I've updated the Systems page for a link to two reader's detailed comments on the new Wall Street PowerBook G3.
[1:30PM Update]
Refurbished Macs: Neil Max wrote regarding his 8600/300 and Apple's warranty policies in Florida:
"
Hi Mike, read on the site about the gentleman with the 8600/300 with the
old firmware HD and the bad zip; made me wonder. I downloaded the
2-4-6GB Firmware update from Apple yesterday and ran it. It said my
drive did NOT require this update, GOOD! I also checked my Zip and it
says 5.1.1, GOOD again! So all I can say, knock wood, is that my
8600/300 seems as advertised and all is current and operational.
The only thing I did find, after other 8600 refurb site visitors
expressed their concerns, was upon calling Apple about Applecare for the
8600 I found out that the "Florida Consumer" is not eligible for the
Applecare extended warranty! I live in Florida and it is the only state
Apple will not offer Applecare in. Go figure, a one year warranty would
have been $168.00.
Hope all is well with both you and Kay.
Regards, Neil"
My 8600/250 had the old HD Firmware and Iomega extension. I told Neil that I bought a
4 year on-site extended warranty from MacWarehouse when I purchased the 8600/250 for only $149.
Wanted: 9600/350 CPU Card: I'm still looking for a 9600/350 Mhz card (not a 300mhz clocked up) to modify to 400mhz. If you have one for sale or trade, contact me. I'd be willing to offer this 350mhz Mach 5 card (originally a 300 but runs just fine at 350) and a 64MB DIMM or cash in trade as well.
Several readers wrote noting that my Dec 97 Adaptec 2940 SCSI card installation tutorial was missing from my SCSI Topics page. I've added it now, thanks for letting me know.
Apple G3 Pwr Supply Voltage Setting: As mentioned in my G3-ZONE troubleshooting page , always verify that your G3 power supply switch is set to the proper line voltage. Although initially thought to be
a problem only on gray-market G3s, Lee Jones writes a US Spec. G3 was set incorrectly.
"
I installed a new G3 /266 / DT / Zip for a client a week ago. They
bought it from an Apple authorized dealer--Digitek--and by all accounts
it's a U.S. model with proper documentation, serial number, and
registration card.
However, the power switch in the back was set to 220 - - not the setting
for a domestic computer I would expect. Manufacture date was in January.
Since I also read on your site about loose connections related to
shipping, I checked the connections inside. Nothing was loose or out of
place.
Have fun,
Lee Jones"
The G3-ZONE troubleshooting page has tips with links to pictures showing items to check if you're having problems with your G3.
Just a note that after upgrading the 8600 to OS 8.1 (from 7.6.1), I noticed a very tiny decrease in
MacBench CPU scores, but a noticeable one on disk scores. I was not using HFS+, but disk scores took about a 30 point drop even with a 7MB disk cache.
IE vs. Netscape Feedback:
"
Mike:
A quick note. I know you've been looking for a good new e-mail program to
use, since Claris E-mailer will most likely not be supported any more. I
recently downloaded Internet Explorer 4.01, and have for about a week now
been successfully using the browser and it's smaller companion, Outlook
Express 4.01.
I've found the Explorer to be embarrassingly better than Netscape 4.05. It
is better in so many ways--the most obvious of which is raw speed!--that I
would have to waste a lot of your time talking about them in any kind of
detail. The point I am trying to make in this message is that the Outlook
Express also seems to be one of the best E-mail programs for the Mac that
I've seen to date. It is certainly better that Eudora, and although I only
have limited experience with the E-mailer, I suspect is is just as good as
Apple's program, and maybe better.
Check it out, if you haven't done so already.
Gene Shekhtman"
"
Mike,
I noticed that after I quit Netscape Communicator I still had a whopping
20 plus megs of ram that were not available....Not untill I restarted
could I reclaim my memory..Could you comment on this, please. [I don't use
V4 of netscape, and never will but see yesterday's shareware section for
something that might help. He didn't state what OS version he was running, but OS 8 was said to have
some memory issues like this, that's why I waited for OS 8.1 to upgrade. ]
To your knowledge is it widespread enough so there will be a fix from
Netscape? I give the program 25 megs as it is, so you could say thet NC
is the Rosanne Barr of the computer software world..
Thanks
John Garde"
I've commented here in the past that I've always found IE 3 to be faster and run well in a lot less memory than Netscape 3, but have avoided version 4 of both browsers. However I am planning to install IE 4 soon. I recently noted that the Mini IE3 install ran fine on the Duo with 4MB of RAM allocated to it.
Mach 5 350mhz ByteMarks:
"
Mike,
I saw your post about overclocking a 300 MHz 604e to 350 and thought you might
be interested to see how it compares
to a 9600/350. I ran MacBench 4.0, using OS 8.1 (only a few extensions), no
speed doubler and libmoto. The processor score was 793, and the floating point was 1121. Without libmoto, the processor score was 798 and the floating point was 905.
One thing I find interesting is that MacBench processor scores show the G3 to
be considerably faster than a 350 MHz 604e. They ByteMark benchmark shows otherwise. Below is the output from
ByteMark DR/3 for my 9600/350, run with extensions off. You'll see that the integer score is slightly higher
than the score for the G3/300, which get a 10.15 I believe. Floating point is much higher than the G3, which is expected.
I hope this is of some use.
Steve Boultbee
BYTEmark (tm) Native Mode Benchmark ver. 2 (10/95)
NUMERIC SORT: Iterations/sec.: 200.623498 Index: 5.145116
STRING SORT: Iterations/sec.: 18.903556 Index: 8.446629
BITFIELD: Iterations/sec.: 114913069.140270 Index: 19.711647
FP EMULATION: Iterations/sec.: 24.596217 Index: 11.802408
FOURIER: Iterations/sec.: 8758.524087 Index: 9.961041
ASSIGNMENT: Iterations/sec.: 2.161652 Index: 8.225464
IDEA: Iterations/sec.: 932.031984 Index: 14.255177
HUFFMAN: Iterations/sec.: 357.597894 Index: 9.916197
NEURAL NET: Iterations/sec.: 5.356026 Index: 8.604058
LU DECOMPOSITION: Iterations/sec.: 103.179262 Index: 5.345217
...done...
===========OVERALL============
INTEGER INDEX: 10.233749
FLOATING-POINT INDEX: 7.708720
(90 MHz Dell Pentium = 1.00)
==============================="
Just a note that I had a friend of mine run Bytemark on his "screaming" new Dell PII 400.
If I remember correctly the Integer and FPU scores were less than 6.
Sonnet NuBus G3 Feedback: Here's the latest from owners of Sonnet's Crescendo upgrades:
"
I received the card when I got home from work today.
Installation took about 5 minutes.
I immediately ran MacBench 4.0 with the following results:
- Processor - 6100/66: 124
- Processor - with 266: 907
- Floating Pt. - 6100/66: 142
- Floating Pt. - with 266: 815
A Sonnet utility reported that the 750 chip was running at 264 mhz and
the 1mb backside cache at 132 mhz.
All of my programs run without any reinstallation, and they run much
faster.
Sincerely,
Phil Willeke"
John Vigil sends the only negative report I've gotten (out of about 15 so far) - which sounds like a defective card:
"
Hi Mike,
I just wanted to report that my client has not had the success many of your
readers have reported. He has an 8100/100av and purchased the 250/1M card
last week. We installed the card and immediately it froze when the
crescendo g3 extension tried loading.. We then tried it in a 6100 and the
same thing happened. My client has a JackHammer card and a Radius video
card. I removed both and booted from an external hard drive and it
continued to freeze. I did the extension troubleshooting and it still
crashed. The machine _did_ boot if the extension was disabled, but this is
pointless since the G3 card isn't running in this case. I called Sonnet's
tech support, which was quite busy, and they recommended I try something:
They said that since I'm running a new processor I need to reupdate the
hard disk drivers _with_ the G3 card in there! I asked the tech guy why
and he simply said it's quite obvious why. I then asked him, why is
something so important like this missing from the short instructions? He
replied not everyone has this problem-- yet he said this update was
necessary for any machine to boot with a new processor-- I have _never_
encountered this problem upgrading any of the Macs I've serviced..
Anyways, so I updated the drive in the 6100 and after a few tries it ran,
ironically enough. I then proceeded to reupdate the cheetah in the 8100
and the machine still froze upon loading the extension. However, it soon
did load pass the extension but it was very problematic. Retrospect
wouldn't backup the machine, and I couldn't turn the machine off or put the
cover on without the machine messing up again. Consequently, I have the
8100 back in its original configuration and awaiting to talk to tech
support again so we can get an RMA number and hopefully get one that works
reliably.
John Vigil"
Rhythmic Disk accessing Problems - More Feedback: Here's the latest in our continuing coverage of the problem:
"
Mike,
I have the rhythmic disk problem on my G3/233. It started after I installed
a second hard drive -- a Seagate Hawk/7200 -- and made it my boot drive. I
do not use any doublers (they apparently conflict with the Initio Miles card
my Hawk is connected to), nor do I use FreePPP. Virtual memory is turned
off.
I am reasonably convinced that my rhythmic access problem is related to the
Hawk and/or its interaction with the Miles Initio. Frankly, I am willing to
put up with it for the performance gain I get from the drive.
Mark Nickerson
"
"
Mike,
A 7200/90 at work had the problem of rythmic disk access. The user had changed the font of her clock to some non-standard type and like someone suggested, I changed it to a common Apple font and the problem immediately
disappeared.
Great site.
James Moniz"
If you do have the problem, please let me know if your system has the following items:
- Catalyst Motherboard (7200, PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, or just note model)
- A Seagate Hard Disk (and if it is the boot disk)
- Virtual Memory on?
- Free PPP installed?
- Any non-System fonts used for clock?
- Any other 3rd party extensions (Ramdoubler, etc.)
Contact me with the above info and I'll try to summarize and isolate common factors that may be the root cause.
Newer Tech Nubus G3 Feedback: Howard Mckenzie sent a report:
"Mike,
I really enjoy your site and want to wish your wife a speedy recovery. I
just wanted to give you some input on a few weeks of real world experience
with a Newer G3/210 PDS card in my former PM 7100/66.
Absolutely no crashes or incompatibilities at all. I run a pretty heavy
suite of apps being an Engineer at Boeing and having an artist (heavy
graphics work) for a wife. This thing is wonderful. I am running OS 8.1,
HFS+ on 2 hard drives partitioned to 4 total, Speed Doubler 8.1, libmotsh and
136 MB ram. Macbench 4.0 returned scores of 593 for the cpu and 665 for fpu
performance. Powerlogix's new cpu utility "speedmeter" tells me that the
750 processor is running at 44š C (operating range according to Motorola
specs is 0š to 128š C). I have added three fans to my 7100's case for
"extra cooling". I am also using a MacPicasso 340 card which I plan to add
a Paloma video/audio in module to in the near future. The video performance
on my Mag DJ702 is fantastic with the MacPicasso and Newer cards.
I hope that this info will be useful to some of your other readers!
Howard Mckenzie"
Reader Requests:
Michael Pitogo asked that I post a request for info on enabling G3 backside caches under Rhapsody. (See a similar request/tip for Linux in the April 28th news page regarding Resedit mods to the Newer extension.).
"
Would you please post something about how to enable the L2 backside
cache of G3 upgrade cards under Rhapsody DR2. I emailed newertech and
am waiting for their response."
If you have any tips/info that may help, please contact me.
Rory Ross is asking for help with a PPP/Networking problem:
"
I have recently gotten a G3/300 with a 4Gig UltraWide
SCSI at work. We are hooked up to a Unix server via
10 Base-T ether net. I also have a modem for internet
connection (no internet through the server, yet). My
question/problem. With my TCP/IP set to PPP for my
internet connection, when I mount a volume from the
server, my internet connection is dialed first. We have
an 8100 with the same set-up, and it does not do this.
It will just mount the volume. I have tried all the
new Ethernet extensions that have been listed and searched
everywhere I can think of for other people with the
same problem, but have found nothing. Any help would
be very appreciated."
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions that would help, please contact me.
Doug still urgently needs help with Media 100/MP/OS 8 problems:
"
Dear Mike,
I wouldn’t email you normally, but I have become desperate to solve this problem as I am losing business with my Media 100 no longer
working properly. After all my testing, I am clearly on the wrong track and don’t know where to go next.
I have a 9500 with a Daystar MP processor card. After upgrading to system 8.0, the system freezes whenever I try to copy information from
my internal drive to any drive connected to a drive connected to either an ATTO or Adaptec SCSI card (I have both and tried each one
separately.) Does anyone know how to fix this?
I have upgraded the Hard Disk drivers to what comes with the PowerDomain software (Diskbasics). I have also tried FWB Raid toolkit 2.0.2.
I have also tried the drives striped and non striped.
BTW, the external drives I have tested are some Micropolis 9 gigs and Quantum 4 gigs. All were running fine and furious under system 7.5.5
and my Atto card.
Thanks in advance.
Doug"
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions that would help, please contact me.
This site is 100% Intergraph free - no persons working on this web site have ever been
on the payroll of any PC manufacturer.
Net News:
Please check your bookmarks - make sure you are using www.xlr8yourmac.com.
3D Column Logo Contest: I'm still asking for all 3D artists out there to submit their creations for our new 3D Column Logo/Banner.
The winner (and any other interesting entries) is also invited to write an article
(complete w/screen captures if poss.) showing how it was done. I'd like to have all entries by June 15. Resolution should be
200H x 500W (Maximum size - smaller is fine). GIF (animated OK, but try to keep file sizes small) or JPEG format for the final image.
If you'd like to submit a 3D Logo design (full credit given of course), please contact me.
We need your G3 info! Reader "Oz" has offered to help with collecting data on Apple G3 system compatibility issues (hardware and software) of all types. Please send him any Apple G3 system compatibility info/issues you have
or are aware of at: oz@bbdoperu.com
Search Tip! For searches on product names with mixed capitalization, use keywords like PowerBoost Pro (not Powerboost Pro or powerboost pro) and MaxPowr (vs maxpowr or Maxpowr). It seems that capitalization within the word on the site pages is throwing off the engine. Keep that in mind when searching for some of the odd product names.
Need Help? Before you send email for tech support, please check the Troubleshooting page or try searching the site (use quotes for exact matches! i.e. "mach 5" vs mach 5 which will match machine, 5, etc.) and to check the FAQ, Performance Basics, Links, and Forums for solutions to your problems or answers to tech support questions. They have a lot of good info and are a great source of help.
Yesterday's News
Please keep this site alive by visiting my Sponsors
|