Quadra 800 and stuff

[beachycove]

So it DOES boot with the PPC card installed? That would be great news.

The info on partitioning should also go into the A/UX FAQ if possible (at least a reference and a link)!

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Yes, it does boot with the card installed as long as it is off, natch. I was delighted to see this too.

The downside is that if the card is on and you boot A/UX MacPartition, it gives you an unhelpful error message, and then proceeds to boot again from the same partition, in an endless loop. So I'll need to keep a rescue floppy with a Startup Disk control panel around if I forget to shut the card off when switching to A/UX. I imagine I'll have the same problem if I forget to have the card enabled when switching to 8.6.

 

[Bunsen]

I'm recapping a 840AV mobo, but I'm not willing to put it into that case... :disapprove:

May I ask what other case you will be using? I would like to move my own 840AV into a slightly less horrifying case. What other bodies would it fit into, with/without some dremelwork?

 

[zuiko21]

I got this 840AV as a bare mobo -- not even CPU! But I'm thinking about putting it inside a 7200/7300/7500/7600 case -- they're fairly nice to service, and the required mods shouldn't be that hard...

I have compared both boards (Quadra 840AV - PMac 7600) and the task seems feasible

 

[Bunsen]

That is excellent research and documentation there, zuiko21! Thanks for making those images available.

I am curious to know how you are thinking of attacking the back plane, as that seems to be the only major difficulty - especially, as you point out, around the Nubus vs PCI area.

 

[ianj]

the CDROM bezels are first to go so good luck finding one.

No kidding. Mine didn't have a CDROM bezel when I got it, so I bought a new one. It's been on for five years, but it finally fell off. I can't find any more for sale like I used to be able to, so I'll probably just glue it back on.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

I wonder if it's possible to chop away an 800 back panel and replace / integrate it with the 7200 back panel? I never knew the these machines had such similar shaped logic boards.

 

[zuiko21]

While many Mac motherboards use a pretty similar form-factor, there are some differences... I have compared the 840AV to the 7600 board, and among other things, the power switch is differently located (left on the 7x00, right on the 8x0). I don't think a 7200 front part would fit the (awful) 800 enclosure