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.

Hot Topics:

• L2 G3 upgrade info for the 6400 -
• Current problems with my system -
• My 6400 Take Apart manual -
• Alternate OS's on a G3 accelerated 6400-
• ATI Rage 128 compatibility?-
• Voodoo3 compatibility?-

ATI has a patch for the Rage 128 cards and the 6400/6500!: I just saw that ATI has posted a patch that allows their new Rage 128 cards to work again on our 6400's :) I also read on Accelerate Your Mac 8/28/99 that two 6400 users with Vimage G3's also have it working so it looks like a winner! The patch only works with the 4.0 or 4.0.1 drivers but there is no reason for it with older drivers as you need the 4.0.x drivers for the Rage128 cards. This is definitly good news!!!

G4 announcment on Tuesday?: I have been reading on several sites that the new G4's may be announced at Seybold. It is unknown at this time whether it will be a G3 mother board with a G4 chip or the new "Sawtooth" mother board with AGP? Anyway, here is a letter from Egan on what the G4 can do for us. Thanks Egan.

[Tom,
Some of your readers may be in shock on Tuesday. Especially if they just bought a $500 G3 upgrade Card! Apparently, G4 is ready for a world wide debut ( for LESS money than the G3's cost!!!!) {not known yet - Tom} Have people tune in for the Setbold Keynote on Tuesday 9am EST.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime -click Seybold Keynote!

G4 add's on the G3's FAST Integer unit (does most stuff on Mac's) , Replaces the Floating Point Unit with a double sized 64 bit (This is 3D rendering,Database searching etc.) and 32 128 bit Altivec registers (which can also do FP and other things) Basically this thing can do 36 things in one clock cycle! It will make 3-D (without acceleration even) awesome, and for Altivec/G4 recompiled applications- a 30x speed increase! Yes, 30 times faster (!) It also holds 2MB of backside Cache-and a 128 bit bis, which doubles the speed the CPU & Cache can swap info. This is BIG- even waiting on G4 upgrades......if a new G4 still costs too much (but only about 2x what a G3 upgrade card costs...hmmm)

This is BIG!
Egan]

Loud Power Supply issue update: Gary wrote me with an interesting twist on this issue. His problem was not exactly the power supply buy a hum created by his HD. Thanks for the tip Gary.

[Hi Tom,

I have to weigh in on the loud power supply issue because I to had a problem with a loud fan that use too drive nuts (more so than I already am) and the solution I've found is absolutely free....... No need to buy a new power supply. If this works and I bet it will for a lot of people.

First of all, at least in my 6400 using a automotive stethoscope I found that the noise was caused by harmonic vibration setup between the power supply fan and the hard drive and the fix was very simple. When the noise first starts up you take the first two fingers of your left hand and give the ol' 6400 a sharp rap on the left side of the case. You may have to experiment on where to rap it because harmonic vibrations can setup anywhere. And please DON'T GO POUNDING ON THE SIDE OF YOUR COMPUTER!! Just a sharp rap with your fingers will do it.

FYI, About four weeks ago I replaced the old hard drive with a new Quantum 9.1GB EIDE ULTRA-ATA/66 3.5LP 7200RPM 8.5MS FIREBALL PLUS KA (very fast, I like it a lot. And at $132.95 From BUY.COM it's a real good deal). Any how after I installed the new drive the loud fan noise went away........And that tells me that the vibrations were being caused by the old hard drive not the power supply fan..........

I enjoy "6400 Zone" very much I read it every week. I hope this helps some of your readers.

Gary]

Good Price on Newers G3: Larry sent me this URL to a web site that is selling Newers G3 for a low price. Go check it out. Thanks Larry

[Check this out:
http://www.computers4sure.com/product.asp?productID=75822&CatID=195
I confirmed by phone that they had stock and were shipping! Regards, Larry]

Voodoo2/3 Frame rates on a 6500/250: Sheldon sent me some FPS scores he made on his non-G3 upgraded 6500/250. I wanted to post them to show just what some scores look like that you can expect before you upgrade. Hopefully I can get some G3 upgraded scores soon as a comparison. Thanks Sheldon.

[Hey Tom
Yes, a G3 upgrade is what I've been wanting for some time now. I was going to go for a Vimage 300, but as you know, no more Vimage. The NewerTech 300/200 card seems to be the best bet.

My problem is that I'm Canadian and the US Dollar is quite high, or really the Canadian dollar is too low. $1 dollar US costs me $1.45 =(.

I did get a price on a NewerTech G3-L2 300/200 for $659.95 canadian dollars, and I think I'll take the plunge on that card.

Problem is that the Voodoo 3 card does not work with ANY L2 cache G3 cards, but the Voodoo 2 cards work fine with the upgrade.

Unreal, the mother of all gaming CPU hardship =), I get 14.7 average FPS on castle flyby. A high FPS of 29.2, and a low of 5.4 FPS. Thats with the Voodoo 3 or Voodoo 2 . Doesn't matter, they are both the same with my system.

Fifteen frames per second is just playable with the cable modem.

Quake 2 I get 15 FPS average also, and is playable online too, but Quake 3 Arena is a slightly different story. Only 12 FPS and is playable but I can't really get anywhere to justify trying to win. Just too darn slow =).

Carma 2 plays very well, as does Myth 2 , Future Cop etc...

But without Voodoo acelleration, forget it. The 603 CPU can't handle these games with just the Rage 2.

I'm running a 6500/250, 128 Ram, 10.2 gig Maxtor Diamond Plus 5120, the 256 L2 cache, Lacie (TEAC) 4x-12x CD-R, Astra 600S scanner, CSW 4500, Zip 100 internal, Voodoo 3. Also have sitting on the shelf a STB BlackMagic Voodoo 2 board and also the ATI Orion board.

So yes, a G3 upgrade has been on my wish list for a long time now , and will finally put my old 6500 up to about as far as it will go =).

Prices for the G3 L2 upgrades will probably not get signifigantly cheaper, so there is no excuse anymore =). I'm going to stay away from the Sonnet card and go for the NewerTech as I've said. www.xlr8yourmac has a nice database for all G3 upgrades and there seems to be no prblems with the Newer card.

So, for now I'm going to stick with the vers. 2.0 driver as my set-up is running very smooth now that the ATI stuff is gone.
Cheers!
Sheldon]

The Rage II from ATI really can't play any of these high FPS games he mentions without turning every 3D option off, choosing low texture quality and setting the monitor to 512x384. Only with these settings could Quake 3 Test even be partially playable. On the net though, playing against mostly PC's, it was hopeless. I was clobbered :( With the G3 and a Voodoo2 card I was doing the clobbering :) He mentions that the 603e can't handle these games with just a Rage II but in fact its the other way around. Even a G3 can't handle these games with a Rage II because the Rage II is just too slow, not the CPU. For unaccelerated 6400's I suggest only getting a Rage Pro or Voodoo1 as you will not even make a dent in any game even with a Voodoo3 unless you have a G3. You really need both a fast CPU and a video card that can handle it in order to play these games. If you only want to upgrade one then don't expect to get any decent FPS scores.

TurboMax IDE card with Vimages G3: Ryan writes that Vimages G3 may cause problems with ProMax's TurboMax IDE/PCI card. Thanks Ryan. If anyone else is having this problem then please email me. Click here to read more on the TurboMax card.

[Actually, I had a few reasons:
The card is incompatible with Avid Cinema (well, it actually isn't if you switch it to more compatible mode, but the speed tradeoff of almost half makes it kinda pointless) and it still causes some strange audio popping problems that i don't have with the G3 turned off. The double boot messes with the computer starting up since I have the TurboMax card hooked up, and sometimes it takes 5 or 6 tries to get a successful reboot with the G3 enabled. *sigh* not that there is anything I can do about it since the TurboMax is unsupported in the 6500 anyway...
I emailed Vimage about my issue, got a reply promising a fix in a few days, and then I haven't heard a single thing from them since, even after emailing two more times. I am getting a 400MHz card and I hope that this upgrade will suit somebody with a less exotic setup. I wonder how well Newer's cards will do? They a pricey, but maybe that is what I will have to pay for a card that works well.]

[I have a pretty good idea of how the G3 affects the Turbomax. It seems that even without the upgrade, say, 1 in 12 boots the hard disk will not spin up and load extensions. I can live with that, because it doesn't happen very often. With the Vimage upgrade, the double boot causes this to happen A LOT more than it used to. I mean, I now the computer doesn't boot 1 in every 3 startups on average. Sometimes I can go for a week without it happening and then I'll have 5 consecutive bad boots, and sometimes it happens sporadically. I don't know whether it is the double boot or not that is the culprit, but it is the most obvious reason I can think of.

I will look into the Newer cards. They have some promise.
Ryan]

[I have a 6.4 GB 5400RPM Quantum Fireball EX drive hooked up that I boot off of. I have also booted up off of the 10 GB IBM Deskstar GXP as well, and I think there was a problem with that too. It could just be the TurboMax card, although I doubt that it is likely. When I was talking to tech support not too long ago they were a bit surprised to find that I was using the TurboMax with my startup disk.]

I am puzzled why the tech people where surprised that he was using it as a startup drive? I thought I read that many people used it successfully with a startup drive? I wonder if its more of an issue with the 6400/6500 and the G3 just makes it worse? If anyone else has had this issue then please email me.

More on the wattage rating of the 6400/6500 power supply: John wrote with some interesting info on why the ratings don't seem to match any where you look. Thanks, John

[Tom,
A Mac tech explained to me that the differences the power supplies ratings are because the lower number reflects the rating for internal consumption and the larger number includes the monitor connector. Unfortunately, Apple has been less than concise in the spec sheets. I can't confirm this personally but it seems to make sense (especially the part about Apple).
John]

I feel what John wrote is true but Sheldon writes that his 6500/250 has a 220W supply? I asked him to verify this on the supply case itself and not just the manual. Thanks Sheldon. He also has some notes on why the supply spins up with the Voodoo2 card.

[Hey Tom
The power supply in the 6500/250 is 220 watts (continuous).

Its always a good idea to clean out the dust from ANY computer 3-4 times a year.

The fan does really spin up when a voodoo 2 card is activated. All voodoo cards pump out alot of heat. The Voodoo 3 card does not seem to get as hot as the Voodoo 2. Probably due to difference in the size of the boards and the number of chips. The Voodoo 2 boards are about 9 inches long and are crammed with chips, (three main 3dfx chips which are large and no heatsink). The Voodoo 3 board is 7 inches long and has only one main 3dfx chip with a heatsink.

So when a call is made for 3d GLIDE, everything winds up =). Power and especially the fans.

The most important vent to keep clean is the one directly on the bottom underside of the Tower. This is the main air intake for the unit which moves air form the bottom , out to the fan at the back. Simlpy slide out the Mother board and remove any dust from those holes that are in a square of about 4x6 inches.

Its very, very important to keep a machine clean, as 90% of failures are heat related due to inadequate heat dissipation.

There is not alot of free space inside the 6500 tower, everything is crammed in pretty tight. Therefore, keepit clean =).

The post from the Sonnet user who finally cleaned his machine is testiment to the fact.
Cheers!
Sheldon]

His comments on the Voodoo2 card make sense as even with my new supply being quieter, I still here it start to rev up when the Voodoo2 card is activated. But now it sounds more like a fan spinning up instead of a plane ready to take off :) I wouldn't worry about cleaning the computer 3-4 times a year but once in your Macs life time is suggested :)

I just heard from Sheldon and the 220W reading was from an Apple ad not from the lable on the supply. Still looking :)

Cooling tips for the Voodoo2 cards: Tiong sends some tips on how he cooled his system down with a Voodoo2 card installed. I don't know how many of you are willing to give up a PCI slot for this but I'm sure its saving the life of more devices then just the power supply. Thanks Tiong.

[Hi Tom,
Saw your most recent posts and have e-mailed Craig to see if he has a G3 in his 6500. Anyway, I have a tip for those 6400/6500 owners who don't want to mess with their power supplies. After having a V2 card installed, I noticed that the temperature inside my 6500 gets hot when I play games. Metronome indicates 47 degree C for my Sonnet during normal use. However, with my V2 running, I get 51 degree C after playing games. Then I bought a 3DFXcool (no relation to 3dfx Interactive, Inc.) slot fan and got my normal temperature down to 43 degree C (normal use) and 47 degree C with V2 card running hot. However, this slot fan is not for everyone as it will occupy a PCI slot. It is very easy to install - just take out a PCI slot cover and screw this fan in like you would a PCI card, and connect the power cable to the one for the extra drive way up in the top of our cases. It is also reasonably cheap. I got mine for $13.00 and $2.50 for shipping. Noise is low. But I want to caution those who wish to use this fan NOT to install this fan in the B-slot (the one closer to the power supply as it will block the airflow to the power supply. Thanks for such a great site! : )
Regards,

Tiong
P/S Heard of anyone having success with Formac's Proformance III card in a 6400/6500 G3? Read Inside Mac Games' (www.imgmagazine.com) review and according to them, this is the FASTEST 2d card. For games, it is faster than the RAGE Orion but slower than V3. It is rather expensive however, but if it can work with 6400/6500 G3, at least we have an alternative (and gives me a much longer time to save up for a Sawtooth
G4!!).]

If any of you have heard of or tried the Proformance III on a 6400/6500 please email me as I am interested too. I know of one other device for cooling the Voodoo2 card called the SteathCooler which does not require wasting a PCI slot as the fan/heatsink sticks to the 3 main chips on the card. The only problem with this is that if you don't get a good adhesion then it may fall off inside and you don't want that to happen! If your interested I saw it mentioned on Accelerate Your Macs web site. Just do a search on the topic or check out his FAQ page.

Later Tiong replied with a URL for the 3dfxCool card and some info on the SteathCoooler I mentioned. Thanks again Tiong.

[Hi Tom,
Yes, that slot fan is to help pull more heat out of the tight confines of my Mac. Regarding Mike's review of the Tennmax V2 Stealth cooler, I have one on my V2 card. It is quiet and works great. However, you may want to caution your readers to use rubbing alcohol to clean the chips before sticking it on (it uses heat transfer double side tape to mount) as I had mine dropped within a month of use (I didn't clean my chips thoroughly before mounting!!). Also, adding that fan will help generate more heat (from the V2) around inside the case, at least in my Mac. Before I added the slot fan, running the V2 card with the Tennmax cooler increased my Sonnet's temperature to 55 degree C, but the slot fan was able to bring down my Sonnet's temp to 51.

Oh, one more thing. I don't know if I got the capitalization of the slot fan's name right in my last e-mail, but this is the correct one: 3DfxCOOL (www.3dfxcool.com). Sorry for all the trouble, and did I ever thank you for your super site? Thanks!
Regards,
Tiong]

Farallon Fast EtherTX-10/100 and cable modems: I found this on MacFixIts web site. It seems there is more of a problem then just shutdown freezes as I and a few other have experienced with the 2.0 version of their driver. I haven't had this problem yet but its definitly worth noting.

[After installing a cable modem, Mike Marlett started experiencing random freezes and Type 12 errors in Netscape Communicator 4.6, Claris Emailer 2.0.v3 and the Finder (in OS 8.6). As the modem was connected to his Mac via a Farallon Ethercard card, he contacted Farallon for possible help.

Farallon Tech Support informed Mike that "there is a problem with using the Farallon FastENPlus 2.0 extension with a Farallon Fast EtherTX-10/100 card and cable modems. Downgrading to FastENPlus 1.1 is the solution for now." They said that they are working on a new driver. Meanwhile, the suggested work-around appears to have worked.]

Playing Nanosaur and Bugdom on an ixmicro Ultimate Rez card: Geoffrey wants to know if there is nay way to get these games to play properly on an ixmicro ultimate rez card? He didn't send any info on what was wrong but if you think you know then please email him. Thanks.

[Do you have any info on the ix micro ultimate rez card in a 6400. I
just put one in. Mostly, it seems fine (although it's only been one
day) 2D acceleration is quite noticeable and its got a great virtual
desktop feature. But, Pangea's games Nanosaur and Bugdom don't work
properly - indeed they have warning messages about a preference for the
ATI card. Do you know of any work arounds - or what 3D advanced settins
for the IX Micro will work best with Nanosaur and Bugdom ?

Thanks.
scottfg@crosswinds.net]

I may have to start my own games page as many 6400/6500 users are really into them now. And with the way todays games look and play, so am I :) Look forward to me starting one soon.

More info on game playability on the 6400: Jim writes that Quake 1 will play fine on his 6400 but he cannot play Quake 2 or 3.

[Hi!
Saw your recent update regarding your voodoo2 in your 6400. I have a voodoo2 (game wizard) in my 6400 with 104 megs of ram (runs great I think), and no G3 upgrade. Quake plays fine, Quake 2 almost unplayable (even seems slower with the card enabled than on software rendering) and Q3 keeps getting mesa out of memory errors (even with 104megs of ram). How is your or your readers performance with Quake2/3? Only playable with G3 upgrades? Also will getting a G3 upgrade stop the mesa out of memory errors? And if so, why?
I know this isn't a game site but xlr8.com and mac3dfx.com just don't give enough info. about playability on our beloved machine.
Thanks,
Jim]

First off Jim does not have a G3 upgrade so Quake2 and 3 will not be playable on the 6400. Fast 6500's have some chance. The Voodoo2 just can't get data fast enough without a G3. His out of memory messages are because these games require OpenGL which takes up more system memory when activated like Open Transport does. Also the Mesa3dfxEngine, which is needed to play OpenGL games on a Voodoo card, also takes up more system ram. All this together with the huge amount that the games themselves require adds up to a lot of RAM! I may not have mentioned it on my site before but I have to have RamDoubler set to 140M before the Mesa out of memory errors went away. Thats a lot of RAM! Boy I really need to start a game page!

ATI driver status for Rage128 cards on the 6400/6500: Mike from Accelerate Your Mac wrote a letter to ATI and they replyed that a fix may have been found. This is great news.

[I wrote Chris Bentley of ATI for an update on the Orion compatibility issue with 44/54/64/6500 and similar Macs:

"Hi Mike,
I believe it's been fixed and we'll be getting the fix out soon :-)
Cheers,chrisb "]

This may be true as a reader who wished to remain unknown sent me more info on the ATI drivers.

[I was sent a driver to test concerning the problem with the Tanzania motherboards and the 128 chipset.

Guess what.... It works!!!!!!!!!

Only problem, which I dont really know has to do with the ATI card, it a sound studdering when running Quake and Quake2. I have encountered the Quake1 studdering before, but not in Q2. The problem seems to get worse when at higher resolutions, maybe you know some other possible cause. I am using a Sonnet G3.. so it's not the speed.]

The Tanzania mother board is what teh 440 and Starmax clones used but the Alchemy board in the 6400/6500 is very similar so they may have the fix for all of us now. If you notice he has Sonnets G3 which means that at least it will work with G3 upgrades! I think the sound issues are related to Sonnets G3 as many people are complaining about that. He also mentioned that the fix will be in a 4.0.1 update coming soon but I see that ATI has had this update out since 7/20/1999? Maybe there is some confusion in the rev number but in anycase the fix is coming soon :) Click here to read previous info on this topic.

Voodoo3 will not work with ANY L2 G3: I just got word from Sheldon that he found postings that even Newers G3 didn't work with the Voodoo3 :( I guess this makes it unanimous. I have now recieved info from people owning all 3 L3 G3's and none of them seem to work flawlessly. Thanks Sheldon. Click here to read past news on the Voodoo3.

[I've read one post in the xlr8 3dfx forums that the Newer G3-L2 did NOT work with Voodoo 3.

Yes, I'll check the site for NewerTech news as I'm trying to keep tabs on compatibility with this paticular card before I take the plunge. I'm trying very hard to keep this old 6500 running, but a B&W is probably not too far off for me. I pushed the timing on upgrading about as far as I can go =).
Cheers Tom!
Sheldon]

USB info from lems1: I found this posting at Apples 6400 forums site and thought it contained some great info for anyone getting into USB on their 6400. Click here to read the posting.

Wired 4DVD info site: I found this web site a week or so ago and the author has some good info on Wireds 4DVD system. It may just work on a 6400/6500 as well. Go check it out.

http://superberg.8m.com/site/cpu/wired/dvdrev.html

Click here for more info on DVD for the 6400/6500.

NetZero wants to know if we want a MacOS version: I was mailed this from one of my readers. If your interested in free internet access then go state your case. Thanks.

[Hi, NetZero http://www.netzero.com/main.html , the free internet service provider is considering offering MacOS account setup software. Can you publish an article telling Mac owners to send a message to the address below asking that a Mac OS version of their free internet service be made available. Thanks.
macdemand@netzero.net]

More Sonnet G3 and Sound apps info from Egan: Egan sent some more info on sound apps with relation to Sonnets G3's Thanks Egan. Click here to read previous letters Egan wrote to me.

[Tom,
Just read the latest on the 6400 Zone. Some people are getting HELP from my postings,e-mail, advice, etc. COOL MAN! It's so nice to help people. Makes me feel like a Million Bucks, and again LOVE the site!
A Freind, Kelly was explaining how aweful upgrading her 9500 is...and she has a 6500 also. I mentioned cheap Maxtor 7200rpm 20 Gig (ATA) HD's for under $300 at Comp USA & G3 upgrades (she could do without paying for HELP-it a mess in those things!) So, I gave her your URL- for complete directions! Thanks for just being here Tom! BLESS YOU! Pictures even!!!!

Update;
I am no longer getting even boot crashes. Everything is humming along perfectly.

-StudioVision Pro/VisionDSP issues;
I was noting many 6400 users on VisionDSP's user mailing list & issues with sound/recording errors. The ASIO Drivers & ACADIA (also throw out the generic Acadia engine-and use the custom 603/G3 Acadia engine!) engine stay in the ASIO folder in the Vision DSP Folder, as does Acadia. You may wonder what's so confusing about that? Well if you double click them they say they are Extensions "Please put in the Extensions folder to enhance your computers abilities"- BUT DONT! So, I have been a big hit with users complaining about recording errors up the wazoo. (on any/all systems)

-Also, tried your Hack Tom, Speculative addressing is what makes a G3 so responsive-interesting! This only caused more crashes, BUT as long as it was installed I set my Sonnet 300/1MB to 3:2 Ratio and CPU hit 1015 on MB 5.0! (from 980 @ 2:1) (!) However; I had conflicts with the whole thing & uninstalled it.

Bottom Line- Steinberg (CubaseVST etc.) does not "Support" any upgrades except Newer (although I am unsure of L2 cache & 6400's). However; this is strictly that they dont want to have to troubleshoot all these systems (Steinberg also does not "Support" CLONES) but the Upgrades & the Clones all run Cubase & similiar products every day. (Like the writer at www.XLR8YourMac.com/Audio, in his FAQ says- If you upgrade- be prepared to troubleshoot yourself!) I recommend a read of that FAQ to any Audio people also!
Sincerely,
Egan

P.S. My 6400 shipped with a GV Platinum. I keep hearing Geoport Modem being stock in 6400's! - Is that aweful thing really the most common Modem that shipped with the 6400??? (It's all software (the Modem) I believe (or mostly) -and uses....20% of the CPU to connect , which sounds just AWEFUL! Considering what a HOG Netscape is already!)]

The hack doesn't seem to work for everyone but I guess each systems situation is different. I had to start using the Hack again after installing the Voodoo2 card. I was getting some stability issues again so I rehacked the Crescendo 1.3.7 driver. I am stable again.

7/30/1999 ATI Rage 128 Orion not compatible with 6400!: I just heard that ATI's new Orion card is not compatible with the 6400/6500 or StarMax systems. This probably means its also not compatible with any Mac designed with the same mother boards. The ATI extension that activates the 3D hardware crashes during boot. With out it, it seems to run ok but with no Acceleration for games. Not sure if the 2D is still accelerated or not. ATI is aware of the issue and working on it.

I sure hope so as it took them a year just to release the cards and their reason was to make sure they were compatible. WHAT HAPPENED?

8/1/1999 ATI response to Rage128 and 6400 issue: I found this on Accelerate Your Mac. It seems that ATI had it working at one time but did not check again when some last minute changes were made. The good news is that it can work and they just need to update the drivers.

[ATI Responds to Rage128 Compatibility Issues: As promised earlier today - here is ATI's reply to my question on the issues noted here recently:
"Mike
It looks like the common denominator is a 603e processor. At headquarters, they are working on a fix. I should know more sometime next week.
QA _did_ test some of these models successfully, but apparently they didn't retest after some of the latest changes. So the good news is that there doesn't appear to be any hardware incompatibility. Ray Swartz

ATI Research, "]

I got this from MacInTouch. I hope its to make the drivers work with ALL systems.

[Another reader notes that he was told by an ATI sales representative that delivery of the XclaimVR 128 card has now slipped to September, and wonders if there are any similar cards from alternative vendors that are shipping now. ]

My Vimage Info page on Vimage's G3 upgrade for the 6400

My Vimage Compatibility page

My Vimage User Letters page

My Vimage install reviews

My Sonnet Tech Info page on Sonnet's G3 upgrade for the 6400

Hack to make Sonnets G3's more stable

My Sonnet Compatibility page

My Sonnet User Letters page

My Sonnet install review

My Newer Tech Info page on Newer's G3 upgrade for the 6400

My Newer User Letters page

My PowerLogix Info page on PowerLogix's G3 upgrade for the 6400

L2/G3 comparison page

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]

8/20/1999 Farallons Comm II slot driver may work with OS 8.6 after all?: I just received this from Sheldon who said he found that removing ATI's extensions kept the crash at shutdown from happening with Farallons 2.0 driver. I'll have to try for my self. Thanks.

[Hello!
I was just reading through your site when I noticed that there was confirmation with the Comm slot 2 vers 2.0 driver and 8.6 problem a reader reported.

Well, I've got the Farallon Comm slot 2 card-8.6 and I noticed something that might be very helpful.

I just installed the Voodoo3 card and I trashed every single ATI extension. Cable modem no longer hangs at reboot, restart,3 -finger start. I can shut-down, restart without any problems.

6500/250
I purchased an Orion card that is still sitting on the shelf =(. Voodoo3 runs the same as a Voodoo2 for 3d in my system, same FPS with either card. The advantage is the 2d with the V3 card. Very nice indeed =).

No QT accel though.

The fix is complete for the ATI Orion card and the 603e CPU and should be posted soon according to Chris Bentley- ATI, Mike Breeden-xlr8. IMO. the Rage 128 and a Voodoo2 would be the perfect set-up for the 54-64-6500 systems. Although it will be a tough decision to pull out the Voodoo3 board =).We'll see how the Orion performs when the fix is posted. I will also keep an eye on the ATI vers 4.0 extensions to see if they are compatible with the Comm slot 2 card.
Thank-you for your time
Sheldon]

I hope his comments on the ATI rage128 drivers are true? many 6400/6500 users will be happy with that.

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.