[samslaves]

When I got my dual (last friday) it was completly unusable. Even after installing Panther I was unable to use it for serious jobs. Under stress one app or another froze the entire system: iTunes when ripping, iDVD when rendering, Safari when surfing, Panther when rebooting, XTools installer when installing (every time!!!) and so on. TOTALLY UNSTABLE!

Yesterday I did this (after many reformats + reinstalls + PRAM resets + ram banks swap):

- unplugged the dual;
- opened it;
- pressed the CUDA switch for 10 secs;
- reassembled the dual;
- reinstalled Panther (important step).

Now it seems to work. cinebench test + 5 QT movies + iTunes ripping + xbench + altivec fractal carbon and no crashes.

A note: iDVD always crashes when rendering. BUGS or iMovie project too complicated? I think both of them: a beige g3 did the job.

Hope this could be helpful.

Sam

[littlegreenspud]

My Dual G4 started crashing like this after about 2 years use. The other day it stopped completely, corrupting the HD. The only way to start it up was to use the Hardware Test CD. This diagnosed bad RAM. Bur after removing the bad RAM it still would not start up. I tried everything I could to start it up. single user mode, Panther install disc, DiskWarrior 3 but it always hung on start with a kernel panic. I even tried Target disc mode with my PowerBook and as soon as I plugged it in the PowerBook kernel panic'd. The only way to get it to start was to remove the HD - no use to me at all!

Finally I dug out my copy of SystemWorks 2 and it booted into 9, a quick repair and it would then start up with the Panther install disc to enable me to reinstall Panther.

The moral of this story? If you are having hangs etc., check the RAM before you system gets hosed.

I don't know how I could have saved the disk if my G4 was not able to boot into OS 9...

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by littlegreenspud:
My Dual G4 started crashing like this after about 2 years use. The other day it stopped completely, corrupting the HD. The only way to start it up was to use the Hardware Test CD. This diagnosed bad RAM. Bur after removing the bad RAM it still would not start up. I tried everything I could to start it up. single user mode, Panther install disc, DiskWarrior 3 but it always hung on start with a kernel panic. I even tried Target disc mode with my PowerBook and as soon as I plugged it in the PowerBook kernel panic'd. The only way to get it to start was to remove the HD - no use to me at all!

Finally I dug out my copy of SystemWorks 2 and it booted into 9, a quick repair and it would then start up with the Panther install disc to enable me to reinstall Panther.

The moral of this story? If you are having hangs etc., check the RAM before you system gets hosed.

I don't know how I could have saved the disk if my G4 was not able to boot into OS 9...

Weird. I had a similar problem after a system crash about a year ago. External FW drive would no longer mount. Had to boot to OS 9 to run Disk Warrior 2. DW3 wouldn't see the drive.

[samslaves]

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Weird. I had a similar problem after a system crash about a year ago. External FW drive would no longer mount. Had to boot to OS 9 to run Disk Warrior 2. DW3 wouldn't see the drive.

The solution I applied was after removing original ram and inserting two new modules from crucial. The behaviour was the same so wasn't bad ram. It resulted in crappy PRAM settings and pressing the CUDA switch+reinstalling the system, solved the situation. Still iDVD froze the system, but all others work.

Sam

[samslaves]

The CUDA switch is located under all RAM banks near a black connector; it a grey tiny button.

Sam