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 -

PowerLogix enters L2/G3 arena!: well its about time! PowerLogix has announced that it has released its line of L2/G3 upgrades for the 6400/6500 and 4400 type Macs. From the letter it seems they are shipping the 4400 now and the 6400/6500 next month. I also noticed a 7220 version? None of the other L2/G3 vendors made one for any 72xx series as this Mac was supposed to not be able to work with it? I see they only mentioned the 7220 so I guess this was the one model close enough to work? Also note they have a 400Mhz version too but no listing as to if its 400Mhz on the 6500 only? I will write for more info and see if I can get a card to review :) Stay Tuned!

[" MACWORLD EXPO, NEW YORK -- JULY 21, 1999 -- PowerLogix today
announced new models of the award-winning line of PowerForce G3 processor upgrades. The new lineup includes G3L2 cards for 603e-based machines such as the PowerMac 4400, as well as the new 466 MHz PowerForce G3 utilizing the IBM 466 PowerPC processor with 10:1 bus ratio.

The PowerForce G3 466 compliments the award-winning, best-priced lineup of G3 processors for original PCI PowerMacs. (Compatible machines listed below.)

The complete PowerForce G3 Lineup includes the following models and list pricing:

-PowerForce G3 233/512K $249
-PowerForce G3 300/1Mb $399
-PowerForce G3 400/1Mb $599
-PowerForce G3 466/1Mb $799 *NEW*

The PowerForce G3L2 lineup includes the following models and introductory list pricing:

-PowerForce G3L2 240/512K $199 *NEW*
-PowerForce G3L2 320/1Mb $399 *NEW*
-PowerForce G3L2 400/1Mb $599 *NEW*

In addition the PowerForce G3 ZIF completes the full line of G3 processor cards. The ZIF model is designed for PowerMac G3s of all types.

-PowerForce G3 ZIF 466/1Mb $629

All models ship with cache running at half the processor speed.
COMPATIBILITY:
PowerForce G3 models are compatible with Power Mac 7300/7500/7600/8500/8600/9500/9600, Workgroup Server 7350, 8550, 9650, Daystar Genesis, PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, PowerCurve, PowerTower, PowerTower Pro, PowerWave and UMAX J700/S900.

PowerForce G3L2 models are compatible with PowerMac 4400, 5400, 5500, 6400, 6500, 7220, Performa 5400, 5500, 6360, 6400, 6500, UMAX/SuperMac C500, C600, and Motorola StarMax 3000, 4000, and 5000.

PowerForce G3 ZIF is compatible with all PowerMac G3s, including "Blue & White" G3s as well as the G3 "All-in-One". (Due to the architecure of the B&W G3, the G3 ZIF will operate at either 450 or 500 MHz in those machines.)

AVAILABILITY: All PowerForce G3 and G3 ZIF models are shipping now. The PowerForce G3L2 will ship this month for PowerMac 4400, 7220, and Starmax 3000/4000, and in August for the remaining models."]

Sonnet releases 10x G3 upgrades: Here is a press release from Sonnet on their new line of G3's that utilize a 10x Bus to CPU ratio. This allows a 40Mhz system to run a 400Mhz CPU! right now its only for PCI and Nubus Macs but hopefully they will make a L2/G3 like this for us :)

Sonnets Crescendo v1.3.7 update: So far this extension is working great on my 6400. I am very pleased with it. I haven't had one boot crash I can relate to this extension. I did have one or two but I was trying to install OS X so I don't think I can blame the G3 for those. Now that I have your attention, I'll have more on OS X in a bit. Its not good news so far though :(

More sound issues with Sonnets G3's: Regis reports he is having Audio Buffer not ready errors when trying to record sound after his G3 upgrade. Click here to read more on these issues. I also just created a Sonnet Compatibility page to start storing all this info.

[Tom, I have the same sound problem as other sonnet L2/G3 users, with Performer sound program. Everything is all right with midi or with audio play back. But each time I try to do audio recording , I have the message : "Audio buffer not ready". As I do just a few of music and jus with midi, I'm not going to throw away the card which is working well for all the other things. But anyway there is really a problem. Also, I have a funny thing with some games as Unreal: periodically the game freeze and I have ti plug and unplug the headphone jack to have it run.
Thanks for your site.
Regis.

Tom, if I don't use the headphone jack in Unreal, I have random freeze too, so I always have a mini jack ready to plug and unplug and the game can continue.
Regis]

3DFX releases generic Voodoo 2 drivers!: 3DFX, the makers of 3D chips that utilize Glide technology, have released Mac specific drivers for free for their family of Voodoo 2 chips. This means that you can buy just about any PC Voodoo 2 card and run it in your Mac. Remember it has to be a PCI card and not an AGP card. I am thinking of getting one myself but I also hear that Voodoo 3 drivers are in the works!

Memory errors with OS 8.6: Dan is reporting getting unmapped memory exception errors in certain apps after upgrading to OS 8.6. I received one other report of this from someone having this same error when trying to run SimpleText. I asked him to try increasing the RAM allocation to any app having this issue. If anyone has an answer please email me. Thanks

[I have a 6400/180 with 80 MB RAM, and I installed 8.5 and upgraded to 8.6 last week. It eats up your memory doesn't it? I keep getting application crashes with the message "unmapped memory exception" or something similar. It happens frequently in QuarkXpress 4.04.- so much so that I can't use it, but sometimes in Photoshop 5 and sometimes the finder. I have QXP memory set at 20,000. The freezes happen whether I have Virtual Memory on or off. Any fixes out there? Does Quark have a fix for OS8.6? I appreciate your website and info you have provided. I checked it out before I installed 8.5 or 8.6. I did install the new OS with extensions off. Thanks...
Struggling in Hollywood, Florida....Dan]

More 8.6 issues: Victor is having random crashes while using Sherlock after upgrading to OS 8.6. He already tried giving it more memory and even reinstalling Sherlock with no change.

[Since Mac OS 8.6 Upgrade I have experienced crash/freeze, the freeze occurs after web site opens, cursor wiil remain stationary and there is no response when clicking the mouse button. I would like to hear from anyone that has experienced this problem please contact Victor Park <vesp@eurekanet.com> Apple Mactinosh Performa 6400/180/2GBHD/136MB/L2512K/ATIXClaimVR is my present configuration. I have searched Apple TIL's and Tech Exchange postings have yet to find a solution for solving my problem. Apple Support seems to ignore my request for assistance thru Tech Exchange. Perhaps someone from 6400 Zone could give me advice or assistance.]

Sony 12x CD-ROMS not compatible with 6400?: Art found this on MacResQ's web site. I think it only means that you can't use the drive to replace your internal CD due to the plugs in the back not being in the correct location to attch to the 6400 in the manner Apple intended (using the adaptor plugs, no cables)

[Tom, I thought you and your readers might be interested in this:
I've been looking for an internal Mac Bootable (without a hack) CD-ROM drive (to replace my fried 8x) that is fast enough to read RW (32x). In the process I've become willing to settle for Bootable period, and was going to settle for the Sony 12x. Here is the info from MacResQ (notice the disclaimer!):
---
SONY 12x--Mac Bootable! This drive looks identical to the Apple CDRom Drives and uses standard Apple CD Mounting kits!*
*Sony 12x CDRom Drives are not compatible with the following Macs: 630, 6200, 6300, 6400 Series, 5200, 5400, 5500 Series.
---
So far this is the first I've seen mentioned on a 6400 incompatibility (even after scouring Sony, Apple, and countless dealer sites!). If anyone has an explanation/fix I'd be interested in hearing it (or suggestions for an internal that reads RW on a 6400!).

Thanks! Art]

He later replied that someone told him that an external Yamaha 4416 CDRW could boot the 6400. It might not fit internally but it is bootable. Thanks Art

[Oh also, on the topic of the Ext. Yamaha 4416 CDRW on a factory 6400: I talked to a guy from the apple boards who has a 6400/200 and this model CDRW (i havent received mine yet) and not only does it funtion well on the 6400, but BOOTS! Groovy huh?]

I would like to start a list of bootable CD-ROMS for the 6400. Internal and External models. Please state if the internal will fit in the stock CD location. Thanks

DT&T Mac repair center: Spider sent me this info on a company that will repair Macs for a pretty good price. I see 6400 mother board exchanges for $300! This is the lowest I've seen for our mother boards to date. Thanks for the info.

[sorry about the last letter, the phone # for Dt&t is 1-800-622-7977, Http://www.dttservice.com. you have to trade in your old mother board for the new one, mine was kaput, they also have great repair services, they will fix anything on the 6400 motherboard for 295$, and if they cant repair it, they will take the 295$ and give you a new / referbished board!]

More info on Apples internal TV/Video system as used on a 6500: This reader wrote to tell me he found Apples TV/Video system even more impressive then Martin did and its probably due to him running on a 6500 instead of a 6400 which has less video memory. Thanks for the info. It seems the 6500's 2M of VRAM makes the video system even more impressive for the price.

[By the way, the Apple TV/Video card is wonderful but as your reader said, the picture quality is lackluster when running at 256 colors, but since I have 2Mb of video memory I always run at millions of colors and have wonderful quality movie capture (Videoshop 3.0 will even let me use the new Quicktime 4.0 compression codecs which help with capturing on a computer not exactly perfect for video capture) I actually get around 320*200 @ 20-24 frames/sec. The best thing about this card though is actually just watching video(your reveiwer didn't praise the card on this respect). The card works almost completely independently of your computer when just veiwing a tv/video signal and will ALWAYS do crystal clear 640*480 30fps, even if your computer crashes the card is still updating the TV portion of your screen perfectly!]

More on running Linux with a G3 upgraded 6400: I found in Sonnets Compatibility Matrix that they say the L2/G3 is not compatible with MKLinux. Mark writes that he tried both MKLinux and LinuxPPC and neither runs with Sonnets G3. He is able to get Linux to run by booting into Linux before the Crescendo extension is reached which mean an unaccelerated Linux though :( Thanks Mark. I should be getting my copy of LinuxPPC 1999 soon and will try on both Sonnets and Vimages cards.

[Tom,

I think sadly, Sonnet are right, I have both flavours of Linux on my accelerated 5400 and both run on the 603ev rather than the G3. I would like to be proved wrong but as I understand it, until someone writes a Linux daemon to boot the G3 card, one will always turn off the G3 card on booting into Linux and there is nothing in either flavour of Linux to turn it back on again. The fix for Crescendo 1.3.6 of making it load first followed by PowerLogix Cache Profiler made Linux PPC 1999 hang every time, good thing 1.3.7 is now out (and very stable, at last!), at least my Linux works again in some form and MacOS 8.6 is 100% reliable in starting and use. Linux still is very fast even on just the 603 processor.
Mark]

So far I was able to get LinuxPPC Live to onle work with Vimages G3 enabled but the Live version is somewhat of a demo and not very functional.

Very frustrated G3 user!: Donato is not having any luck with either Sonnets or Vimages G3 upgrades. He already tried Sonnets cards and they kept crashing at boot and now Vimages is doing the same thing. If anyone has an answer please write to him. Thanks. I only posted a small part of his letter. Click here to read the entire letter.

[Dear Tom,
I spoke too early...
After a week using the Vpower G3 card from vimage, very happy for the speed increase and for the absence of any conflict with my mac, the nightmare is back on...
I sent the following message to the Vimage technical support, but...sigh sigh sigh! :-(((((((((((((((
Why those damn G3 upgrade cards are not working on my mac??? :-(((((
Sorry to bother you again, and thanks a lot for your help and your
support so far...
Donato]

Mac Equipment for sale updated: I have made a lot of additions to my list so go check it out.

Sonnet releases updated Crescendo drivers: On June 12th Sonnet posted their latest update to their Crescendo line of G3 accelerators. Its now version 1.3.7 and is said to add increased stability for L2/G3's! I just installed it yesturday and have booted a few times with no issues yet. I did removed my Hacked version and removed all the ROM fixing extensions so it was just the Crescendo loaded in its original location. I checked with PowerLogix's G3 Cache Profiler to see if Sonnet diabled Speculative addressing which I found helps reduce crashing but they did not. Well I'm going to give it a few weeks before I say its fixed so stay tuned.

Here is one person though who had initial trouble getting it to install but now its fine. Just so you know, I got the install to work fine and I also just installed Quake II with no issues.

[Tom:
Downloaded Crescendo 1.3.7 and after 3 tries at rebooting, it finally finished a startup and then rebuilt the desktop. Once that happened no problems. It reocurred again when I used the ATI 4 driver update on the Quake II CD, but finally worked through it. Now I get reliable bootups.

Very happy.
Carl]

I do wish they would stop forcing a desktop rebuild. Many people have problems getting a rebuild to work even with using Apples key combination at boot. One thing I did notice is that LibMoto is no longer installed by default. You have to choose "Easy Install with Libmoto" to get it to install. I prefer this as LibMoto is known to conflict with the Geo modem and well just about every 6400 came with a Geo modem. If you don't want your desktop to get rebuilt then pick quit instead of restart and then goto your extensions folder and remove the file "Rebuild Extension". Maybe this will help those of you that might have otherwise had the same problem that Carl did.

Sonnet compatibility issues with USB drivers?: When I first installed OS 8.6 I also had just recently attached my expansion chassi with the USB card inside. Well needless to say I had many boot crashes and removed Sonnets card and placed Vimages back in and have been happy ever since. Joe writes that he had the same issue and found the problem to be with Apples older USB drivers. I did have an older version in at that time then I do now and maybe that was one of my problems? Thanks Joe. Apples latest version is 1.3f4

[Tom,
I just upgraded my 6400/200 w/Sonnet G3/300/1MB to Mac OS 8.6 and I found what I believe to be a possible source for the boot crashes which occur with the Sonnet cards and 8.6. After the upgrade (which was a clean install from the 8.6 CD) I began re-installing my 3rd party extensions and software and (I installed the Crescendo 1.3.6 extension first) every re-boot went fine. That is until I installed the USB extensions that came with my Keyspan USB card. Once I installed the Keyspan USB extensions (which were essentially Apple's USB DDK v1.1), the boot process would halt once the Crescendo extension was reached. In fact, when the Crescendo extension was reached, the startup chime would play as if you hit the power-on button, the system would begin to re-boot, then freeze eventually. This happened on virtually every boot while the v1.1 USB extensions were installed. Remove the USB extensions and it would boot fine. Also, the 603e would boot fine with the USB extensions in place.

Luckily, I found a solution. An on-line friend suggested trying the v1.2 USB DDK extensions. So, I downloaded Apple's USB DDK v1.2f7 (the final version of 1.2), performed the ResEdit modification on the USBSupport extension, installed and everything works fine now. I had the boot crash once since then but that was immediately after a forced restart which was due to a very nasty Quark XPress 3.32 crash (Quark crashes occasionally, regardless of your Machine or OS version, you just learn to live with it!).

I recall your site saying that you have an ADS USB card installed. Perhaps, the USB extensions were the cause of your problems with the Sonnet card and OS 8.6. Were you using USB extensions from the v1.2f7 USB DDK or from an earlier version? If they were from an earlier version, try using the 1.2f7 extensions in conjunction with version 1.3.6 of the Crescendo extension. That could solve your problems as it did for me. If need be, I can e-mail you a Stuffit file containing copies of the USB extension I am currently using. Let me know.
Keep up the good work!
Joe]

Sonnets G3 compatibility Matrix: I found this surfing around Sonnets web site. They have posted a compatibility matrix for their line of G3 upgrades. Most of the info says they are compatible with just about everything but I did find one interesting comment for my Linux using friends. It specifically says that the L2/G3 card is not compatible with MKLinux! I know MKLinux is not updated as much as LinuxPPC but this may be why Linux just flat out refuses to run with Sonnets G3 installed. LinuxPPC just released a 1999 version or release5 and it is supposed to be more G3 compatible. I am getting a copy of it and will see what happens.

Apples releases QuickTime 4 full installer: Apple finally made a full downloadable install so you can keep a copy of your own for future use. I know I just posted one that some other guy made but this is the real thing. It should fix any issues you may have had trying to do the web install with the previous versions.

The Apple Collection: This site has links to all kinds of neat Apple stuff like desktop pics, icons, pics of Apple prototypes and so on. It has many images so be patient when viewing it.

They also link to some Japanese sites that have actually made paper cutouts of Macs like the iMac and B&W G3. and guess what else? They also have a Perform 6420 which is the Japanese version of the 6400. I downloaded it and printed it out. After that you cut on the lines and fold it together. Pretty Neat!!!!

Reader Request page updated: David is having problems with Apples fax software after upgrading to OS 8.6. Click here to read more and please email him if you have a suggestion.

More info on mouse pauses: I received some info from Pascal who is having similar issues to my Mouse Pauses but in OS 8.1. Here is our conversation.

[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 >>
>
>Are your pauses where the mouse and all apps just stop for a few seconds and
>then resume like nothing ever happened? This is my problem.

Yes, with the exception that the mouse still moves around, but the cursor doesn't change, and clicking doesn't do anything for a while and then it remembers all at once everywhere I clicked.

>
>Are you using a non Apple mouse that needs a control panel or extension to get more features?

Yes, Logitech's Mousekey. Also, if I have both Apple's mouse control panel and MouseKey enabled when I boot, the boot process freezes until I move the mouse a bit (OS 8.1, but not 8.5-8.6). Disabling Apple's mouse seems to make things a bit better.

do you have AOL's instant messanger installed? No. I got rid of that thing as fast as I could, as well as the promo launcher. I resented not having the choice of not installing it in the custom install.

thanks,
Pascal]

His problem is different in that his mouse still moves but registers nothing until the System unpauses. He is also using a non-Apple mouse which is leaning me in the direction that there may be a problem with mice that require specific drivers to get their full functionality. I never thought of trying to remove Apples mouse control panel and will give that a try. Although, so far using the latest USB drivers 1.3f4 and having removed the AOL Instant messanger menu extension, I havn't had a pause yet! Keeping my fingers crossed :)

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.

When I first installed the cable modem I got some crashes when I shut down. I traced it to Farallons COMM II ethernet extension version 2.0. With version 1.1 the 6400 shuts down fine. I emailed Farallon and am waiting for a reply.

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]

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.

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.