John, I have heard that often these Firewire PCI cards NEED to go in the number one PCI slot - several friends of mine do professional music recording and were dismayed to discover that upon buying PCI Firewire cards the card *needed* to go in the first PCI slot... which would require them to remove their high-end sound cards which ALSO demand to take the number one slot! Perhaps this explains why the card didn't work... you might try swapping the card's location.
As to the no-startup problem - did the Firewire card require you to install any special extensions? Are you still getting the "bus error" message when you startup from CD? You might want to delete any extensions installed for the Firewire card to see if that helps - perhaps the extensions are looking for the non-present card and giving you your bus error message. This might explain why the Mac sometimes lets you start from the CD, where the Firewire extensions are absent. You state that the system will start from CD (at least sometimes)... did you try starting up from your main 8.6 hard drive with all the extensions off (by holding down the "shift" key through startup)? I'd give this a shot as well. If you *can* startup I'd then remove any extensions installed for the card and try re-booting the system. As to the RAM problem - any chance you knocked a chip semi-loose during your work inside the computer? It's easier to accidently do than it sounds! I'd try removing and re-seating the modules to see if that helps. If that doesn't help I'd try what Greg Olson suggested and test the RAM with RAMometer or Gauge PRO (both free, I believe) to see if any of the RAM has gone bad - of course check to see that the RAM chips are seated correctly before trying this. If you do get things to work (!) I'd try reinstalling whatever extensions might be required and place the card in the number one slot - Let us know how things go! - Scott Charles > From: John Nickerson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: PowerCenter Pro 240 bus error > > Folks, > > I *still* cannot remedy the subject error on startup. Before I take it > in for professional help, I thought I would try one more time in hopes > that one (or more) of the List Gurus has experienced/heard of this > error. > > Configuration above factory: > > G3 500 Sonnet > 512 MB RAM (4*128) (448 - 480 recognized at any particular time) > Keyspan USB 1.1 (2-port) > 18 GB Seagate HD (SCSI: 1; still using original 2 GB @ SCSI: 0) > OS 8.6 > > My trouble started with a seemingly innocent addition of a PCI firewire > card from OWC. This was placed in my last available PCI slot, but was > never recognized by Apple System Profiler. Perhaps I over-stepped the > available PCI power consumption? The other slot has the USB card that > works just fine. > > At any rate, I decided to try plugging a QPS CD-RW (16-10-40) into the > Firewire card in the hopes that I could get the firewire card working. > Now, my PowerCenter Pro has developed a "bus error". Immediately upon > the "Welcome to Macintosh" startup screen, I get a sys crash with the > nefarious "bus error" staring at me. I took out the firewire card, > reset CUDA, done a clean install on the startup drive with OS 8.5 then > up to 8.6 and have zapped the PRAM, and installed a fresh 3.6v > battery. The machine will only boot successfully on CD (after zapping > PRAM for two cycles, and then immediately pressing > del-option-command-shift - thanks Michael) which is how I was able to do > the clean install. Incidently, the aforementioned remedy only works > about half the time. The RAM recognition noted above is definitely odd, > and I plan to try combinations of the chips next. But after that?? I > am at a loss. > > Could this "bus error" be a physical error? I was careful removing the > firewire card from the PCI bus, and I CAN use the machine with a > bootable CD. The only documented causes that I can find point to > corrupted sys software or possible extension conflicts. Sure would hate > to lose this puppy..... > > Any help would be very appreciated, > > still mac-less in Raleigh, > > John > > > -- -- Power Computing is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 123Inkjets.com <http://lowendmac.com/ad/123inkjets.html> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Power Computing list info: <http://lowendmac.com/power/list.html> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powercomputing%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
