Procuring and installing a bluetooth card for 1st gen imac G5

Question

Hello,
I'd like to install an internal bluetooth card on my early G5 iMac. Can I do that? And if so, how would I go about it?
Thank you so much,
Sincerely,
Tabeer

Answer 1

There are three things you need to install the Bluetooth card on the iMac: the card, the antenna, and a small bracket for the end of the antenna.
I looked on the web just today to find the answer to that and most all said it can not be done. I just installed one on a 1.6 MHz G5 iMac. I piulled the components off a 1.8 MHz G5 iMac.
You need to be comfortable opening the iMac. I had almost nothing to lose here because my 1.8 MHz failed (capacitors) and I had done quite a bit to try to resurrect it - I had the mother board out of the machine. Interestingly, to do this operation, you actually do less dissassembly than taking the mother board out. The trick is to leave the mother board in the frame, and remove the frame from the case (white thing with the LCD screen).
More specifically:
notice that the airport antenna (follow from the Airport card) disappears under the mother board near the lower left corner (face down);
just below the airport card is where the bluetooth card goes - plugs in w/connector and two screws.
remove the power supply;
remove the optical drive;
remove the hard drive;
disconnect the LCD panel connector - 2 screws;
disconnect two connectors on the left side (as you are looking at the thing face down) - one is under the optical drive, and the other you have to follow the cable you just disconnected down under a slender grey plastic component (Airport antenna part?) Take that component out too - 1 screw;
remove three screws across the top, just below the top edge of the case (white thing);
remove three more screws - one at each bottom corner (face down) and one mid way up the left side (these screws have coarse wood threads vs machine threads);
tilt up the metal frame with the mother board attached and lift it out.
the bluetooth antenna goes through a small "hole" in the sheet metal and then follows a bundle of black and brown wires to the right (face down) - there are 3 or 4 "tabs" made out of the sheet metal;
there is a distinct bend in the metal frame where a plastic bracket is glued in place and holds the end of the antenna, which has a printed circuit board about 1" long by 1/8" x 1/8".
It was relatively easy.