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-

Farallon posts new drivers: Farallon just posted version 2.1 for their 10/100 ethernet COMM II slot card. click here for more details. It works!

My OS 9 info page: I just started an OS 9 Info page to store all the info I get on Apples latest OS. I also moved my Vimage and Sonnet with OS 9 info to that page and added some info on the Geo modem. I suggest you Geo users go read it. The modem will work but you might not be able to make any changes in the control panel!

OS 9 and Apples Color Style Writer 4000 printer?: Sheldon writes that Apples CSW 4000 has a conflict with OS 9 but he found a work around. Thanks Sheldon.

[Oh by the way, OS9 does not support CSW 4000 series printers anymore =(. HP product. A fix with new printer drivers is supposed to be on the way but it will probably take awhile!

The fix for now is to install the DW 500 series vers 6.0.4 HP printer driver and pick the 550C printer from the set-up in the chooser. You'll now be able to print with a ColorStyle Writer series 4000 printer with OS 9. Just thought you and other readers would like to know that one as OS 9 apparently doesn't like CSW printers, and some series of HP printers as well.
Take care
Sheldon]

Voodoo3 and Sonnet G3 may work together?: I received some info from a user that has both running on his 6400/200 and he says he has no problems! Previously Sonnet users have told me that with the 2D driver enabled you get crashes after about 5min. Here is a list of version numbers he was running. Please let me know if anyone else gets this working. Thanks. Click here for more Voodoo3 and 6400/6500 info.

[No problem. The following versions are on the 6400/200:

Mac OS 8.6
Apple Open GL 1.0
Mesa3dfxEngine 3.1b6
Sonnet Crescendo 1.37
3dfx Voodoo 3 2000 drivers Beta 5, Flashed the ROM for a 2000 card
Quake 3 Arena Alpha (q3test) 1.08

If there are more recent versions of these things I'd be amazed... most of them I downloaded last week, except for the OpenGL and Sonnet driver.]

Speaking of Sonnet, I may have some interesting news to tell on how to speed up the CPU! I got word from another reader who may have a solution for you :) Stay tuned.

Newers G3 and the Geo modem update: Topny sends word that he got his Geo modem to work with Newers G3 almost by luck! Read on to find out what he did. Thanks Tony.

[Hi Hi Tom
Well first I must say thank you for such an excellent site. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still get a kick out communicating with people all over the world. So now I would like to return the favour with my experiences upgrading my 6400

My system is a Performa 6400 / 200 with 32 meg ram , did have 256k L2 cache ( yeh I know a little short on ram) running system 8.1. After looking at this site for a few weeks I decided to go for the Newer G3 L2 upgrade the 300/200 1mb unit, I ordered it ex USA from Outpost.com (oh yes I'm in Perth Australia). All went well except for a little delay getting through our taxes and customs.

After it arrived, I installed it as per instructions. No problem ( worked up a bit of sweat over the force required to push the card home in the L2 slot). Sytem started up first time and Newers gauges recognised the 750/G3 processer and guess what my sytem is faster, really speeded up recalculation time between shots in Jack 4 Golf.

However as Fumiaki (10/21/99) noticed, the Geo modem didn't work. Switching off Newer's extension allowed it to work again. So it looked as tho' major conflict between the L2 card and the Geo modem. Using OT/PPP kept getting port is in use/busy message. So I went for the complete reinstall of OT and OT/PPP software from Sys 8.0 thro' 8.1 and Geo upgrade to 3.1.1. Removed old software control panels, extensions ,preferences etc and restarted manually first.

On the way thro this process I was playing with MACPing (control panel?) and got a dial and connect from it by opening and pressing mouse button rapidly before it said no connect. After the connect via this method OT/PPP was in business. Weird eh? Any way this encouraged me and after doing the re install of OT & OT/PPP software fully. On restart the Geo worked!!! It has worked ever since (couple of weeks) and the downloads etc are much faster. Remember this is with 32mb ram and virtual memory on. I get a bit of instability on the modem occasionally on intial connect sometimes connecting / disconnecting rapidly. So I close PPP and go again and there is usually no problem. Sometimes get disonnect after a while but it used to do that before the upgrade. Also tried latest FreePPP but couldn't get the script to connect to compuserve.com - my gateway. So I went back to OT/PPP.

I would also say I have ditched a couple of other bits of sofware such as Libmoto, switching off Remember recent apps and docs in menu options and any other CP's and extensions I didnt need or had doubts about.

So to sum up you can get a Geo and Newers L2 300/1mb card to work. The conflict may be with the PPP software if not installed after the L2 upgrade. I haven't got a 3D card yet but am waiting for the Mactell voodoo 3. I want 2D as well as 3D acceleration.

Well enough said, hope this helps others and thanks again for keeping this site going.

Tony :-)]

Here is another letter from Jonathan who also has his Geo modem working. Sounds like it may be crap shoot just like it was with Sonnets G3. Some work and some don't? Thanks Jonathan.

[ My Geo modem works just fine with a Newer G3 at 300/512k@150 under system 8.1. On a different note, however, Norton Utilities 4.5 doesn't like the Newer Extension. Running the disk doctor yielded a problem and suggested I fix the problem. Doing so breaks the extension. I had to trash it and re-install it to get the system to recognize the G3.]

Update on Pioneer DVD drive in the 6400: Cytri sent me a note stating that the Pioneer DVD ROM drive he installed in his 6400 was not pin compatible with the stock CD location and had to place it in the upper bay. You can also connect it externally as you do not need to run a sound cable to the drive for DVD to work. It is passed thru the SCSI cable. Thanks Cytri. Click here for more on this topic.

32bit drivers for DOS cards?: Paul found some info that a company is working on 32bit drivers for Apples DOS cards? I hope this is true as many people got stuck with old DOS cards that can only run 16bit drivers which means Windows pretty much left them in the dust. Thanks Paul.

[There is a company in canada working on 32 bit drivers for it. The drivers should be available soon. Here's the URL:
www.fvdcs.bc.ca/macdosStatus.html]

Audio card and software for the professional recordist: A few people have requested some info on good sound cards so here is a PCI card and software that Adam uses for mastering CD's with his 6400. He sent me some sample CD's and they sound very good. Thanks Adam.

[Here is a link to card specs if interested Audiowerk8 - System requirements/Technical Data and software Logic Audio Gold - System Requirements]

Avid and QT4?: A few users are having trouble getting Avid to work with QT4 installed. Keith had this setup and he said it worked for him Although he did remove QT4 for other reasons? Thanks Keith.

[Hi, I've had Avid cinema running with QT4 on my 5500 (I've gone back to QT3 for different reasons) and it seemed to work OK if you used the U3 beta extension downloaded from the Avid cinema site." Cheers
Keith]

David also has QT4 amd Avid running together. Thanks David.

[Hello,
Your info concerning Avid extension/mac os 8.6/ QT 4 and the 6400 avid card is correct. It's funny to see that version U3 for the extension is working fine with Avid Cinema version 1.1.5. I have connected my Fuji MX700, captured pictures but also movie, this way. Thanxx for your precious help.
I noticed on your Reader's review pages that someone tells Avid Cinema users to not upgrade to OS 8.5. While it is true that the original version of Cinema for the 6400, up to version 1.1.5 is not compatible with OS 8.5, Avid has posted a new extension (version U3 for the G3 Mac) which, if downloaded and installed on a 6400, enables the Avid Cinema functions under OS 8.5 and 8.5.1. Users need to be aware that, if they upgrade to 8.5 and install the U3 extension, they have to use the Control Strip to select audio input. Otherwise, it works fine.
David]

L2 G3 review from MacWorld: In case any of you didn't get the November issue of MacWorld, they had a review of Sonnets and Newers L2 G3's. I thought you might get a kick out of reading how the big boys thought they performed. I guess they didn't get to keep the cards long enough to find any trouble :)

John was also nice enough to forward me a copy of a letter he sent to them regarding their review. I wonder if they will reply :) Thanks John

[Your recent article on G3 upgrades for those "upgrade-challenged" 603e machines (most notably, the venerable Performa 6400) was most welcome. However, as a 6400 owner that has done a few upgrades on his machine this summer (including a G3 upgrade), I wanted to inform you of a few things:

1. The article mentioned the technology of using the machine's L2 cache slot to install the processor. I would point out that this technology was pioneered by Vimage, which, sadly, has recently ceased production. I say "sadly" because it would appear that their upgrade cards were superior in terms of stability when compared to those produced by Newer and (especially) Sonnet. They did have the (somewhat annoying) characteristic of requiring an extra boot when starting up your machine, but seemed to be the most stable of the G3 upgrades for 6400's.

2. While it is true that a 6400 with a G3 card will "feel" much faster, I have found that the speed of the original hard disk with the 6400 becomes perhaps the next bottleneck to overcome. Newer IDE drives (costing less than $150 for 6 or more GB) are faster, and it was not until I replaced my IDE drive did I feel like the G3 upgrade was a good investment. Of course, as you point out, there are other bottlenecks (including the 40 MHz system bus), and one needs to weigh the costs of upgrade vs. replacement. With my addition of a 56K modem and a RagePro graphics card, I spent about 2/3 the cost of an iMac, of course I would have to convert devices to USB.

3. Most of the information (including reviews from other 6400 users on the various cards) I obtained to assist me in my upgrades was from "The 6400 Zone", a great online resource, often mentioned on Mac USENET groups:

http://members.aol.com/zone6400

John]

Readers Requests page updated: I just added some new emails from readers needing some assistance. Please respond to any you might have an answer to. Thanks. The latest are labled new.

Possible fix for Sonnet boot crashes?: Kanji snet me some info on a possible fix for Sonnets boot crashing? It is from an extension called ROAM which loads your ROM into RAM like the new iMacs and G3/4's. Let me know if you try it and it works. Thanks Kanji.

[Hi Tom.
Thanks for your hard work. It really helps me. Now about the boot freeze of Sonne Crescendo G3, few people reported they have the solution. They said that since they have installed the soft called ROAM, they never experienced the boot freeze. ROAM is the app which makes rom in ram. You can get it from here.

http://www.stg.com/employees/sbytnar/projects/rom_accelerator.html

I myself wanted to try it. However it says it won't work with OS8.1 so I have to give it up. Duh.
Kanji]

Sonnet and OS 9: Speaking of Sonnet, They just sent out a press release stating all of their current G3 product line is OS 9 compatible. This is great news. No more worrying for Sonnet users :) If you have the current 1.3.7 version of the Crecsendo driver your fine.

6360/64xx/54xx Update maybe still needed?: Adrian wrote to let me know that his 6400 would not boot after adding a UMAX scanner until Apples 6360/64xx/54xx Update was installed. This is an extension that fixed some SCSI issues on our computers and was supposed to be rolled into the latest OS's. UMAX drivers are known to be using outdated SCSI manager protocal and maybe this extension is still needed in some cases? I don't have an issue with my UMAX Astra 1200s using Vistascan 3.1. But if your having trouble then give it a try. It is located on Apples software upgrade sites. Thanks Adrian.

[Hi. Just to let you know that although Apple says the '6360/64xx/54xx Update' is not needed with System 7.6.1 and up, I was not able to get my Performa 6400/180 to startup correctly after I installed my new UMAX scanner. I have Mac OS 8.1 and only after I installed the '6360/64xx/54xx Update' my Performa 6400/180 stopped haging at startup while the scanner (SCSI UMAX Astra 610S) is connected to the machine.]

More 6400 cooling tips. I received some more letters from users with some interesting ideas on how to cool the 6400 down. Thanks for the input. Click here for more on this topic.

[Hey there, love your site man i visit it quite often.. Im a fellow 6400 user. anyway here is a EASY, FREE fix for the fan problem... it will make it stay the same speed at all times and your computer will run much cooler. Inside the powersuply.. follow the wire from the fan to the board (if you dont use the silly conenctor on the back for your monitor) disconnect the wire going to the blue relay and plug the fan in there.. its stedy 12 volts insted of the variable. =) been using it that way for about a year now.. runs cooler and dosnt do that HORRABLY ANNOYING speedup / slowdown crap.. (i was about to loose my mind, i LIVE on my mac). Also remove the little screen safty thing that is over the fan.. (keeps stuff from getting chopped up ect) that will make it even harder to hear...

Recently got the 300/512k sonnet G3 card.. having alot of random lockups...Carl]

This trick sounds interesting and is rather easy to do. There are 2 plugs right next to each other inside the power supply. one is for the fan and the other switches on the external power for the monitor power plug. Like he says, if your not using this extra plug then just remove the one for the relay and move over the fans plug. BUT maybe his system is crashing due to this with Sonnets card installed? If your still having problems Carl please write me back.

[Hi Tom!
Happy Birthday to your son!
By the way, I was telling you about the Twin Turbo fan that fits in a 5.25" bay; well, I managed to get one in my 6500. However, it doesn't really fit well and I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they have some experience working on things. First of all, this fan (it is a two fan thingie) fits in a PC via screws on the side of a PC's case. Our 5.25" slot doesn't provide anyway of screwing this fan in (or maybe it does but I'm too lazy to take my case apart). However, it will fit a little loose in the slot. In fact, all I did was slide the thing in. I did, however, stuffed some foam (like the packing material that comes in Sonnet's box for their L2 G3 upgrade) around the sides of the fan to prevent the fan from sucking air in from outside of the case (that would defeat the purpose of the fan). This also helps the fan fit better in the slot. Once in, it ran nicely and did help cool things down further. Below are some tests I did using Metronome as a temperature indicator.

Under normal use (surfing web, word processing, etc.)
Temp = 47 degree C with just the 6500's fan.
Temp = 43 degree C with 6500's fan + a PCI slot fan.
Temp = 39 degree C with 6500's fan + PCI slot fan + Twin Turbo

Extreme use (3 hours of UNREAL with V2)
Temp = 51 degree C with 6500's fan
Temp = 47 degree C with 6500's fan + PCI slot fan
Temp = 43 degree C with 6500's fan + PCI slot fan + Twin Turbo

Sorry I didn't test the Twin Turbo without the slot fan (didn't have time). Anyway, my conclusion is below:

The good : It works! And the fan is pretty quiet, especially considering it is a two fan design. Plus, the fan helps pull out heat from the top of the case, which is good for 6500/6400 owners with Sonnet L2 G3 upgrades since the Sonnet's heatsink is way up there in our Macs.

The bad : It doesn't fit perfectly. Also, if you already have a ZIP drive or other equipment in your 5.25" bay, you can't use it.

The ugly : It makes your 6500/6400 looks ugly. But to be honest, I actually LIKE the look that it gives my 6500 now! With bare metal showing, foam sticking out, and a grate to direct airflow out of the Twin Turbo, my 6500 looks really mean!

Some info :
PCI slot fan from www.3dfxcool.com at $13.00 + shipping & handling (it is called a slot cooler or a slotHO-fan)

Twin Turbo fan from www.3dcool.com at $25.00 + shipping & handling
That's all. : )
Regards,
Tiong]

This one is also interesting but I would only recommend it to the hobbiest who likes to tinker around. You might get a prettier fit if you cut out the original top bezel and add some screen or a wire mesh?

Clocking Sonnets G3?: Bill sends some interesting info on a possible way to clock a G3 chip. In his letter he has a link to a site which has a software driver that fools Sonnets driver for their PDS slot G3 upgrade to make it run at a faster speed. If its possible to do this for L2 G3's I would love to have one myself :) Thanks Bill

[I didn't see it mentioned on your site, here is an awsome hack to overclock sonnet g3 cards. @ http://web.ukonline.co.uk/sixkiller/sonnet.html

If someone could produce a set of ext. or a variable control panel to do this they could make quite a shareware product.
Bill]

My 6400 Take Apart manual has been updated: I just added instructions for the power supply, L2/G3 cards and more on the PRAM battery. I also posted on the first page a picture of our "Power User" setup with our 6400/G3 system. Click here to go check it out.

Request: Yann, who owns a 6400 with Sonnets G3 and has a Voodoo3 card, could you please email me. Thanks

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 :(

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.

10/28/1999 FIX is out!: Farallon just released version 2.1 for their 10/100 COMM II slot ethernet card and so far it is working fine on my 6400 with OS 8.6 as well as some other users :) Plus it seems much faster then the 1.1 driver I had before! Click here to goto Farallons download page. NOTE that it is listed as NEW but still only showing as version 2.0? I think its a typo as once you download it Get Info does show it as 2.1.

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.