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Apple iMac G3

(last updated: 07-Jul-2017)

Operational Status

Configuration

As acquired

Major Events

Still To Do

Description

Acquisition

18-Oct-2007

Purchased from Brigham Young Universtity during today's surplus sale at the old dairy building. Price was only $25, which included a Pro Keyboard and Pro Mouse!

Disk imaging

18-Oct-2007

First, I'm going to image the disk, though. I don't want to make any mistakes when I first power up the system, and potentially wipe out any key software components. I don't have any installation discs so I need to protect what might already be on the hard disk (assuming it hasn't been wiped clean).

Since the 40GB disk is too big to make a single file out of, I'm going to just clone the disk to another 40GB drive that I have.

I used my old Ricon "Squat" machine as a base and attached this system's drive and a spare Western Digital WD040. I was going to just use Acronis Partition Manager to duplicate the drive's contents, but I discovered that the iMac's Seagate drive is slightly larger than the WD drive. I then replaced the WD040 with a WD120, which would easily contain the iMac drive contents.

When I booted the Acronis Partition Manager I was dismayed to find that it showed the iMac drive to be completely empty, as if there is no partition table. I guess it is possible, maybe likely, that the BYU technicians wiped the drive before putting the system out for sale. If true, this is too bad, since I have no installation media.

I wonder if it is possible that the partition table used by Apple is not recognized by the Acronis Partition Manager. I hope this would explain the apparent empty drive.

On this basis, then, I've decided to copy the drive using the *nix dd utility. I booted the CDLinux live-CD and dd'd the drive:

# dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=512

Well, this didn't work! First try saw the dd process hang and I couldn't kill it. The second time, after 1 hour 35 minutes I saw:

dd: /dev/hda: Input/output error

I don't know if the copy was finished and it just hit the end of the drive, or if there are other problems. I'm going on the assumption that the drive copied.

Operational checkout

19-Oct-2007

Hoping that the drive is really installed with Mac OS, I reinstalled the drive and closed up the system.

I connected the keyboard to one of the USB ports on the system, and plugs the mouse into the keyboard's left port. Then I pressed the power button on the front panel.

Lo! It's starting to boot! There is something installed on the drive after all! I'm finally presented with a login screen. Two names are listed, along with Other. In all cases, a password is required, so I'm locked out!

Also, the mouse was unresponsive. I shutdown and relocated the mouse plug to the right side of the keybard and rebooted. The mouse now works. Without shuting down, I moved the mouse plug back to the left side, and it now works fine. Maybe just a little dirt the first time.

Well, looks like I have some version of OS X installed, according to the login screen. What specific version I don't know yet. Now I have to figure out how to get into the system. I found this:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106156

which shows how to change user passwords, and even the 'original administrator' password, but it requires the installation CD, which I don't have.

I also found this:

http://www.securemac.com/macosxsingleuser.php

which shows how to boot the system to single user shell prompt, giving full access to the system. I tried this, but I can't figure out where the user passwords are stored, or even the 'original administrator'. There is a /etc/passwd file, but it doesn't list the users that I saw on the graphical login screen. And root is shown with a password of '*' suggesting that there is a shadow password file, but I find no /etc/shadow. So this is going to require some research.

Cleanup

19-Oct-2007

Tonight I cleaned up the system. The main unit is already in great shape and just required a light windex wipe down. Same for the mouse, just an external wipe down was required.

The keyboard, though, was very dusting inside (easy to see through the transparent plastic) and definitely needed a good cleaning. I finally figured out how to open it up (had to cut a small hole in the bottom sticky label to get at a fifth screw holding it all together) and cleaned everything really well. I removed all the keycaps and cleaned underneath as best as I could. There are still a very few crumbs and whatnot trapped between layers in the membrane sandwich, but there is no way to open that up without removing the permanently applied sheet on the backside. So, I did my best and cleaned each keycap. Then reassembled everything. Actually, it looks great!

Cracking password

19-Oct-2007

Hmm. Here's an interestin article:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/11184

which claims that this will reset a user's password to 'blank':

>>>
...or just boot into single user mode and insert this into a text file using vi:


#!/bin/tcsh
/sbin/fsck -y
/sbin/mount -uw /
cd /var/db/netinfo
/usr/bin/nicl -raw local.nidb -create /users/ passwd ""


substitute  with the username you have forgotten the password
chmod 755 this file
and run the file
reboot system and logon with a blank password
<<<

I booted into single-user mode (Option-S during boot) and played with /usr/bin/nicl a little bit. I reviewed the manpage for it, and learned how to list out the login names of the users. Doing this I learned that Blake Peterson's login ID was 'peterson'.

With that information, I just ran the commands for the password crack by hand. No need for a shell script. I set a blank password for user 'peterson' and then tried to login. Yes! It works!

Mouse repair

24-Oct-2007

The mouse has been acting up, and I've found that the USB cable is flaky where it passes into the mouse body. If I flex the cable at that point I can see the LED flicker, and see eratic movements onscreen. Eventually, the machine will not respond to mouse or keyboard imput until I remove the keyboard USB cable from the main system, then reconnect it.

I've decided to try to repair the cable. I scouted the web a bit and found a great webpage that shows how to get into and disassemble a Pro Mouse non-destructively:

http://www.sewardweb.com/applepromouse/

The mouse is not designed to be opened, so a little extra effort is required, with a couple of permanent cuts to a portion of the colored ring around the base.

I didn't take any pictures (should have!) of my disassembly, but I did take some of the mouse in pieces, and the repair I made to the USB cable. The individual wires inside the cable are very small, and I didn't have any shrink-wrap tubing that small. I made the repairs, then just coated each solder joint with some fabric glue, which should stay somewhat flexible, and provide the needed insulation between wires. My connections have made the 'internal' portion of the USB cable somewhat longer than the original one inch, but I hope to get it back together without putting too much stress on my solder joints.

I just used a tiny dab of super glue to close the mouse back up. I put a small amount on the four 'corners' of the mouse, more or less at the original closure points, and it works very well.

Disk (re)imaging

15-Aug-2009

For another machine, I needed to use the 120GB drive that I originally used to image this system's disk. I definitely need to keep a backup image of this system, since I have no media, so I imaged it again.

Using my original notes, I removed the Seagate 40GB disk (LBA 80,022,600 Cyl:16383 Hea:16 Sec:63). Luckily, now I have another 40GB disk that is slightly larger than this Seagate. It is an IBM DeskStar (LBA 80,418,240 Cyl: ) This will allow me to maintain a backup image without 'wasting' a larger capacity disk.

Again, I used CDLinux live CD to boot LSMicro for the copy. The dmesg shows the two drives thusly:

- Seagate ST340823A LBA:80,022,600 Cyl:4981 Hd:255 Sec:63 - IBM IC35L040AVVN07-0 LBA:80,418,240 Cyl:5005 Hd:255 Sec:63

Here is the command I used to copy the Seagate to the IBM:

# dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=8192

(started at 17:26, ended at 17:52)

Like last time, I didn't get a normal exit from dd with a record count, instead I see the same message as before:

dd: /dev/hda: Input/output error

NB: remember that this image now is taken AFTER I have made some changes to the system, i.e., changed the login password and general usage. It's still more or less the same as at acquisition, but no password hacking will be required.

Well, I mounted the new disk into the iMac, since it was open, and tried to boot. It doesn't work! The machine acts like it can't find a disk, giving the macface and question mark flashing icon . I guess the geometry is not right, or something.

I put the old drive back in. There may be some tools that I need to learn about that can help me 'image' this disk, such as Carbon Copy and SuperDuper. There's some talk online about having to 'bless' a disk, too, which deserves some research.

RTC Battery replacement

08-Aug-2016

In the last couple of sessions with this machine I found that the system's clock had lost its time, and clearly the system was due for a new battery. I happened to have one more on hand (LS14250), and opened the system's little trap door on the bottom to perform the swap. Unfortunately, the battery is not easily reached from the trap door, only memory and Airport card, so I removed the lower section of the case (4 screws) and removed the inner grill/shield (4 screws). This gives complete access to the motherboard and drives. One of the side tabs or 'ears' of the battery holder snapped off as I inserted the new battery, but the fit is still snug and should be alright. Reassembly took some doing since I lost one, no, two! of the grill/shield screws down inside the case. What a chore of tilting this way and that way to move the screws to an accessable point for me to reach with foreceps! At last that was accomplished and the system is back in business.

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