Migrating Files to a Newer Mac, RAM Compatibility, Firemail.de, and More

• Snow iMac Image to eMac
• Re: eMac question
• RAM Compatibility
• Firemail.de
• re: iBook Logic Board Failure (Actually the DC Board)
• 8600 + Acard

Snow iMac Image to eMac

From Zach Tuckwiller

Charles,

Re:

From Mark Ekster:

I work in a public school. I have an eMac - purchased 9/03, boots in OS 9 - and attempted to put an image on this machine that was created on a snow iMac. It worked perfectly on the eMac, except I only have one choice for resolution and one choice for colors (millions). What have I toasted in order for this to happen, and how do I get back my resolution choices. Thanks for any help.

I too work in a public school environment and may be able to shed some light on the imaging Mark speaks of (since I have imaged and re-imaged machines as well).

He is referring to using Disk Copy to make an "image" of the hard drive in a Snow iMac and use that image on the hard drive of an eMac that boots OS 9 so that both computers look/function exactly the same, which is good for the students so that they see the same setup and software on the different machines.

From my experiences and everything I've read, the best way to handle the setup of various machines is to create your image on your most powerful machine and use it on the older machines. My guess is he may be experiencing an issue with the video driver, since the eMac uses a Radeon 7500 AGP chipset and the iMac uses a Rage Pro 128 chip set.

We had a similar issue with 600 MHz (16VRAM) iBooks when they came out. Our image at the time was made on a 500 MHz iBook, and there were video driver issues, since the 600 MHz (16VRAM) uses a different, newer video chipset. The simple solution was to do a custom Add/Remove of the video drivers on top of our image that we put on the computers. Here are the steps to get him back to good:

1. Boot the eMac from its OS 9 install CD (the OS 9 Software Install CD that came with the eMac)
2. After boot up, double click the Mac OS install icon
3. At the welcome screen, click 'Continue'
4. Select destination disk to be the name of your eMac's hard drive and click 'Select'
5. CLICK THE DEFAULT BUTTON THAT SAYS 'ADD/REMOVE'
6. Make a check in the Mac OS 9.2.2 check box
7. In the pull down menu on the right side of the window, choose 'Customized Installation'
8. Deselect (no check marks) ALL choices EXCEPT 'Video'
9. Click 'Ok' button
10. Click the 'Start' button
11. When finished, reboot and you're done!

He should now have his video options back and have his snow iMac image on the machine.

After he gets this machine working properly, if it's the newest machine, he should probably make an image of it to use for imaging/reimaging purposes. Like I said before and from personal experience: Images will typically work "downhill" (created on higher machines, use on lower machines) but not "uphill" (created on lower, used on higher machines), so to speak.

I hope the info helps. I give it with the usual "Use at Your Own Risk" disclaimer, but I'm 99.9% sure he can do this. At worst, he'll have to reinstall the image from the snow iMac. But the way I look at most of my work is, "It already isn't working right, so it's not like I can break it much more."

Have a nice day and as much fun as you can!

Take Care,
Zach

Will do. Thanks for the info!

Charles

Re: eMac question

From Mark Ekster

HI,

Issue resolved. My iMac image had some old/missing extension that need to be added from the eMac install disk. Thanks for getting back to me.

Mark

RAM Compatibility

From: Andrew Beardsmore

Dear Sir

Do you know if the RAM (PC100 SODIMM 256 Kingston) from my upgraded iBook 466 SE (Clamshell FireWire model) will fit into my Lombard 400?

Many Thanks

Andrew Beardsmore

Hi Andrew,

It will fit, and it may work. I have a 128 MB PC 100 module pulled from my Pismo in the upper slot of my WallStreet (which uses the same specified PC 66 RAM as your Lombard), and it works fine in OS 9, but I wasn't able to get Jaguar to boot, and I expect that RAM incompatibility may be the reason.

Actually, your iBook is specified to use PC 66 RAM, too. Check it out at <http://www.macshack.com.au/table.html>

I don't think it can cause any damage to try the PC 100 module. OWC is selling PC 100 RAM for Clamshell iBooks and Lombards, but at your own risk of course....

Charles

Firemail.de

From Richard Vardaro

Charles,

I read your [article] about Firemail.de.

I signed up, but I cannot get POP3 access.

Note: Before you can use Firemail with a POP3 mail program, you must activate your post-office box over a login under http://mail.firemail.de.

That is what you said. Can you help me so I can get it to work?

Rich

Hi Rich,

My Firemail account continues to work fine. I use it every day.

I assume that you have gone to the website and logged in. If your username and password worked there, you should be able to configure POP3 access.

Make sure your username is entered thus: xxxxxxx@firemail.de

Set the mail server to: pop.firemail.de

Set the SMTP server to: smtp.firemail.de

Should work. You didn't say what email client you are using. I have it configured in both Eudora and Nisus Email.

Charles

re: iBook Logic Board Failure (Actually the DC Board)

From Tony Wong, PS"

Hi Charles:

Re your 2003.10.13 article on the subject, is there anyway of testing the DC board on an iBook to tell whether it is faulty? (Voltage out?)

Please advise, thanks!

Tony Wong

Hi Tony,

There may well be, but I'm ignorant of it if there is.

Perhaps one of our readers can fill us in.

Charles

8600 + Acard

From Sonia

Dear Charles

Thank you for your excellent site. I didn't who to send this to, so I hope that it is of some use.

I am writing to report a very unsastisfying post-sale service from Acard and to save a great deal of grief, time, and money to other 8600 users.

I have a Power Mac 8600/300 with the following configuration/upgrades:

Sonnet accelerator G4 @ 400 MHz

512 MB RAM

2 SCSI hard drives

Sonnet tech dual USB/FireWire card

OS 9.1

This configuration had been working satisfactorily, but because of the nature of my work (CAD and graphics), I needed more storage space. After considerable research, I decided to install an ATA hard drive for which a PCI/ATA adaptor card was required. Further research took me to select a Acard's aec-6280m. My brother has a Power Mac 8600 with a similar configuration and an aec-6280m working satisfactorily. Prior to my communication with Acard, their website indicated this card as "designed for G4, G3, 9x00, 8x00, and 7x00" . Their manual also states that this is suitable for older computers.

I had an Apple authorised service company install both the new 6280m and ATA drive. However, the information started getting corrupted. Please refer to the service reports. Meanwhile the drive was reformatted several times using a low level format to reduce the possibility of errors.

I ran TechTool, which showed that the drive was failing the re-zeroing test. The ATA drive was replaced with a new one, which continued to have problems and fail in the same test.

Acard's US rep responded by email that the card caused too many problems in the older computers and that they could not understand why Acard was still showing on their site that the card was compatible with my computer. It seems that all my correspondence with Acard has resulted in them modifying their site. Also after extensive correspondence with Acard, who initially did not say that my computer was not compatible with the card, is now repeating what their US reseller is saying. I am pleased to see that no more people will be misled by incorrect information. However it still does not solve the problems that I am experiencing with their card. I am appalled to see how unhelpful and unprofessional they have been given that I followed their prior guidelines in purchasing their card.

I would appreciate if you could please print my letter to forewarn other 8XXX users thinking of buying an PCI/ATA card from this manufacturer.

Even more seriously, I wrote to other Acard resellers asking their advice of which would be the most appropriate card for my requirements. Please note that most of them have responded that the aec-6280m is the one I should install. Once I removed Acard's aec-6280m, my Mac has returned to proper operation. Unfortunately my storage problem is still not resolved.

Please let me know whether you need a hard copy with addenda.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely
Sonia

Sorry to hear of your troubles with the Acard product, Sonia. One can hope that Acard might be convinced to respond to your issues more satisfactorily.

Charles

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