More reader feedback on the PTP issue. This may be a PTP 250 specific problem as this reader notes with another CPU card brand:

"Hi Mike, Just wanted to add some more info in light of the recent PTP news. i upgraded a PTP 180 with a Newertech 400 with absolutely no problems, but I could not get the same card to work in a PTP 250 no matter what--removing cache, RAM etc. didn't help. I thought the card might be defective at first, but I popped it into the 180 and it worked flawlessly. There must be something about those 250's that make them finicky.
Thanks for your ever-informative site.
--Jeff Kamis
Eagle Summit Publishing Company "

I suspect Jeff may be right - as so far PTP 250s were involved in the problem reports (at least those where removing the cache did not help). My PTP180 is fine with cache removed. Had to do that on some sub 45mhz bus G3 Cards last year. Jeff's mail also reminded me that the 250Mhz 604E (and higher) was a lower voltage CPU but the CarrierZIF works great in the Mach 5 (same cpu voltage) 9600. However I think PowerComputing did the voltage regulation on the CPU card unlike Apple's design.

I'm looking for PowerBase/CarrierZIF owner reports. One PowerBase owner reports that closing the cover seems to cause a problem (?). I've asked him to verify his settings, remove the L2 cache, etc. but wondered if any other PowerBase owners have tested the card. XLR8 replied that they have not tested the PowerBase and therefore do not list it as a compatible model. If any PowerBase owners have run the CarrierZIF, please contact me with specifics.

The 3D Game News page was updated earlier today.

PowerTowerPro/CarrierZIF Update: I just finished boot tests with my PowerTower Pro 180 system and the CarrierZIF. With the L2 cache dimm installed it would not boot past the "Welcome" screen at 50 or 55MHz bus speeds. After removing the cache Dimm it ran fine at 50Mhz bus speed (with 128MB of interleaved RAM). It would not boot at 55MHz bus in this system. My PTP has 128MB of interleaved RAM (Four 32MB DIMMS) and I did not try deinterleaving RAM to see if that would run higher bus speeds, I was simply trying to verify the reader report earlier today that there was an issue with the PowerTower Pro in general. Note that I do not have an OWC ZIF to test, only the Apple OEMs and XLR8 ZIFs.

The reader that initially reported the problem just replied that the CarrierZIF works in two other PTP systems:

" Mike,
I reported the problem earlier. The Card Works in Power tower pro 180. Just out of curiosity, I tried the card in our other PTP. It started fine with interleaved memory. No problems with the chips. I'll check the numbers on the motherboard to see if they are different revisions.
Mark Neal"

Note that my PTP has a rev 4 (5000-0121-04) motherboard. I think I remember a PTP250 owner reporting he had a rev 5. As noted in some of my G3 CPU card reviews that used the PTP as a test system (i.e. MacTell card) I had to remove the cache for the card to boot. Removing the L2 cache dimm is step 1 of troubleshooting a G3 CPU card (after ensuring the card is fully seated and that you've not set the switches to a setting that is too high - start with a low bus speed and ratio to remove that as a factor.

Installation Tips on CarrierZIF/PowerTowerPro Systems:

Unike my PowerCenter Pro, my PowerTower Pro has a metal Fan/CPU retainer bracket. I did not have to do any mods to get it to fit, but be careful when putting the Fan bracket back on - make sure it clears the CarrierZIF speed switch levers and does not change any switch settings when you are sliding it into the locked position. Since the metal bracket passes right by the levers as you are locking the bracket in, you could move a switch lever and change the speed settings. Just a FYI for PTP owners.

If you are having boot problems with a CarrierZIF, check the switch settings, card seating and remove the L2 cache dimm if possible. If problems still persist please contact me with your motherboard revision (it's marked at the lower front edge of the motherboard) and system details. My PTP is a 5000-0121-04 (last digit is said to be the revision). I also welcome success reports, which are just as important in determining how common the problem is. Although there are not a lot of CarrierZIF reports since its a new card, my Rate Your G3 Upgrade does have 10 at the moment. You can search it by selecting XLR8 CarrierZIF as the card brand and leaving the Mac model blank to see all reports regardless of Mac model. I've not had time to review all the new database entries from the last 36hrs yet.

I'm going to try to get back to finishing the CarrierZIF review now. Better expect the review tomorrow since this retest and page updates, etc. have set me back a few hours. It was worth it to prove there is not a universal issue with the PTP.

David Linder of CJJR/CKBD Radio wrote that the Register has an article saying that Motorola G4 CPUs are on schedule. It still remains to be seen if production quantities will be available to allow G4 systems to be released this year.

No Non-Apple ZIP Problems Here: I'm getting a lot of mails regarding another site's post about problems with ZIP disks formatted in a non-Apple supplied ZIP drive installed in a B&W G3. I installed my own ZIP in my B&W G3 back in January and have shared dozens of ZIP disks and copied files back and forth for months with zero problems. Can't say as I remember formatting a ZIP disk in the B&W G3, but since there are no differences that I know of in any ATAPI ZIP drive I don't see how this can be implied to be a ZIP drive hardware issue. IF formatting is a problem I'll bet this is a B&W G3 issue - not a ZIP drive hardware issue. I did report a case where the PB G3 under OS 8.6 corrupted a saved HTML file to a PC formatted ZIP disk.

Sorry for the late update. It's been a very trying week. All is well now. I'm almost finished with the CarrierZIF review even after last night's family matter. To cut to the chase, I've tried hard but cannot find anything but good things to say about the CarrierZIF. As far as CPU slot upgrades it's an easy pick as the best card I've ever tested both in stability and upgrade potential in the macs I've tested it in (9600/350, Genesis/9500 and PowerCenter Pro). PTP owners might want to be cautious based on the following report.

PTP/CarrierZIF Feedback: Although most CarrierZIF/Other World Computing 366ZIF reports (see my searchable database) have been positive, this PowerTower Pro owner reported a boot problem with a PTP250 (but not a PTP180) [Update: Gary Dailey of XLR8 commented the returned system report was from a MAChspeed card (not a CarrierZIF). Check back later tonight for a report on my PowerTower Pro/CarrierZIF test to see if there is any problem booting in that system. So far the CarrierZIF has been plug-n-play in all Macs tested here. Of course I make sure the card is not set to a bus speed or ratio that is not reliable. As noted in the update - My PTP 180 (refurb) would run at 50Mhz bus with the L2 cache Dimm removed.-Mike]:

"...I had the same problem with the exact same combination of machine (Powertower Pro/250) and Carrier/OWC Zif. I sent both back for replacement hoping one of the components was bad, but now I'm not so sure. When speaking to XLR8 Tech Support yesterday, they did say that they were having problems with the Carrier Zif/PTP combination. I didn't see that mentioned anywhere. The Tech I spoke to said that they had one person send their machine to them and they were able to get it to boot, but upon sending it back to the owner it would not.
Mark "

If a system didn't boot after shipping, I'd first check to see if the CPU Card or RAM had become unseated during shipping.

WD Expert/B&W G3: I did get time last night to verify that with 2MB SMI files at least, using Apple's Drive Setup v1.6.2 did fix the data corruption issue with the WD Expert 18GB drive in my B&W G3. I need to try a larger SMI file (10+MB or so) before assuming it's 100% reliable however. I also have SpeedTools 2.1 here to test as well, which has several DMA mode driver settings to try. Watch for a future article on this next week.

Hint Benchmarks: G3 vs Pentium II: Dr. Nicholas Coult, Research Associate for the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications at the University of Minnesota wrote with a note on his HINT benchmark study:

"You might be interested in my HINT benchmark page, http://www.ima.umn.edu/~coult/hint.html

The HINT benchmark is meant to provide a measure of processing power over a wide range of problem sizes and data types. The full HINT benchmark for a given data type can be displayed as a two-dimensional plot, with time on the horizontal axis and QUIPS (quality improvements per second) on the vertical axis (larger QUIPS is better). net MQUIPS is a total measure of millions of QUIPS over the complete run, and can be viewed as an overall assessment of processing power.

On my page, I compare my 7300 G3/275Mhz with a Pentium II/300 Mhz. The G3 is the clear winner on smaller problems, but for large problems the PII wins out due (it seems) to its higher main bus speed.

Dr. Nicholas Coult
Research Associate
Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications
University of Minnesota "

ORB Drive Problems?: I just received my IDE ORB drive yesterday and have not had time to test it but a reader reports he's seen some problems:

"We've just started doing extensive tests on the ORB drive, and I found after copying a 1.9 gig single file that it crashes at about the 700 or 800mb copy point. I could recreate a similar situation with multiple files. I duplicated a 250 mb file 7 times and it froze the computer after about 1.1 gig was copied. I've tried several different disks (new ones) and results are similar or the same.

The system I tested the ORB on was a Rev3 Beige G3-300mhz with DVD. The drive was the only one on the IDE primary (the machine has a SCSI drive.) 160mb ram.

I had slightly better results on the Blue/White G3s. I was able to copy about 1.4 gig with out an error, but I did not repeat the test, and I did not try a single file.
--Charlie "

I'll check for this on my sample here and report my findings. I'll run tests with the TurboMax PCI IDE card as well.

OS 8.6 Memory Leaks:? Another report of a possible memory leak in OS 8.6 (Adobe Apps were said to also have memory leaks according to my OS 8.6 Compatibility page):

"http://aardvark.magnet.at/software/ ... says bug fixed in 8.6 but I am have memory leak problems with Netscape/VM off.
Mike Field"

My main problems with OS 8.6 so far as lockups on opening Word98 when MacLink Plus converts text files. It's happened twice and totally locks up the machine. I use IE 4.5 so I can't comment on Netscape problems in OS 8.6.

The new pair of WD Expert drives and IDE ORB drive arrived yesterday. These are for articles on IDE RAID and the ORB tests in an Apple G3 and 9600/350 with TurboMax card.

As the last two days and nights have been very hectic, I've not had a chance to begin to keep up with mail. Please be patient I'm trying to catch up but its not possible to answer all the hundreds of mails I get each day. Please check the Answers to Common Questions and other links in the sidebar before sending tech support mail and try the Men in Mac support page if possible until I can catch up.

If you don't check every day's daily news (updated several times a day normally) you might miss something valuable. Check the summary list below for highlights of the last two days news and the archives page for older new page links. For a blast from the past, read what was on the news page here exactly a year ago.

Other Net News:

• Complexity I - There are two types of people in this world: those that love complexity and those that hate it. (MacOpinion)
• PowerBooks And Subtlety - PowerBooks are the logical Mac for most of us, providing that we can live with the higher cost of admission. (MacOpinion)
• Miscellaneous Ramblings #17

Thursday's News Summary

• Pictures of new B&W G3 Features (Rage128 heatsink and new HD bracket/cable
• New IDE Controller on B&W G3 motherboard?
• PCI Cards & Installation 'Secrets' article
• Rumors of new 17" iMac due this summer
• Umax mail list started
• Owner reports on new B&W G3 features
• CarrierZIF owner comments
• IDE vs SCSI page updated with more comparisons
• Transintl posts Mac upgrade guide
• Latest insider info on OS X client Compatibility
• Upgraded Beige G3 reports TCP/IP problems
• Reader response to anti-Mac article
• Apple 24X CDROM Drive/Gold CDRs issue
• News.com article on Intel copper CPU plans
• Microcenter sale on older Mac microphones
• Future articles on IDE Raid, ORB drive
• Rate Your G3 Upgrade database updated
• Other Net News Links

Wednesday's News Summary

• Game Editor(s) wanted
• Warm boot drive mounting problem reported by Beige G3/WD HD owner
• Reader report on IDE vs SCSI drive Performance
• B&W G3 U2 SCSI owner reports Adaptec 3940 SCSI card prevents boot
• Bottom Line's latest Specials List
• 3D Game News updated
• Interleaved RAM article updated to show B&W G3 memory bandwidth tests
• Latest CarrierZIF test update
• Transintil.com adds G3 cards to site specials offerings
• B&W G3 owner reports OS 8.6 less reliable than 8.5.1
• Comments on Kansas motherboards and G3 upgrades
• Reader report on Maxtor 20GB IDE drive in Apple G3
• Lawrence Ellison comments on new Mac due this summer (consumer portable?)
• Reader feedback on Turbomax/Video capture in pre-Apple G3 macs
• QT 4.0 final bug reports
• Reader comments on GV internal modem for B&W G3
• PCs try to copy the iMac
• Unflattering Mac article from PC 'convert'
• Rate Your G3 Upgrade database updated
• Other Net News

For other recent site news/features links, see the Sidebar to the right and the Recent Site Features page.

If you own a G3/300 or faster Mac, you might want to get our PPC Checker utility that will report if your CPU is copper or aluminum based.

Considering a G3 Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. The database is being updated daily for new reports. Also make sure you ask your dealer about any issues with your particular mac model as I have gotten several reports of issues with certain G3 upgrades in some Mac models (Mach 5, PowerBase, 7300). I urge any owners that have had problems to report this via the Survey Form. Always give the most weight to recent owner reports (dated in the listing).