The 6400 Zone is created to help you gain access to useful software updates and great shareware programs that add functionality to your system. It is also a one stop road map to other informative sites for answering your questions. Most of the info here is geared towards the 6400, but it is useful for all PCI Performa models and even the 6500 and all-in-one Macs based on the same. It's even useful to other MAC systems. I will be referring to my 6400/200 clocked to 220Mhz as just 6400/220, OK.

I will keep it updated as often as I can but I don't have much free time to work on it, so I suggest you check back at least once a week. That should be sufficient. If you don't see something you would like to see here or have your own software / web site that would benefit the MAC community, please write to me at TMK12v@aol.com and I will check it out.

• Current problems with my system

Possible Solution to the boot crashing with Sonnets G3: I posted a letter from Anton on my previous update where he had mentioned that turning off Speculative Address may cure the crashes? But he could not find a way to have Power Logix's G3 cache profiler (this is the utility that can deactivate it) boot before the Crescendo extension to be effective. Well I found away and it seems more stable now. Click here to read how I did it.

Sound garbled after installing Vimages G3 update: I don't know if Steve found a fix but now my 6400 seems better. At the time I tested running Marathon Infinity with Sonnets G3 and had horribly garbled sound during the launch of it. I think the music tempo was sped up so much that it played the entire introduction in a few seconds! Now that I have Vimages 320/1M G3 in here the sound problem has gone. Steve is also using a Vimage card though and I wonder if the OS 8.6 updated version fixed it for me? Its still possible that some older apps will have sound issues no matter what and this may never get fixed :(

USB mouse freezes on the 6400: Earlier I mentioned getting ADS's USB card to work on my 6400 with a hacked version of Apples USB drivers. It still works but using Logitex's Wheel Mouse, I notice a freeze every now and then for a few seconds where the mouse seems locked up. It only lasts a few seconds and then the computer continues on its merry way but it does bother me! I'm not sure why it does this but I think it has something to due with the mouse no longer being a low level call. Apples Mouse driver resides in the System file or Boot ROM so it has very low level calls and this is why the mouse will move no matter whats going on. In fact this may be why the mouse can grind the OS to a hault when you click on a menu item. A USB mouse on the other hand has just a software driver loaded during boot so its a program running in higher level calls like any other program and when the OS gets bogged down thinking on something and other apps hault, guess what?, so does your mouse!

I may be wrong but this is what I think is happening. If it happens to you then be patient as it will start working again. If you have a USB card with a mouse I would like to hear your comments.

On the other hand it could be a bug that Apple needs to work out?

Linux on the 6400, update: in my last update I mentionned I was able to get Linux to run on my 6400 with a G3 card and I want to clarify a few things. First I was only using Linux 4.0 Live which is a stripped down version like a demo and required no HD partitioning or formatting to AU/X (a UNIX format). The G3 was Vimages 320/1M card. OS was 8.6 and I launched Linux using the BootX app, not the extension. I tried Sonnets G3 over and over and everytime is crashes somwhere during the boot of Linux. Disabling the Crescendo extension allowed it to work but as you can guess, with no G3. So it seems that only Vimages G3 works for now but still not sure about the L2 cache? I tried a newer version of the BootX app which can send the L2 cache info to Linux but the GrabG3setting app could not find a BootX pref file to store the info in. Most likely do to the demo version I'm running. I'm going to try a different approach now. I read an article on MacPC from a worker at Connectix that got RedHat Linux 5.0 to install on Vpc 2.1. I think I'm going to try installing it on RealPC as this will make it easier for me to install a real version without having to partition and format my HD.

Issues with BlackFires SCSI-IDE card: Dirk Paul sent me some more info on his new 10G IDE drive connected using BlackFires SCSI-IDE interface card. It was in response to a reply of mine asking why the 2 drives benchmarked similar when large IDE drives are usually faster then the stock HD.

[> The built-in IDE drive is a 2.4 Gb; the new IDE disk on the SCSI port
> through the interface card is a 10 Gb disk formatted to 8 Gb. If you want
> specifics, I'd have to look that up (which will probably have to wait,
> because I will be away for 3 weeks).
>
> I do have some additional comments now btw. For one, I've been trying to
> install LinuxPPC on this new HD; didn't work. The installation process went
> OK, but it won't boot. It gives me all the Linux command-line bullshit, but
> a few seconds after it asks me for my login, it switches to a black screen;
> nothing to wake it from that. Don't know if it's related to the card
> (thought that maybe you can't install LinuxPPC through that card), but it's
> only a guess.
>
> Second comment is that sometimes after a system crash, this new HD won't be
> mounted on my desktop. Most of the times, a restart (and switching the SCSI
> terminator on my ZIP drive, which is on the same SCSI chain on and off when
> the Mac is turned off) will bring it back, but it's always an uneasy
> experience. In this case, not sure either whether it's related to the card;
> but I thought you wanted to know anyway.
>
> DP]

Basically the BlackFire card can only transfer data as fast as the SCSI bus its on. The internal SCSI for the 6400 is only 5MBps which is pretty slow. I asked him to try swaping the two drives and see if performance improves.

Reader Request: Howard is having some difficulty getting his cable modem to access the web at a good speed. His seems to be worse then a 28.8k modem! Click here to read his email and please reply if you have an answer. Thanks.

Joe is having trouble printing to a Color Style Writer 4100 after the install of Sonnets 300/512k G3 card. Click here to read his email and reply if you have an answer. Thanks.

Also here is a quick question from another reader asking about modem scripts. Please email him if you have what he is asking for. Thanks

[Does anyone have modem inits or CCL scripts for the Beige G3/6500 internal modem that allow higher than 26400 connection speeds?]

Short review from some Sonnet users: Fernando and Buddy sent me their info just to let you all know how things are going for them. Thanks guys.

[Hi Tom. Thanks for the great site and advice concerning G3 upgrades.I ultimately chose the Sonnet 240MHz because 1) I was somewhat concerned about the long-term effects of the high temperature of the Vimage 240MHz, and 2) from the reviews on your site and the xlr8yourmac site, it seems as if the 300Mhz Sonnet is more problematic than its lower speed sibling. I've had my upgrade now for almost 3 weeks and so far (knock on wood), it has been fantastic! Installation was a snap. It's very stable: out of at least 20-30 startups/reboots, there has been only one startup crash and I've had no other troubles whatsoever. Needless to say, I'm very happy with the speed of the upgrade. VirtualPC is much more responsive and now I can really tell just how zippy my cable modem is. I know that the 300MHz upgrade would be even faster but I'm not sure if the speed gained is worth the risk of the problems others have had with it. Here are my specs, in case someone out there is looking to get a G3 upgrade and has a similar setup to mine:

OS 8.1, 104 MB RAM, XClaim VR (Rage Pro), Farallon 10BaseT Ethernet card, GV Platinum 28.8 modem (original), Epson Stylus Color 500 printer
Sincerely,
Fernando]

[Hello,
Sonnet G3 240/ 512 "Banker" L2 card in my 6400 works great-nice speed boost. Temps running at 39-43C. Cresendo extension v. 1.3.6 installed. Had the same double start problem as Brian, when ever I had a freeze. I added a "z" to the beginning of the Cresendo extension and have been trouble free for last day and half. By the way I'm running OS 8.6 with plenty of non-vanilla extensions. Hope this is of some use/Wes recommmended in previous post. Great page.Keep the posts coming!
Buddy]

Sonnet crashes to much for me now!: Since updating to OS 8.6 I have had many boot crashes with Sonnets card that I cannot stand it any more! In just the past few days it took 2-3 boots before it made it all the way each time I wanted to use the computer. I had it so I removed Sonnets card and put in Vimges G3 and placed Sonnets card in my backup 6400. So far no crashes with Vimages :) Sonet really needs to find out why their card is so unstable or they are going to loose new customers.

Perhaps a 4th L2 G3 vendor may emerge?: Joey, who has sent me some great info on clocking, may make his own L2 G3 for the 6400 and it sounds rather interesting. He has a company in Germany which is selling G3 upgrades right now for other Macs and is testing versions for the 6400. If his card works the way it sounds like it will then it might just beat the others in stability and compatibility! I asked to test one if he does produce them. Thanks Joey.

[Dear Tom,
indeed, i´m working on a alchemy/gazelle version of my own g3 card (joeCARD/littleJoe). I´m just adopting the Tanzania Design to the specs of the 6400 and clones. The g3 card for tanzania is trivia, you only have to route the ppc750 pinout to the cach dimm slot and do a little fine tuning. Tanzania uses a lot of the the alchemy design, but has some improvements. (like 2 chanel E-IDE, PS/2, faster onboard graphics etc.) Those improvements affect the DMA channels and the generell way a cache is adressed. Even if tanzania and alchemy use the same memory controller PSX, the way the alchemy treats the cache dimm differs. So, if you want to turn a tanzania card (all manufacturers go that way - first tanzania - then alchemy) to be alchemy compatible, you have to change the whole way the card messages itself to the system. the stability problem may occur, cause the little ROM on both, the vimage and the sonnet card, has to readress the psx. that´s not trivia. if timing problems occur in ns steps, the whole psx won´t adress correctly and the system hangs. i don´t know exactly what the rom on vimage and sonnet cards does or how it patches the psx and rom. I will do it my way and the first five prototype suck, but today i´ve got one prototype start and running in umax c600 alchemy clone. In fact my card does start as g3 from the start. even with system extension disabled it´s still a g3. that´s more like a tanzania card. so i will test and develop a little more and than maybe i will have a product up and running like my two joeCARD/littleJoe families. (one for tanzania, one for TNT/NITRO/tsunami)
Yours
J.R.Kuhnen]

Sound garbled after installing Vimages G3: Steve writes that he is getting some pretty nasty sounds out of his 6400 since he installed Vimages 240G3. I haven't had this problem but I did notice that Marathon Infinity's opening music gets cut off and garbled. I think its a timing issue and maybe trying the Booster beta drivers with the control panel set to NONE will help? Of course this will slow the computer down but should still be OK as long as its only Legacy games that don't really need a G3 boost :) Let me know if any of you are having this issue. Thanks.

[I recently installed a Vimage 240 G3 upgrade card into my Performa 6400/180 and since then the sound quality has gone to hell. I'm using OS 8.1 and no external speakers. The sound is garbled and very heavy on the bass to the point where voices are completely drowned out. Any suggestions? Anyone else report this problem? Thanks
Steve]

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Jeff did some digging in to the new code that displays the frames on my site with AOL ads and found a link that can be used which will not show those annoying ads. Here is the address. http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/TMK12v/home.html
Thanks Jeff, for sending this info. PS don't let AOL find out :)

I don't know if Sonnets L2/G3 cards are causing this problem but neither of my 6400's will sleep now. The monitors will sleep but the HD just spins down and then right back up and the fan never slows at all. I'm using OS 8.5.1 and have a 300/512k and 300/1M G3 card installed. I know the sleep function used to work but I haven't tried it in awhile. If any of you have this problem or if your system will sleep with Sonnets cards then please email me the details. Thanks.

Update 3/2/1999 Its not Sonnets G3 cards causing the problem. I just removed the G3 and left the L2 slot empty and the 6400/180 will still not sleep? Hmmmmmmm!

FIX 5/27/1999 Gary sent me a fix which seems to work. One thing though is that the power supply fan will always spin. Even PC's do this to keep the mother board cool. I guess the CPU does not sleep but all the peripherals do? By the way I was able to reset up different sleep times for displays and System and it still worked for me. Maybe my pref files was just corrupted? Thanks Gary.

[Hi,
I have a Sonnet 300/1MB L2 G3 installed on my 6400 running OS 8.5.1 and I too could not get the sleep function to work after the installation, so I started playing around with it and came up with this fix witch is working for me......

First drag the energy saver control panel preference to the trash and restart your computer. After the restart you will see a dialog box prompting you to set your energy saver preferences, open the panel..... NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT! Do not set separate times for hard disk or monitors. Now click on preferences then click on notification, a dialog box will open. Now uncheck all three check boxes, (you can no longer use these notification features). then click OK. Close the energy saver panel and go directly to the control panel folder by way of the apple menu. (DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200 DOLLARS DO NOT GO ANY WHERE BUT TO THE CONTROL PANEL FOLDER). Find the energy saver Icon click on it once to highlight it, then click on file in the finder, now click on get info to open the get info box and in the lower left conner check the check box marked locked. Close every thing up, empty the trash and your done.

Repeat above steps for all other disks, volumes, or removable media (zip jazz etc.) that have their on OS.

Why this works? I haven't a clue... And its not a perfect fix but you can put it to sleep any time you want and it will stay asleep until you wake it up, or wait 30 minutes and it'll go into sleep mode on its on.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
Sincerely, Gary Brooks]

I use a Performa 6400/180 OS 8.6, Performa 6400/200 OS 8.6, PowerBook G3/233 OS 8.6, and a PowerBook DUO 270c OS 7.5.5. All of the software updates posted here are currently running on one or the other with minimal problems. If I do encounter a problem, I will post it for all to read and respond to. If you are having any problems and would like help just email me and if I can answer it I will, or I will post it here for others to read and respond to.