Just Updated 3/23/2002

This is for Daniel J. B. Please remove me from your email list or scan your computer for viruses! I get 5 or so emails from you a week that have viruses in them and the email looks like a fake one sent to me? I try to reply but my messages are always bounced. So please remove me. I have already setup a mail rule to delete all your emails but I would rather you fix the problem on your end. Thanks.

Possible Floppy drive fix for OS 9 with USB drivers installed: Chris informed me that he is running OS 9.1 with an SIIG USB card and his floppy drive works fine. He has installed carbon library 1.5 which is available via the software update control panel and the old 5xxx/6xxx floppy fix that was designed for OS 7.6 if I remember right. I tried both on my 6400 without a USB card installed and my floppy still doesn't work so I think my floppy is just dead? If any of you try these and it fixes your drive, I would like to hear from you.

DVD burner format info: I like many of you have tried to figure out which format for burning DVD's is a good choice to go with. Well here is a web site that has info on each of the different formats currently available for burning DVD's and explains what makes each format good or bad.

OS 9.2.x and Newer's L2 G3, will they work together?: Chris wrote to ask if anyone has info on whether this combination works. If I remember, Newer's card stopped working with OS 9.0? If anyone has tried these together and got them to work, I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks.

603e CPU heat sink not flat on the chip?: A reader wrote to let me know that when he was working on clocking his CPU, he noticed that the heatsink was not flat but concave. This will cause it to not sit flat on the CPU to cool it efficiently. He swapped it out for a PC heatsink. Thanks for the info. I would be interested to hear from anyone else that has noticed this with their CPU's heatsink. If true, his suggestion to flatten it or replace with a better one is a good idea when clocking your CPU.

[I recently accelerated my Performa 6400 to 220 MHz (I would like to speed up the bus when I find a crystal, but my local electronics shop is out of the 48 MHz type), and I noticed something about the factory heatsink. It is not flat on the bottom. (I was absent minded enough to set it down on the counter with the grease down). The Apple heat sink turned out to be slightly concave, which meant that it was not contacting the 603 in the middle, where the heat was being generated. You recommend a thermoelectric cooler, but I think that a replacement heatsink with a machined base could be adequate. Someone could either have their Apple heatsink planed by a machinist, or I just grabbed a heatsink from a 586 computer (it is currently tied on with dental floss until I come up with a better attachment. This arrangement seems to work well for me, anyway.]

OrangeLink Firewire/USB2 PCI card in a 6400: Kev is the first person to send me info on using USB2 on a 6400 and in a combo card as well. Thanks Kev. He says its working fine.

[First, I wanted to say that your site is great. The take-apart guide was really helpful (ESPECIALLY the tip about pushing in the middle of the front bevel to get it off!).

Besides that, I wanted to report that I bought an OrangeMicro FireLink+ (USB 2.0/ FireWire) and it works great! I just had to install Apple's own FireWire and USB card support, and the PCIBridge patch for my mac's PRAM off the web site.

I didn't have to install any other 'power' cable, and the card is a fully bus-powered card, as I was able to charge and sync my iPod (yes! Automatically!) as well as use a Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer wireless mouse.

Kev]

Initially he did not say that he had a 6400 so I assumed he had a 6500 because he installed the patch. He later wrote to say he did have a 6400.

[Actually, I have a 6400/180, but I installed the patch before putting in the card, to avoid potential problems. There isn't a place to plug in external power, but I believe that it powers devices fine, since it can both charge my iPod, and run the Microsoft Wireless mouse transmitter (both non-powered devices).

I'm running MacOS 9.1. And no, I haven't noticed any audio stuttering, during Escape Velocity or playing MP3's on iTunes, although I'm using some external speakers.

Kev]

He notes that there are no stuttering issues with the USB drivers installed. I wonder if the patch fixed this even though its not needed on a 6400? I would like to hear from anyone trying the patch made for the 6500 but on your 6400 and if it helps with any issues you have? Thanks.

Another fix for issues that G3 upgrades cause with our Macs: Ron sent word that he had many crashes with his Sonnet G3 upgrade until he installed PowerLogix's Cache Profiler. Thanks Ron.

[To whom it may concern,
I've been using the Sonnet L2/G3 300mhz/512 backside cache upgrade card for nearly two years now. OS 9 has always been the OS run on my PPC 6500 while using the upgrade. Currently OS 9.1 is installed. Since first installing the card, when ever Netscape or Explorer was being used, there would be periodic freezes of the application or of the system all together. It was becoming quite frustrating to say the least. One day, while browsing through software on version tracker, I discovered the application G3/G4 Cache Profiler 1.4. It consists of the application and the G3/G4 Profiler INIT 1.4. The software is supposed to be used with PowerLogix upgrades, but has worked miracles on my machine with the Sonnet upgrade. I've contacted Sonnet about it, but they didn't appear to be too interested. The Tech claimed he couldn't really recommend the competitors software, but would look into it further. Since then a new 40g HD has been installed. After installing all fresh software, I attempted to run without the G3/G4 Profiler 1.4 software, but soon ran into the same problems as before. I highly recommend the use of this software to anyone running into similar problems.

Hope this helps,
Ron ]

I know that Cache Profiler leaves speculative addressing off and has cache write through enabled. Speculative addressing off is a good thing as that has been known to cause issues with older Macs and I noted in the past to install some software such as this to turn it off, but cache write through being off slows your CPU down as data is just passed through the cache as if it were not there. Turning write through off should speed up the CPU as it enables the backside cache to do what it was supposed to do, cache data to be retrieved faster without going to main memory. Here is his reply.

[Thomas,
First of all, thanks for the fast reply.

To answer your first question, I am running the latest version of Sonnets software, which is still 1.4.7. I found that the PowerLogix software would not run by itself. After checking the PowerLogix web page, a newer version 1.5 is now available. Thanks to your tip, I've updated to the new version.

To answer your second question, speculative addressing is turned off. According to balloon help, this should always be turned off on a system that was not ship with a G3 or G4 processor built in. I did find that the cache write through was turned on. Again I turned to balloon help, which explained that some devices were incompatible when the cache write through is not turned on. For the time being, I'll run with it off as you have suggested. If there aren't any problems and things seem faster, I'll let you know. Once again I appreciate the tip.

Hopefully, from what we've learned, someone else may solve similar problems on their machine.

Thanks,
Ron]

I am sure that cache write through is not enabled with Sonnets software but I am unsure as to whether speculative address is disabled or not with their software? This might fix issues that some of you may be having. If you install this and it helps, please write me. Thanks.

Tango card cause 6500 to crash when printing: Rod sends word that his 6500 will crash is the USB drivers are installed and he tries to print. Here is more of his info. If anyone has issues similar to this, please write me. Thanks.

[Hi,
Sorry I forgot to give some useful base info.
I have a 6500 with a Sonnet Crescendo L2G3, MacOs 9.1 The USB card is a Tango
As I said if USB Device Extension is working the machine freezes when I send something to the printer. I have to empty the printer before it will complete a start-up with Device Extension in service, if I do not it freezes during start-up.
Cheers
Rod]

Update on UltraTek66 card hack to make it work in our Macs: Andreas wrote back with more info on his hack to make his UltraTek66 IDE card work in his Mac. Thanks Andreas.

[Hi Tom,
I got the Oscillator from an original Promise Ultra66.Controller which I modified to get an UltraTek66 clone.

Maybe you'll get an Oscillator in your local parts store.
Attached are 2 pics.

1. remove this resistor (R27/1K)
2. Add 66 MHz Oscillator (a squared or rect.one). you can place a DIL16 OR a DIL8 Oscillator here. There is no difference in these other then size of the Oscillator.

Hope this helps
Andreas]

[Hi Tom,
here is a scan of an 47.500000 MHz Oscillator. It's the same Type I used, only with 66 MHz.

all quartz oscillator have 4 pins. Data sheets can be found on the Net.

But don't forget: This Mod is only for people with knowledge on
soldering Multilayerboards. If you don't use the right tools you rip your card.
Andreas]

I am not sure if the oscillators with part numbers DIL16 or DIL8 are the correct 66Mhz oscillator so make sure it is if you plan on ordering one. If anyone else tries this and it works, I would love to hear from you. Thanks.

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