mac and setting it to turn on after power loss, throw the drive in the broken one, and see if it’ll want to start itself up? Worked for me on my 2014 Mac mini once, but idk if it’d work in your case. Worth a shot maybe?
I love the internals of these early G5 iMacs, such a good looking board design. And most people will never see it.
Yes, I fully agree. Today, what most people forget is that when these were being sold new, everything was a build-to-order option. So, on my 20-inch G5 iMac you had to pay extra not only for more RAM and a larger hard drive but, also for an installed Airport card and for a factory upgrade with Blue-tooth. This is why, Apple made this model easy for the average home user to be able to, just open its back and perform most of their own upgrades (smile...smile).
@@TheBasementChannel unfortunately I got to see it when caps started leaking 😢
I always thought all G5 iMacs had vertical ports, and starting with Intel they went horizontal. I was mistaken! We had a lab of G5 iMacs in high school. Ahh the nostalgia!
The iSight models are a nightmare to open. Refrence my iMac G5 teardown livestream from 2018 when I got mine, it took about 20 minutes just to get the cover off the stupid thing. Thankfully, it gets easier the more times its opened. If you are looking to buy one, the iSight models are more reliable than the original models. Weird thing is that the iSight camera has a firewire type connector, but is actually USB.
I never could get my first gen intel put back together. Off to recycling it went
Yes, all good points Mike!
Own both a 20-inch G5 iMac and a 24-inch Intel iMac learned that the larger models teen to be more reliable. Keep my G5 iMac on OS X 10.4 Tiger, and my Intel iMac running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. So, I can have fun with "Front Row" and Apple's white remote control (smile...smile).
If you use Apple's method to remove the front bezel of an iSight iMac, it will take a long time and you will struggle. There is quick and easy way to pop off the front bezel of all iSight iMacs in under 30 secs. I may do a video of it one day.
@@aa-au you should. I'd be interested to see how you do it!
Love the Hal shirt. One of my all time favorite movies...
A good video Steve. That power supply you pulled out was universal to all iSight iMac 17" and 20" models (G5 and Intel), except for one iMac 17" Educational model which used a square power supply. So you can test one good power supply in virtually most of your iSight iMacs. The iMac 24" used a different power supply altogether. There is quick and easy way to pop off the front bezel of all iSight iMacs in under 30 secs. I may do a video of it one day.
Steve, are you getting trickle voltage (+5VDC) anywhere? If so, and you're getting higher level voltage elsewhere on that PSU, I'd say the power supply may be good. Is there an SMC or PMMU reset button on the logic board, maybe nearby a lithium 2032 battery? Try replacing the coin cell, press the reset button and then the power button. Even without RAM, it should still come to life.
The Beige stuff is your bread and butter, but this is an interesting seasonsing. Especially since these computers aren't supposed to be easily servicable. Keep'em coming!
back in the day when i was a high school student this is my dream computer, it just fits the design along with the ipod. i bought one working but the capacitors are bulging a bit. all capacitors are replaced and using it as a backup storage for old music files. with a small white acrylic table it perfectly blends in the house and yes since it's kinda rare now where i live so i think i have like 3 more of them just in case
The subtle optical disc slot placement diference ffreminds me of the also subtle external difference between an iPhone 4 and a 4s.
Great video!! I got a 2006 iMac G5, I decided to converted it on a monitor but it was a nightmare to open the case and remove all the internal parts. Either way I made it and now I'm waiting to receive a LVDS board and inverter board for 2 lamps for the LCD display. Greetings from Colombia.
I got a broken iMac G5 motherboard AGES ago, just as a parts donor. I eventually reused the CPU heatsink as a cooling heatsink for precision power amplifier I designed to power and provide signal reference for a Attitude Director-Indicator... Basically an "artificial horizon" instrument out of an aircraft. I'm using it to build an instrument panel for the game Kerbal Space Program. I'm using the heatsink to cool the power transistors that drive the power + reference signal. It takes a 400Hz sine wave from the reference oscillator and amplifies it to 120vac. The ADI is actually powered by the reference signal, in that the sensors are referenced to the 120vac 400Hz power supply.
I have always, loved the line of glossy white iMac systems from the 2000's. Currently, I own a 20-inch G4 iMac, 20-inch G5 iMac, and 24-inch Intel iMac. However, when Apple went to a silver design, I lost interest. With the only exception being the 2017, "space gray" 27-inch iMac Pro model which, I think also looks great and would some day ilke to add to my collection (smile...smile).
i just got a pristine 20" g5 isight 2 weeks ago, after searching for more than a year for exactly that model and yesterday i installed the owc 500gb ssd kit with the 2.5" to 3.5" adapter. works like a charm for retro gaming and is actually usable even nowadays with morphos. next week the 4gb ram upgrade from the existing 2gb module will arrive. i hope that 4gb module will work. even after 17 years its an amazing machine, beside the disassembling pita. your video made me smile as i found it today, just one day after i did basically the same ;)
Nice video!
My aunt and uncle had an original iMac G5 17" and after a couple years the capacitor issue plagued it. They ended up replacing it with an Intel Mac Mini since it wasn't worth spending $300 or so to fix it at the time. I ended up with it, along with its box, but it's definitely not worth the hassle at this point.
I ended up getting a working iMac G5 of the same model at a yard sale for cheap a few years back, and about two years ago got a 24" 2006 iMac from a coworker for cheap too. Those still work great! The 24" is a monster, so heavy!
the nice thing about the iMac G5 is that you can use USB floppy drives if your going for a bit of a retro feel. and if you have a dead iMac G5 best case is to throw a Raspberry Pi into it, hook up the monitor and run connecting cables to the back of the case , though hooking up a switch would be interesting. then just mount the USB type C connection and your off to the races.
nice collection! i got a 2.0 20 inch ALS model a few weeks ago that was suffering from a roach infestation (20+) and a smokers lung. it took a lot of work, but its in near-perfect condition now and i love it dearly. i never cared much for these plastic imacs until i had one in my hands.
That's a nightmarish visual with the roach infestation, thanks. Out of curiosity how did you get rid of them?
Hey you should try this: lick the power supply!
Man, those G5 mainboards were sexy
You’ve really upped your production values, and the seamless transitions and clever positioning of the iMacs makes for a fun watch. Great stuff.
I’m subscribing! I’m Steve number 4. I like to think of you as Steve number 3 after the two Steves that founded Apple. Nice video. These computers though shipped with way too little RAM and thats why Apple increased ram rapidly after the Aluminum was introduced
My worker took me to the computer dept at a local electronics store so I could geek out and teach her about what to get for her next computer. They had the M1 iMac there too. So tempting! If only I had several thousand dollars at hand... lol I actually had some G4 MDD towers (3 of them) for a few months but their previous owner wanted them back, he's getting old and wants all his favourite stuff close by I think, even though only one of the towers had a working power supply. And none of them chimed.
I hope to be a VCF South later this year, to see what's there, or maybe next year! Love seeing ANY mass being taken apart and fixed.
I do like the imac videos so keep them going
Yeah, I had to replace the hard drive in a G5 with the weird foil crap, that wasn't fun.
Yes The 20"iSight G5 Share the Same Case as The 2006 intel 20" Just The bottom inside of the front Bezel the metal inter frame ram slot openings are different you have to swap it with the other metal frame that what I had to due when I got The 2006 intel front case Bezel replacement for my G5 iMac 20" iSight front cover Bezel Great Video Steve
I think the shirt is trying to tell you, you have a problem with too many iMacs lol. Another great video Steve :)
Interesting collection there, but DAMNIT I want to attend VCF East at some point, but it's too short notice for my to come down from Boston this year... Bah... I thought it was later in the year.
I have a dead iMac G5 that also was dumped
the only response it has to the power button is turning one of the diagnostic lights on and making the CPU slowly heat up over time
I had to replace the power supply in my 2.1GHz iSight G5 to get it to work so I guess the power supplies are prone to dying? Fortunately white Intel iMac PSUs seem to work as replacements.
Nice!
I have a G5 iMac and so selfishly I’d love to watch a livestream of you fixing it
Great video! I’d love to see you work on that other iMac.
Oh God any blown capacitors or power supply issues g5 cough imac
thanks for the info!
I just did a hard drive swap in a plastic Intel and yeah - not easy to open.
Have both a glossy white 20-inch G5 iMac and a glossy white 24-inch Intel iMac. While, I open and upgrade my G5 as needed prefer to pay someone whenever, my Intel model needs an upgrade or repair (smile...smile).
You want some steak with that whine? LOL
leds WERE LIGHTING UP on the right side of the machine when you were attempting to power it on...
My 2006 Intel iMac blew itself up, tripping the fusebox. Must've been a batch of the bad caps they had lying around. Was out of warranty so I trashed it (can't solder to save my life)
iMaxxed out! Sweet
Always remember: You can never have to many iMacs.
Yes you can. I had hundreds of iMacs at one stage, and had to strip a lot of them and dump the bad ones, unfortunately.
For some reason, Mac OS X is really good at server-oriented tasks. It can RAID together tons of completely separate storage blocks, handle multiple cores, and manage VMs at high speeds. I wonder if it's possible to fully cluster Macs together with this.
It’s a shame they didn’t come in different colours. White is so early 200s.
Apple and the varying degrees of user serviceability is simply mind-boggling.
the g5 I Mac was a step backward from the g4
I really hate how Apple had those exposed PSUs. They should have been fined for that.
I’ve heard that the G5 17” and 20” LCD panel can be used on the 17” and 20” iMac G4 models. I don’t doubt that there might be some screw holes or a bracket that need to be swapped.. but electrically, it’s just plug and play.
Can anyone or @Mac84 confirm this? Pretty please? 🙏
Uh you can see dark sploches on the screen. Meaning that it was smashed.
I haveTwo nice iMac late 2006 17" core2duo .t7400 .and One big 24" 2.16 GHz late 2006. I would like to sell the two more Little 😅
Did you ever find out if replacing the battery was enough to get it to boot? 🤔
more digging please
How much are imac g5s worth now.
It varies a lot, at least in the UK. The time of year, the number of other G5s for sale etc. Plus, some people think because it cost them £1500 when new, it must be worth £150 or more 15 years later. But an iMac G5 can be had for £30 to £50 if you're patient.
Will Intel iMacs run DOS?
I don’t care how old I get, I am not giving up my Sierra games.
How the hell am I suppose to know which iMac is power PC or intel
It’s explained in the video…
(Look under the foot for the model # and google it)
... Said no one ever!
Leopard won't work on the G5.
Yes it will. Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" is the latest supported version on later iMac G4 and all iMac G5 systems.
give me to me or you must to put a bomb on the imac
There is like 5 imacs
Please give me one ☝️ 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢