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Announced in October 1999.

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My iMac G3 DV SE is not powering on after trying to force CD eject

A friend gifted me this iMac a couple of days. It had MacOS 9 and I wanted to update to 10 and also erase the data, but when I tried to boot from a USB the Mac didn’t recognise it, so I got a DVD to burn and put it in the Mac but it wasn’t appearing, so I tried to eject it but it said it couldn’t eject the drive. I search and I saw in an Apple forum that you could shutdown the computer while pressing left button of the mouse and turn it on while holding but it didn’t work, so I continued searching and I found that the hole next to the CD reader you could put the tool you use to eject the SIM at the iPhone, so I tried but it didn’t work. I wanted to try out another time to force eject from the OS but when I turned on the button turned on orange, in an Apple forum said that I should reset the PMU by pressing a button on the motherboard I did and now it powers on and shutdown immediately.

Also I read that it could be the battery but I don’t think this could be it has to be related with the disc.

Is there a solution without doing a hardware repair?

Do you think it could be the battery?

How could the iMac not turn on trying to eject the drive ?

Does that hole used for other things than ejecting the drive?

Thanks for your time and your answers!

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1 Answer

Firstly, let's get rid of that disc. What you found is correct; you can eject the disc using the little hole next to it. However, you'll usually need something longer then an iPhone SIM ejector to open it. Try using an unbent paper clip or something of similar length. After you get the disc out, try powering the computer on. Does it work now? If not, then I would try replacing the battery. Open up the computer (follow this to step 11), and locate the battery. I attached an image showing where the battery is located in the computer.

Block Image

I'm not sure how the battery comes out; the image isn't high res enough to zoom in and see and there aren't any iFixit guides about replacing the battery. I also don't know what kind of battery you'll need, but Im sure a couple of Google searches will pull up all you need to know. Another thing that may be the cause are the capacitors in the power supply. If those went out, that could also cause the computer to no longer function properly. If the computer is not receiving any power, this could be the cause. Just follow this guide to replace the power supply. You have two options. You could replace the individual capacitors on the power supply, or you could just replace the whole thing. Replacing the whole thing would be easier, but more expensive. Replacing the capacitors would be much harder, but way cheaper. It's up to you, and, again, any information concerning either options is on the internet.

Good luck!

iMac G3 Model M4984 Power Supply Image

Guide

iMac G3 Model M4984 Power Supply Replacement

Difficulty:

Moderate

15 minutes - 1 hour

iMac G3 Model M5521 Image

Guide

iMac G3 Model M5521 Teardown

Difficulty:

Moderate

10 - 45 minutes

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