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PowerMac 7100/66
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PHoynak
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Dec 31, 2000, 05:44 PM
 
I just purchased a PowerMac 7100/66 from Ebay. This will be used mainly by my daughter (7 yrs old) but of course I would like to upgrade the hd and maybe get a G3 upgrade card if one is available. What upgrades will work and where is the best place to get them?
     
nhmacman0173
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Dec 31, 2000, 08:13 PM
 
newer technology www.newertech.com has g3 266-300mhz nubus processors
sonnet www.sonnnettech.com also carries nubus processors
that are 250-300mhz.
your nearest mac store should have upgrades for your machine.

-nubus upgrades work on 6100/7100/8100


[This message has been edited by nhmacman0173 (edited 12-31-2000).]
     
PHoynak  (op)
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Dec 31, 2000, 09:10 PM
 
I ordered the Sonnet 266mhz card with 1mb cache. Where can I find more memory, bigger hard drive etc? I dont suppose I can somehow network these with my other macs to share the internet. I use Airport with DSL.
     
giantmike
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Dec 31, 2000, 10:53 PM
 
You'll find the best RAM prices anywhere at http://www.ramseeker.com

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PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 1, 2001, 10:54 AM
 
Thanks for the help, I found the memory I need. I want to upgrade the hard drive. Do I have to go scsi or are there ide controllers available. I have never used scsi before so am really clueless. My daughter will soon see that I also bought this computer so I can "play" with the insides. I was going to upgrade the EMachines that sits in her room that never gets used but then I remembered how much I hate Windows now.
     
giantmike
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Jan 1, 2001, 06:12 PM
 
Well, I don't think any NuBus IDE controllers are avilable (I could be wrong, but I don't think so). It looks like SCSI is your only option.

BTW, if you haven't already, install a PDS video card in that machine. If you use the onboard video, it eats up system RAM instead of VRAM, and will tremendously slow down the mac.

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jeromep
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Jan 2, 2001, 04:04 AM
 
I have never heard of any kind of IDE controller for NUBUS. Nor would I ever support putting IDE on such an old system. The case design of 7100, and all of the previous machines that came in that case is atrocious. We still sing the praises of SCSI on older PowerMacs, because it worked correctly and was usually flawless. Sure, it wasn't the fastest, but it was competitive.

I suggest scouring eBay for a 2 - 8Gb IBM branded 50-pin SCSI drive. Used is ok. I have had the best luck with IBM drives over the years both new and used. Please, pick up a copy of Hard Disk Toolkit (or any other Mac hard drive formatting utility) along the way or else you may not be able to get the drive formatted to work in the Mac.

As a sidenote, this is the main workhorse for all of my org's. Novell administrators in testing server configurations for compatability with the Mac and related Novell client. Long live Novell Netware.
     
PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 2, 2001, 09:04 AM
 
What else do I need besides a drive? I have never used SCSI before at all and don't know.
     
giantmike
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Jan 2, 2001, 10:24 AM
 
Nothing.

If you are just going to replace your old drive, you have all the proper cables, sled, etc. Hopefully, the person youget it from will have jumper settings on hand.

BTW, jumper settings are used for SCSI IDs and Termination. Depeding on the location on the chain, you may or may not need to terminate it (only terminate it if it's the last device on the chain). As for SCSI IDs, you will have to make sure it's different from any other ID. The CD ROM is probably three, so any number 1-6 besides 3 should work.

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PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 2, 2001, 10:39 AM
 
Is there room in the case for a second hard drive? If there is then what other cables etc will do? I saw a new drive at Macmall for $219 that said it had all the cables needed . It was a 9 gig Ultra Scsi, would that do?
     
BLAZE_MkIV
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Jan 2, 2001, 11:57 AM
 
The SCSI controller on the 7100 is only ultra scsi i think. If money's a consideration don't pay more for a ultra2 LVD scsi drive.
     
drewman
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Jan 2, 2001, 02:18 PM
 
Actually the onboard SCSI controller is only Fast SCSI (10Mbps), not Ultra SCSI (20 Mbps).

An Ultra SCSI drive will work though, but if it is not 50 pin then you will have to buy adapters which aren't cheap.

drewman
     
PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 2, 2001, 06:26 PM
 
I just bought a new Seagate 4.2 Gb drive on Ebay for $50. I also ordered two books on upgrading older Mac's. I should be able to find everything in there. Does anyone know where I can get OS 8.6? I will eventually install 9.0 once the upgrade card is installed. Thanks again for the help.
     
giantmike
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Jan 2, 2001, 07:16 PM
 
The cables you will need should be in your machine. That case does not have room for a second hard drive, unless you remove the CD drive. You should be all set when your drive comes.

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druber
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Jan 3, 2001, 12:15 AM
 
No use paying for a hd that's faster than your controller, waste o' cash. very little room inside a 7100 (i gots one), and scsi's pretty easy to work with.

Don't go looking for a sys8.6 cd if you're going to buy 9 soon after. os8.5/6 is hard to find and is often more expensive than 9 on ebay. Get 9 with the g3 card, leave the rest til then.

IBM hd sounds like a good call, I bought a used IBM 2gig, has worked great and it's probably 4 years old. Find a decent g3 card, check dealmac, dealnn, and watch for specials (i've never seen a good deal on a g3 upgrade card on ebay).
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PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 3, 2001, 12:33 AM
 
Why did Apple use Nubus on this machine anyway. Is there a performance boost or something? Was this an exclusive Apple technology? All I know that if I buy another computer any time soon I think my wife will change the locks on the front door.
     
Misha
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Jan 3, 2001, 10:09 AM
 
NuBus technology pre-dates the adoption of PCI in the industry. Where PCs were using ISO slots, Macs were using NuBus because they're superior to ISO.

I have an OS 8.5 CD (free update to 8.6 is available for download) if you're interested. I'd let it part for $40.

The ethernet on the 7100 is AAUI. If you get a tranceiver ($10) you can convert it to 10 Base-T. Then, if you have a 10/100 ethernet hub, you can put the 7100 on your network and share the DSL connection.
     
PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 3, 2001, 06:08 PM
 
The computer showed up today. I installed the ram today and that went ok. It didnt have a CD Rom drive installed. I have a SCSI Cd drive comming tommorow. Do I just hook it up the the cable that goes to the hard drive? The is one connecter open. My big question is how do I install the cd driver? I have CD Tools from FWB. Will the OS (8.1) see the drive before I install CD Tools?
     
giantmike
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Jan 3, 2001, 06:49 PM
 
Yes, connect it to that open SCSI connector. Also, if it comes with a audio cable, you should plug that in to the little red audio connector.

If MacOS 8.1 has CD drivers installed, you should be able to see the drive (that is, if it has a Mac ROM). If the drivers aren't installed, and the drive is bootable, pop in the MacOS 8.1 CD, and start up from it holding down the 'c' key. Don't worry, there are CD drivers on the cd itself, so it should load.

It's a lot of if this or maybe that. It'll be much easier to help once you have tried to install the CD drive.

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Misha
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Jan 3, 2001, 08:37 PM
 
Somewhere along some OS revision, Apple did away with its "universal" CD drivers and made it so that the Apple CD Driver (as well as the one contained on bootable CDs) would *only* work with Apple CD-ROM drives. I believe this was with OS 8.5, but it might have come as early as 8.1. If this is the case, you will not be able to boot from the 8.1 CD nor will you be able to use the CD-ROM drive unless it is an Apple-branded one. You'll need to use CD-ROM Toolkit (or, better yet, CD Speed Tools from Intech) to use your CD-ROM drive.
     
PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 3, 2001, 09:13 PM
 
I already own CD Rom Toolkit from FWB. If the computer can't see
the drive I bought then how can I get the the computer to see it so I can load the software?

On a lighter note I got the ram installed on the machine today. I was worried since I had to take the power supply, hard drive and floppy drive out to get to the ram. It was actually pretty easy and the machine runs good. I can't wait to install the cpu upgrade.

One last question, when I install the new hard drive how will the computer see the cd drive when I attempt to load OS 9 by holding down the C key? The hard drive will still be unformatted and it won't have the cd rom drivers installed.

I know I am asking a lot of questions but this info is a big help.

     
giantmike
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Jan 4, 2001, 12:12 AM
 
When you boot up from a CD (i.e. holding down the C key), the cd drivers are already on the CD. You don't have to worry if the drivers are on the hard disk until you start up form the hard drive itself.

I'm not sure about the FWB drivers as I haven't used them. Apple's drivers have always served my needs well.

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PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 4, 2001, 02:09 AM
 
I must say that I am impressed with the machine so far. For a 60 Mhz
it seems to run fast. When I install the upgrade card and it runs at 266mhz with a G3 in it how does that compare to a Pentium?
     
giantmike
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Jan 4, 2001, 10:28 AM
 
It's very very difficult to compare Macs with WINTEL machines as far as pure speed. However, one can guestimate. With a 266 MHz G3, but only a 33 MHz system bus, I would say it compares well with a Pentim II at 300 MHz.

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PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 5, 2001, 10:11 PM
 
I have the items to install in my Powermac 7100. What order should I put them in? Here is what I have:

- Cd Rom Drive (it didnt have one at all)
- Hard Drive
- Crescendo G3 upgrade card

My problem is that it came with OS 8.1 installed. I have OS 9 which I can boot from CD (once it's installed). Crescendo said to install OS 9 and the driver software before I install the card . Will the computer handle OS 9? I know once the card is installed it will be fine.
     
jeromep
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Jan 6, 2001, 04:30 AM
 
I would follow this process for installing your devices.

- CD
- Hard Drive
- OS9 install
- G3 card
- drivers for G3 card

And now for the requisite warnings. That PowerMac with all that RAM is going to run very good with 8.1, but will probably appear sluggish with 9 until you get the G3 card and associated drivers installed.
     
daryl duell
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Jan 9, 2001, 08:38 PM
 
>I would follow this process for installing your devices.
>- CD
>- Hard Drive
>- OS9 install
>- G3 card
>- drivers for G3 card

From experience, and a minor heart attack I would recommend one change in this. You're adding a second processor that will take over the system, not replacing the only processor. The drivers tell the machine to look in the PDS slot. If you install the card first, then the drivers, you won't see the card. Install the drivers first. And make sure they are the first thing to load. They won't hurt anything if there is no card, so go for it. It's fun to watch a Sonnet upgraded system restart. The machine starts normally (read: SLOOOOWWW!) until the sonnet drivers load, then there's a little splash screen, and the thing takes off. It's a good feeling......


     
PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 12, 2001, 11:02 PM
 
I have the cd rom installed. I have the OS (9.0) installed but when the computer boots I get a flashing question mark! It wont see the hard drive that I just installed the os on as a boot disk. Its a Seagate ST15150N. I was able to initialize it with disk tools so I dont think thats the problem. What else can I try?
     
PHoynak  (op)
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Jan 13, 2001, 12:24 AM
 
I got it working. The mac didnt like the hd being initialized by Hard Disk Tool Kit. I re-did it with the Drive Setup and reinstalled the OS. That worked and the upgrade card worked. I am happy with it and my daughter is very happy. I spent 7.5 hours doing this (few mistakes) but not bad for the first time doing a major upgrade. Thanks for all the info and advise.
     
   
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