{"id":1269,"date":"2008-12-20T11:18:38","date_gmt":"2008-12-20T19:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2009-03-04T11:49:29","modified_gmt":"2009-03-04T19:49:29","slug":"opening-up-imac-28-ghz-core-2-duo-imac-early-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/?p=1269","title":{"rendered":"Opening up iMac 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo (iMac Early 2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mac<\/a>
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\nA few days ago, we installed two RAM cards to increase the RAM size of our iMac 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo (Early 2008 or MB325) to 4 GB. That’s a 10-minute job, and anyone can do it. Meanwhile, inspecting the whole surface of the machine has made us wonder how we can open up this computer to replace hard disk drives? There are no screws to loosen up at the bottom of the machine or anywhere except for the RAM access door.
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\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 01 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n		 <\/td>\n\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 02 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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\nWe liked our iMac G5 2 GHz (Ambient Light with no iSight), which is now dead possibly because of its faulty power supply box or defective\/damaged motherboard. You can easily open up this model to reach such parts as CD\/DVD drive, hard disk drive, RAM cards and PRAM battery. All you have to do is to loosen up three screws at the bottom. (See Screenshot 01-2.)
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\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 03 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n		 <\/td>\n\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 04 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n		 <\/td>\n\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 05 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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\nAnyway, it took us a while to figure out where to look to find hidden screws so that we can see the internal hard disk drive or anything inside iMac 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo. It must be under the glass. In order to open up the latest line of iMacs (Early 2008), you need a few tools. One is a Phillips screw driver. If you have two different sizes, that will be nice. (See Screenshot 03.) Another must-have tool is a torque driver. The size is 8. (See Screenshot 04.) If you have ever installed a RAM card in your PowerBook for yourself, you should have the size of a torque driver that you need. Apple has been using the same size of torque screws for portable Macs for more than a decade. And you also need a tiny Flat Slot screw driver or something to life up the glass. I’ll just use a sucker or whatever the name of this object is. (See Screenshot 05.) <\/p>\n

As shown in Screenshot 06, lifting up the front glass panel is not difficult at all. That’s because it’s very light. You need a very small force to lift it up, really.
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\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 06 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n		 <\/td>\n\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 07 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n		 <\/td>\n\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 08 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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\nNext, let’s use a torque driver to remove screws around the front dark frame. There are three different sizes. You need to remember the location where each screw comes from. 1 type is about 1.4 cm. There are 6 of them. Another size is about 1.9 cm. And the last type is 3.1 cm. There are two of them. These long torque screws are used near the center of the machine. (See Screenshot 08.) 2.54 cm make one inch.
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\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 09 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n		 <\/td>\n\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 10 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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\nWhat’s the next step? Umm… I need to remove the RAM access door with a Phillips screw driver. (Screenshot 09.) Doing so enables me to lift up the whole white cover. Watch out. The iSight cable is not very long. So lift the white cover gently. (See Screenshot 10.)
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\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 11 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n		 <\/td>\n\"iMac<\/a>
\nScreenshot 12 – Source: MacHouse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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\nScreenshot 11 shows that lifting up the front white panel uncovers only the bottom part. You can see a fan to the left and a PMU battery to the right. Interestingly, this model is designed so that you aren’t allowed to remove the battery. Or you will crack the black cover permanently, I suppose.<\/p>\n

It appears that you need to remove more torque screws to get to the hard disk drive and the CD\/DVD drive. I have to stop at this point, or I can damage the machine. <\/p>\n

I should have said at the beginning that you don’t want to open up the white cover unless you have to replace the internal hard disk driver or something. Going this far is not difficult at all. But putting the white cover back is very difficult. The RAM socket will stop the white cover from going any further. Why does Apple design computers in such a way that it takes Mac users more than 30 minutes to replace the hard disk drive? I miss our iMac G5 2 GHz.
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\nRelated articles: <\/p>\n

Will A New Battery Save iMac G5 2GHz?<\/a>
\niMac 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo: The Dark Side of iMac Early 2008 – Not Very Green At All<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, we installed two RAM cards to increase the RAM size of our iMac 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo (Early 2008 or MB325) to 4 GB. That’s a 10-minute job, and anyone can do it. Meanwhile, inspecting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[364],"tags":[286],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-something-about-imac","tag-imac-28-ghz-core-2-duo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}