Advice About PDS Power Macs

Performa. The name suggested performance. Performance suggests fast. Fast suggests - well, good enough for your whole family.

That's probably why you bought it. If you bought it because some salesperson suckered you into thinking it was great for Photoshop, I'm sorry. You really got the wrong Mac. Maybe the dealer got 6300 mixed up with 7300.

These aren't bad Macs, but compared to the 7300 and 7600, they are nothing. Compare them to a 68K Mac, and you will see that the PowerMac Performa is quite a step up.

Little did you know that that when you turned it on for the first time you might experience frequent crashing and freezing for the next five years.

Don't worry, it's all covered by the Apple Repair Extension Program. There was a major motherboard and cache issue with some of the 5200 and 6200 series Performas. Apple released a program to test for it. This appeared on the Mac OS 7.6 CD and later. It is called "5XXX/6XXX Tester." It checks your motherboard and cache/ROM SIMM for the problems. If you have the problem, bring your Mac to an authorized service centre, where they will fix it for free!

This is not applicable to the 6360, which uses a different motherboard with PCI architecture, along with a different power supply to support the new motherboard.

If you don't have an x200 Mac and are thinking a x200 may be for you, make sure you check the machine out and run the 5XXX/6XXX Tester before you buy. If it comes up with a possible problem, don't buy it! You would just be taking time bringing it to an Apple Authorized Service Provider, and it is better to get one that doesn't have the problem (of course, if you get the one with a problem for an exceptionally good price, say $30, don't pass it up!).

People also sometimes try to pass off these Macs as "great for graphics" and "great for games." Let's rephrase that: "great for viewing picture files" and "great for little kids games." There is no way you are going to run Photoshop on and be satisfied with the speed. You are not going to want to play any of the newer games either. Be sure you know what you are buying.

Also, with prices on PCI PowerMacs coming down, it may be time to look at Macs like the 7200 at only about $125, and even the beige G3 desktop at roughly $600 on eBay. I am trying to say that you shouldn't pay much. Don't pay over $125 for a 6200 or 6300, and don't pay over $250 for a 52/5300, unless of course the RAM and HDD have been upgraded significantly.

A word about hard disk upgrades. The x200 series uses IDE hard drives, but it only supports certain types. Some older and some newer IDE drives will not work.

If the front panel is falling off your 6200 or 6300, there are two things that I have done that might help fix it. Sometimes the metal chassis inside on the right side where the clip goes in gets pushed down from a heavy monitor sitting on the computer. If you take a screwdriver and bend the chassis back up a little (from where the right clip of the front panel goes), the front panel might fit in better. If one or both clips on the panel itself are broken, I would take a strong tape, such as duct tape, fold it (double, so it is sticky on both sides) in small, narrow pieces and stick them along the sides of the front panel. Do this under the panel, in the places where the panel meets the computer. Replace the front panel and press down on the area you taped. Although not perfect, it is a good temporary fix which will last several months, if not years.

If you are planning on running Mac OS 8.5, I will let you know that it isn't going to be fast. Some things you may run into are sluggishness in the Finder (slow when moving folders, apps, emptying trash), problems with Appearance (if you set a theme that uses different fonts and a desktop picture, the computer will slow down), and slow startup and shut down.

So what OS should you use? I wouldn't go with 7.5.1, which came with all of these PowerMacs when new, or 7.5.3, which still has some bugs in it. 7.5.5 (which was a revision meant mainly for Power Macs) and 7.6.1 work well, although they are not nearly as stable as 8.0 or higher. With that said, I would use OS 8.0 or 8.1. Mac OS 8.1 provides a couple benefits, such as the ability to use HFS+ volumes. Before you install your new OS, be sure you have at least 16 MB of RAM; 24 or more is preferred.

Want to connect to the Internet? If you don't have the Internet, you are missing a major part of computing today. To connect to the Internet, you will need either a modem or an ethernet card. If you are at home and have a telephone line, you will need a modem.

Removing the Modem

Most of these Macs shipped with an internal 14.4 or 28.8 modem. If you have one, pull it out. Removing the back panel is different on each of the two x200 form factors. On a 6200 or 6300, pull down the tabs in the back of the computer, and pull away the door. On a 5200 or 5300, unscrew the screws on the back of the computer and pull away the back panel. Then it becomes the same for both computers. Swing down the little metal handle (press it down and swing it out toward you) and pull on it. You will have to pull hard. The motherboard should slide out. The modem is the card with the telephone jack on it. It will be the one (looking at the computer from the rear) to the far right side.

Carefully pull it out and wrap it in an antistatic bag (if you don't have one, use aluminum foil - it's not as good as a static bag, but it provides some protection). Push the motherboard back in the computer and remove the port cover on the modem port. Snap the handle back up and replace the panel.

The reason you want to remove the modem is so you can use a faster external one. The internal "modems" that shipped with these Macs use your processor to control the modem, which doesn't leave it free to do other things it should be doing, and your Mac gets seriously bogged down.

Look for a 28.8, 33.6, or 56K US Robotics external modem. Other companies make modems, too (such as Hayes, Global Village, or Rockwell), but I find that US Robotics modems work very well, don't depend on software to work (unlike Global Village modems, which are useless without their software), and are generally plug and play. (Just choose the modem in the Modem control panel to match the modem you have.)

Ethernet

If you are at a school or office and you have a T1 line, or are at home and have DSL or a cable modem, you will need to buy an ethernet card. The x200 Macs can use two types of cards. You can buy a "Comm slot" card, which fits where your modem was, or you can buy an LC PDS card, which fits in the LC PDS slot. Both types of cards work equally well. If you need your PDS slot for something else, go for a Comm slot card. If you need the card in a hurry (Comm slot cards seem to be harder to find) and don't need the PDS slot, go for the LC PDS card.

Software

As far as browsers and email go, use either Internet Explorer/Outlook Express 4, or Netscape Navigator/Communicator 4. If you have 32 MB or more RAM, use IE/OE 4.5. If you have 40 Mb more, you can step up to Communicator 4.7, which uses about 15 MB of RAM. If you decided to upgrade all the way and have 64 MB of RAM, use any version of IE/OE or Netscape you want (except for Netscape 6, which requires a 604e or faster [G3 recommended] with 64 MB of RAM and still has a lot of bugs).

Memory

I recommend upgrading your RAM to at least 32 MB. You can do this by installing one 32 MB 72-pin SIMM in either of the two slots or two 16 MB 72-pin SIMMs. Because you do not have to install SIMMs in pairs, if you choose the 32 MB SIMM and want to upgrade later you can simply add another SIMM.

What Not to Do

And of course the "What not to do to your Mac" part - and I did this to mine. I wanted to install an ethernet card (LC PDS) in my 5215CD. I took a screwdriver and twisted apart the metal from the plastic on the inside of the PDS port cover to remove it. Ouch! The plastic part broke. If I ever want to remove the ethernet card, I will have no port cover.

When installing cards, be sure you are careful when removing the port covers on the x200 Macs. (That goes for most of the LC series as well.) Of course, some other no-no's are spilling things into your Mac, carrying your Mac upside-down, throwing your Mac, dropping your Mac off a ten story building....

Mac OS 8.6 Caution

One other "caution" when installing software. I decided I would upgrade to OS 8.5 after running 7.5.1 for four years without ever reinstalling the system. I perform the upgrade, and it works fine. Then OS 8.6 came out, and I decide to upgrade. I then realize I can't. The installer won't update my system for some strange reason. I ended up having to completely reinstall my system from the beginning. I later found out that the main reason it wouldn't install was because I had the TelePort/Gold IIv control panel in the System Folder. Make sure you remove that when installing software, it seems to get in the way.

There are currently no G3 upgrades available for the x200 Macs, making these the only PowerMacs that cannot be upgraded to G3. The only possible way they could do it is through the ROM/Cache card slot, which would need a pass-through adapter. Hopefully in the future someone will come out with an upgrade; there are many users who like their old Macs. They don't want to buy new ones, but they do want G3 performance. Even without G3 upgrades, these Macs are still decent.

Of course if you want to do Photoshop, get something more powerful, but for basic internet, word processing, and email, the x200 series works great.

Further Reading

• Road Apples: Power Macintosh and Performa 5200-53xx and 6200-6320
• Performa and Power Mac x200 Issues, Scott Barber, Online Tech Journal