Mac Mini G4 Questions/General Excitement

[TheGrandPubaa]

I'm waiting anxiously as my computer ships from California across the United States, but in the meantime, i'm attempting to quell my excitement by planning my first few moves. From what I was able to ascertain from the limited information on the listing, it has a yellowed top and comes with just the mini and the power brick. 40GB drive is in it, and presumably it functions, but after this many years, who knows? I bought a 1GB ram stick to upgrade from the current 512MB. I have a Sintechi SD to IDE adapter I have used in various other projects(replacing the DOM on a thin client, as a hard drive for a modded PS2, etc.) and I just picked up a 64GB micro SD card with the intention of at least trying to use it as a replacement/upgraded hard drive.

I had a couple of questions, naturally. I've done a bit of reading on the concept of overclocking the 1.25GHZ mini to the 1.5GHZ range, and i'm trying to decide if it is risky or not. It looks like the process simply involves removing certain of 4 resistors on the bottom of the motherboard. I have done a bit of soldering recently, installing a Coolrunner glitch chip into one Xbox 360, performing the JTAG hack on another(involves reading/writing the nand, soldering resistors/transistors to the motherboard), and so on. Would this be something I should be extremely nervous about, or is it relatively easy, straightforward, and stable?

Another question I had is in regards to the yellowing top of the case. Is this the same phenomenon as seen in older beige box PCs/Macs where the bromine is seeping to the surface due to years of UV exposure/heat exposure? If so, can the top white portion of the Mac Mini case undergo Retrobrite treatment without damaging the case?

[RossDarker]

Seeing as you are running OS 9 on the Mac mini, I'd say it would only be worth overclocking if you were ever thinking of running Leopard on it. Tiger and below seem to run very fast on lower spec Mac minis you see.

I'm not sure about Retrobrite on the Mac mini, because the top case looks a bit different to thin plastic, which is what I see most people use it on. You'll have to see what others say about that.

[FdB]

Two of the five minis here are pristine… tops are clear and appear white (like new). Three of them are yellowed and it doesn’t seem to be a surface yellow from smoke, dirt etc. It’s more like prolonged exposure to UV (and possibly heat) as the yellowing seems to be under the surface, between the white layer and the clear top surface. I’ve seen the same yellowing effect on outdoor signs, painted on the back side of clear plexiglas. (Seems dependent upon UV exposure, type of paint/coating, age, or the color used.)

Even from the backside (from what can be seen with the top off) the white coating seems consistent and uniformly yellowed and not just in the area where no thin metal shielding is present (wifi and bluetooth “cut-out” areas). Don’t think retrobrite will change this. At first I considered a white vinyl application (trimmed exactly with an X-acto knife) to “cover” these yellowed ones but have since just accepted the fact that they’re yellow. (My OCD in temporary remission.)

As for overclocking… think Roman78 and Ninester have done so. Maybe PM them? Further info: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4408.msg31058.html#msg31058

Ninester overclocked his 1.42GHz mini (SSD installed) and his MacBench results exceeded mine (1.5 GHz). I believe that he and I both are now running the Ableconn/Zheino SSD combos. (I still need to post those final results here.) http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4435.0.html

Do please run MacBench on your micro SD once installed and post those results. Always checking “bang-for-the-buck” cost/performance comparisons.

Oh, and a somewhat belated "Welcome to the forum"!

[TheGrandPubaa]

Thanks for the responses.

The Mini in question arrived today, about five days earlier than I was expecting it to. Problem is, when I can get it to boot at all, it will randomly shut itself off. I've tried resetting PRAM and PMU multiple times, but I don't think it had any effect at all. The only thing that will get the mini to turn on once is to unplug the power from the Mini, unplug the adapter from the wall, let it sit for a few seconds/minute, plug it back in, and it starts up again(or tries to). Usually it shuts off during the Apple logo/gray screen just after the chime, although I did manage to boot into Tiger for a few minutes earlier today before it shut itself down again.

I sent the seller a message, but they weren't a lot of help other than to suggest reinstalling the OS or using the eBay refund process. I cracked it open and cleaned out the worst of the dust/buildup around the heatsink, but the fan was mostly fine. I tried pulling out the CR2032 battery, tried running the system without the optical drive/HDD, tried with nothing but the power cord connected, and it still seems to exhibit the same symptoms.

Before I commit to the refund process and lose a good chunk of what I paid to return shipping fees, I was hoping you guys might have some insight as to possible fixes or diagnoses of the problem. There is a seller offering used/working 1.25GHZ logic boards, would it be worth it to purchase one and do a logic board swap?

*edit, probably the first of many: I rearranged how the cord for the power brick sat(so that it would bend more naturally towards where it was wrapped around itself) and the Mini is booting right up, no random shutdowns yet. I'm a little terrified to pick up the brick and play with the wire to see if it shuts off again, but that would certainly narrow down the problem.

*Edit 2: I jiggled the wires on the brick, picked it up, turned it upside down, but nothing - and then it randomly shut itself down again a minute later, so how do I tell if it's a power supply problem vs a logic board problem?

*Last edit: I guess i'm going to ship it back and hopefully track down a similarly priced mini that actually works this time. Sigh.

[RossDarker]

You could disconnect the power brick from the cable that goes to the wall. Looks like a rectangle shape. I think it's difficult but it looks like the one that can disconnect. I looked through my mac mini g4 manual and it says to plug it in to the power supply when you first get it, so try taking it out and maybe give it a dust in where the connector plugs in, then connect it firmly again. Might work, but I've never had random shutdowns as you describe.

[IIO]

do you have a replacement PSU to check if it is that? a 110 watts one would be best.

[TheGrandPubaa]

You could disconnect the power brick from the cable that goes to the wall. Looks like a rectangle shape. I think it's difficult but it looks like the one that can disconnect. I looked through my mac mini g4 manual and it says to plug it in to the power supply when you first get it, so try taking it out and maybe give it a dust in where the connector plugs in, then connect it firmly again. Might work, but I've never had random shutdowns as you describe.

That's basically what I was doing when letting it sit for a few minutes, but otherwise, I couldn't find an obvious short on the power supply. I didn't take it apart, though, because it looks like it might be hermetically sealed or something.

do you have a replacement PSU to check if it is that? a 110 watts one would be best.

Ah, so the higher wattage supply can work on the slower Mini? That's good to know. Sadly, no, I don't have access to a spare supply, and I figure chasing down the rabbit hole of fixing it by replacing parts is probably not the way to go, so i'll have to find another Mini or something along those lines to replace it once the refund process goes through.

[IIO]

yes, higher works, only too less power is dangerous. the replace units with 110 watts are often cheaper as the "G4" ones.

[Metrophage]

Last night I took apart my Mini to clean it and poke around. Not as bad as a thin laptop, but I can understand why more of them out in the wild aren't properly maintained. Hopefully it goes back together tonight without a hitch.

Another question I had is in regards to the yellowing top of the case. Is this the same phenomenon as seen in older beige box PCs/Macs where the bromine is seeping to the surface due to years of UV exposure/heat exposure? If so, can the top white portion of the Mac Mini case undergo Retrobrite treatment without damaging the case?

I could see that the top piece is a sandwich of white plastic inside, with a clear overlay. My stupid idea was to pop the top out, separate those layers, and clean between them. It is virtually impossible to fit it all back together as it originally was, because of how that piece attaches to the metal EM shielding, which then in turn snaps into ridges atop the case. Ultimately, I decided to discard the EM shielding and just rest the top plastic piece in there until I can replace it with something else.

TLDR - live with the yellowing, or replace the top piece

[DieHard]

My stupid idea was to pop the top out, separate those layers, and clean between them. It is virtually impossible to fit it all back together as it originally was, because of how that piece attaches to the metal EM shielding, which then in turn snaps into ridges atop the case.

Wow, that was bold, I never tried that

[DieHard]

OK, this gets the Stupid mod award, WFT !!

[youtube]v5BRqmb4zoQ[/youtube]


Next video...I am going to glue my MDD Logic board on the top of a mini...LOL

[Metrophage]

OK, this gets the Stupid mod award, WFT !!

Next video...I am going to glue my MDD Logic board on the top of a mini...LOL

Unfortunately, when I've searched for Mac Mini mods, this is the kind of results I get. To most people, "mods" means case mods. I doubt that there are many things that people haven't crowbarred a Mini into.