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?-
• Gaming on the 6400-

The 6400 Zone's new Home Address: Well I haven't actually moved my web site but I did make a new home address thanks to all the replys I recieved on how to make a redirect page. My new home address is:

Its not much different from the previous home address but it is much nicer on older Macs with slower connections. AOL has been placing ads at the top of my home page for some time now and I have always hated it! One of my readers found away around it so the ads would not appear but typing the long address (or even remembering it) was a tough job. Now thanks to you out their who helped me, I have made a page with a similar and easy to remember address that when called on just redirects you to my real home page but with out the AOL ads :) This only takes but a few seconds longer on the first link but now visiting all of my other pages will be much more enjoyable without having to wait for those ads to appear. And as a benefit, I can have my sites name in the address :)

Don't worry though if you forget this address, the old address works just fine but with the ads showing :(

More Voodoo3 info with Sonnets G3 upgrade: Vann sent me some more info on his setup. He is running a French version of OS 8.6 and is the only person to have the Voodoo3 and a L2 G3 running together that I know of. If anyone else can get them to run together please write me. Click here for more info on the Voodoo3.

[Hi,
Me again, the guy who posted the information about 6400 with L2 upgrade and Voodoo 3.
Here is my report ...
Since i use this configuration for maybe 2 weeks now i would like to report some few things ...

1- It seems to work well, but i don't know if this come from the voodoo 3 or else, but it seems my computer freeze time to time. But this is not quite important, since when the computer freeze, you have to press apple key and power key at the same time. Then you have a window with ... you have to press G key ther return, then the processor receive the instruction to enable all process. All application will unfreeze and work well, without any crash.
Last time i played to starcraft (for 2/3 hours) i hade to do this 10 times without any problem.
NB : i think the problem depend of the application you are using, since it never do this under word or excel, never under unreal, time to time with painter, everytime with starcraft. I will signal the problem to 3dfx but before i will test this with aclean OS.

2- Performances : are strange, with norton, it seems the card is incredible in some task and not better than in board video for other task, put the general use seems great in 2d, incredible under 3d (but i thin 40mhz bus speed still slow the card). I now have better performances than an Imac rev b (233mhz) and better video.

3- Monitor : if you have a standard VGA (pc) connector, the card will work great, but if you have, like me an apple monitor, you'll need an adaptator. You'll also have stranges resolutions and frequencies, so i think a software like " switch resolution" could be of some uses, there you will be able to set some parameters (max resolution and frequencies).

That's all for time,
wish this could help some people.
Yann]

Reader Request page updated: Mark just moved to the UK with a US bought 6400 and is having trouble getting the Geo modem to dial his ISP. Click here for more info.

6400 G3 upgrades and OS 9 compatibility: Justin writes that he tested a beta version of OS 9 with his Sonnnet G3 and they worked. Thanks Justin.

[Just wanted to let you know that Sonnet's G3/L2 240/512 is compatible with OS9. I've a 6400/180 using 9b5c3 with Crescendo v1.3.7 and have had no problems so far.
Thanks!
Justin]

Here is a letter from Robert with a reply from Sonnet on this matter.

[I emailed Sonnet whether their card would work with OS 9. They said:
>
> > Robert,
> >
> > We'll be compatible after OS 9 is released, I'm sure. A good idea would be not to upgrade
> > your OS until you know the processor you have is also compatible. This way you won't lose
> > any performance while you wait.
> > Christy
> > Sonnet Technical Support
> > support@sonnettech.com
>
So, they're taking a reactionary approach to the whole thing, which I suppose is okay, but don't you think they'd be able to get their hands on a developer release and make sure their product works *before* OS 9 is released?
Oh well ... just thought that could help. :)
Have a good one!
Robert ]

I'm not sure why the G3 vendors don't get a copy of OS 9 before it ships but this happened with OS 8.6 also and we all had to wait until upgraded drivers came out. So far it looks like at least Sonnets will run and I hope they all will when the final version of OS 9 ships.

Update on Geo modem issue with L2 G3's: Lars writes that he has a modem port cannot be initialized error when using FreePPP and Sonnets L2 G3. Although he writes the problem is not present when running a newer OS without FreePPP. Thanks for the info Lars. Click here to read another persons troubles with FreePPP and Sonnets G3.

[Regarding the Geoport issues I have had this problem on my 6400, but only when booting from the disk where I have system 7.55 installed with FreePPP. Problem disappears when Crescendo extension is disabled, otherwise "the modem port can not be initialized". When I boot from the external disk with system 8.5.1 (which is my normal startup disk) I have no Geoport problems whatsoever. I don´t have Free PPP on this disk. My Sonnet card is a 300 Mhz 1MB. Otherwise my machine runs very stable most of the time. In 5-6 weeks of heavy use I have experienced 2 short periods of instability; one soon after installation and one three weeks later. (3 weeks without a single crash!) Pruning extensions, zapping PRAM, turning off LibMoto and virtual memory among other things may have helped. The only relapse into instability came soon after installation of a new OKI printer and Painter 3D. I didn´t realy suspect Painter 3D so I turned off desktop printing and desktop printer spooler, rebuilt desktop and everything was back to normal.
Thanks for a most informative site!
Lars]

Christian also has some Geo modem issues with Sonnets L2 G3 and found an interesting TIL from Apple on the subject. Thanks Christian.

[ Hi,
I had a 6400 and a Geoport modem with OS 8.5.1. I installed a Sonnet 300/150 card a few months ago and had from then on many problems with the modem no matter which Crescendo extension I installed. I have the latest one right now. I was also using ARA control pannel and then moved back to PPP from OS 8 as I had read somewhere ARA is picky and it could help with some Geoport issues (not linked to accelerating cards) but this didn't help either. While I have no real problems trying to connect, the modem tends to disconnect afterwards at random, sometimes after a few minutes, sometimes after tens of minutes. I recently contacted Sonnet tech support as I had other problems (pls see below) and mentioned the Geo issues at the same time. They told me the Geoport is actually not compatible with G3 processors as stated on Apple Web site, which is apparently true, see http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n24205. I copy our emails below. I hope this helps. I guess the solution is to buy a new external modem but I am not sure though as I believe some people could make their Geoport work with the card. Puzzling.

While these modem problems are annoying, I have to admit I have other ones with the card that are much more a pain in the neck. I have often freezes that imply reboot. This is the especially the case when I play Age of Empires 1.0 I bought recently. This happen more seldom with other software (well at least since I have the Crescendo 1.3.7 as before that time I had many crashes with most software). Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am a regular reader of your excellent site -wish I had known it earlier, sincere congratulations- and I think I tried approximately everything you have published (removed Apple menu options, Crescendo extension hack, make it load sooner or later, etc.). Perhaps I should remove the Geo and the numerous extensions associated to it once and for all.

As you can read below, when I look at the preferences that have changed just at the time of the freeze, there's Date and Time prefs (I removed this control panel though) and possibly TSM and ASLM prefs. I don't really know what they are, TSM is something linked to text display I think but ASLM ??. Could that be a clue?

Congratulations for your site once more, really love it. Thanks in advance for your possible comments and keep up the good work.
Christian]

It looks like FreePPP may not compatible with Sonnets G3, at least with older OS's? I wonder if anyone has it working and could help in this matter? Also does anyone know if Apples OT/PPP works with the Sonnet G3? Please email me any info you might have.

Update on sound issue with Newers G3: Brent has further info on his sound issue. He found that the problem was with his program and not related to the G3. Click here to read his previous message.

[Tom,
Sorry it has taken so long to respond about the Newer 300/200 G3 card issue that I wrote you about recently. I also received email from Claudio about his/her issues with the same card and the sound problems.

I haven't had much time to really investigate much further but I did solve the sound problem with the Sega Genesis emultor, "DGen." The lowered pitch and noisy sound quality was due to the game being set to 11.025 Khz. When changed to CD quality (44.1 Khz) everything was just right. I listened to some CDs and determined that if there was some sound quality degradation I sure don't notice it now. I can't account for what changed.

The one thing I haven't tried was Speech Recognition as Claudio had mentioned. I will attempt to test it sometime soon. Speech Recognition isn't that big of an issue with me but I agree that the card shouldn't affect this capability adversely.

I would be curious what temperature other people are reporting. Mine runs around 60-70 degrees celsius. I did encounter a time when the computer sounded like the fan was cycling at different speeds and the temperature reached into the 80's. I've never heard the fan run at any other speed so I may have a fan or power issue manifesting itself. But that only happened once and that was over a week ago. Since then everything is stable and FAST! Overall I am satisfied but will continue to monitor and test the card and report my findings.

Thanks!
Brent]

and later he writes:

[ In the case of the game (DGen), it was the in the game setup itself, not system wide. Listening to CDs through speakers and headphones appears to be fine. Like I said before, I'm not sure why it originally sounded distorted but doesn't sound that way now. (It may have been that the card wasn't seated correctly the first time I installed it.) By the way, I recorded several voice and music samples with "SimpleSound" and they sounded just fine.]

So maybe Newers G3 is ok after all as far as sound issues go. I won't say its free of sound issue yet though :) if your having trouble with your G3 try what Brent did and reseat the card.

Sonnet G3 user letter: Rick writes with some news on using PowerLogix's utility with Sonnets G3. Thanks Rick.

[After some major house improvments, a hurricane and a mess to clean up the G3 power book went to the back burner for awhile. So I recently decided to keep the ol' 6400 for awhile and upgrade it. I just received my Sonnet 300/G3/512 L2 board and it's really neat.

The good news - I'm getting 804 on CPU and 1260 floating point(using Macbench) and all other processes are much better. Disk performance is better but not great and I have found that disk access both read and right are quicker with speed doubler installed then without. No compatability problems with speed doubler as of yet. I have been running SETI@home here at home and at work (NASA - 133mhz pentium gateway....it's what they give me!). Here at home it the 6400/G3 is processing 2.5% per hour and at work the Gateway is running about 1% per hour. Even before the upgrade the 6400/180 was processing 2.0% per hour. RealPC is more livable. It's snappier and more respondent running with Windoze95. As of yet I have found no applications that are incompatible with it. I have had no sound problems, no video problems, and both the IX mac Rocket and turbo TV work fine and are compatible. Funny though, I recently purchased AppleWorks and the first two AppleWorks splash screens are garbled. The program works fine and is stable. I have found that for some reason the splash screens are not compatible with the mac rockets memory config extension??

The Bad News - Well for awhile there wasn't any. Then I decided to take my chances and run the PowerLogix cache controller and what a mistake that was. Since running the PowerLogix cache controller, it now freezes on powerup and has corrupted many a file. Sometimes it boots the first time and sometimes it takes two or three trys. I have run Techtool and replaced as many corrupted files as I can find too no avail. I'll do a clean install when OS9 is released and hopefully the freezes will go away. Also, It would not run at the clocked chipped rate of 48 mhz (bus)/ 216mhz. It crashed every time and I figured it would. So I had to put the original 40mhz crystal back in.

Keep up the good work and more as I find out.
Rick]

I never had this problem when disabling the cache but I have gotten a report from another person who's 6400 crashed when he clicked on "disable cache now" but his system still works fine without the G3 utility installed. I suggest that other Sonnet G3 users avoid using this utility for now. Also I asked for more info on what didn't work when he increased the bus speed to 48Mhz. I'm not sure if it was his G3 card that crashed or the stock CPU?

Update on my Mouse Pause issue: awhile ago I had removed my USB card with Logitech Wheel mouse and Voodoo2 card to my other 6400 without the PCI chassis to see if my mouse pause issue still persisted. Well it did not and everything worked fine! So now I am wondering what the issue is on the other 6400? I placed the cards back in the chassis and I tried disabling most of my extensions and the pauses reduced drastically for the most part but are still present in some games. Specially the games I play on the Voodoo2 card like Unreal and Quake3 Test. The pauses in Unreal are almost nonexistent but they still happen very often in Q3T. The problem seems definitly related to my PCI chassis but I can help reduce the problem by disabling extensions and making more main memory available? Game play goes fine for the most part but when a new affect happens or some big screen change happens the system pauses for a few seconds and then continues. This is OK for solo missions but playing online in Q3T is horrible. I can bee 100% certian that when my system awakes I will not be standing :)

Just to remind you, I do not have this issue with the USB and Voodoo2 cards in the 6400 alone but only when both are in my PCI chassis. Since probably none of you have a PCI chassis I wouldn't worry about it. I think I can call this problem closed for now unless I get some new info. It seems the 6400 may just have too slow of a mother board to handle this much data thru put :(

Sonnet announces 500Mhz L2 G3!: Looks like the G3 vendors are really going to use the new 10x CPUs for us too. Power Logix first announced the 400Mhz G3 for the 6400 and now Sonnet announces the first 500Mhz G3 for the 6500. The price is high considering a new G4 is only $600 more but for those that want a really fast 6500, now is your chance. It will most likely only run at 400Mhz in the 6400 due to our slower bus speed so I wouldn't consider it to 6400 owners.

[Crescendo G3/L2
Sonnet's breakthrough 500 MHz cards reach out to 20th Anniversary Macintosh owners as well. The 500 Mhz card, which also works in the Power Mac 5500 and 6500, expands Sonnet's offerings which previously ranged from 250 to 400 MHz for these machines.

Pricing
Encore G3 500/1MB for G3 Power Macs $899.95
Crescendo G3/PCI 500/1MB for PCI Power Macs $999.95
Crescendo G3/L2 500/1M for "Upgrade-challenged" Macs $999.95]

Clarification on Power Logix's fastest L2 G3 offering: I received word from Power Logix on the speed settings of their 400Mhz L2 G3. It seems in a 6400 it WILL have a 10x bus ratio to get us 400Mhz and in the 6500 is will run an 8x ratio to get 400Mhz. This is a good choice for 6400 users right now as I don't think IBM or Motorola will make anything higher then a 10x ratio so 400Mhz is it for us. I can't wait to test it!

I have updated my L2 G3 comparison page to reflect this new info.

G3 compatibility with OS 9?: I have been getting a few requests on whether the L2 G3 cards will work with OS 9. If anyone has any info please email me. Thanks.

Reader Request page updated: Mark installed a Sonnet G3 in his 6400 and now he gets modem port errors when trying to go online. Click here to read more. Thanks. I also made a table of contents at the top of my Reader Request page as it was getting very large and hard to find the new postings.

Update on reader request "External HD crashes 6400 with OS 8.6 installed": Nicholas sends word that he has found a solution but not a fix for his problem. It turned out to be his external CD-R but he hasn't found away to use everything together yet. He is also having modem issues with his Newer L2 G3 installed. Looks like Newers G3 is having all the same issues as Sonnets now :(

Update on reader request "Very frustrated G3 user!": Donato sends word that a new card fixed his problem so far. Thanks for the update.

Sound issues with Newers G3 update: Speaking of issues, here is an update from Claudio who is having sound issues with Newers L2 G3. Looks like both Sonnet and Newer have sound issues :( I really think it has something to do with timing issues due to the faster CPU but Vimages G3 never had this problem? Maybe that double boot isn't so bad after all!

[Tom :
Hi... to make a story short ... I got in touch with Newer's Tech support (very laconic by the way; and not very helpfull ) and they decided to send me a new card... Well the problem still persist , especially with voice recognition.... it seems like the program needs more memory or the whole way the sound works on the computer somehow needs a "push" or something .... I am happy with the speed but not to thrill about the side effect on the sound part .I also saw in your Web site that there is another user ( Brent) reporting the same problem by the way he nails it exactly on the way some of the sounds play trough... in a way I am happy I am not the only one... Something tells me the Newer driver needs a tune up ..... I am pondering sending this card back for a refund an continue using the Vimage card until further development ....also I am hesitant now that Mac Os 9 is bringing mainly voice recognition capabilities as a part of the whole upgrade core. Hopefully the reseller will take it back. Well if you heard anybody else that can share some experience on this issue I will appreciate it.
Thanks again.
Claudio.]

Later Claudio sent another reply stating he returned the Newer G3 and reinstalled his Vimage G3.

[Tom:
I decided to return the card after all and reinstall the Vimage card; now; I did talk to the people that actually sold me the card ( Upgradestuff) and David ( a sales person) told me this, he has heard of other customers ( a few) that had complained about this very same issue and since there is not that many people actually using these cards, perhaps that is why Newer is not completely aware of this problem.He mentioned a person that was working with in the music business and using his Performa for sound editing and had similar problems.He also explained and we both agree , that the 6400 is a very picky machine when it comes to sound issues, so it is possible that the architecture of the card is not totally compatible. In any case I regret to have to return the product, but I am happy that at least I got to try it ,I will probably buying a new G4 next year so for now I will have to do with this one, I already pre-order OS 9 and I am starting to wonder what set of new incompatibilities this new OS will unleash ..Apple always keeps us on our toes. Hey that was a great picture of you on your page and again I am always looking forward to reading it . By the way the other guy that was having the same problem with this never e-mail me back so I don't know what he did. Thanks again.
Claudio.]

More Vimage CPU info from Steve: Steve sent me some more info from his Vpower 240 G3. Thanks Steve.

[Welp, here's the labelling on the chip:

S236 70W001 // No idea what this means
XPC750 // Didn't xlr8yourmac mention that an X means a
// pre-production sample? I got one of the first.
ARX233LE // A = 0.29 um CMOS, core voltage 2.6V
// RX = ball grid array package
// 233 = speed rating
// L = application modifier, no special design
// E = revision level
72H30E // Motorola chip designation?
DFY9828D // Place, year and week of manufacture.

The cache chips are rated 117MHz.
Steve]

Another 6400 user web site: Charlie sent me this link to another 6400 users web site with personal experiences posted on his troubles and triumphs on using his 6400. Thanks Charlie

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 Compatibility page

My Newer User Letters page

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

L2/G3 comparison page

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in purchasing a CD with my entire up-to-date site as well as my 6400 Take Apart manual plus many of the past Just Updates included? I think this would be a great idea for anyone who hasn't been able to keep up or never saw my site until recently. Also for those of you with Sherlock the CD is even better cause you can tell Sherlock to index the CD and then you can do a search on any topic and if I ever talked about it, you'll find it! I have info as far back as mid 1997. I'm asking $15 which includes shipping for US residents (not sure what the price for international shipments would be yet?) and I will even include a few surprises! To make this offer even juicier I can add some download that you've been trying to get but just couldn't for some reason. Lets put my cable modem to work :)

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.