Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 22, 2003 2:50 AM |
avaughs |
I just installed a G4 450/1MB upgrade card into my PowerMac 9600. The startup chime begins and then abroptly ends. If I re-install the original 604e (200 Mhz) card, the full startup chime returns. How can I fix this problem? I want to get the full startup chime. PowerMac 9600/128MB RAM XPF 2.2.5 xlr8 ZIF Carrier SSE with G4 @450 Mhz with 1MB 225 Mhz L2 cache Using Sonnett's L2 cache enabler OS 10.2.3 |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
April, 26, 2003 3:15 AM |
bwalden |
. |
FYI if the processer card is not firmly installed all the way in (gold fingers should not be showing), this can also affect the startup chime even when things seem to work. Discovered this when one side of the card was just barely out of true. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 30, 2003 2:16 PM |
marcush |
. |
I forgot to mention that another post prior to mine in the CPU Upgrades Database from Nate Bachman tipped me off to the solution. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 30, 2003 2:14 PM |
marcush |
. |
I had this problem with an XLR8 G4/450 MPe SSE card and my Power Tower Pro last summer. I also suffered from system freezes and crashes. I had to deinterleave my RAM for a while while I worked on the problem. It turned out that the solution for me was rather simple but also counterintuitive. This is posted in the Xlr8yourmac.com CPU upgrade database, by the way. Use Xlr8 Carrier Ziff Card MPe and Power Tower or Pro to narrow down your search. The solution was to reinstall the machine's original 1MB L2 cache. Afterward, the truncated boot chime went away and my stability problems vanished. I was also able to reinterleave my RAM, which boosted performance even more. Maybe this will help you as well. It's certainly worth giving a try. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 30, 2003 2:23 AM |
avaughs |
. |
I purchased a Sonnet Crescendo/PCI G3 500 today and put it into the 7500. It runs fine and there is no Chime problem. Just for kicks, I put the XLR8 board in and there are no Chime problems either. Don't know for sure what's causing the problem. I may try the Crescendo in the 9600 to see if I have chime problem with it too. Update to follow... |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 29, 2003 1:02 AM |
tpmco |
. |
Update on my earlier response to this thread. I think that this dead fart is RAM related. I pulled a 128 mb module out a couple days ago, and the dead farts disppeared--still running the xlr8 g3/360 processor. In fact, everything else was the same, so I have to conclude that the 128 mb module was causing the problem! I put that 128 mb module into a 7200/120 running OS 8.6, and now that machine will not restart--need to power down and cold boot to get going again. Never had a problem on that machine UNTIL I put in the 128 mb. This 128 mb module was not OWC memory. The 128 mb modules I have from OWC (purchased in 2001) have never given me a problem. Mark |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 28, 2003 9:43 PM |
Tony.Scaminaci |
. |
My months of experiments swapping back and forth between my original Sonnet G3/267 card and the XLR8 G4/450 card resulted in me returning the XLR8 card. Instead, I put in the Sonnet 450/G4 card and have had no problems with the boot chime. Moreover, both the Sonnet card and the XLR8 card ran the system bus at 50 MHz with the CPU at 450 MHz. The XLR8 card locked the machine up continuously but the Sonnet card does not. So, although some systems may be on the hairy edge running the system bus at 50 MHz, it's clear to me that the problem is more likely due to poor design of the accelerator card rather than a problem with the machine. Of course, ram problems are always good for lockups. The rare ones that I still get started happening after I added in two more OWC DIMMS. Don't even ask me why I did a stupid thing like that. OWC wouldn't take back the old ones but would swap them for new ones. Since I couldn't get my money back, I made a stupid decision to give the new DIMMs a try. Although much better than the old ones, they still cause the machine to lock up a few times a month. The next time I take apart the 9500, the OWC DIMMs are coming out and going back to OWC for yet another swap (ad nauseum). In any case, short or odd-sounding chimes indicate a problem between the accelerator card and the system ram. I've never been able to run the 9500 stable when the chimes were screwed up. It might run for a few hours, but would always eventually lock up. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 28, 2003 8:28 PM |
krevnik |
. |
Hmm, well, there seems to be a bit of an explination for this issue... I use a Met@box joeCard G4 in my 8600 FrankenMac, and the manual seemed to at least try to BS about why the abbreviated startup chime is happening. The problem with upgrading machines, especially the x600 series is that they push the limit of the hardware available. Mobos are designed for a very specific clock speed, and occasionally aren't tolerant to changes. Introducing a CPU card designed around hacking a different CPU in tends to push these tolerances, and can sometimes manifest itself in odd ways. I found that a 7300 cannot take the joeCard at the 400Mhz/50Mhz settings, but will work just fine as a 416Mhz/46Mhz CPU. The tolerance of both the individual motherboard, and the CPU card will determine what type of effects you see. The more often the cut off chime occurs, I tend to see an increase in lock-ups. Although, if you have your CPU running with speculative accessing on in these situations (via Cache Control or the like)... you should be able to limit the damage to the startup chime only. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 23, 2003 7:07 PM |
avaughs |
. |
This problem is frustrating. I had this problem before when the card was installed in my PowerMac 7500. I installed it into the PowerMac 9600 and there was no problem. The PM7500 received a G3 card and never had the problem with that card. Well, over time, the PM9600 kept freezing and so I re-formated all the drives in the machine and re-installed the 604e card for the OS9 re-install. After I put the G4 card back into the 9600, I began to encounter the shortened Boot Chime. This computer didn't have this problem with the card before, and now it does. I had the G4 card in the PM7500 for a while until Jaguar froze up on me one day. I then installed the G3 card and the PM7500 has been solid (although a bit slower). I had re-formated and re-installed OS9 and Jaguar on this (PM7500) machine and placed the G4 card back into it. The boot chime worked completed (to my suprise). I removed the G4 card after this machine froze on me, and placed it into the PM9600 which now has the boot chime problem. Again, the boot chime works on the PM7500/G3 combo. The boot chime fails with the PM9600/G4 combo. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 23, 2003 5:08 AM |
tpmco |
. |
If this is the sound I think it is (sounds more like a dead fart), then there will be intermittent and inconsistent problems in both starting up and in restarting the computer in both OS 9 and OS X (10.1 and 10.2). In other words, you don't know when the problem will strike. Zapping the PRAM on a restart that DOES chime will result in the same dead fart every time. When these occur on a startup, a restart, or a PRAM clear, I have to power down the computer, and then start up again. And the computer WILL startup again, in either OS 9 or OS X, without further adieu. The PRAM DOES seem to clear okay. It is annoying, and I don't know what else. It occurs with both the xlr8 and Sonnet upgrades, from first hand experience (evidently the PowerLogix does too), so it doesn't seem that the problem is manufacturer specific. [Running 7600/g3/360 xlr8, 240 mb RAM, L2CacheConfig, OS 9.2.2 (or any OS 9), OS X 10.1.x, OS X 10.2.3 (OS X volumes are all external SCSI at this time). Another machine, similar with g3/450 Sonnet.] tpmco |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 22, 2003 9:25 PM |
fixitjc |
. |
I am running an 8500 with an XLR8 Zif carrier G3-400 pushed to 500, 384 meg RAM 3 - 9 gig SCSI drives, CD, CD burner and a scanner I have the full chime and no problems running either 10.2.3 or 9.X. I suspect that like every Mac, each of these upgrade cards has it's "personality" and if the machine is performing well even with an abreviated chime what does it hurt? I am using Ryan's L2 cach config could it be the sonnet L2 utility? |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 22, 2003 5:01 PM |
garforth |
. |
I have the same abbreviated chime with a Powerlogix G4 450 in a 7300. The full chime returns with a restart, but is always abbreviated from a cold boot. The mac is presently running OS 9.2.2 with no problems so far. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 22, 2003 4:08 PM |
powderhaus |
. |
My understanding about this was if a card had to change the ROM in a serious way the start up chime was sometimes disabled. I have had a sonnet for a year now and i have had no full chime for a year and no problems. But actually if i restart in X (not a cold boot) i think some times i will get the full chime. i will try to pay attention to this more often. |
. |
RE: Abreviated Startup Chime |
January, 22, 2003 2:54 PM |
Tony.Scaminaci |
. |
It's a well-known fact that the XLR8 cards cause the startup chime to cut off early or, in some cases, it doesn't sound at all. Their design does something to the system and/or affects the memory test at startup which manifests itself as the changed chime sound. Let me just say that this is NOT good and you'll definitely see other problems down the road with this card. I spent 3 months trying to get it to work and I failed. The only good fix is to return the XLR8 card and get a Powerlogix or Sonnet card instead. |