So, I've had this iMac G4 for more than a year now. When I got it they said it was water damaged and wouldn't start. I figured out the power supply was blown so i installed a replacement and got it working. I later maxed out the RAM, added an Airport card, replaced the PRAM battery, and swapped the 80GB HD with a 500GB SSD (properly partitioned). I currently have OSX Tiger on one 8gb partition, MacOS 9.2.2 (MacOS9 Lives edition) on another 8GB partition. I prefer to boot into OS 9, but have been in Tiger more lately as I'm trying to figure out what is causing this.
What happens is that, before about 2 hours of use (frequently much less) the machine will just completely freeze up while in OS9, or kernel panic while in OSX. It is inconsistent what I'm doing with the machine, what apps are running. I could be listening to music, moving files, reinstalling the OS, or even just trying to boot the machine. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, or if I even have any applications running other than the Finder, it will reliably become unresponsive before too long.
Now, I remember using both these operating systems when they were new, and am aware that they were prone to crashing often, but nothing like this. The unreliability of the machine has made it impossible to enjoy firing it up to play with it, as I know that I'll inevitably end up trying to troubleshoot this.
I have both MacsBug and Conflict Catcher looking out for issues on the OS9 side, but both have been coming up clean. I've reinstalled both OSes multiple times. Considering that the crashes happen on both OS9 and OSX I worry that it may be a greater hardware issue. I've been making sure that I reapply the thermal paste every time I open it up. I have not touched or replaced the fan yet, but have considered it. And I know the DVD drive is faulty and could stand to be replaced. What other hardware issues should I be on the lookout for here? I mentioned that it was water damaged, but I don't see any obvious corrosion on the logic board, no leaking caps, or anything like that. But maybe I'm not looking closely enough? Man, I just don't know. I'm a little at my wit's end here.
What happens is that, before about 2 hours of use (frequently much less) the machine will just completely freeze up while in OS9, or kernel panic while in OSX. It is inconsistent what I'm doing with the machine, what apps are running. I could be listening to music, moving files, reinstalling the OS, or even just trying to boot the machine. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, or if I even have any applications running other than the Finder, it will reliably become unresponsive before too long.
Now, I remember using both these operating systems when they were new, and am aware that they were prone to crashing often, but nothing like this. The unreliability of the machine has made it impossible to enjoy firing it up to play with it, as I know that I'll inevitably end up trying to troubleshoot this.
I have both MacsBug and Conflict Catcher looking out for issues on the OS9 side, but both have been coming up clean. I've reinstalled both OSes multiple times. Considering that the crashes happen on both OS9 and OSX I worry that it may be a greater hardware issue. I've been making sure that I reapply the thermal paste every time I open it up. I have not touched or replaced the fan yet, but have considered it. And I know the DVD drive is faulty and could stand to be replaced. What other hardware issues should I be on the lookout for here? I mentioned that it was water damaged, but I don't see any obvious corrosion on the logic board, no leaking caps, or anything like that. But maybe I'm not looking closely enough? Man, I just don't know. I'm a little at my wit's end here.
