Insanely RARE iMac G3 Prototype - Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures 

UPDATE: Watch the repair episode next! (ft. Steve from Mac84): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RKrI7Q3V0D4.html Enjoy the new episode! I hope you like the fun announcement at the end. 😈 P.S. I missed a few other unique features about the board, so let's see if you can spot them yourself! Don't worry, I'll cover them more in part 2. ; )

"I can't get my finger in there." "DON'T make that dirty" damn you got me 😆

I have worked with some molded parts in the past, and one reason that it is shinier is because they have not applied the final texture to the mold for the part in case they need to make changes. That allows for the texturing to be uniform and not to have a spot of different texture in the mold due to a late part change.

Plug the Apple keyboard with a power button on it. That’ll get her to boot. Have had this issue before with these. Cheers from Nova Scotia.

Love that super clear case - what a cool find!

I remember when Steve Jobs said WTF is this (referring to the tray of the cd since he wanted a slot loading one) anyway have a nice day 🙂

How do you guys get your hands on these? It always blows my mind that the people who actually own these extremely rare computers would sell it to others.

0:32 Nice to see [REDACTED] from Trivia Murder Party got credited in the latest video. :P

Considering that it doesn’t make any sound I would guess that the power supply needs some work. Also you could theoretically put the logic board into the chasy of the other iMac although it would probably be better to just fix up the power supply because there probably is some small voltage difference between the final and the one in your prototype Mac.

6:35 in the bottom right of the screen, is that an ADB port? Might be able to hook up an ADB keyboard with a power button to boot it as well.

G3s will always have a place In my heart as an imac g3 was my first ever computer

First you have to check (and change) the tiny fuse in the Power Supply. Afterwards you should try to get a Datasheet of the Release Device and compare it to your pre production one. After this you may know more. 😉

man I remember when my elementary school was built we got an entire schools worth of imac g3's in our schools color. Was actually my first experience using a computer i think. Learned how to code html and stuff when i was in like, 5th grade.

I love the iMac G3 design. I'm hoping this thing gets up and running but it was cool to see even if it stays dead. I subscribed so I can see the outcome

The transparency in the plastic - which as you say is common in prototypes - is a conscious design choice. Engineers require this at the later stages of design so that they can visualise air flow through a product; so in the case of this computer, it would be how the air is drawn and then pushed out/rises through through the grille at the top handle via convection. To do this they use a gas that creates a slight fog effect, which once inside the chassis, will be very easy to see and will therefore allow the engineer[s] to understand the thermal limits of the device by where and how it travels.

I always loved how your Tech Misadventures intro has "Did you pause to read this?" in the BSOD thing.

I’m from 2006, but in kindergarten, around 2011, I used an iMac G3 to play learning games in the classroom. I didn’t realize what these computers were until recently.

Ahh I was working at a Apple Reseller when these were announced, got to see and play with a prototype when I visited Apple to resit my Apple Tech Certifications. We were all excited for USB 🤣

I used to service a shit ton of G3 iMacs at my first job. Like 20-50 a week. The tray loader model iMac was way way more reliably than the later slot loader. If I remember right, about the only regular issues we had with them was the PRAM batteries (all Power Macs had that problem) and kids breaking/jamming the CD drive. The logic boards on them were pretty solid, few issues ever that weren't solved by either new RAM or reseating the CPU board. The cables and sys tray were a pain though. Some extension cables would have helped a lot. The later slot loading iMac has lots of issues and extremely frequently. In about 2002-2005 while working there, we would have at least several hundred in for repair at any given day. Apple used Quantum Fireball drives, particularly the model that has a near 100% failure rate of the spindle controller IC of exploding its power pins in a literal fireball. We'd order HDDs by the case and would run out in a week. The earlier revisions of the main board did not have any heat sinks on any of the main chipset ICs, so usually one of them would get fried after a few years of use. We could still get new logic boards directly from Apple, but they were expensive ($500+ I think). We could also set them out to an independent local board repair shop and get them fixed for around $100-200 ea. Yeah, back then you could just buy the chips and repair the boards quite easily. The certain OEMs of CRT would burn out their fly-back transformers, of the several thousand iMacs we had, this was about 10%. The same shop we'd sent the boards to were able to replace the flyback for like $80. The slot load CD drives would wear out from use. Usually just cleaning the rollers with highly tonic chemicals would get them back in to service for a couple more years. G3 was really hit or miss in terms of reliability. Some models were solid and needed little over their entire life even well past EOL, others would be lucky if they could go half a year without requiring servicing. G4 was slightly better on average for at least what we ended up with. Like the first LCD iMac that looked like a lamp, those were both depending on what rev backlight driver it had or if Apple put enough thermal compound in when assembling the case. The Cube Macs were nice (mostly just because they were interesting, even back then), though HDD replacements were a pain. By G5, Apple had decided to become ultra up-market, so for the cost of kitting out an entire school's computer lab iMac G3's, we were instead only getting a handful of G5's for teachers and librarians with connections. Starting around the G4 era though, the move to PC on the student side was already under way. PC were not only a lot cheaper (even we were buying direct from IBM) so the tech grants went further (and Apple has killed its EDU grant programs, so we were not vendor locked anymore), but also PC's percentage share in home and business had increased drastically during the explosion of home computing starting in the late 90's and in to the early 2000's, so it made little sense for students to be taught on hardware and an OS they were extremely unlikely to use outside of school. It was really hard for anybody who decided on purchases to justify a classroom full of Macs for over double the cost for less than half the specs and drastically decreasing support. Apple had been trying to kill their authorized support/repair program through the early 2000's and it was getting harder and more expensive for us to renew. Apple was providing less in the way of service manuals, tools, and parts. Eventually they killed access to the diag tools across all newer models and system images for anything currently not being sold. Apple aggressively changed their EOL policies, making anything older than a few years "EOL" and would provide absolutely nothing for those models. No manuals, diags, software, or parts, barely acknowledging it had existed. Luckily we kept local copies of most of the downloads when Apple suddenly made those changes, but the lack of parts availability would suddenly turn any old system in to ewaste when it needed an Apple specified part. We were getting around 8+ years out of systems (Mac or PC), but under the new Apple, that would be barely over 3. So yeah, the whole recent situations with Apple repairablity isn't at all new and its been pretty funny to watch.

A nice Krazy Ken Video at the evening. It couldn’t be better. Greetings from germany. 👍😁

I never thought I’d say this in my life, but that’s a very pretty computer, I’m not really a tech enthusiast, but that is very beautiful.

I work in plastics the reason it's smooth is because they texture last after everything is approved. It's expensive to remove if changes need to be done

Oh man. I really wonder what the issue is with yours. I have an iMac G3 but a later revision (with slot-loading drive) that doesn't show any signs of life either. Last time I tried was 10 years ago and it worked great then. Now that I have some time off, it's a great time to start looking into fixing it. I'm very much looking forward to the next video!

Can’t wait to see this running

Looking forward to the collab with Mac84! Say, unrelated note, but were you planning to go to VCF Midwest this year?

My rev. A CD drive fell off too. With some adhesive and care it’s back on.

best episode yet!

i was doing homework... but I have priorities

this bad boy powered so many schools. Slaps roof of G3. Math Quest 1 , 2 & 3 were legit .

Did this unit come with a hard drive? If so, you should definitely make an image of it for preservation purposes.

i'd say the logic board looks more orange than yellow, but it does have a few yellow portions.

Ken, you inspired me to be a IT worker and I love you, keep up the good work

I am excited for you to get these smart people to help you get it working ! ;)

as a huge fan of y2k aesthetics and futurism in technology, the imac g3 is one of the coolest looking computers ever. i love all the fun colors as well!

An epic crossover between Krazy Ken and Psivewri

Can’t wait to see you and Mac84 work on this project! :D

The smooth plastic for porotypes is likely a cost/time saving decision. For injection molding the molds are machined out of steel, which is a very labor intensive task. This machining process leaves behind tooling marks, which then has to be sanded and polished. If you want to add texture, which can be done with media blasting, laser etching, chemical etching or through an EDM process. All of these take a lot of time and don't add anything to the functionality or fit of the parts in the early design stages so it would make sense not to include them on prototypes.

This is a super cool prototype! Hopefully it will work after you look into it more.

Probably a simple fix. I'd try replacing the PRAM battery, also hooking up an original keyboard.

0:10 WOAH DIFFERNT COLUERS MY EYS ARE GONNA EXPLODE!!!!

I've been seeing a *lot* of ads in my social media feeds for various at-home-arcade machines, usually offering multiple arcade games on a single system (and frequently curiously mute about whether any of those games were actually licensed from the companies that created them). I would be very curious to see some actual data on one of these systems- how good or bad the builds are, whether they make any bones about licensing, and how much they're charging versus the quality (or lack) of the components that went into them.

Speaking of rare devices, are you ever make another video about your NeXT cube?

There were a bunch of these. I remember seeing these in our grammar school donated from Apple back in the day.. They were cool. And I think that’s why they made the clear body Macs there for a while.. I think they even made a educational Mac with the clear plastic around the monitor and the clear plastic on the computer itself I know the keyboard for sure You are correct about clear plastic being cheaper. The reason they probably had to fog the retail model was probably because of the fire prevention added to the plastic. Which would’ve been bromine.. It’s also got other characteristics added to the plastic for heat and to keep the case from popping and making noises when it’s on that you’re going to hear on a rigid poly styrene ABS material with no treatment or reliefs built-in

Prototypes are smooth because the frosted look isn’t done on the prototype aluminum tools. The frosting/texture is done using EDM to the production tooling and it hides machining defects.

The body looks almost closer to the eMachines eOne, an iMac clone.

Are you guys ever going to make computer showdown season 7.0?

Still have my G3 a green one and the box it came in

I always dreamed of having a G3 on my desk. I should go ahead and buy one!

OMG SO CRAZY BRUH

I have a red G3 that has been well cared for. Would love to see what we can do with it. It was my first Mac

Prior to its public introduction, I had one of the original iMac prototypes on my desk at MacroMedia for a little over a week. It was completely clear, no color at all. The iMac itself worked well (CD drive door didn't fit well, though) but it had the worst sample of the worst design mouse that I've ever encountered. That round hockey puck mouse was a poor design, but the prototype sample I had had a case that was so poorly molded that it was all but impossible to use. The guts just slopped around and the two housing pieces didn't fit well.

God, how I hated these things. Had two or three hundred of these at the campus I worked at all those years ago. Had to do a RAM upgrade at one point to make them last a little longer with OS 9.22. Such an incredible pain in the butt. I was so happy to send those things to the crusher, when it was time to replace them all.

I can't wait!

The reason it’s shiny is most likely because they save the final EDM process (gives the mold a textured surface) on the plastic injection mold until last just in case they make revisions to the mold design.

I liked seeing Jenny in the intro of KKTM :) Hopefully you can get this thing working in the future!

you should of slowly brought it up on a variac transformer do to it being so rare and an antique!

Steve is the man!

Love the intro

Woo hoo! @mac84 is a solid guy and channel

I wouldve opened up the power supply to check to see if there was a fuse soldered to the power supply pcb. This would be the first single point of failure that will prevent any indicators working.

If anyone wondering what music did he use in the intro, it’s Used to say - Jingle Punks Time stamp - 1:29

wtf I thought this was gonna be uploaded tomorrow... Oh well. Anyways awesome Video, Ken!

I've been waiting ken!!!

Ken: most of the public hasn’t seen this yet *well, now 50k people saw them, what do ya have to say?*

i mainly seen yellow PCBs on ASUS, Biostar, MSI, and PCChips brand PC motherboards.

surprised the thing didn't pop then produce a lot of smoke. That's what happened to me when I last use an Apple computer. About 4 times. Glad it was the school computer and not mine.

Hi Krazy Ken. i’m an Apple fan boy. But as far as owning one no But please show part 2

Gen 1 iMacs are beautiful.

Just put some ram in it first. They may also be a bios ram chip missing too. I had an older Mac once that would only turn on from the keyboard, so check that too. It's very highly likely there's a switch-on check wired logically (not programmed like POST on IBM machines) where the circuit just won't connect any further if certain scenarios aren't in place (such as RAM and a working Hard Disk). With any luck, it will be something simple. There is hope, as you didn't notice anything black, burnt or Wierd smelling when you opened it up, so seeing as it's probably hand built the old fashioned way, it should be fairly robust. ...especially if it was a test bed for future changes, it should be mostly fully working.

wait oh my god, i think i drew this imac without realizing it! i was trying some translucent layering, and i drew a motherboard on the side just to make it look more interesting, even though there wasn't one you could see. but you can see the analog board on this one! idk, i just thought that was interesting.

You are really good at creating suspense huh? I guess we gotta wait 2 weeks to see how this turned out. The best of luck!

Man I remember the iMac being "the next big thing" ^-^ they definitely looked cool

I can’t wait

Fun video, always good to see prototype reviews. Are you going to VCFMW again this year? if so, what are you looking for? I will be bringing down a ton to sell again. :D

Missed opportunity: "Steve.. not Wozniak but the one from the Mac84 RU-vid channel"

Let's go computer clan whooo!!!!!

I hope this trend of semi transparent colord plastic comes back. Better then RGB. Less costly then glasd.

Didnt some of the versions of the imacs in europe come with a tv tuner?

It's probably not that simple but if the power button is borked you could try using a vintage USB keyboard that has a power button on it.

When those first came out I wanted one really bad and was going to wait as always that I do wait till the price goes down, by the time that happened I no longer wanted it anymore. When I look at them now i think to myself that they were very ugly and make the office/bedroom or any room for that matter look tacky, messy and also might make it look unprofessional if in an office somewhere and had clients or customers.

Did he ever add the frikin ram?

4:49 - The DHSS was British, not American. (Welp, now I have to go listen to the "Wham Rap!" Unsocial Mix.)

do the breeze Max AC

I have one of the retail versions in my attic lol.

WAS THIS THE ONE IN THE COMPUTER CHRONICLES EPISODE

"I can't fit my finger in there... Don't make that dirty" Me: Too late

My technics SU-G90 receiver has a yellow bord

Used these macs in high school oh so long ago lol

I see the difference, the Prototypes design made much more sense with the transparency but I'm not surprised, Apples designs have always been a little flawed in some way

That looked different, but seeing just as my eyes popped up.

It's popcorn time.. Literally Anyways, hopefully this thing gets fixed so that it can be properly preserved. Also, I actually prefer how the plastic looks on this prototype over the final design.

Considering that the motherboard propably controls the power to everything, i would guess that even the crt cant get power because the motherboard cant boot without ram. Also considering how similar the front is to the retail model, you could give it a new optical drive door and a power button

One thing I noticed is that this iMac seems to have white (maybe rubber?) feet and lacks the colored bar that folds

Ahh, the apple equivalency of the P3 (or AMD K6 or K7).

Take out the pram battery it should boot!

That thing saved Apple. Turned that company around.

do the breeze Max

For some reason I thought that ds-mos just needs to swap the m and d to be ms-dos

There's a new swap cooler called tundra That add plays on your emotions I can ashore you

The Computer Ken