Help needed: Cold start a 8550 with Crescendo G4

Hi everyone

I recently bought a Crescendo G4 upgrade for my Workgroup Server 8550. Since I don‘t have a battery inside it, it looses all NVRAM when powered off. I have the PRAM restore disk, but since the computer freezes before booting, it doesn‘t help.

It boot until a grey screen with frozen cursor.

There is a SATA card and a Radeon 7000 installed.

What can I do, except swapping the CPU card back again? I didn‘t have these issues with the MAXpower G3…

It should just boot regardless of it being a G4 or having the Crescendo software installed. Check the RAM is up to spec, the CPU daughter card is cleaned and check if the card sags in the slot - I've a similar card which needs to be placed just right from years of gravity affecting either the CPU connector or the card itself.

Why no PRAM battery?

It now boots with the SATA card removed

Hi robin,

That's one good thing - there is noted compatibility issues with some G4 upgrades and SATA PCI cards.