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RAM, PowerLogix upgrade, firmware . . . potential problems?
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: NYC
Status:
Offline
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Greetings all.
I have the PowerLogix 1.4 Ghz upgrade in my AGP G4/400. It has been extremely unstable and was sent back to the factory twice already.
This time, when it came back, it was outfitted with a huge heatsink and a fan (originally it came with nothing but thermal paste to reattach Apple's original heatsink).
Stability is much improved, but it is still subject to GUI freezes or kernel panics every few days (and this is often when the computer is idling and in a fairly cool environment).
Anyway . . . I noted when running System Profiler in a vain attempt to further troubleshoot the problem that I had one stick of PC/133 RAM mixed in with the PC/100 sticks. I had always been given to understand that these were compatible (though obviously the faster RAM is limited to the slower speed), but it made me wonder given the rather special nature of what goes on under the hood with an upgraded CPU.
Specifically, the PowerLogix upgrade requires PowerLogix's own custom firmware to be installed. I had no inkling of any relationship between firmware and RAM, but I found at http://www.ramjet.com a statement that cheap RAM may fail if firmware is upgraded (and they seem to recommend PC/100 for my model of Mac).
So. Obviously I have only the barest grasp of these issues. Perhaps someone out there better informed than me can comment: could mixing PC/100 and PC/133 RAM be a problem under these circumstances? Could any of my RAM regardless of speed have failed under PowerLogix's custom firmware?
(I have removed the PC/133 RAM . . . will post back if the instability manifests itself again.)
Thanks in advance for any insight!
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Downtown Austin, TX
Status:
Offline
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Yes, RAM could easily be the problem. It's really easy to troubleshoot the RAM - just take one stick out at a time until your compuer works correctly (therefore isolating the bad stick(s)). Maybe Powerlogix's firmware upgrade doesn't support PC133 RAM in that system?
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: California
Status:
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Hoopz,
I (and many others) also purchased the PL1.4 upgrade (for my cube) and the majority of us have had the exact same problems. There is a very long story on the PL fiasco which you can read about at your leisure.
http://www.cubeowner.com/forums//ind...showtopic=8248
http://www.cubeowner.com/plsuit/PL_POC.pdf
The bottom line is that PL will replace the orginal unit if you send it back to them...again...under an RMA. We don't know exactly what is causing the problem but there were some major defects which could not be corrected without a major redesign.
PL has found another vendor and is now shipping Dual 1.5's...early test look fantastic.
Good luck and go get your RMA.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: NYC
Status:
Offline
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OK, another kernel panic. I guess the RAM was not to blame.
jrramsey, thanks for the info. So it appears that GigaDesigns may have been purposely manufacturing defective hardware for PowerLogix, or did I woefully misread the thread (in my defense, it was rather long . . .)
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: California
Status:
Offline
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hoopz:
That's the way most of us understand the lawsuit...looks very fishy! The pdf is a long but interesting read. The forums go on and on and on...I guess we have to keep in mind these suits are written by lawyers for lawyers and not the common person.
The more I see about the new dual 1.5 from PL, I think we may have a winner...finally.
Get that RMA in!
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