open a slot loading graphite iMac G3?

You are opening the wrong vent cover. Get a flat blade screwdriver and open the cover farther back on the iMac. It is oval shaped and MUCH larger than the door you already opened, the screws to remove the plastic outer casing are under that.

There are 4 screws to remove that let you take the plastic cover off. (2 by the plastic bar that lets you adjust front heighth and 2 under the back cover) Then there are 6 screws on the metal housing. Use a magnetized screwdriver when removing those screws. You DO NOT want to drop one into the iMac.... trust me on this!

You can now remove the Hard Drive and check connections. I would replace the PRAM battery at this time too.

Good Luck,
Dave

Ok, I got the logic board and drive trays removed, but I cant figure out how to access the area where the CRT is. I can hear some kind of broken piece of plastic kicking around in there and I have OCD about stuff like that, and I want to get all loose pieces of plastic and junk out. How do I get to that area?

Sounds like you just got an iMac delivered by UUUPS.....

Those are probably the gray plastic parts that broke off from inside the case. I've had two iMacs packed and shipped by people who didn't know what they were doing and the shipping trauma broke the plastic inside the iMac. The gray plastic is more brittle and breaks easily from bouncing around. You can do what I did. Turn the iMac upright (with bottom removed) and shake it like a piggy bank. Same solution for dropping one of the screws mentioned above ;-)

It took a while but I got all the plastic pieces out. And the iMacs worked fine, and still work to this day. As long as it's just the plastics it cannot short anything out easily like metal so you are lucky.

Yup, shipped UPS

003 wrote:

Yup, shipped UPS

I knew it......

iMacs need to be shipped with hard styro holding the corners solid in a sturdy box or you get this kind of problem.

I had a Flower Power shipped in peanuts and was destroyed by UUUUPS. There was a very disappointed little girl that day. It was more the sellers fault than the shippers, but UUUPS is no stranger to destroying packages. And the second iMac was shipped in bubble wrap and same thing happened.

When you can feel the iMac moving around in the box it's always a bad sign.

I bought another iMac a couple years earlier and it was shipped in an eMac box with the styrofoam and arrived without any damage.

To anyone shipping an iMac... careful, they are delicate little flowers.

Good Luck

Send me your e-mail adress in a PM or mail me at hanswambacqtelenetbe and I will mail you the service manual. It's to big to post here.

Hans