68kMLA Classic Interface

This is a version of the 68kMLA forums for viewing on your favorite old mac. Visitors on modern platforms may prefer the main site.

Click here to select a new forum.
I think i killed my 520c
Posted by: techknight on 2011-11-27 08:26:27
I think i killed my PPC card in my 520C BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...................................

I had a trashed up 520c, but at least it would boot into the OS8 disk, it had the NuPower 520C card in it.

So, I got a new pb520c from a nice fellow here on the forum. Switched out the processor card and RAM, and now it doesnt boot. it says theres a problem detected with the built in memory, then it bombs to unemplemented trap.

so i switched RAM modules, same thing, pulled RAM, same thing. Switch CPU cards back to the 040 and its fine. WTF.

I stuck the PPC card back into the trashed up 520C, it acts a little different, i dont get the bomb anymore, but it still gives me built in memory error, and the whole thing locks up.

WTF..... any ideas? thanks.

Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2011-11-27 08:37:07
I take it you switched HDDs at the time also? :?:

< . . . hopes it wasn't an ESD event . . . >

Posted by: techknight on 2011-11-27 09:00:16
I tried to fire it up off of the legacy CD, and it will still show the built in memory test has a problem. It does this with both memory chips, But it actually will boot all the way up and tell me that I only have 4MB of RAM.

the 040 boots fine with the memory. funny thing is before i switched the CPUs, the PPC chip used to boot fine with no errors. now it wont. :disapprove:

So, I took the memory module out and it boots up without any errors on the legacy CD. It tells me that I have 4MB of RAM still (used to show 10MB before i did the chip swap).

Apple system profiler when I can get it to fire up without telling me its out of memory. is telling me the CPU is running PPC at 88mhz. Which is false, its a 117mhz CPU?

im at a loss on this one.

Posted by: techknight on 2011-11-27 09:01:12
No, I only have the one HDD that came with the new 520c. my bashed up 520c didnt have an HDD.

I reformatted the HDD with the legacy CD when i finally got it to startup. I had also unhooked the HDD to see if it wasnt a hard disk driver causing the problem, nope...

But when I did the PPC swap the first time, i tried to fire it up off the oriignal system that was installed on the HDD and it told me the startup disk wasnt for this model, and thats when i started having all these issues. I zapped the pram btw.

Posted by: techknight on 2011-11-27 09:52:48
duhhhhhh i think i found my problem george.

I took a closer inspection on the memory edge connector of the CPU card, a couple pins are bent over touching other pins. Could be my issue. maybe from not pressing the memory in there good or something.

Hopefully it hasnt damaged the TI CPLD on the CPU card.

Posted by: techknight on 2011-11-27 10:07:29
Ok its booting up without freezing or giving me that built in memory error. lol. whew.

Well Installing OS8 off of the legacy disc now, so well see...

EDIT: OS8 installed and is running fine now. lol. But apple system profile fell back down to 88mhz after the install. Hmm... is this normal? it went back to 117 after i fixed the pins.

Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2011-11-27 10:58:13
Congratulations on your DeGubbing achievement!

It's always the simple ones that bite you the hardest right onna'@$$! 8-o

If you want another of my long-winded anecdotal references for some comic relief . . . just ask! :🙂

Posted by: bbraun on 2011-11-27 11:21:35
System Profiler frequently reports incorrect values for 3rd party processor upgrades unless the manufacturer's drivers are installed.

You might try both the NuPower Cache 1.2 and NuPower System Update from here: http://www.newertech.com/tech_support/support_legacy.php

Posted by: techknight on 2011-11-27 16:16:22
Ya i figured as much.

It seems to be running OK still, just the occasional unstableness hickup here and there. But i guess thats normal with hardware of this age and primitive processor upgrades on buses that dont support it (in a way).

But ill give the drivers a go and see if it increases performance/smooths unstableness

Posted by: bbraun on 2011-11-27 18:10:21
I'm not an OS8 fan, so I'll just add a quip about it being normal for OS8. 😛

I'm running a NuPowr 117MHz upgrade in the 540c with 7.6.1 (no cpu drivers or anything special) and it's pretty stable.

Posted by: techknight on 2011-11-27 18:49:22
I could put OS9 on it with 12MB of RAM. LOL }🙂

Naa, that would be like a 2 lane highway at rush hour near a merge lane.

1