B&W G3 Owner reports OS X 10.1.2 Solves Firewire/iPod Issue:

"Mike,
Just thought that I would let you know that the OSX 10.1.2 upgrade fixes the problem that I had with the internal firewire ports on my B&W Mac G3. I got round the problem in 10.1.1 by using a 3rd party firewire card.
I have just tested out my iPod with the internal ports and can (now) transfer large files to it. I just transfered a 360MB file to it and it worked, under 10.1.1 it would lock up after the first 10MB.
This may be good news for other readers.
Best regards
Nigel"

There have been lots of reports from B&W G3 owners regarding onboard Firewire port problems (pre-OS X). I also see disconnect errors during very large file/folder copies (those that take several minutes to complete) on my B&W G3 in OS 9. Some B&W G3 owners have reported using PCI Firewire cards solved their problems (in OS 9 - not sure all cards are supported in OS X). See the reports in the Nov. 20th, 2001 and Nov. 26th, 2001 news pages. for instance.

" Dear Mike,
Merry Christmas!
I have updated PPC Checker. The changes are:
• Recognize 755 stepping 2.2,
• Recognize 750CXe stepping 2.5 and 3.1.
• Fixed a bug which some 750CXes were recognized 755.
Please update PPC Checker page.
Best Regards,
Michiro Isobe"

Note: It's said the 7440 G4 CPU may have the same processor ID as the 7450. PowerBook G4/550s and /667s are reported as having 7450 CPUs by PPC Checker although they are believed to have 7440s (lower power version of 7450 without the L3 cache interface).
[NOTE: Tim Chong sent a URL to a Japanese site that says the CPU is actually a 7451, although the link he originally sent had gigabit PB G4 links to pages that also noted a 7440 CPU in diagrams for the 667Mhz model. The latest update there however notes the CPU is a 7451. Since it's in Japanese I followed the links in english at the top of the base URL which led to diagrams showing the CPU as a 7440, but later Tim said to go to the bottom of the page at http://www.medicalmac.com/mac85.html (Ignore the links hear the top of the page) - near the bottom of the page there's a note that the CPU is a 7451. It's in Japanese but the CPU number is in english. (There's a picture of the 7451 CPU chip at this page.) Great site for PB G4 info, only wish I could read Japanese. (Babelfish and other web site language translaters of course can help.)]

Que QPCDRW241040I (24/10/40) in ADS Pyro FW Case
PB G3 2000 running OS X
"This is an update to my first report on the Que! QPS 24x/10x/40x internal CD-RW drive in an ADS Pyro firewire drive kit. I was going to return this drive because of the iTunes incompatibility but when I found that CompUSA was offering a $20 instant rebate (in addition to the $50 mail-in) I couldn't resist asking for the price match and trying to get it to work with iTunes.

After reading somewhere that QPS was also using Samsung mechanisms I decided to try the Samsung plugin. Because ASP reported the the drive vendor as ATAPI I decided to rename the Samsung plugin file as ATAPICDR.device-plugin (after saving a copy of the original Samsung plugin!). Using a hex editor I then overwrote the string "SAMSUNG" with "ATAPI" (at location 0x0001AE0). The new string is 2 characters shorter so replace the N and G with 0x00.

APS reports the drive string as "ATAPI CD-R/RW 24x10". So I overwrote the original string "CD-R/RW SW-208B" (at location 0x0001AE0) with "CD-R/RW 24X10". Again the new string is 2 characters shorter so overwrite the last two positions with 0x00.

That's it! iTunes now recognizes the burner and reports it as ATAPI CD-R/RW 24X10. I recorded a couple of audio CDs with no problems. iTunes reported a burn speed of 8x and burns a 60 minute CD in under 9 minutes. Not exactly the rated performance but atleast it's usable until Apple provides native support or I can find a better hack!

Thanks for maintaining this database, Mike! It's been a great help.
Venky Raju"

Strangest hack I've seen (there are many noted at the main site Misc. articles page) but all that matters is if it works reliably. (Sometimes even the simple model# changes do not result in reliable burns though.)

I prefer to use OS 9's Apple System Profiler to get drive/model info since I have seen some bizarre reports in OS X's (where a CDRW drive is reported as the name/brand of the hard drive for instance).

It's too bad that Que seems to have switched from the Sanyo 1500BP mechanisms that were in the first shipments of retail box IDE 24x Que drives. (Another example of how retail boxed drives from vendors that don't make the mechanisms can change at any time.)

" Hi Mike,
I've been able to have my Plextor PX-R820 burner work under MacOS X 10.1.x with Toast 5.1PR2!

I'm using an Adaptec 2906 PCI SCSI card, but I believe it is also affecting users with 2930 cards.

At first, even though I had installed El Gato's SCSI CDRW Helper and was using Adaptec's built-in MacOS X drivers (1.0 version) my burner was not showing up under Toast (even though it's a burner supported under Toast 5). Installing the Adaptec 1.0.2 drivers fixed my problem.

But when installing Adaptec 2906-2930 1.0.2 drivers for MacOS X, the problem is that the older 2906-2930 built-in MacOS X drivers are not removed. Both drivers appear to conflict because when I removed the 1.0 driver my burner was showing up in Toast :)

The older driver is called 2906-2930.kext whereas the new driver is called 290X-2930.kext . To remove the old driver, just open a new Terminal window (you must have your root account enabled) and type in:

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/2906-2930.kext

Then make sure you have the 1.0.2 drivers installed, install El Gato's SCSI CD-RW Helper and reboot!

My burner still doesn't work with iTunes/Disc Burner, but I wasn't expecting it to since it was never supported even under MacOS 9 ;)

Hope it'll fix some SCSI CD-RW problems!
And it's just in time for Christmas ... ;)
Merry Christmas!
pascal filion"

As last noted in the Nov 14th/15th news pages here, El Gato's driver is available at http://www.elgato.com/SCSIHelper/index.html. (The driver note was also added to the OS X and CDR sections of the FAQ last month.)
You can search the drive database for other SCSI CDRW owner reports in OS X. (Leave the Mac model option blank on the search page if you don't find a report from an owner of the same Mac model as you have.)

On several machines here I've seen 3 updates listed in the Quicktime Updater section under the "3rd party" update "custom" option that cannot be installed. (This happens with 10.1.1 and 10.1.2 on machines here.) There's a "Quicktime update" shown as available and not installed and 3rd party addons like On2 and ZyGoVideo support. [Note: if these say "No" that means there are No updates available, not that they are not installed.]

On one machine (DP500) I was able to apply one of the 3rd party updates listed, but not any of the others or the QT update listed as available. (And after updating to 10.1.2, the same 3 updates were listed again.) Also once I try to install one of the 3rd party (ZyGoVideo for instance) addons, after it fails to update there are then 2 of the same updates listed in the panel the next time I check it.

Also, on the PB G4 if I run the standard QT update check I get the message:

" Your Software Updates cannot be shown because one or more of the updates contains incorrect information.
to see if the problem has been fixed, click Update Now in the software update pane of System preferences"

If I run Software Updates it says all my software is up-to-date. This is on a machine that shipped with 10.1 and had only official (not beta) OS X software updates. (The DP500 does not show this error but still cannot download the additional QT updates.)

This isn't really any big issue, but I'm wondering if anyone knows a fix for it or why it happens. If you have a solution/reason for this (other than a bug in the updates listing, which I suspect it is), let me know.

"I've had a problem with my Brother MFC-4800 after installing the 10.1.2 update. The print center is stuck on "opening printer connection" and nothing happens - no time out, no error message, nothing.

Here's what I did to fix it.If you go into the Apple System Profiler, you'll notice that the printer isn't seen by the computer. After cancelling the pending print job, I unplugged both power and USB from the MFC-4800 for about 10 seconds. After plugging both power and USB back in, Apple System Profiler sees the printer. You can then print normally.
BL"

I have not seen this problem here with my Epson and HP printers, but perhaps those that have can try this to see if it helps.

" $219.99, in stock. Pretty cheap and so far with several hundred of their cards shipped, no defects too! :)
Best Regards,
Larry O'Connor
Other World Computing, Inc."

[Note - as with all sales, prices and availability may change over time. check their web site for the latest info.]

DVD-R + DVD-RAM Drive Reports
• IDE Que LF-D311 (Matshita/Panasonic) in Dual G4 (OS X)
  (noted iDVD2, Finder burning, bootable etc. )
  
  DVD-RAM Drive Reports
• SCSI Panasonic LF-D201 in 8600 (OS 9.1)
  (noted no drivers he tried supported it - I suggested SA's DVD Tuneup perhaps)
  
  DVD-ROM Drive Reports
• IDE Hitachi GD-7000 in B&W G3 (OS 9.2)
  (did not mention drive speed rating)
• IDE Toshiba SD-M1502 (16x/48X) in B&W G3 (OS X)
• IDE Toshiba 1612 (16x48) in G4/AGP (OS X)
  
  IDE CDRW Reports
• Digital Research DRCDRW161040 in Beige G3 (OS 9.1)
  (listed under "other" brands, no iTunes/DB support)
• LG 16x10x40 (model 8160) in Beige G3 (OS X)
  (not clear what he used for burning CDs)
• LG Electronics (16x10x24x) in B&W G3 (OS X)
  (returned for Lite-On 24x, LG filed under "other" brands)
• Lite-On LTR-24102B (24x10x40x) in B&W G3 (OS X)
• Lite-On 24x10x40x in G4AGP (OS 9.1)
• Sony 175A-A1 (24x10x40x) in G4/AGP (OS X)
• Teac CD-W512E 12/10/32 in 7300 w/IDE PCI Card (OS 9.1)
  (includes notes on firmware update to Tempo IDE card needed)
  
  Firewire CDRW Reports
• MCE 8x8x24 used w/PowerBook G4 (OS 9.1)
• Que QPCDRW241040I (24/10/40) in ADS Pyro FW Case used w/PB G3 2000 (OS X)
  (includes info on support file mods)
• Que 4x4x24 (MITSUMI) used w/B&W G3 (OS X)
  (problems noted)
• Yamaha CRW2100FXZ (16x10x40) used w/9600 (OS 9.1)
  (problems noted - not sure if drive or PCI card related)
  
  SCSI CDRW Reports
• Plextor PX-R820 (8x CDR, 20x read) in G4/AGP (OS X)
  (using El Gato drivers - also noted having to remove duplicate/older version of Adaptec driver - see news item above for details)
• Yamaha 6X4X16 in G4 AGP (OS 9.2)
• Yamaha 6X4X16 in Dual G4 AGP (OS X)
  (using El Gato SCSI helper drivers)
  
  USB CDRW Reports
• Lacie 4x4x24 Mitsumi Mechanism used w/G4 AGP (OS X)
  (still not fully supported in OS X 10.1.2)
  
  IDE Hard Drive Reports
• IBM 60GXP 60GB in Beige G3 using IDE PCI Card (OS X)
  (includes comments on IDE cards)
• IBM 60GXP 60GB in Dual G4 (OS X)
  (there's an Illustrated guide to adding a 2nd IDE drive here.)
• IBM 20GB in Beige G3 w/PCI IDE Card (OS 9.2)
• IBM Travelstar 20GB in Powerbook G3 2000 (OS 9.2)
  (see my illustrated PB G3 firewire HD upgrade guide)
• Maxtor D740X 80GB in iMac slot loading (OS X)
  
  USB Smartmedia reader Reports
• SanDisk SDDR-09 used w/B&W G3 (OS X)
  (noted not working on OS X 10.1.2)
• SanDisk SDDR-05 used w/G4 AGP (OS X)
  (no support noted - but I suggested he try the tip noted here from a SDDR-05 owner running 10.1.1, that inserting a card in the reader _before_ booting OS X allowed it to be used. Not sure that works with 10.1.2 however)
  
  USB Multi-Format Card Reader Reports
• iMation FlashGO (IMN-USB-FG1) used w/G4 AGP (OS X)
  (supports CF/Smartmedia/MemoryStick and works in 10.1.2 he said)
  
  Firewire CompactFlash Reports
• Lexar FW CF reader used w/Dual G4 (OS X)
  
  USB CompactFlash Reports
• Kodak CF reader used w/G4 no AGP (OS X)
  (noted 1.08 driver worked in 10.1.1, but not 10.1.2)
• Logitec - LPM-CA20USB used w/Dual G4 (OS X) (no support in OS X, problems noted in other OSs. Logitech listed under "other" brands)
• SanDisk SDDR-31 used w/G4 AGP (OS X)
  
  USB Sony Memorystick Reports
• iMation FlashGO (IMN-USB-FG1) used w/G4 AGP (OS X)
  (reader also supports CF/Smartmedia and works in 10.1.2 he said)
• Sony MSAC-US1 used w/iBook 2001 (OS X)
• Sony MSAC-US1 used w/Beige G3 (OS X)
  
  USB MultiMedia card Reports
• Microtech/ZIO (black model) used w/B&W G3 (OS X)
  (not working after OS X 10.1.2 update - comments on trading it for new purple model which might work.)

You can find full owner reports by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches).
For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. [If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.]

• Newer Tech G3/500 in Beige G3 (rated 9)
• Newer Tech G3/330 in 6100/66 (rated 10)
• Other World Computing G3/500 in Beige G3 (rated 5)
• Powerlogix G3/400 in PowerCenter (rated 8)
• Sonnet G4/400 in 9500 (rated 10)
• XLR8 G3/400 in Beige G3 (rated 10)
  (started out as Beige G3 motherboard in 7500 case project, didn't fit so he used a PC ATX case. See Systems page for past Mac to ATX case articles.)
• Beige G3/300 OC report
• B&W G3/300 OC report

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

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