6400 banner

navigation map

[ Home ]_[ Updates & Upgrades ]_ [ Info & Help ]_[ Magazines ]_[ 6400 Info ]
[ My Reviews ]_[Readers Reviews]_[My OS reviews]_[6400 Clocking Info]
[Reader Reqests]_[Mac Equipment for Sale]_[Geo Modem Info]


home banner

6400 image

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:


Just Updated 10/6/1999

Sorry but there will probably not be any updates for a week or two because my son just turned 3 and we have a bunch of relatives visiting. I should be back on schedual in 2 weeks. please visit my Info & Help page for links to other Mac Help sites where you can find daily info until I'm back in action :)

I will try to get to all your emails over this period of time but if it takes a few days or longer please be patient.

ATI VR rage 128 news: I have been hearing many rumors on when this card will ship. The latest I heard is that they are supposed to have shipped a limited quantity already and retailers and mail order houses should be able to ship in early October? I hope its true because my order will be a year old in a few months!


Just Updated 10/1/1999

Update on a Reader Request: Donato had written that he was unable to get several L2 G3 cards to work in his 6400 and finally got one to work. Cheston from Vimage wrote me with a tip on to address this issue. Thanks Cheston.

I have to agree that it does seem strange that so many cards didn't work on Donato's 6400 and possibly running some HD diagnostics tests and defragging could help, but Vimages is running on it ok now.

Vimage's G3 and OS 9: Speaking about Vimage, I wrote back asking what their current plans are and if they will support their current owners if OS 9 fails to run on a Vimage upgraded 6400. So far I have one report that a beta version of OS 9 works with Sonnets G3 so this is encouraging.

Unfreezing your 6400 without rebooting?: To date Yann is the only person to tell me he has a Voodoo3 running on a 6400/G3 but with a French version of OS 8.6. He told me that he dose get some crashes during games ocassionally and found a way to get control back without rebooting most of the time. Thanks Yann.

Changing the mother board crystal to clock a L2 G3: It may be possible to speed up a L2 G3 by changing the mother board crystal but it may not work on all G3 cards. Rick tried it with his Sonnet 240Mhz G3 and it crashed on him right away. Thanks for the info Rick.

Its possible that the Sonnet 240 G3 like Vimages 240 G3 is really only a 233Mhz CPU and is being over driven as it is? Now from 233 to 240 is no big deal but from 233 to 288 like what Ricks setup did seems a bit much for the older G3 CPU's. The copper based CPU's may fair better?

Using FreePPP with Sonnets G3 and the Geo modem: In my last update I mentioned that some people are having modem port errors trying to connect online with their Geo modem via FreePPP and have a Sonnet G3 installed. One person mentioned that his trouble went away when he used somthing other then FreePPP and here is a report from Tiong that says Apples remote access in OS 8.6 works for him (he does not have the Geo modem though). Thanks Tiong.

Update on Geo modem issues and L2 G3's: Marty writes with some tips on getting things working again. He does not have a L2 G3 but these tips might help. Thanks Marty. Note I have menitioned in the past to remove LibMoto as it is known to cause problems with the Geo modem.

Another Performa web site: Marty also sent me a link to a web site with help related topics for most all PPC Performas. It has a lot of basic upgrade info laid out in an easy to find way. Even easier to find then my web site I beleive. I will have to make some changes :) Thanks Marty.

The best Quake 3 Test configuration app around!: At least this is how the owner advertises it. AQ3M is an app that modifies most all Q3T settings in an easy to understand way. It comes in 2 versions, a Lite and a Pro, where the Lite version is free but doesn't have as much tweaking ability as the Pro version. If your a Quake3 fan then I suggest you try this out.

More Networking info from Brian: Brian sent me some info awhile ago that I posted in an effort to help you out in networking your Home. He just sent me this link to another web site that has a lot more networking info. Thanks Brian.

Mac Equipment for Sale updated: I have updated my list of stuff for sale so go check them out.

Apple Script to make Apples USB drivers function: Apple may post their beta USB drivers on their web site for all of us to download and use with USB-PCI cards but you have to use ResEdit to make them work. Its not a very hard task to do but some people just don't like tweaking with things. I found this web site which has an Apple Script written to do this job for you. Boy isn't the Mac OS great!

http://www.txdirect.net/users/llee/applescript/usbsupport.html


Just Updated 9/24/1999

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:

http://members.aol.com/zone6400

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.

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.

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

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.

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

and later he writes:

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.

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 :(


Just Updated 9/17/1999

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.


L2G3 upgrade info for the 6400

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


CD containing the 6400 Zone plus past history for sale 9/3/1999

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 :)

amazon.com, books and more 7/2/98

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.

Link to my site that gets rid of AOL's ads! 9/16/98

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 :)


Current Problems with my System

System Pause with USB card and OS 8.67/8/1999

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.

Freeze at shutdown with Farallons COMM II ethernet card and OS 8.67/10/1999

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.

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.

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


[ Home ]_[ Updates & Upgrades ]_ [ Info & Help ]_[ Magazines ]_[ 6400 Info ]
[ My Reviews ]_[Readers Reviews]_[My OS reviews]_[6400 Clocking Info]
[Reader Reqests]_[Mac Equipment for Sale]_[Geo Modem 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.

You are visitor

Since 1/22/1998

If any of the links do not work properly, please send an email to me the Site Master
This page last updated 10/6/1999