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DP 1Ghz Quicksilver Cache Error

G

GrizzlyKiwi

6502
Hi Everyone I recently scored a Quicksilver Mac which I was really excited to play with! however when i boot Mac OS 9 i get an error message saying that there was an error with the cache. I can boot into MacOS after that but it only shows 256k of cache which im assuming is Level 2? and I dont see any Level 3 😞
Im sure someone else has seen this before and i wondered if the processor card is stuffed?
 
GrizzlyKiwi said:
Hi Everyone I recently scored a Quicksilver Mac which I was really excited to play with! however when i boot Mac OS 9 i get an error message saying that there was an error with the cache. I can boot into MacOS after that but it only shows 256k of cache which im assuming is Level 2? and I dont see any Level 3 😞
Im sure someone else has seen this before and i wondered if the processor card is stuffed?
Click to expand...

Hum. That's is a thing that happens. It is often a bad solder connection on the processor or cache chips. Sometimes a failed cache chip.

You can try reflowing, or removing, reballing and refitting them... but the easiest solution is to buy a new CPU card from eBay.
 
I've come across a couple of "failed cache" errors at Mac OS 9 startup like this recently on my lot - a worrying sign. They don't happen all the time though. I'd clean the CPU daughter and motherboard connections with electronic solvent spray, reseat things properly, replace heatsink paste, and if the error keeps coming up, run CPU Director and see if underclocking the cache RAM helps - it can alter it at startup using this utility.
 
Byrd said:
I've come across a couple of "failed cache" errors at Mac OS 9 startup like this recently on my lot - a worrying sign. They don't happen all the time though. I'd clean the CPU daughter and motherboard connections with electronic solvent spray, reseat things properly, replace heatsink paste, and if the error keeps coming up, run CPU Director and see if underclocking the cache RAM helps - it can alter it at startup using this utility.
Click to expand...
Yup, underclocking the cache does help sometimes, but I'd be surprised if cleaning the connector would - it might just flex the board and get contact. I say that because surely the cache - processor interconnect is 100% on the processor card, not through to the board, on these machines at least.

Note not having the cache makes a huge difference to performance. You'd probably be better off with a 800MHz CPU with cache than a 1.25GHz without...
 
I have a dual 800 board that does this intermittently too. I've tried reflowing the cache chips but to no avail. I get the impression that those old DDR (?) chips are quite long in the tooth. Whether it's bad chips or just bad solder at the root of the issue is yet to be established. The latter seems more likely to me simply because the solder on the Quicksilver logic board is generally terrible and prone to cracking.

@GrizzlyKiwi you should check around the perimeter of the CPU card for missing or damaged resistors. I've seen cards in the past that have had parts knocked off during removal/installation. There are two resistors in particular that sit right by the heatsink clips.
 
GrizzlyKiwi said:
@CircuitBored How did you go about re-flowing the chips?
Click to expand...

I have a hot air soldering station but any temperature-controlled heat gun should do the trick. There are a lot of DIY reflow videos on YouTube that explain the process in detail. You just have to be sure to heat the board in a controlled fashion such that it does not get warped by uneven heat dissipation. If you're new to soldering in general I would not recommend going down that road yourself.

Did you check the board for physical issues like missing resistors/capacitors like I suggested? You can use this image as a reference for what should be there. Ignore the red highlighted area, focus on the tiny capacitors and resistors around the edge of the board. I've seen a couple of G4 CPU cards where those have been knocked clean off by bad installation. Given your description it is still more likely that you have bad solder on the cache chips themselves but it's always good to eliminate variables when troubleshooting.

Dual800MHzQuickSilverCPUFront.jpg


Also, while superficially a good design, the actual sockets are increasingly problematic on late G4s. A very, very slightly misaligned or contaminated pin can cause havoc and it is surprisingly easy to knock them out of place even if you remove and replace the CPU card completely by the book. It's worth taking a magnifying glass to both the socket and the CPU card itself to inspect for pins out of place. It's very easy to spot wonky pins if you have a torch or similar to wave around.
 
Anytime you reflow a SMT chip you should be using SMT specific liquid flux or you will make the problem worse.
 
There are people who can work on that card, but based on your user name I'm guessing that it's winter where you are. If so, then shipping would be an issue and you might be better off putting the money towards something else, like an upgrade CPU from ebay. If you can find someone local who tinkers with electronics or if you want to try fixing it yourself it could be a fun little project. Of course it should also be working fine without the L3 cache, just a bit slower.
 
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