While Jeff W is the most qualified person to answer this question, he must be preoccupied so I'd like a stab at it.
The VST causes our machines to freeze when booting up if it is in a lower slot with another card that has firmware on it. If it is in a lower slot with a "stupid" card, i.e. no firmware on board, such as a firewire or USB card, it does not. Also, if it is the only card in the lower slots or in the lower slots and not connected to anything (kind of pointless), there is no freeze. Back in March OWC Larry announced his OS X patch for the VST. Great news! But wouldn't it be great if the patch fixed the slot issue too? I wrote to him explaining the peculiar PCI bridge arrangement in the S900/J700 and the problems most cards have when in the lower slots and asked if his VST patch would cure the problem of crashing on start up when using the VST with another card in the lower slots. I use a VST card under 9.1 and one day would like to go to OS X but not have to buy another ATA card. I got Jeff involved in the e-mail conversation for his superior technical experience. After some initial confusion on Larry's part, he finally "got it", at least sort of, and had Chi Kim Nguyen, president of FirmTek LLC (the author of the VST OS X patch) test it. To make a long story short, she tested it but she unwittingly used one of the very few cards known that will work with the VST in the lower slots (a firewire card). I followed up with an e-mail pointing this out and asked they repeat their testing but using another card with the VST and they would surely see that the freeze occurs before the drives are solicited for their drivers. I never got a reply. So she and Larry apparently think their patch fixed the problem and lost interest in further testing. Meanwhile, Jeff downloaded their patch and the same symptoms occur. No cure. During all this I learned that VST is now owned by Smart Disk. This explains why OWC can sell VST cards so cheap...he has the old ones. However, it also freed OWC up to approach the original source of the UltraTek firmware and the company that licensed the UltraTek name to VST,FirmTek, to create a patch to make the card usable with OS X. Larry told me "VST's new owner SmartDisk is not doing anything to support the VST ATA card." So OWC should be applauded for the initiative and the considerable expense involved in making the VST card usable with OS X. But it still only works 100% in slot 1 or 2. Dave Stephens >Date: Tue, 04 Jun 2002 18:55:42 -0400 >Can you elaborate on "doesn't play well with other cards"? Will the card not work at all in a lower slot? > >Dan >I've been waiting and hoping Jeff W would answer your question. He's the man who knows all about this card. >... VST card is fine in slot 1 or 2 but crashes if in a lower slot with any other card in a lower slot. Sorry that is the best I can do for an answer. Will S __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; 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]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
