Power Computing PowerBase & PowerCenter Boot issues

[chikorita157]

These cards are real finicky a lot of bad ones out there. I've had some success scrubbing the pins with an eraser where they go into the processor slot. You may just have a bum card though, I've had quite a few esp the lower end interware cards. Other brands are a lot more likely to not be a bum, the buffalo card you mentioned also unless it was known to be working when you bought it is hit or miss.

Yep, I tried cleaning the contacts with eraser and then wiping it with isopropyl alcohol to clean any residue, and it still doesn't work. I think it's probably a dud. Won't know for sure until I try it on a 9600.

Oh well, you win some and you lose some, but at least it's not over $200+ (I only paid like $105 for it, which it kind of hurts, but at least it's a nice paperweight.) Are Interware accelerators that fragile. I think Action Retro had issues with the G3 accelerator on a PowerBook with the cache not working properly, but maybe it's because of a lack of a heat sink or something.

(thankfully, I didn't pay much for the 366 MHz Buffalo, for only around $46 and tested working. Someone is trying to sell one on EBay for $200, so it's a deal even after paying for shipping.)

 

[macuserman]

Yep, I tried cleaning the contacts with eraser and then wiping it with isopropyl alcohol to clean any residue, and it still doesn't work. I think it's probably a dud. Won't know for sure until I try it on a 9600.

That's a bummer but how it goes sometimes. Was hoping that would work for you.

Oh well, you win some and you lose some, but at least it's not over $200+ (I only paid like $105 for it, which it kind of hurts, but at least it's a nice paperweight.) Are Interware accelerators that fragile. I think Action Retro had issues with the G3 accelerator on a PowerBook with the cache not working properly, but maybe it's because of a lack of a heat sink or something.

They aren't fragile, just there are a lot of untested ones out there and it's hit or miss on those in my experience. I've had quite a few and I'm at the point where unless it's dirt cheap and I can just write it off if it doesn't work or it's shown to work I don't buy it. I've never had one quit working, but I've had several in "unknown condition" that didn't work.

(thankfully, I didn't pay much for the 366 MHz Buffalo, for only around $46 and tested working. Someone is trying to sell one on EBay for $200, so it's a deal even after paying for shipping.)

Buffalo is the same deal, if the seller can show it working, your golden. Otherwise it's a crapshoot. That's a good deal for sure, the other ones listed are likely mine.

 

[Powerbase]

If you can snag a Powerlogix z-force ZIF card, that'l work on all the processor slot Macs including the often-overlooked Powerbase. I think Daystar's one worked too, but only the first generation/version. That is if you have a bunch of zifs laying about. You could even throw in a 604 zif if you have one (I've been too scared on mine, although I know they work on Beige G3s).

 

[chikorita157]

If the next attempts at these Japanese accelerators fail (although they are obtain cheap), I may go for it, but I probably need to find two working accelerators and perhaps try to sell the non-working ones at a discount if anyone wants to give it a shot at trying to get it working, may require fixing solder joints or use it as a source for putting G3s onto a Power Macintosh 6400/6500 logic board as they are pin compatible with the 603e used on those, but will require reballing.

That said, despite the slow performance since it has no L2 cache, SimCity 3000 seems to be less of a slideshow, maybe because I'm using a Rage 128 and not a framebuffer with no 2D acceleration whatsoever. Will probably run okay if I had a working G3 in the PowerCenter.

That said, I have the one in storage shipped, probably get here when I come back from vacation. Just going to finish installing the OS on the PowerCenter (namely Mac OS 7.6.1 and 8.1) onto the SSD that is on a Rabbit Hole Computing SATA card. Without the G3, it won't reach it's full potential at being better than a Beige G3.

The 9600 got shipped from Goodwill, got to diagnose why it won't boot, but may be a simple thing to resolve. It seems pretty loaded with three PCI cards, a ZIP drive, and a Jaz drive, maybe have a lot of RAM too, or maybe not, but I won't know for sure.

 

[lolo799]

Also worth noting that Buffalo, who is a subsidiary of Melco, is still around. They also apparently made G4 accelerators for the Japanese market as well, but I haven’t seen any come up on Yahoo Auctions. So, there might be more of those sold compared to the Interware ones, maybe better built? The Buffalo G3 accelerator board seems to have way more going on than the Interware ones.

メルコ、500MHzで動作するMacintosh用G4アクセラレータ

pc.watch.impress.co.jp

I have a Buffalo/Melco G4 accelerator in my 9500, it works fine in BeOS.
The machine needs to boot once with the provided floppy in case of a pram reset or the OS won't boot. I don't know if it's the same for other accelerator cards.

 

[chikorita157]

I have a Buffalo/Melco G4 accelerator in my 9500, it works fine in BeOS.
The machine needs to boot once with the provided floppy in case of a pram reset or the OS won't boot. I don't know if it's the same for other accelerator cards.

I made a disk image of the driver image for the Buffalo, which is available on Macintosh Garden. I wonder what it actually did since it has a System Folder. When I inserted it after the chime, it boots, and spits out the disk and reboots the machine. I guess this might explain what the disk does.

 

[chikorita157]

I got a Buffalo 466 MHz and I put it in the Power Computing and it does the same thing, but fan turns on. I have a feeling that none of these Japanese G3 accelerator cards work on the Catalyst clone. I do have a 9600, but I need to do some work on it before I can actually test it. I do have one more accelerator card that is marked as working, but if that doesn't work, I can assume that it's a compatibility issue and I need a Sonnet or Newer Tech G3 accelerator card.

 

[mg.man]

I got a Buffalo 466 MHz and I put it in the Power Computing and it does the same thing, but fan turns on.

Are you pressing the CUDA button when you pop the [either] G3 card in? It's been a while since I up"d my PowerCenter to a G3, but I'm pretty sure I needed to do this - and several times. I've also seen occasions (wutg other PMs I've upgraded) where there was no "bong", but the Mac started up anyway - and "bong"ed in subsequent re-boots.

Also, if it were me, I'd pop the G3 cards in the 9600 (with original PSU) and see what happens. But that's me...

Hope you get things going!

 

[chikorita157]

I tested the Interware card on the 9600, and apparently it works after all as it gave a chime and a grey screen, since there are no bootable drives attached. I plugged in my BlueSCSI and behold, it actually works on the 9600, but not on the Power Computing. So it must be a compatibility issue with the catalyst board as I tried resetting the PMU several times and powering it on and off, and it still gives the same results. I know G3 accelerator cards work on this, but only limited manufacturers.

I guess I’ll put the fastest Buffalo G3 card in the 9600 and sell one of them.