Sonnet Encore 1GHz G4 in Gigabit G4 - OS X ✅ OS 9 ❌

[Gothikon]

So I managed to get a clean install of OS 9.2.2 Uni on the FW drive after wiping it and using the iMac in OS 9 to run the installer (Virtual CD drive wouldn't mount it due to "not enough resources" but Toast did).No significant improvement. Can get to the desktop some times but crashes pretty quickly.

Sadly along the way my 10.2 install on the FW drive started playing up (again I think the endless crashing has done some damage to the file system), issues with lots of kexts after boot so I wiped it. Now my 10.2 install disks seem to be playing up (or perhaps it's the optical drive) and although the machine will begin booting from the 10.2 discs it has issues reading the packages and fails.
The only win today has been I can now consistently select different partitions to boot from when holding down the option key during boot.
I am curious about which files in the OS 9 install are responsible for this boot screen, or connected to it. I'd always assumed this functionality was baked in to the Mac's ROM or something...

FWIW I'll try repasting the CPU, it did seem to get warmer in OS 9 than OS X... I guess I can also use one of my other machines to get some a clean install of OS X on the FW drive again.

 

[DarthNvader]

So I managed to get a clean install of OS 9.2.2 Uni on the FW drive after wiping it and using the iMac in OS 9 to run the installer (Virtual CD drive wouldn't mount it due to "not enough resources" but Toast did).No significant improvement. Can get to the desktop some times but crashes pretty quickly.

Sadly along the way my 10.2 install on the FW drive started playing up (again I think the endless crashing has done some damage to the file system), issues with lots of kexts after boot so I wiped it. Now my 10.2 install disks seem to be playing up (or perhaps it's the optical drive) and although the machine will begin booting from the 10.2 discs it has issues reading the packages and fails.
The only win today has been I can now consistently select different partitions to boot from when holding down the option key during boot.
I am curious about which files in the OS 9 install are responsible for this boot screen, or connected to it. I'd always assumed this functionality was baked in to the Mac's ROM or something...

FWIW I'll try repasting the CPU, it did seem to get warmer in OS 9 than OS X... I guess I can also use one of my other machines to get some a clean install of OS X on the FW drive again.

You have a hardware problem, but it's though to narrow down.

I believe one of these Apple Hardware Test CD's is what you need, but you'll need a CD drive...

Apple Hardware Test CDs - Macintosh Repository

Apple Hardware Test (AHT) is a useful diagnostic CD made specifically for each Macintosh model, allowing the user to test his computer's...

www.macintoshrepository.org

 

[treellama]

I agree it's a hardware problem, but I don't think it's tough to narrow down if it runs for hours with the original CPU without issues. The upgrade card is bad

 

[Gothikon]

I do suspect the upgrade CPU, however it does run happily in OS X for hours...

I've put the original CPU back in and am reinstalling OS X, the machine obviously got very unhappy by the end of yesterday.
It did fail to boot properly this morning with the original CPU, a CUDA reset fixed it but OS 9 did say there was a memory issue. However when I tested each stick independently they worked okay and they're now both back in.
I'll look at the Apple HW test discs, i did read somewhere they don't work on the Sawtooth, only newer G4s but haven't verified. Can anyone recommend an OS 9 based HW test? I have vague memories of things like tattle tech and some other utilities from the 90s... some real HW diagnostics seem like the way to go.

 

[treellama]

Yes, running OS X happily for hours, and crashing in OS 9 sounds familiar. I have no idea why they behave that way, or why disassembling it / redoing paste / reassembling it fixed it. It would also behave better in a Quicksilver than a Sawtooth. I think there is some amount of magic involved.

If you're having issues with the original CPU, though, now something else could be amiss. 1990s hardware is so fun

 

[treellama]

Yes, running OS X happily for hours, and crashing in OS 9 sounds familiar. I have no idea why they behave that way, or why disassembling it / redoing paste / reassembling it fixed it. It would also behave better in a Quicksilver than a Sawtooth. I think there is some amount of magic involved.

Actually, is it possible the BGA solder was starting to give, and putting the heatsink back on shifted / compressed the CPU in place such that it resumed working OK? I hope not, yuck!