Need help with Radius Rockets

[olePigeon]

I'm having trouble getting my IIci to boot with a Radius Rocket installed. When it starts loading extensions, it freezes immediately after the Radius Rocket logo and the rocket sound. I've tried disabling all control panels and extensions except for the Radius software, but no go. I also tried swapping RAM modules, but that didn't change anything. I also pulled all other cards except for the Radius Rocket, but it still freezes.

My IIci is running 7.1.1 with 128 MBs of RAM.

Any suggestions?

 

[Strimkind]

Do you have another machine to test the card in?

I noticed under conquests that you said there were some bad caps in your IIci. Perhaps they are the problem?

 

[Unknown_K]

What are you trying to run Rocketshare or Rocketware? I think you can only use OS 7.0x and 7.1 and it might have issues with open transport installed.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

The Rocket only supports 7.0.1 with the tuneup as an accelerator running under Rocketware, IIRC.

ISTR, some support under 7.1 Pro, but that may only have been for RocketShare.

7.1.1 just won't work, period. AppleTalk over NuBus was well and truly borken by 7.1.1 and it may have been Open Transport that did it, dunno.

Without any doubt whatsoever, I remember running 7.0.1 w/tuneup forever with myIIx/Rocket 33 taking over plotter server duty from the SE/Radius 16 back in the day. I'd moved on to the 6360 w/Crescendo G3 as my main production workstation at that point, which then was relegated to plotter server duty and the IIx/Rocket 33 was finally retired. Its '040 with the cool heat sink was moved to, and currently resides within, the Q605 . . .

. . . and I still haven't bothered to overclock the MicroQuadraFeetsMac! :

 

[Unknown_K]

That is pretty much the problem with the Rockets.. OS revisions and software limitations you are stuck with. Unless you have an original Mac II or maybe a IIx I don't see the use of them (and I have 2 Rocket 25's collecting dust). A IIci is much better with a PDS CPU upgrade.

My plan is to run them on a Mac II if I ever get one.

 

[olePigeon]

Thanks, I'll try 7.0. I don't have another NuBus Mac to try it on, unfortunately. I'll probably go ahead and recap my IIci for good measure. That goop can't be doing it any good.

 

[Unknown_K]

The goop can eat away traces, so yes you should recap it. The IIci is pretty easy to do and if I recall correctly doesn't use too many varieties of caps either (did mine ages ago).

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Unless you have an original Mac II or maybe a IIx I don't see the use of them (and I have 2 Rocket 25's collecting dust) A IIci is much better with a PDS CPU upgrade.

Forget the Mac II, as far as your Rockets go, it'll need the 1.4 MB FDD/ROM Upgrade Kit in order to work at all with 'em. By then it'll be a Half - ( | ) 'd IIx that's no longer stock anyway.

As far as a IIx Rocket 33 vs. IIci with a PDS CPU upgrade race goes:

IIx/Rocket 33 Accelerator w/SCSI II Daughtercard in its PDS running RocketWare under 7.0.1/Tuneup & Maxed RAM

IIci/'040 accelerator in its PDS w/JackHammer SCSI II over NuBus & Maxed RAM

= 2 missing doors on the IIci's driver side & 4 leftover NuBus Slots for a DSP Board, Ethernet, Video Cards etc.

Stuff the PPC upgrade in there with the bloatware to run it . . . fuggetaboudit!

It takes a Quadra 840av to race a Rocket 33 with all those LOVELY RAM SIMMs on board! }

Why else do you think Apple borked AppleTalk to get out of its licensing agreement w/Radius?

It took just one look at all those Rockets in the Saturn V (?) running licensed copies of just one "lowly" (in the Quadra ERA) SE/30's ROM under RocketShare for Apple to decide to cut Radius off at the knees the first time around.

 

[olePigeon]

:'( I've recapped my IIci and changed my system to 7.0.1 with no extensions, and it still freezes when it gets to loading the RocketWare software. It freezes with any of the three of my cards. I removed my 040 CPU card and most of my RAM just incase it was a power issue, but no go.

Any ideas?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

You should try it with the basic extensions, especially for AppleTalk, so that the Rocket can do its thing over NuBus.

What do the instructions say do do? IIRC, you need to do an install "For ANY Macintosh," but I haven't installed one in over fifteen years!

RTFM! :approve:

 

[olePigeon]

I've read it front and back. It freezes when the Rocket Cargo extension is loaded.

 

[Unknown_K]

Remove one of the cards and try the slot closest to the power supply.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Did you install the 7.0.1 tuneup? :?:

The OS appears in the About this Macintosh window with a Bullet after "7.0.1" after you do so.

 

[olePigeon]

Yes, it includes System Tuneup 1.1. The system reads 7.0.1•

 

[olePigeon]

I've also tried all three NuBUS slots with no other upgrades in the computer.

Maybe my software is corrupted somehow? Does anyone have a download link to a known good copy for RocketWare and RocketShare?

Edit: Nevermind, I think I found some download links. I'll try it when I get home.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Have you got a set of known good SIMMs on board? :?:

Are they the type that you put in PCs or Macs?

If they haven't been verified as yet, do you have another system in which you can test them?

It sounds like a failure right about the time the Rocket tries to start functioning . . .

. . . so a RAM Check could be the hang-up . . .

. . . dunno . . . just trying to cover all the basic troubleshooting steps as they come to mind . . . :-/

 

[olePigeon]

I swapped the RAM with known good RAM and it still locks up. I also swapped the CPU on the Rocket25 with my Quadra's 25 MHz 040, and that one still locked up as well. I'm fairly confident the CPU and RAM are good.

What are the chances that my IIci's power supply is dying out and is unable to power the Rocket?

If anyone here lives in the San Francisco Bay Area that wouldn't mind meeting up and testing the card on a different NuBus Mac? :-/

 

[Bunsen]

What are the chances that my IIci's power supply is dying out and is unable to power the Rocket?

Try removing the internal hard drive and booting from an external, see if that helps any.

 

[olePigeon]

Minor success!

Moving the HDD off to an external SCSI didn't seem to do anything, but, reducing the onboard memory to 4 MBs (from 128 MBs) and moving the card to the slot farthest from the power supply (slot C instead of slot D or E) I was able to get the double boot and successfully get my IIci to come up with the 25 MHz card.

When I have it plugged into slot E (the one closest to the power supply) it'll do the double boot, but then I get a sad Mac:

xx(

0000000A

0000000F

Looking at the Sad Mac codes, I think that error code indicates it couldn't access the NuBus slot.

If I plug it into the middle slot, slot D, it'll double boot, but then comes up with rapidly flashing blank white dialog (crashed?)

So what do you guys think? Motherboard or power supply? The computer works fine with all my other peripherals in any slot when not using the Radius Rockets. I'm leaning towards dying power supply.