Installing RAM into rev. A imac and resulting problems
You take an iMac out of the box, turn it on, and you're online in no
time. What could be simpler?
Well, installing RAM is practically the same way except for one
little detail--Rev A iMacs have a little design flaw concerning the
main audio
cable.
The Easy Part
Taking the iMac apart was a lot of fun. First, you turn it upside down. The bottom part of
the case comes completely off but it's practically impossible to pull
it apart with just hands. Having gotten the case apart, you disconnect
three or four cables and unscrew the motherboard. Everything is
attached to the motherboard. It's referred to as "the can". After you take out "the can",
just about all that's left in the case is the monitor, speakers, fan, and some
wires.
Installing the ram was a snap. Literally. It folds down into this
little cradle and snaps into place. It's exactly the same as the memory
upgrade
for an eMate, if you happen to own one. And, I would assume, a
powerbook,
since iMacs use powerbook RAM.
What's Wrong With My iMac?
So I get my RAM in place, put the computer back together, turn it on,
and something is missing. I can't quite pin it down until I try to play
an mp3.
I've got no sound! However, there is sound out of the headphone jacks.
After
several minutes of frantic web searching, I find this Apple tech info
document
that says something like "if iMac has no sound afterwards, recheck all
cables".
Well, rechecking the cables served no purpose at all so after I
reassembled
the iMac for the second time that evening, I steamed over it for the
rest
of the night.
The next day I got busy calling Apple and my nearest Apple
Authorized
Service Centers for answers. Apple said they only consulted people on
software
problems. The first Apple Authorized Service Center I called was
CompUSA
in Duluth. Their Apple technician had not arrived yet. This was at
11:00
AM. Then I called some place in Fayetteville who only sold Macs and
talked
to an Apple tech named Brian. He was very helpful and knew exactly what
was
wrong.
Audio Cable of Death
First of all, there is a big fat cable that runs over the top of the
motherboard and rubs up against the "chassis" when you put "the can"
back into place. This is your main audio cable. Turns out, on Rev A
iMacs, this cable is
extremely fragile and easily damaged. Brian replaced it with the
updated
version present in Rev B and future iMacs. This one is more durable and
can
survive removal and replacement of the motherboard. However, when I got
home,
I had yet another problem.
"Floppy" Drive
My CD drive seemed unusally loose when I got home and looked at my
machine. It sort of slid around in its housing and vibrated a lot. This
didn't seem to affect the operation, but it was still less than
optimal. Once again,
I tore the machine down and started hunting for the problem. After a
while, I found a loose spring clip between the CD drive and hard drive.
It should have been clipped to the back of the CD drive to stablize it
in the framework of "the can". The front of the CD drive slips into
"fingers" on the framework and tension from the spring keeps it pushed
up tight against the fingers. No problem.
Better Than New
Well, after all is said and done, my trusty iMac is running on 96 megs
of
RAM and I have a brand new audio cable installed under warranty by
Apple. Hopefully this little Rev A iMac will provide years of reliable
service like its predecessors.
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Last
modified: 1999.11.1