Hi, Mike.
Well, I finally picked up a Sawtooth. I waited for Apple to speed bump the
machine and work out any bugs/errata in early revisions of the motherboard
design (I learned my lesson with the B&W G3). Here are some of my
experiences and observations with the G4-500.
1. Apparently, Apple has decided to remove the fan that caused much
complaint (of noise) from the Rage 128 Pro AGP card. Only a heatsink resides
there now. [ After several readers noted their new G4s had a fan on the Rage128 Pro
I asked Edmond to verify his card and he wrote:]
Yes, the ATI AGP card in my G4 has two connectors on it, a regular 15-pin
connector and a white one that I've never seen before [ the DVI connector-Mike]. Also, Apple System Profiler reports that it's a "Card model : ATY,Rage128pro".
By the way, it was a BTO system directly from the Apple Store (built 2/23/2000).
2. CPU stepping is at 2.8. I didn't check to see if it was an IBM made or
Motorola made G4, though.
3. In attempting to install my IDE Orb drive, I found out that the DVD-RAM
drive will not boot by holding down 'C' at startup when set up as a slave.
However, Delete-Option-Command-Shift does work.
With the Orb set up as a slave, the DVD-RAM boots by holding 'C' at startup.
However, the Orb will not be bootable. Even selecting it as the startup
device from the Startup Disk Control Panel will not work.
4. Initially, I experienced extremely slow startups and finally tracked down
the problem to be the Orange Micro 930U SCSI card. Zapping the PRAM didn't
correct the problem. What eventually did cure the slow startups was:
a. Remove the 930U.
b. Startup computer.
c. Shutdown computer.
d. Reinstall the 930U.
[The above would clear the PCI slot info from the Novram I think, sometimes zapping the pram does not do this completely.-Mike]
Bizarre... But everything seems fine now... Though I haven't really had a
chance to test for compatability issues yet.
5. In a rush to transfer all my current files to the new machine, I replaced
the stock 4 inch (?) ATA-66 ribbon cable for a longer 40-pin IDE cable for
more convenience in plugging/unplugging various drives I have, I found out
that the same 40-pin IDE cable that worked without any problems for about
half a year in my B&W G3 would not allow the G4 to boot. I had to find an
80-pin ATA-66 ribbon cable before everything was back to normal.
[Noise on the unshielded ATA/33 cable may have been the problem-Mike]
6. Heat is definitely NOT an issue with the Maxtor 40GB 7200 RPM drive in
this machine. (You weren't kidding when you said this drive was fast!)
;-) [See the review of the Maxtor Plus40 drive-Mike]
7. System Profiler reports that the DVD-RAM and Orb are connected to IDE Bus
0 and the Maxtor 40GB is connected to IDE Bus 2. What happened to IDE Bus
1?!? [The B&W G3 systems number the onboard ATA 0 and 1, but the Sawtooth G4s number them 0 &2.(same on my rev 1 G4/AGP system. Not sure why-Mike.]
A quick question:
1. What were the files that OS9 installs in the System folder of G4
machines? I just want to make sure that when I did the clean install it made
its way back. [See the list of the extensions on the first page of my reviews of the XLR8 G4/400 and Newer Tech G4/400 ZIF CPU upgrades.-Mike]
That's it for now. Take care and best wishes to you and your family.
Edmond Lai
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