[Walker]

Hello everyone,

Still am suffering the system freezes that began weeks ago after installing a USB card, ati card, visor software, etc. etc. I have limited the freezes down to a tolerable number, but am not near as stable as I was before I did all the installations.
I have created different start-up sets for my computer so I could limit down the possible extensions coflict that I am suffering from. The visor software is turned off, the sandisk compact flash reader is turned off, and some ati extensions that I thought may be causing me problems are turned off. Basically, the only third party extensions I have going now, are my Kensington mouse (which I've moved to the start of the extesions loading order), and my USB card software (1.3.5). Of course I have other ones, like the ones that Microsoft adds when I installed Internet Explorer and Outlook express.

I have done a clean install of OS 9, and have run a multitude of disk utilities (Disk Warrior, Techtool pro, Apples first aid). I have allocated more memory to Internet explorer and Outlook express. I am almost at my wits end here, and the hope that 9.0.1 will solve my problems is about the only thing keeping me from purchasing a new iMac.
My current system is PowerMac 6500 with sonnet upgrade, 128 megs ram, OS 9, Belkin USB card, ati rage orion, virtual memory off.

I guess my main question is...Can the Belkin USB card be the culprit of all my crashes? I waited forever for a Keyspan card, but they were continually out of stock, so I purchased the belkin. The Belkin works really well, but if it's causing my system crashes, it is not worth it. I will throw it in the trash (the real kind) and replace it with a keyspan if anyone thinks it may be causing me all these problems.

Thanks for your help.
Lanny

[Don Foy]

In a word, yes, the Belkin card could be causing the crashes. But before you toss it in the garbage, search these forums and macfixit for the latest information on the USB software developer kit. There have been reports recently that the most recent beta helps fix some of the problems you are relating.

Hope this helps.

the new Kensington MouseWorks 5.3.1 is very unstable and causes constant crashes. Go back to MouseWorks 5.3 which is stable. Kensington sent me email to acknowledge the problems.

[shorton]

I used to get "unexpected finder quits" that would disable my mouse but allow the keyboard to work often and unpredictably before moving my Kensington startup extensions (2) to the END of my load order. Moving them to the start of the load order did not help at all; but I haven't had a crash in a month since moving them to the end. Maybe it's worth a try. (OS 8.6 and now 9, lots of 3rd party extensions and CDEVS)
good luck.

Does the Belkin card use the Apple drivers? Be sure that you have the latest version of the software if that is the case. It's USB card support 1.3.5 at ftp://ftp.info.apple.com//Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/USB_Updates/

I've read lots of posts about problems using the Kensington software. Have you tried using only Apple's Mouse control panel?

[ferg]

I have had a similar problem on a Umax C600x.

The Apple USB software causes a crash at startup, before I can even disable the extensions.

Does anyone know if there are any other newer versions of the USB versions. i am using 1.3.5

Or are there any 3rd party drivers for the card?

Please help...

cf.

[Don Foy]

Ferg:

search the Apple site for the USB developer kit. It has a more recent beta version of the USB drivers used to power those cards. No guarantees, but it may be worth a try.

[RichardS]

The card is most likley not properly seated. Belkin cards just don't fit, and I was worried of breaking something if I pushed mine in anymore. It's not the drivers. I returned my Belkin card and got one from another vender, dont remember which, and that one works perfectly with the 1.3.5 drivers.

Get rid of Belkin.

Richard

[Walker]

Well guys....guess what. It was the combination of my L2 cache sonnet upgrade and my ATI rage orion card. This is well documented on xlr8yourmac, and I'm so relieved that I found out what the problem was. Now that I've disabled the ati graphics acceleration there is no more crashes.

Thanks for everyones help, this is a great forum.

[shorton]

I'm glad the problem was solved. I agree that the mouseworks software should load LAST and don't use version 5.3.1. However, I have a Belkin PCI USB card, it installed easily, works great, and I haven't had any crashes since it's installation 3 weeks ago.