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 -
• My 6400 Take Apart manual -

Mac Equipment for sale: David has sold his 5400 and would like to thank all that inquired. Click here to see what else is for sale.

QT4 full install: David also sent word of a guy who made his own installer for QT4 so you don't have to do the internet install that Apple intended. Click here to visit his web site. If you want his site to stay up then I don't think you should post this info to any of Apples Forums because as soon as they find out about it, he will be shut down. Remember the 6400 take apart manual sites!

More mouse pause info: I found this at Accelerate Your Mac's web site. It has to due with mouse ghosting with video cards but it might also help me out to. I'll let you know if it works.

[Ult. Rez Ghosting Tip: A reader responded to an earlier problem post with a few tips:
"Hi Mike,
Tell him to remove the AIM Menu, it's been reported to cause weird mouse cursor problems. He also might want to delete the Idle Time Extension as well, it causes instability in Netscape. The AOL Instant Messenger runs perfectly fine without these two components.
Jungsik Suh "

from xlr8]

This problem may not be with OS 8.6 only as Pasal also reports having this issue. I asked him to see if he has the above extensions installed and to try and remove them.

[Tom,
I am starting to have pauses also in 8.1. I'm beginning to wonder if there's an extension/init conflict.
thanks
Pascal]

A real problem found with Sonnets G3: Most of us have been having the startup crashes or random freezes with Sonnets G3 but now it seems there is a repeatable problem with Sonnets cards and some sound apps. Peter wrote to Sonnet with some issues has was having and Sonnet told him to return the card as they are aware of these issues! I wonder when they were going to tell us? Thanks Peter.

[Hi Tom.....
You will be very interested in this letter I eventually received from Sonnet. There IS after all a major issue with these cards. Why they have taken this long to admit it is a mystery... but at least they have admitted it!!! Feel free to post this on your fabulous site.
Peter
------------------------------------------
Letter from Sonnet....

Reply to: RE: Problem with Crescendo G3/L2 300Mhz/1Mb on a 6400/200.
Peter,
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it seems to be time to get a G3. We have been receiving emails and calls from customers with sound problem, especially with Cubase. Our engineers are aware of the problem, and I will forward your letter to them to add to my proof that Cubase isn't working with the G3 processors.


I am sorry that I can't help you on this one, but our G3 cards are not compatible with Cubase. Please return your card to the reseller you purchased it from, and get a refund. If you purchased the card directly from Sonnet, please send your invoice number in your reply email and I will issue an return authorization number.
------------------------------------
On 7/6/99, Peter and Tracey wrote:
Problem with Crescendo G3/L2 300Mhz/1Mb on a 6400/200.Hi... I purchased your Crescendo G3/L2 300Mhz/1Mb a little while ago and have had persistent problems when running certain applications. Booting is 100% ok. Speed and general operation is 100% ok. Generally freeze free and stable (and temperature nice and cool too @ 23-31 c'grade).


Pretty good so far :)
However..... now the boring stuff... :( I use the computer for music and media ( I know it's not the best.. but v. tight budget)


When running Quicktime movies sporadic stuttering (and yup my discs are not fragmented and my scsi terminations are ok).


When running audio/midi sequencer applications such as Cubase VST (www.steinberg.net) , which is my main app (and the reason I bought your card to get faster performence) the audio processing part of the app. is unusable. When running audio into the recording/DSP side of the app , the audio always freezes into a 'stuck cd ' style loop after a few seconds.


The actual DSP part of the program seems to be operating smoothly and there seems to be no strain on the G3 processor. The 'freezing is happening around the ASIO part. I have tried to use both the Apple Sound Manager and the 'low


level' DAV driver but the results are the same. It feels like a timing issue of some sort. It's so frustrating as everything else about your card is great !!!!


Are other users having this problem? Any tips? Am I doomed to having to buy a new mac?


I have tried other similar applications (e.g. StudioVision Pro from www.opcode.com) and they seem to do the exactly the same thing too so it's not just 'cubase'.


I have tried working on a 'bare-bones' system folder and also removing the 'Mac Picasso' video card but the problems still remain.


Also if I remove your Crescendo card (or disable your extension Ver 1.36) the problem goes away completely.


I really really look forward to hearing from you......
(and I hope this mail made sense)
Best Wishes
Peter]

Mac OS X on a G3 accelerated 6400?: Trung as well as many others are curious to know if Apples newest OS will run on a 6400 with a G3 card installed? I am also interested in finding out so if any of you have tried it please email me.

[Your website has received much praise from the tech info library on Apple's website! The question that I have (and many others) is...Is it possible to install OS X on a G3 upgraded 6400/6500? I was wondering if you had any luck. If you did, I just might have to opt for the upgrade. Thanks for your help.
-TC]

400Mhz G3 or higher possible on the 6400, Maybe?: I found this info on Mikes Accelerate Your Mac site that syas Interware (parent company to Vimage) has broken the 8x bus limit by using a procedure called Bus Doubling. Basically they increase the bus then do it again so the CPU does not notice the original bus speed. They haven't made a G3 upgrade like this for us yet but the potential is there. Let all keep our fingers crossed :)

[Interware 10X G3: Michiro Isobe (author of PPC Checker) wrote to say that Vimage's parent company Interware appears to have a 10X G3 on the market:

" Dear Mr. Breeden,
Here in Japan, INTERWARE Corp. (Vimage in USA) announced the August release of 10x PPC750 upgrade 'Booster G3 466'.
Japanese web page is here.
www.iijnet.or.jp/Interware/products/BoosterG3_466.html The specifications written in this page are summarized bellow.

CPU : PowerPC G3/466
L2 Cache : 1MB/233MHz (1:2)
Bus Clock : 46.6MHz

Pwr. Consumption: +5.0V/300mA, +3.3V/3.0A
Compatibility : Apple Power Macintosh,
7300/166, 7300/180
7500/100
7600/120, 7600/132, 7600/200
8500/120, 8500/132, 8500/150, 8500/180
8600/200ZIP, 8600/250
9500/120, 9500/132, 9500/150, 9500/180MP, 9500/200
9600/200MP, 9600/233, 9600/300, 9600/350

Although INTERWARE said they use "Bus Doubling" technology, It uses 10x PPC750 apparently. Maybe other accelerator venders will release similar upgrade cards in this summer.
Best Regards,
Michiro Isobe "
As noted a few weeks back, my sources say 10X G3s wills start to show up very soon here in the USA. ]

Problem and cure for subwoofer volume control: Mitch was having trouble with his subwoofer volume control and found some wire loose on the circuit board. If any of you has any questions on how he got to it then please email him. Thanks Mitch.

[I have been having problems with the subwoofer volume control on the back of my 6400. Finally, I couldn't get it to work at all, no matter how much wiggling. I decided to go for it and take apart my computer (with the help of the pdf file I downloaded some time ago). It wasn't really too difficult, and it gave me a chance to blow out all the dust (unbelievable amounts!). When I got the little board out that holds the volume control it was very clear that the connections were completely loose on 2 of the 3 leads connecting it to the circuit board. Fortunately, I could reach the connections with my pencil-type soldering iron to repair it. I was careful not to overdo the amount of solder, using just enough to re-establish the connections. I retraced my disassembly steps and I'm back in business! I know many people have had similar problems, and having seen the problem up close it is easy to understand why. There is alot of wear on a fragile little device. I hope others can benefit from my experience.
Mitch]

Mac Equipment for sale: Ty has sold his Syquest EZflyer and would like to thank all that inquired. Austen has a few Apple systems for sale and you can get more info on them plus other stuff for sale by clicking here.

USB mouse pause update: I got a copy of the ADS's USB drivers and installed them to see if they would help my mouse and system pauses. It turns out that they are just Apples USB drivers version 1.1. I already tried these before and am up to version 1.3f of Apples drivers now with minimal changes. The pause is less with version 1.3 but still present.

Reader Request: Avid crashes with Sonnets G3 installed: Bill is having a tough time getting Avid to do anything but crash since he installed Sonnets G3. Click here for more info.

My own request: This is somewhat off the topic but I was wondering if there is anyone using Quicken to do online billing with their bank? I use Bank of America and the branches out here are not as up-to-date as the California system is so they have no Mac versions of their software used to do online billing. They just switched to Quicken99 from Managing Your Money and they only have PC versions available. I was wondering if Quicken98 for the Mac would work? I expecct that when Quicken 2000 comes out for the Mac then they should distribute both PC and Mac copies for online banking. Anyways if anyone has an answer then please email me. Thanks.

French pottery for sale: I thought I would change the pace of info posted today. Andy , a reader of the 6400 Zone, has his own online buisness selling pottery. They are very nice looking so I thought some of you may be interested. Click here to visit his site.

Reader Requests updated: Keith fixed his QK 4 startup freeze issue buy just trashing the prefs. Let this be a reminder that the Pref file is usually the first or at least second thing to suspect as being a problem with an app or startup file.

Dan just got a 6360 and would like info from anyone who has over clocked one. Click here for more details.

And maybe someone can answer this one rather quick. Al is having trouble getting QT 4 to install. I asked him to try redownloading the installer but maybe one of you has another solution. Thanks

[Hi:
I have a Performa 6400-200, 104 mg, OS 8.6 and a G3 Vimage 240 upgrade. I can't get QT 4 to download. I have the QT 3 Pro. I have the downloader OK but the next step goes almost all the way and then quits with an error message. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Al - earl4@interactive.net]

News on Newers 6400 G3 upgrade: I don't know if the posting I found on MacFixIt's site below means Newer has their 6400 G3 ready or not but they are making a nice bundle for us. Its listed for education resellers but I wonder if they will make a consumer bundle? read on.

[300 MHz MAXpowr G3 & 10/100 Ethernet Bundle $399: :Newer Technology, Inc. the original developer of third party Macintosh processor upgrades, today announced a product pairing of a G3 processor upgrade with the Farallon Communications Fast EtherTX-10/100 Comm Slot II Card. Farallon has a long and successful history developing plug and play network interface cards. The Newer Technology 300MHz MAXpowr G3-L2E G3 processor upgrade and the Fast EtherTX-10/100 Comm Slot II Card are designed for the most popular Power Mac and Performa models used primarily in the education market. Its compatible with the Power Mac 5400, 5500, 6400, 6500; Apple Performa 5400, 5410, 5420, 5430, 5440, 5500, 6360, 6400, 6410 and 6420. The MAXpowr G3-L2E and Farallon EtherTX 10/100 bundle is available July 5th from Authorized Education Resellers at an estimated street price of $399, part number 120576."]

Funny how they are advertising this but no mention on whether the G3 card is even ready for consumer sales?

UPDATE on Farallons 2.0 extension for their 10/100 COMM II ethernet card not compatible with OS 8.6: Paul emailed saying he had the same problem but it may not have been the Farallon extension causing the problem. All I know is that when I reinstall the older 1.1 version the problem goes away. Thanks Paul.

[I had this same problem when I first installed 8.6. I e-mailed Farallon and got a response that said they had not seen this problem before. I managed to resolve the freezes and it was not due to the Farallon 2.0 extension. I think it was BeHierarchic (3.1.1) that was the offending control panel but I honestly can not remember what I had to do to fix it. I have been racking my brain all day trying to remember the fix. If I do remember I'll post ASAP
Paul]

UPDATE on the Crescendo hack: Carl emailed to give me info on his tests with my Crescendo extension hack to fix Sonnets G3. Thanks Carl.

[Thanks Tom, once again your page has provided the support found nowhere else. I used the Crescendo hack and the Powerlogix control panel.......along with the font fix extension, and everything purrrs along perfectly with 8.6.
I did start-up the next day, and my screen went black right at the point where the first extension (newly hacked Crescendo) loads. I restarted with extensions off, looked in the Prefs folder and scrapped the only 4 itmes with the time of crash. I trashed them, and now it works fine. One of them was the new OS preferences file. This has been the cause of a couple of infrequent problems. Maybe the Appearance manager has a "bug to be identified".

Regards,
Carl]

He later emailed me the names of the pref files he had to trash.

[The 4 pref files were: Date & Time, Control Strip,Sound,MacOS......I always make a habit of dumping TSM and ASLM pref files too, but I didn't to solve the blaclout problem on startup.

I missed one. It crashed again on startup, and I also dumped File Exchange prefs. Then it works fine. SO it has something to do with one of those 5.]

I checked all of these and they all are of type "APPC". On my Hack info page I tell you to make the Crescendo extension type "scri" to get it to load before the other extensions. I wonder if "APPC" even loads before "scri"? I will try and see what happens.

UPDATE: I just tried it and changing the type to "APPC" did not make them load early. I suppose those few items load early or have their pref files changed early for some other reason? Maybe they were just corrupted from past use?

Reply from Sonnet on Hack: Anton wrote Sonnet on the topics the Hack fixes and here is their reply. It seems they don't think these are a problem. Tell that to me and the others that get more stable systems with the Hack. Thanks Anton. I will email Joey and see what he thinks too.

[Tom,
I just read your page about the patches for the speculative access and want to relay a reply I got from a Sonnet technician. I was out of town for the last two weeks and have not had time to try your patch, but it sounds to me that it might still be wortwile to do, despite Sonnet's claim. Maybe the collective user experience will show Sonnet that this might be beneficial. Also Joey of www.joecard.com might have the technical expertise to judge whether Sonnet is right or not.
Anton

------begin included message----
>Anton R. Schep,
> To address your first question, Speculative Adressing is left enabled to allow protection >for I/O addressing. As for D(ynamic)P(ower)M(anagement), it is left is it's state to maximize the
>performance of the processor. At this point, Sonnet has no plans on modifying these 2 features.

>Mike J. Wong
>Hardware/Software QA Analyst
>Sonnet Technologies, Inc.]

Drive Setup causing HD issues on 6400s?: I found this topic on Mike Breeden's Accelerate Your Mac web site. One person thinks that all the HD issues the 6400 has been having are created by using Drive Setup (Apples disk formatting utility). Personally I never had an issue with Drive Setup. Click here to read all the info I gathered from his web site. Thanks Mike.

Apples 6400 take apart manual: Apple has once again removed their manuals from being downloaded. The link I had to their Euro address now requires special access privilages :( I have my own version posted for anyone that wishes to take their case apart.

US pricing for BlackFires IDE-SCSI adaptor: Alex said he was told by BlackFire that their card sells for $70 US which is about $50 cheaper then the TurboMax. Although only one drive can be attached to the BlackFire card and 4 to the TurboMax. Also he question about the drive bracket is a good one. You should use a bracket as it keeps the drive from moving around during transport. It is possible to run the drive in that upper bay with out a bracket but I wouldn't advise it.

[I just got an e-mail from the Black*Fire folks and they said the price in US dollars is about $70. I noticed in Dirk Paul Flach's reveiw he doesn't mention anything about a mounting bracket for his IDE drive, in fact he says," Lay the drive on the bottom of the bay,". My question is thus..how critical is it to use a mounting bracket?Could I use the one that came with my Maxtor 8.8GB drive?(I'm thinking about putting the old 2.5GB drive in the expansion bay)
Thanks you,
Alex]

I found a great way to earn some money while getting great deals to you on Macintosh books and software plus they have all kinds of other books, music, and more. Please click on the amazon.com link on the top of this page whenever you feel like purchasing something to help sponsor this site. If you're unsure of what you want and wish to get a list of Mac related items, just type Macintosh in the search field on their home page and you will be presented with many choices to select.

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 have been having a pause in all apps and the mouse when using Logitecs USB Wheel mouse on an ADS USB card. I haven't traced it down but one other person had a similar issue but with an ADB trackball which means it may not be a USB issue? Click here for more info.

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.