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| Diagnosing the 9600 From Hell(tm) | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-16 14:39:22 So I've had this Power Mac 9600 for at least two years now that has just never worked. It just will not boot off a disk. My 8.1 and 8.6 CDs don't do anything at all (and this is after I cleaned the current optical drive and upped the voltage a little) and while it attempts to boot off my 7.6.1 CD, it just bombs like this:  I could still try OS 9.0 or 9.1 I suppose, but is there anything else I can try to finally get this thing working? EDIT: Just tried a burned CD of the 8600/9600 7.6.1 restore image and it just froze on the Happy Mac. | |
| Posted by: AlpineRaven on 2019-03-16 15:09:12 strip the 9600 to basic, 2 memory sticks in 2 banks slot. Original CPU card, All other PCI cards except video card and go from there. If that fails, swap over to another group of memory sticks and re-test. Remove SCSI cable from the logicboard, and try boot from floppy. Check if there is no bent pins in the CPU card slot (you'll need a good torch to inspect properly) If it fails I would be pointing to the logicboard. Last resort (which I have not seen) is cap leak on the logicboard. Cheers AP | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-16 15:30:59 With one stick of RAM per bank and every card removed except video, it still bombs loading 7.6.1, even with extensions disabled. EDIT: Somehow by magic it just...worked!  The only problem is that I need to reattach my PCI ATA card as otherwise I don't have a hard drive... | |
| Posted by: IIfx on 2019-03-16 16:07:37 Did you try cleaning the contacts on the board? I would get a can of electric contact cleaner from an auto parts store and clean every slot on the board. I've had weird issues like yours go away from that treatment. | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-16 16:10:02 I haven't used my contact cleaner actually, that's a good idea. Right now my problem is that the system isn't recognizing my ATA hard drive, I've tried both 7.6.1 and 8.1 (the OS I want to install) so far and neither one can see it. I wonder if maybe my ATA card needs some bit of software run to make it visible, unless the card is just straight up bad... EDIT: Found the manual for the card, turns out I need at least 8.5 to use it. Guess I won't be using 8.1 after all. | |
| Posted by: AlpineRaven on 2019-03-16 17:15:29 Hang on - ATA card? the 9600 has SCSI.. Cheers AP | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-16 18:24:26 I don't have any SCSI hard drives so I bought an ATA card from someone here so I could use normal PC hard drives. | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-17 16:58:25 I think I might have found a problem, if not THE problem...see that line there? That's a relatively deep scratch that goes through the contacts.  I don't know what those contacts are for but having a big scratch through them can't be good. | |
| Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2019-03-17 18:15:00 Just get a multimeter and test for continuity. That will tell you right away. | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-17 18:25:39 Test where though? Each side of the break? | |
| Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2019-03-17 18:53:23 Yup. If theres continuity then it can be ignored. | |
| Posted by: NJRoadfan on 2019-03-18 06:38:42 I might still have a 300Mhz 604e card from a 8600 laying around here if needed. I also still have that boxed G4-450Mhz upgrade for sale (see OLD post in trading forum). Mac ATA cards definitely don't need drivers to boot, the driver is the onboard ROM. | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-18 10:12:44 My multimeter is so cheap it doesn't even have a continuity mode, but when I probed for resistance on both sides of the scratch I got 0.00, so I guess it's only cosmetic. Which means I have to try something else to figure out why the machine won't boot to anything other than a gray screen most of the time... | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-18 12:30:18 Well I'll be god-damned...I swapped the SCSI CD-ROM for an ATA one from my old beige G3 that got junked running off the other ATA bus on my controller card, re-jumpered the hard drive as Master, and now it's being recognized!  Two years of frustration and neglect finally comes to an end with a 9600 that actually can be used! This calls for a celebration!  | |
| Posted by: Cory5412 on 2019-03-18 12:51:36 Yay! Glad it's working for you! 604ev@300 is a nice configuration! | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-18 12:56:23 I'm so glad too, I was ready to give up and part it out but now I have a powerful machine I can use for uh...uhhh...something. I have half my PCI slots filled and I dunno what to add when I already have a Rage 128 and a 10/100 Ethernet card. | |
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2019-03-18 13:33:38I'm so glad too, I was ready to give up and part it out but now I have a powerful machine I can use for uh...uhhh...something.Radeon 7000 Mac Edition and run a 1920x1200 monitor, like one of the big Apple Cinema Displays with an ADC-DVI adaptor (like this one here: https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/apple-cinema-display-22“-1054491414/) PCI SATA card to power a SATA card? Sonnet Tempo Trio and power some CF cards? Maybe an M-Audio Revolution 5,1 card and hook up a surround sound system to your 9600? | |
| Posted by: EvieSigma on 2019-03-18 13:37:12 I'm kind of thinking some kind of A/V card, actually. I've been wanting to experiment with video capture and editing on old hardware. | |
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2019-03-18 13:50:59I'm kind of thinking some kind of A/V card, actually. I've been wanting to experiment with video capture and editing on old hardware.FireWire card? | |
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