Conclusion: There is no joy to be had from this GeForce 5200 FX
graphics card. Tiger booting problems and kernel panics during
booting, restarts, and occasionally while running applications
(Console, Safari, Mail), and possibly an OS 9 problem because of it.
I can't absolutely make that connection myself. Seems weird that such
problems would persist and even get worse when the GeForce had been
removed again. Problems with PRAM must figure into this whole mess as
well. I hope I have that part all straightened out now (with lessons
learned). But I'm sore afraid that I might not.
It occurred to me to ask why the very first startup with the new card
had gone so well. What changed? I racked my brains trying to think of
what I did in between "seemingly OK" and "disaster." I remembered a
couple things. One was that I *did* fiddle, mechanically, with the
card again early on, being concerned about whether I had really
seated it properly. I think the fiddling was after the trouble
started, but the concern was there to begin with. I began today with
a plan to start over with the GeForce.
Today's sequence of events (FWIW, new PRAM battery installed yesterday):
Disconnect everything external, open side door, remove ATIRage128Pro
card, reinstall GeForce card (did not reset CUDA this time, as I did
not when the ATI card had gone back in)
Close side door, reconnect everything external, power button on
Tiger boots up lightning fast, I log in, everything normal and good
Select OS 9 volume from SP>Startup Disk and restart
OS 9.2.2 boots up fine, I log in, error message requiring restart
(I've seen this before, so I try a different tack)
Shut down with power button
Power on, option key held down, attempt to boot from Tiger volume
(same HD, the older PATA one)
Apple screen, spinning dial... gray screen
Shut down with power button
Power on, shift key held down
Boot into OS 9.2.2 (not what I wanted or expected) extensions off, I
log in through different dialog box after message about system
password required, no error 10
Go to Control Panels>Startup Disk, select Tiger volume, restart
Tiger boots up, I log in, all good
Go to Apple menu>Restart
Blue screen, then the kernel panic screen
Shut down with power button
Power on, option key held down, attempt to boot from Tiger volume
Tiger boots up, I log in, all good
Go to SP>Startup Disk, select current Tiger volume, restart
Tiger boots up, I log in, all good
Go to Apple menu>Shut Down
Power on, Tiger boots up with utterly blinding speed, I log in, all good
I open Console and look around... Console freezes and then hangs,
Spinning Pinwheel of Death appears, and then the kernel panic screen
Shut down with power button
Power on, Tiger boots up, I log in, all good (but obviously not
really good) - crash report is the same old thing indicting the
GeForce card
Go to SP>Startup Disk, select Panther volume (same PATA HD), restart
Panther boots up, I log in, all good, back to SP>Startup Disk, select
Tiger volume, restart
Tiger boots up, I log in, all good, back to SP>Startup Disk, select
Tiger volume on the SATA HD this time, restart
Tiger-SATA boots up, I log in, all good, back to SP>Startup Disk,
select Tiger volume on PATA HD this time, restart
Kernel panic screen, shut down with power button, power on with
option key held down, select Tiger volume on PATA HD
Gray screen, shut down with power button, power on with option key
held down, hold down shift key and select Tiger volume on PATA HD
Safe Boot into Tiger, I log in, go to SP>Startup Disk, select current
Tiger volume, restart
Normal boot into Tiger, I log in, all good
Go to SP>Startup Disk, Panther volume on SATA HD, restart
Kernel panic screen, shut down with power button, power on with
option key held down, select Tiger volume on PATA HD
Safe boot into Tiger, I log in, go to Apple menu>Restart
Normal boot into Tiger, I log in, empty kernel panic Trash, go to
Apple menu>Shut Down
At this point it was time to start over again and try a different
path from there.
Disconnect, open, reseat card, cooperating with its "want" to sit
lower toward the in-side, leave mounting screw off, press CUDA button
Close, reconnect, power on
Kernel panic screen
OK, the seemingly abnormal mounting screw situation isn't the cause
of improper seating.
Disconnect, open, put GeForce card mounting screw back in, press CUDA
for a few seconds to make sure I was really pressing it all (it's so
small, and my fingertips rather insensitive)
Close, reconnect, power button on, option key, select Tiger volume
Gray screen
Disconnect, open, reseat card yet again - level, also paying
particular attention to perpendicular this time (CUDA? Forget CUDA.
I'm sick of CUDA)
Close, reconnect, power button on, option key, hold down shift and
select Tiger volume
Safe Boot into Tiger, I log in, empty Trash, go to Apple menu>Restart
Hold down option key, select Tiger volume
Normal boot into Tiger, I log in, open Mail and begin updating this
journal
Mail freezes, and soon the kernel panic screen comes down
I had been hoping to get back to the initial "everything seems fine"
state and test booting and restarting *without* venturing into OS 9
at all, as a start. But at this point I'd had it.
Shut down, disconnect, open, replace new graphics card with old one
yet again, close, reconnect
Power on, hold down option key, select Tiger volume
Boot into Tiger fine, update this journal, go to Apple menu>Restart
Normal boot into Tiger
Go to SP>Startup Disk, select OS 9 volume, restart
Black screen - what??
Shut down with power button, power on, option key
Black screen, brief flicker of monitor indicator life and then gone
Shut down with power button, disconnect, open, press CUDA button,
close, reconnect, power on, hold down option
Black screen, a few flickers of monitor indicator light
Shut down with power button
Uh-oh. Have I done something bad to the PRAM battery, not pressing
the CUDA button when I put the old card back in yesterday? Yeah, I
bet I did. Stupid.
Open, replace PRAM battery again, close, power on, hold down option
Black screen, shut down with power button
Power on, zap PRAM, hold down option, select Tiger volume
Normal boot into Tiger at last
Run enable-lba48 patch to be applied on next reboot
Go to SP>Startup Disk, meaning to select OS 9 volume on same HD - but
it's gone! Gone from the desktop and Finder window, there in System
Profiler, there but grayed out in Disk Utility, in need of repair
(Invalid number of allocation blocks) but unable to be repaired
In Tiger with Disk Utility, Erase this OS 9 partition, CCC OS 9
volume copy on SATA HD to the PATA, clone successful
Restart Tiger the normal way, just to reassure myself
(Very nervous waiting)
Normal boot into Tiger, lba48 has been applied, OS 9 volume appears
everywhere as it should, check it with Disk Utility to be on the safe
side, tried repair, couldn't because disk (volume) could not be
unmounted, unmounted volume, repair successful, mounted volume
Go to SP<Startup Disk, select OS volume, restart
OS 9.2.2 boots, I log in, new error message is there (error -2806) in
addition to previously encountered "Application login has
unexpectedly quit", restart, hold down option key, select Tiger volume
Normal boot into Tiger
I now intend to reinstall OS 9.0.4 for testing purposes.
In Tiger with Disk Utility, erase OS 9 volume, insert OS 9 install
CD, go to SP>Startup Disk and select it, restart
Nothing but gray screen, shut down with power button
Power on, hold down option
Nothing but gray screen, shut down with power button
Power on, hold down C
Nothing but gray screen, shut down with power button
Power on, zap PRAM, hold down shift, select OS 9 CD (no text under icon)
Nothing but gray screen, shut down with power button
Power on, hold down option, select Tiger volume
Normal boot into Tiger, run enable 48-lba patch to be applied on next
reboot, restart
Normal boot into Tiger, lba48 has been applied, insert Tiger install
DVD (test), go to SP>Startup disk and select it, restart
(More nervous waiting)
Boot successfully from Tiger install DVD (sigh of relief), go to
Utilities/Startup Disk, select Tiger volume and restart
Normal boot into Tiger
I do believe I've had enough of investigation and testing for a
while. Until some new problem forces me not to, I think I'll just
enjoy the CPU upgrade and maxed-out RAM (Tiger is smokin'!). I'll see
about returning the GeForce card, reconsider whether to upgrade the
graphics/video card at all, deal with a new start for OS 9 at a later
date, and try not to worry too much which of the problems I
encountered above have nothing to do with the GeForce card. Not until
I know more and can even begin to deal with them. Maybe you have a
clue. I sure don't.
Sean
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