Fatal Lockups in Jaguar
The computer is a revision A Beige G3 (Gossamer) with a Sonnet G4 ZIF. 3x128 MB PC-66 222 RAM. (10ns or 8ns)
The experience is that the computer freezes and the only way is to reset. (option-command-escape doesn't help in this case). There are also more cases in which I see a spinning wheel and that an application has to be forced to quit.
What could cause these crashes?
1) Not enough memory (384MB) ?
RAM Test with Gauge runs fine, even after 100 times, no errors are detected.
2) The combination of the Firewire, USB and ATI Radeon card 7000? This ATI Radeon doesn't perform as well in 2D acceleration in my other G3 Beige with G4 ZIF, where I never have fatal crashes. (But I have a PCI-tempo ATA 66 and faster hard drives and PC-100 RAM: 768 MB in the latter Minitower.
3) Could it be because of the use of Limewire?
I repaired permissions and disk utility didn't detect any errors.
4) Could it be because of the "Wings" Audio-Visual personality card with audio and video input/output which isn't fully compatible with my Sonnet G4 ZIF? (but I never use it)
5) Could it be because the ATA-IDE on board is too slow for the virtual memory?
The same G4 ZIF performed well on my other G3 Beige computer.
6) Could it be because a hidden error in my 3 years old hard disk? I had to reformat it and writing zeros, checked afterwards and no errors were found.
7) Could it be because of Sonnet cache got corrupted?
8) Could it be because I made an alias under OS9 from startupdisk.prefs.pane and put it in the dock?
TIA for any help.
The experience is that the computer freezes and the only way is to reset. (option-command-escape doesn't help in this case). There are also more cases in which I see a spinning wheel and that an application has to be forced to quit.
What could cause these crashes?
1) Not enough memory (384MB) ?
RAM Test with Gauge runs fine, even after 100 times, no errors are detected.
2) The combination of the Firewire, USB and ATI Radeon card 7000? This ATI Radeon doesn't perform as well in 2D acceleration in my other G3 Beige with G4 ZIF, where I never have fatal crashes. (But I have a PCI-tempo ATA 66 and faster hard drives and PC-100 RAM: 768 MB in the latter Minitower.
3) Could it be because of the use of Limewire?
I repaired permissions and disk utility didn't detect any errors.
4) Could it be because of the "Wings" Audio-Visual personality card with audio and video input/output which isn't fully compatible with my Sonnet G4 ZIF? (but I never use it)
5) Could it be because the ATA-IDE on board is too slow for the virtual memory?
The same G4 ZIF performed well on my other G3 Beige computer.
6) Could it be because a hidden error in my 3 years old hard disk? I had to reformat it and writing zeros, checked afterwards and no errors were found.
7) Could it be because of Sonnet cache got corrupted?
8) Could it be because I made an alias under OS9 from startupdisk.prefs.pane and put it in the dock?
TIA for any help.
Comments
Good luck.
EDIT: You said you had 2 Beige G3's? What if you swap whatever you can (memory/drive & ATA Card/ATI...) one at a time and possibly narrow down the problem. This would unfortunately take a boatload of time and effectively ruin your day but you may find the problem.
I contacted Sonnet and their advice was buy an Rev2/3 ROM module or a Sonnet Trio Tempo Card.
On the other hand, I have noticed at the www.xr8yourmac.com drive database that some G3 Beige rev A users don't have any problem with large hard disks.
Very confusing.