PowerBook G3 (Pismo) with Wegener G4 - having issues

[pb3623]

Basically, title. Got a couple of G3s a few months ago. One of them in great shape, 512 MB RAM, PCMCIA 802.11n card (although it only works under OS X) and a rare Wegener Media G4 at 550 MHz. The daughter card looks just like a stock one but apparently the folks over at Wegener grafted on a G4 and added 1 MB L2 cache. And I have two other G3/400s, one is in great shape (just needs new hinges), and the other is just for parts.

 

So the maxed-out one is where I'm having problems -

 

1) It doesn't boot reliably. Sure, it chimes 100% of the time, either with its new battery or plugged in but very rarely POSTs/Happy Mac (or activates the display) without having to reset the PMU (via back panel).

2) Appears to be more stable under OS 10.3.9 than 9.2.2. I reinstalled 9.2.2 and may downgrade to see if that matters but I get a cache failure error dialog every time I boot into OS 9.

3) I need a recommendation on replacing the 2.5" HD with a CF, preferably an SSD. I can't seem to find a good IDE-to-SATA adapter that fits with the SSD inside the Pismo.

 

Elaborating on #2, under 10.3.9 System Information, under Diagnostics, the POST reports: Failed. I downloaded a couple of cache utilities - one from Sonnet and another from PowerLogix - to see if the cache was properly configured (clock multiplier). According to the utility, the 1 MB L2 runs at a 2:5 ratio to system clock, which, on a 550 MHz G4, would be 220 MHz.

 

But that's apparently not correct: according to https://web.archive.org/web/20071230072602/http://www.wegenermedia.com:80/pg4550.htm, the L2 runs at 250 MHz, which is something like 5:11, not 2:5.

 

But, making any change - even to manually enable it - causes a freeze. But I'm only assuming this PowerLogic cache utility is compatible with whatever is on this Wegener-modded daughter card. 

 

So I summon the "Oracles of Pismo" to share your thoughts on any or all of the above. Thanks in advance.

[Byrd]

I’ve a Pismo with (assumed Wegener) G4 in place and it’s also flaky, not booting all the time. For me it’s time to reflow the CPU, which is all the Wegener crowd did, doesn’t look too flash. 

[pb3623]

1 hour ago, Byrd said:

I’ve a Pismo with (assumed Wegener) G4 in place and it’s also flaky, not booting all the time. For me it’s time to reflow the CPU, which is all the Wegener crowd did, doesn’t look too flash. 

 

Did you reflow the entire daughtercard or a specific area on the backside? I have a hot air rework station so this should be a piece of cake at lower temps. 

[FacnyFreddy]

I can send you the contact info for a guy who did my G3-> G4 cpu swaps on my Pismos boards.

 

I have a 400MHz and 500MHz G3 cpu boards that I upgraded each one to the MPC7410RX500LE (BGA).

 

Could not be happier with the results... 100% reliable after upgrading the rom with OS updates.

 

 

[Mikeyy00]

Sorry to necro post on an older thread.. but do you still have the contact info for whomever does the G3->G4