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  • Re: Power Macintosh G3 SCSI CD Problems

    From Peter KERR@user@host.domain to comp.sys.mac.system on Thursday, July 10, 2003 10:50:55
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    In article <4dabe7ac.0307090716.773e4301@posting.google.com>,
    gtxinfo@yahoo.com (gtxinfo) wrote:
    I am using a beige desktop Power Macintosh G3 (version-11.4) upgraded
    with a (Sonnet) 500 MHz G4 PowerPC Processor and 768 MB RAM.
    As this model can only support two IDE devices, I have one 20 GB hard
    drive for operating systems, and another 40 GB hard drive for data.
    The machine also comes with SCSI on board, which SCSI probe descibes
    as 'Mesh'; I have an internal HP CD-Writer 6020 (SCSI ID 5), and an
    internal Iomega Zip 100 (SCSI ID 6) which is terminated.
    I also have both OS X (10.2.6) and OS 9.1 installed on seperate
    partitions of my 20 GB hard drive.
    I have three main problems; firstly, I cannot boot from a CD by
    holding the 'C' key during startup. Secondly, in OS X, I can use data
    CDs (e.g. iTunes will play MP3s from CD), but I cannot play normal
    audio CDs. Also Toast or Peak do not recognise the CD Writer. Finally,
    in OS 9.1, the CD only works if I startup with a bootable disc in the
    drive; if not, discs do not appear on the desktop.
    Any suggestions much appreciated.

    From first hand experience I would list the three main problems as:
    firstly scsi support in the G3 was only a token gesture;
    secondly scsi support in OSX has almost evaporated;
    thirdly OSX operation on the beige G3 with anything beyond Apple's
    factory installed hardware is definitely "unsupported" territory ;-)

    In spite of that, there may be some hope: how does your version 11.4
    compare to the normal boot rom version a, b, or c versions?
    Versions b & c have two IDE buses, and can support two devices per bus.
    They don't boot from a slave, and there's not much room down below to
    get a second device on the same cable as the "normal" boot drive. But
    since OS-X doesn't support floppy, you can remove that and put a second
    drive above the CD, replace the CD with an IDE burner....

    Why no audio from the CD? Probably related to the comment about the
    Writer not being recognised at startup. We had a Plextor in a 7600 that stopped playing audio when we upgraded from 8.1 to 9.1 :-(

    Check xlr8yourmac.com for tips on extras installation in the G3.
    Pretty soon they'll be on the vintage lists :-9 I'm using one right
    here, but I've got a 7600 with extra CD writers & HD's for hard work.
    longer term project: upgrade with a G3 zif & OS-X
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