Thread
Cube for $20!
Well, to sum up so far:
DC-to-DC board has blown "capacitor" (at least I think its that)
Video Riser card is (for the most part) FRIED
What ever the liquid was it is EVERYWHERE
I still don't know what the liquid inside was, but nothing looks like its starting to deteriorate. The Cube has been fully reassembled in unworking condition. But I hope to someday have it up and running with its original specs. For now its just going to sit on a shelf as a collectable while I wait for parts to fix it. I have a local Apple Certified service center on the look out for the parts.
DC-to-DC board has blown "capacitor" (at least I think its that)
Video Riser card is (for the most part) FRIED
What ever the liquid was it is EVERYWHERE
I still don't know what the liquid inside was, but nothing looks like its starting to deteriorate. The Cube has been fully reassembled in unworking condition. But I hope to someday have it up and running with its original specs. For now its just going to sit on a shelf as a collectable while I wait for parts to fix it. I have a local Apple Certified service center on the look out for the parts.
Why? You can get replacement parts on eBay - especially these parts - cheap and readily available.
You can wash the boards pretty easily, i saved a iLamp that way.
Well, I have some new parts on order for the Cube that I got off the 'Bay. Logic, Video, Video Riser, and the 450MHz processor boards, as well as new RAM. I also bought from another guy a VRM board, so this will be a complete internal overhaul. I was wondering though, is it was possible to make the software recognize the Cube's original serial, rather then the serial on the new Logic Board?
I would say off hand no. Serial number is normally set in hardware as to be identified if stolen and the like.
What about when Apple installs a new logic board into an old computer? It keeps the same serial number, but has a new logic board.
Oh that? That's just written in blue ink on a piece of masking tape on the bottom of the board! 
All logic boards I have had replaced have always changed the serial in OS X. Has that not been anyone else's experience?
That only being two tho. G3 B&w and I lamp iMac due to a port dying from ele trivial surge from storm.
Not when I have had it replaced by Apple. When a private person does it, then that would change the serial. But with an Apple-Replaced logic board, it stays whatever the Serial was when you bought the computer.
Maybe imac600 can confirm but I believe when an Apple Service Tech uses an Apple Service spare logic board, it comes with a blank serial. There is a serial change utility they use to "burn" a number to the board. The utility only works wih a blank board and cannot be used to change the serial number on an old board.
That makes since. Thanks mcdermd!
With the Holidays, I probably won't be able to work again on the Cube until after Christmas. With the logic board will be 1GB of RAM, and I ordered 4 512MB sticks of Kingston PC133 RAM for the Cube and eMac.
With the Holidays, I probably won't be able to work again on the Cube until after Christmas. With the logic board will be 1GB of RAM, and I ordered 4 512MB sticks of Kingston PC133 RAM for the Cube and eMac.
Just FYI the cube is pretty finicky about ram in my experience. I had a bunch of ram, after huge swapping and restarting finally got three sticks of 133 512 mb sticks it would like. It seemed to hate non apple hard disks. Of course going over the 120 gig deal was interesting road block to hit. Got a DVD Rw out of a dead G5 iMac and with mount kit and IDE adaptor with pin 40 removal trick thing works like a dream. Found a 32 meg card to put in for super cheap so it can sport the big ADC display. All in all very "prissy" little machine. I wish processor upgrades for it were not so expensive. I'd love to try 10.5.8 on it.
Is there any trick to go over the 120 Gig limit ?
I believe there is. Who ever the last owner was maxed it out. 1.5GB of RAM and 120GB WD HDD. RAM and HDD are soaked in whatever liquid was spilled on the Cube. Maybe I should throw the RAM in the dishwasher. VRM and Video Riser are goners.
I'd wash it all unless you see burn marks you may never know.
I used to use the Intech speed tools to use drives larger than 128GB in early G4s.
http://www.speedtools.com/STATA.html
http://www.speedtools.com/STATA.html
The interrupt/reset button board looks like it has the liquid all over it. Can I run the Cube with out it and is there a way to clean it?
Ran it under water and scrubbed it with a brush. Looks better. I think I'm going to install the logic board today as it came it earlier then I thought.
Was that thing in a flood? Or do you mean the power switch?
I have no idea. I think something was spilled on top of it.
All the parts came today! Heres a complete list from order #1:
ATI Rage 128 card
DC-to-DC board with HDD and Disk Drive power cable
Video Riser card (with cables)
PRAM battery holder and original Battery
Logic Board
Ethernet board
Modem board
1GB of RAM (2x 512MB sticks)
450MHz PPC G4 Processor card
Order #2:
2GB of RAM (4x 512MB sticks) for eMac and Cube.
New Batteries for eMac and Cube are on their way.
Total part investment for Cube: $105
Total Investment: $165
All the parts came today! Heres a complete list from order #1:
ATI Rage 128 card
DC-to-DC board with HDD and Disk Drive power cable
Video Riser card (with cables)
PRAM battery holder and original Battery
Logic Board
Ethernet board
Modem board
1GB of RAM (2x 512MB sticks)
450MHz PPC G4 Processor card
Order #2:
2GB of RAM (4x 512MB sticks) for eMac and Cube.
New Batteries for eMac and Cube are on their way.
Total part investment for Cube: $105
Total Investment: $165
Well, the display works. I plugged in the ADC cable and the Power Cable. The power button turned white. Display power light turned yellow, and a little folder with a blinking "?" and Finder.
"IT WORKED!!!!!".
Now, to find a install discs.
"IT WORKED!!!!!".
Now, to find a install discs.
I bought 4 512MB Kingston PC-133 sticks, I put one in last night, it was fine. Tried it this morning, didn't want to boot. Removed the new RAM and it booted fine.
Yep had the same issue. Also switching from OS 9 to OS X changed what ram it liked also. Funny huh.
Do you know what kind of HDDs it does likes? It turns out the HDD is dead.
It just IDE but anything less than 120 gigs should work. The jumper setting seemed to be an issue as some drives need to be set as master and some as cable select. Just start off cd after installing, use disk utility to format then install. While you have it all apart I suggest adding a whisper quiet fan mod. ADC issues seem to hurt the cube a lot. That 28 volts just waiting just stress that machine for no reason. Even while asleep so when not in use I turn mine off.
So don't use the ADC monitor? Also, does anyone know why it's so finicky with RAM? Kingston PC-133 didn't work.
Try of 100 stuff, found that worked better. Doesn't matter wether you have an ADC monitor hooked up its still pulling the 28 volts. That's the issue. Also the power supply is external and has no fan so that's always a high failure issue. Again all this is why I turn the machine off when not in use.
I was choosing between the eMac and Cube to put on my new work desk (even though I'm going to live here for maybe another year) and choose the eMac. Good thing I only paid $15 for the RAM, as the guy has no returns > 
. Any particular brand of RAM?
. Any particular brand of RAM?
Pc133 in theory is supposed to work, but again the cube is a low power strange bird. I have piles of 256 stuff I tried and the PC100 stuff worked more often than the 133.