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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / February 2006forcing g3 firmware update?
Hi. I have a B&W G3 (rev 2 motherboard, as noted by '402' on the IDE controller) where I tried to install a Sonnet 1GHz G4 accelerator. In spite of pulling all the PCI boards except the video, and doing a video board firmware update, the system continued to get random crashes. So I'm trying to revert to the G3. The problem is that it has a cycle of about 20 seconds running, then 5 seconds freeze (where only the mouse moves but nothing else, including the clock); and the length of the freeze gets longer the longer the machine has been up. I tried running the Sonnet installer and telling it to deinstall the firmware patch (from a different disk, among the problems I had reverting is that I couldn't get the 9.2.2 disk I did the original patch from to boot) and that didn't make any difference. I tried the Apple firmware 1.1 upgrade, but it says that's already installed. How do I force it to take the firmware 1.1 install? Thanks, Steve > How do I force it to take the firmware 1.1 install? Contact Sonnet for tech support.  SignatureWe are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. from "Ode", Arthur O'Shaughnessy >> How do I force it to take the firmware 1.1 install? > >Contact Sonnet for tech support. I've been in contact with them, but at the rate of one email per day, it's really slow going. I had hoped to get a quicker response from the newsgroup. ~Steve > I've been in contact with them, but at the rate of one email per day, > it's really slow going. I had hoped to get a quicker response from > the newsgroup. I haven't tried contacting them recently, but don't they have a phone number? SignatureWe are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. from "Ode", Arthur O'Shaughnessy >In article <dr43gl$tq3$1@eskinews.eskimo.com>, > >I haven't tried contacting them recently, but don't they have a phone >number? Yes, but I'm not at home, where the computer is, during the hours that they're available. (Work early, and lots of after-work activities.) Isn't the means by which a firmware install happens documented somewhere? I've tried looking, but in the limited time afforded me, I've not been able to find anything. ~Steve >>In article <dr43gl$tq3$1@eskinews.eskimo.com>, >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > ~Steve I bought my G3 iMac in July 1999. There was an annoying freezing problem from the get-go. In November 2001, I got internet access. I learned from the http://macfixit.com/ forums, there was a firmware upgrade for my problem. It involved downloading something then restarting the machine while holding a paperclip in a small hole in the side of the machine (by the other connectors). It took several tries to do, becasue it was akward That's the most I can remember. No wait. The guy who helped me also said the walk-around, to the fix, was just always to have a CD running in the tray. If it's tray loaded and running a CD solves the freezing, you have the same problem I did. GW >I bought my G3 iMac in July 1999. There was an annoying freezing >problem from the get-go. In November 2001, I got internet access. I [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >was just always to have a CD running in the tray. If it's tray loaded >and running a CD solves the freezing, you have the same problem I did. I finally got my firmware and OS problems straightened out, but the system kept having pausing problems no matter which OS or which CPU was running. Doing a Google search for "powermac g3 system pausing" led to an indicator that USB problems can cause that. I recalled that when I `setenv boot-flags "-v"` I saw messages about being unable to enumerate a USB device. I unplugged all the USB devices except the keyboard/mouse, and the pausing went away. Plugging things back in one at a time led to a HP photoprinter as being the culprit. It wouldn't even power off with the power button, so I had to pull its plug. After doing that and turning it back on, everything is now running fine. Used to be that newsgroups were a good resource for figuring out problems. I'm kinda disappointed about the lack of meaningful response here, and having to struggle with a week of hours-a-day internet searching and an irate wife... ~Steve > Used to be that newsgroups were a good resource for figuring out > problems. I'm kinda disappointed about the lack of meaningful > response here, and having to struggle with a week of hours-a-day > internet searching and an irate wife... In reading these newsgroups since I got my first Mac, I kind of got the impression that G3 and pre OS X folks were now a bit thin on the ground. I sure know nothing about any Mac prior to G4 and OS X 10.3 (which to an outsider looked like the first one worth changing to). Signaturehttp://www.ericlindsay.com >In article <drhmij$qcg$1@eskinews.eskimo.com>, >In reading these newsgroups since I got my first Mac, I kind of got the >impression that G3 and pre OS X folks were now a bit thin on the ground. Yeah, and that's a shame. >I sure know nothing about any Mac prior to G4 and OS X 10.3 (which to an >outsider looked like the first one worth changing to). I've had a whole range, starting with Pluses and II's (bought used), a C610 bought new, Quadra 650's bought used, the G3 and a G4 both bought new. I've had few problems, and when I did, got answers fairly quickly. Doesn't seem to be the case any more. :-( ~Steve >>In article <drhmij$qcg$1@eskinews.eskimo.com>, >>In reading these newsgroups since I got my first Mac, I kind of got the [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > ~Steve I think most people use web based forums these days. Most people on the street don't even know what a newsgroup is. My crazy opinion, GW >> bought new, Quadra 650's bought used, the G3 and a G4 both bought new. I've >> had few problems, and when I did, got answers fairly quickly. Doesn't seem [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >My crazy opinion, >GW I think you're right on. We have much the same discussion on the company newsgroup where I work -- it's the old-timers that mostly use the newsgroups and the new people, not knowing that newsgroups exist, set up new channels of communication like maillists and websites. ~Steve > >In article <drhmij$qcg$1@eskinews.eskimo.com>, > >In reading these newsgroups since I got my first Mac, I kind of got the [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > ~Steve xlr8yourmac.com still has a nice G3-ZONE ... lowendmac.com has a bit too .. It looks like lowendpeople should go for a pent III like my sister in law does ... Signatureeen appeltje te schillen met http://users.fulladsl.be/spb13810/apple/ http://users.fulladsl.be/spb13810/bwnl.htm Breng je iMac G5 terug (ik wil binnen 2 jaar geen defecte 2de hands Apple kopen) http://www.apple.com/nl/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/ > > Used to be that newsgroups were a good resource for figuring out > > problems. I'm kinda disappointed about the lack of meaningful > > response here, and having to struggle with a week of hours-a-day > > internet searching and an irate wife... Hi there, I'm a bit disappointed after buying a BW 400Mhzz. ` It is a rev 1, with faulty ide chip.. I know you since 1994, the mac68k netbsd list ... After 20 years of apple, and Apple helping to use firefox and such things, cause I have to pay for the latest Safari, and so thy lake the move to linux easier... (I swapped a beige 266 for a PC to tyr linux and am doing netbsd and ubuntu/debian on it. I was tiredof these pldworld things, of openfirmware that lets you boot via the serial, and gives you nice forth commands so that you can write a game in firmware or so ..) http://applefaulty.be Signatureeen appeltje te schillen met http://users.fulladsl.be/spb13810/apple/ http://users.fulladsl.be/spb13810/bwnl.htm Breng je iMac G5 terug (ik wil binnen 2 jaar geen defecte 2de hands Apple kopen) http://www.apple.com/nl/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/ > Used to be that newsgroups were a good resource for figuring out > problems. They still are - especially if one uses groups.google.com to search them. > I'm kinda disappointed about the lack of meaningful > response here, and having to struggle with a week of hours-a-day > internet searching and an irate wife... So how much have you contributed to the newsgroups lately? To your great credit, you did come back and share the solution to your particular problem. But if you don't participate on a regular basis yourself, you really don't have grounds to complain about the lack of assistance by others. Unplugging USB devices is a pretty standard debugging technique for OSX - that and removing/swapping out 3rd party RAM are the two bog- standard techniques for resolving OS X crashes. Finally, if you expect an answer that will help you resolve "my G3 periodically pauses", then don't post it under a subject line like "forcing g3 firmware update?". Those of us who have no idea how to force a G3 firmware update, and no particular likelyhood of ever needing to do so ourselves, are unlikely to bother reading such a posting. Convincing 95% of your potential readers to skip the entire thread is not very conducive to finding an answer. And, as it turns out, the firmware had _nothing_ to do with your actual problem, AFAICT. The Usenet Mac groups are still a great resource - for those who know how to compose a subject line... :-) >> Used to be that newsgroups were a good resource for figuring out >> problems. >They still are - especially if one uses groups.google.com to search them. I did, and didn't get any usable answers. Where I did find something useful was on a web site, I think it was xlr8yourmac.com. But now that I've come back and posted to the newsgroup, it should be easier for the next newsgroup searcher to find. >> I'm kinda disappointed about the lack of meaningful >> response here, and having to struggle with a week of hours-a-day >> internet searching and an irate wife... > >So how much have you contributed to the newsgroups lately? Fair enough, not much lately. Back when I was younger and had more time on my hands, much more. On the other hand, I tend to keep my mouth shut when I'm not totally sure of what I'm saying... >To your great credit, you did come back and share the solution to >your particular problem. Thanks. >But if you don't participate on a regular basis yourself, you >really don't have grounds to complain about the lack of assistance >by others. Well, it's hard to participate in a meaningful way when you're spread really thin. I have many interests -- Macs, NetBSD, SGI, helicopters, classic cars (Chevelle and Pontiac, mostly); then there's the family, house maintenance, yard work... There's just not enough time in the day to do justice to all of them, so the more important ones get attention first, the rest get a share of the little time left. >Unplugging USB devices is a pretty standard debugging technique for >OSX - that and removing/swapping out 3rd party RAM are the two bog- >standard techniques for resolving OS X crashes. Considering that I've had Macs from MacOS 4 through 10.4.4 and the only problems I've had in that time is the occasional disk failure and a SCSI problem or two, I hope you'll excuse me for not knowing that. And no, I've not seen that mentioned anywhere in the many hours that I've spent reading newsgroups and websites. >Finally, if you expect an answer that will help you resolve "my G3 >periodically pauses", then don't post it under a subject line like >"forcing g3 firmware update?". Those of us who have no idea how >to force a G3 firmware update, and no particular likelyhood of >ever needing to do so ourselves, are unlikely to bother reading >such a posting. The problem with the pausing didn't show up until the exact point in time when I applied the update and installed the accellerator. Why would I not think they were related? >Convincing 95% of your potential readers to skip the entire thread >is not very conducive to finding an answer. And, as it turns out, >the firmware had _nothing_ to do with your actual problem, AFAICT. That's right, it had nothing to do with the firmware. But that was not obvious when I asked the question. If the pausing had started some other time, it would have been a more obvious thing to ask about. >The Usenet Mac groups are still a great resource - for those who >know how to compose a subject line... :-) I do. I was looking to eliminate what appeared at the time to be the most likely source of the problem (given the timing of it). And that is what the subject line was aimed at. It wasn't until several days later and many email exchanges with the Sonnet technician that my firmware was confirmed to be back to original state and the pausing still happening that it became apparent to me that the problem lay elsewhere. And you notice that I did manage to find the answer to that on my own. ~Steve Daystar also uses a firmware update for their B&W G3 600 MHz (full speed) Upgrades. http://daystar-store.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=92 If requested, they can send you a "manual" deinstaller for firmware updates that will return you to the original. Just send me an email to gary@daystar-tech.com and I'll forward the flasher package. It will have you back to G3 in no time. |
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