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PowerMac G3 All-In-One Teardown

Device	Power Macintosh G3 All-In-One
Time	No estimate
Steps	7

This guide is by Shadedwind on iFixit and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0. ByteRot mirrors it for non-commercial preservation: formatting changed and photos resized for old browsers; full-size photos and the text are on the FTP in /DOCS/REPAIR. Original guide >>

The G3 All-In-One was designed for the education market. It was clearly a fusion of the old beige computers and the upcoming iMacs. This transitional machine sported a 233Mhz or 266Mhz CPU, included three open PCI slots, and had a built-in 15" monitor. Hopefully this should help people who have acquired one of these small pieces of nostalgia.

Tools: 6-in-1 Screwdriver; Phillips #0 Screwdriver; Phillips #2 Screwdriver

Step 1 :: Find a large surface to work on.

• You may want to have a table to work on the computer. It is pretty big.
• Dimensions: width x height x depth
• 38cm x 51cm x 43cm
• 15in x 20in x 17in

Step 2 :: Opening the computer

• Part A: Use a screw driver to remove the four screws in the back of the computer.
• Part B: GENTLY, Pull out the tray half-way. The cables attached to the video/sound card can be damaged if you pull the tray out too far.

Step 3 :: Removing the video/sound card cables

• Two types of video/sound cards were installed in the AIO. There should be ribbon and video ports on both models.
• Part A: Remove the ribbon cable from the top of the sound card. The label above this cable should say AIO.
• Part B: Unlatch the clips from the black plug to remove the cable from the video/sound card. The label above the black plug should say AIO Video Card.

Step 4 :: Removing the power cables from the motherboard

• Part A: Use your index finger to pinch the clip on the main power plug while pulling it up from the motherboard.
• Part B: Pull the 4-prong molex power plug apart.

Step 5 :: Taking the motherboard tray out of the computer.

• CAUTION: Make sure that you have disconnected the video/sound card ribbon and power cables before removing the motherboard tray.
• Part A: Apply pressure to the left and right tabs on the bottom of the motherboard tray to slide it out.
• Part B: As you slide out the tray make sure the cable to the sound card doesn't get caught on the tray.

Step 6 :: Installing RAM

• REMINDER: Ram used can be 3.3V unbuffered 100 MHz 168-pin SDRAM
• Part A: Open the clip on the center steel beam.
• Part B: Disconnect the SCSI ribbon cable and IDE ribbon cable and set the cables aside.
• Part C: You should now be able to access the three RAM slots.

Step 7 :: Installing VideoRAM/SGRAM

• The VideoRAM/SGRAM slot is located between the video/sound card and the ROM slot.
• Part A: Place the SGRAM in to the slot at an angle. Do not force the SGRAM in. If you are gentle the SGRAM will slide down into the slot and sit at an angle.
• Part B: GENTLY Apply pressure to the corners of the SGRAM until it lies flat in the slot. The white slot has small clips that will "lock" the SGRAM in place. You may hear small clicks when the SGRAM is locked in place.

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