Well, that's a bit of a misleading subject line. I never got the card to work 
properly.

To my knowledge this upgrade hasn't been discussed here other than whether it 
makes more sense to
buy a Mini, which we can debate later.

I bought one, from OWC last Monday. It arrived by late Wednesday. Very quick 
shipping, especially
for free. Oh, and it was only $210, down from the $229 it had been.

OK. The card comes with a CD that has a program called CPU Director (version 
1.5f6). The reason is
the card boots up at 800 MHz and, if you want it to run faster, you use the 
software to step it
up. My problems were that I couldn't get the software and the card to work 
together in the same
machine.

I have two S900s: my primary computer upstairs in my home office that I use 
mostly for freelance
advertising design and one in the basement, used mostly by my 8 year old 
daughter to play games.
Both have OS 9.x.

I replaced the PowerLogix G3/400 I've had in my machine since about 2001 with 
the new card. It was
very easy. It comes with a built-on fan so you have to plug it into power plugs 
inside the box.
The instructions recommend pushing the CUDA button, so I did for our customary 
30 seconds.

The S900 booted up without a hiccup. Following the manual I loaded the 
software, which includes an
extension, and rebooted. That's where all the fun began.

Each time I tried to launch the software it would lock up my machine. The 
instructions say you
have to have "CarbonLib 1.6 or later" installed and I do. The info also says 
CPUD works with OS
8.6 and up. I have 9.1. I went to the PowerLogix site and downloaded the latest 
version of CPU
Director--2.1. I loaded that software, rebooted and  launched the program. I 
got further in the
process but got another error, something about OS X.  I went back to the 
earlier version but then
my S900 would hang at the CPU Director init. So I thought "extension conflict" 
and started trying
different settings in my control panel. No luck.

By now I had begun trading e-mails with PowerLogix support who was , basically, 
no help
whatsoever. I explained what I had already tried and the first answer I got was 
to look for a
conflict. No kidding. They did say the earlier CPUD was the correct version for 
my setup so I
politely said I would look _again_ for a conflict.

I reinstalled the CPUD version 1.5f6 and tried rebooting with just the base and 
CPUD. I could
finally launch the program without locking up but I got an error
'Interfacelib--GetComponentResource'. I asked PL about it and didn't get a 
reply 'til the next
day. In the meantime I googled that error and it looked like the only cure is 
to do a clean
install of the system. After I had already found that answer on my own, PL 
support suggested it.

During the next several hours of fruitless exercise, I swapped my old PL G3/400 
in and out with
the new card numerous times. The old card runs perfect every time.

So I did a clean install going back to OS 9 from disk because my 9.1 was a 
download. And still no
luck. In fact, I was now sometimes getting bus errors and system errors.

I took the card and CD downstairs and put the card in our other S900. It fired 
up the first time
and I loaded the software. I rebooted and got the black screen of death. I 
reseated the card.
Black screen. I pushed CUDA. Black screen. I reseated and pushed CUDA. Black 
screen. I put the 604
card back in, fired right up. Got a note that said CPUD didn't load because it 
wasn't a G3 or G4
CPU. OK. I put my G3/400 in, fired up and launched the program. Eureka! It 
launched. I shut down,
reinstalled the new card, booted up. Black screen of death. But at least the 
program launched!

I removed the hard drive with the properly working CPUD out of that machine, 
took it upstairs and
put it into my first S900. Fired it up with only base extensions + CPUD and 
wouldn't you know it,
the program launched without error but... no panel would come up for me to make 
any adjustments. I
know CPUD launched because I could see its icon on the menu bar, but nothing 
else. I had mouse
movement but nothing else. I had to force quit to regain control of my 
computer. I shut down and
disconnected all but that one hard drive hit the CUDA: same results. Shut down 
zapped the PRAM,
same results.

I'm sorry for the length of my tale, but I wanted to provide all the background 
so I could ask the
list if there is any _technical_ reason why I shouldn't send this card back. 
Honestly I don't know
if I should ask for a replacement or my money back. I have "invested" about 16 
hours over 4 days
trying to get this to work. I don't want to go through this again. Help!

Thanks, 
Dave Stephens

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