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rhiohki · Oct 21, 2006, 09:40 AM

Alright. I have an issue with my processor upgrade that I have tried to resolve by as much research as I can and I still can't seem to get it, so I am asking for the experts help.

I have a Power Mac Digital Audio G4. It has currently 10.4.8 installed. I also have an OEM GeForce 3 64MB AGP installed. I also have an OEM ATTO PCI Express SCSI UL3D card with three SCSI hard drives attached. I bought a Dual 1.3 G4 Sonnet Upgrade card off of ebay.

I asked on here before about the upgrade process thinking I didn't have an OS installed, but I actually had 10.4.6 installed already. Anyway, I was told, and through my research, found out that I didn't need a firmware update to install the Sonnet CPU. I figured I would just pop in the card, install the SonnetCache utility so my system can recognize the card, and be finished....

So, I install the Sonnet CPU and when I restart my Mac, I get a black screen. the monitor (A 17" Apple Studio CRT) standby light is still orange, and the USB mouse doesn't light up red. I figure, well maybe I DO need to install the 4.2.8 firmware update.

So I did that, and still the same issue. I searched on here for some clues, and found this old thread:

http://forums.macnn.com/101/power-ma...sonnet+display

This person was having the exact same issue as i was pretty much. I figured I would try and take out my Motherboard's battery.

That did the trick, I was able to boot up. however, i was again having the same issue as the person in the old thread. The only way to boot up with the Sonnet CPU is to reset the motherboard battery each time. I did run the SonnetCache utility and it did recognize my dual CPUs, however in the Apple System Profiler it wasn't displaying the L3 cache. Also, in the Diagnostics window, it says that the Power On Self Test has an external cache failure. So again, I went back to the old thread because I still can't restart correctly and found out that this person had an issue with his PCI USB card and had to remove it for everything to work.

So i figured it may be my SCSI PCI card. I installed the latest drivers. I thought if I upgraded the SCSI PCI firmware that may work. However, as I find out I can't upgrade the firmware for the OEM UL3D SCSI card the traditional way as a retail card. I did find a workaround that you can login as a root user and download the firmware update for the SCSI card and such, but that was something I didn't want to mess with. I figured if the older Sonnet CPU cards had an incompatibility with the OEM ATTO PCI Express SCSI cars, I would see something through google or through the forums, but I tried searching and I didn't see anything.

I am at a loss right now. Does anyone have any insight? Should I replace my motherboard battery just for the sake of it? My system time is stable regardless. Will Sonnet Support even help me since I bought this through ebay?

Any help would be much appreciated it. Thanks!

hookem2oo7 · Oct 21, 2006, 10:53 AM

Just a suggestion, but maybe searching without PCI Express would yield more results related to incompatibilities... The G4s never had PCI Express, but rather PCI-X (64-bit PCI)

Lateralus · Oct 21, 2006, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by hookem2oo7

Just a suggestion, but maybe searching without PCI Express would yield more results related to incompatibilities... The G4s never had PCI Express, but rather PCI-X (64-bit PCI)

'Express' PCI is the name of ATTO's SCSI card line, has nothing to do with PCIe. And no machine before the G5 shipped with PCI-X.

hookem2oo7 · Oct 21, 2006, 11:57 AM

The G4s did have PCI-X, not PCI-e.

PCI-X - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

note the common confusion section

Eriamjh · Oct 21, 2006, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by hookem2oo7

The G4s did have PCI-X, not PCI-e.

Nu uh! The G5s were the first with PCI-X. The last G4s (the MDDs) only had PCI-plain, not PCI-X.

hookem2oo7 · Oct 21, 2006, 12:06 PM

PCI-X is 64-bit PCI (the longer PCI slots)

PCI-e is PCI Express (a totally different bus and connector)

Eriamjh · Oct 21, 2006, 12:08 PM

Sure about that? Because my 7300 PowerMac (604e) had 64- bit PCI slots back in 1997 and no one called it PCI-X back then.

hookem2oo7 · Oct 21, 2006, 12:10 PM

I'm fairly certain. PCI-X is often used incorrectly to refer to PCI-Express.

PCI Express Battles PCI-X | Tom's Hardware

Lateralus · Oct 21, 2006, 12:12 PM

You are incorrect.

There are PCI, PCI-X and PCIe. PCI was available in a 64-bit implementation, which Apple used. But it is not the same thing as PCI-X.

hookem2oo7 · Oct 21, 2006, 12:22 PM

OK, I stand corrected. Compared to 64 bit PCI, PCI-X is faster and has a "revised" protocol (according to an article on wiki). Some cards are compatible with both, and I was told they were the same.

rhiohki · 01:02 PM

Alright I should have been more clear. My G4 has PCI slots. "PCI Express" is just the name of the SCSI card. Back to the topic at hand, any insights would be helpful. Thanks!