On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:52:59 -0400 Daniel Barowy <m...@barowy.net> wrote:
> Paul M wrote: > > > > I was bitten by a similar issue on i386 hardware - freezes during > > install, or shortly thereafter. > > After too many hours bashing on it, I reinstalled the original > > windows disk, and it worked perfectly. I stress tested it for > > several days without a single (aparent) problem, but swapping out > > the disk and attempting a reinstall of 4.3, it would freeze again > > every time. Turned out to be bad RAM. > OK, I finally sat down today and fiddled with this some more. > > First, I pulled all of the RAM, plugged in 1 x 256 MB SIMM, cleared > the PRAM for good measure, and then ran the installer again. It froze > as before. > > Next, I pulled the upgraded processor, dropped in a stock 350 MHz > Apple processor, cleared the PRAM again, and then ran the installer > again. This time, the installer ran all the way through, the machine > booted without any issues, and seemed to run fine through all the > normal tasks I gave it to do (network transfers, disk formatting, > installing a package, etc). > > Then I shut the machine down and put the original 2GB memory back in, > cleared PRAM, and started up again. No issues. > > Then I shut down and put the upgraded processor back in, cleared > PRAM, and booted again. Within a couple minutes, the machine froze > again. I was able to reproduce this several times. So it looks like > the processor is the culprit (bummer). > > Interestingly, though, the line from the dmesg that Nick pointed out, > "mem at mainbus0 not configured", did not appear in the installed > copy of OpenBSD regardless of which processor or how much memory was > in the machine. That only showed up when I booted from the CD. > > Also, as a side note-- this machine does not have a serial port. At > least, none that I am aware of. There's nothing remotely serial-like > (not counting USB, that is) on the back panel. Just USB, IEEE1394a, > RJ-45, RJ-11, and audio. Maybe there's some kind of header on the > motherboard, but I think I'm done messing around with this machine > for today. > > Dan Thanks Dan for the info. The processor issue is good to know. Any chance you know the brand name of the upgraded processor? It seems there were a few companies making after-market CPU upgrades for various Apple systems (PowerLogix, OWC, Sonnet). Some used IBM chips while others used Motorola chips. Users have reported varying degrees of success/failure with the various upgrades. The biggest collection of user reports I've found is here: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/g4articles.html As for the missing serial (thanks Nick), I tracked down one vendor who made the add-on connector used to enable the on-board serial. It was generally called a "gPort" (also "g3Port" and "g4Port") and was made by a company called Griffin Technologies. From my reading, it seems there were a few different versions of the add-on connector for the various Apple systems. I *think* some of them replace the internal modem (RJ11). Even if it's not actually usable on the boards destined for end users (i.e. the "production run" of manufacturing) due to missing chips, components or connectors, the vast majority of system-like electronics designs actually have either serial or JTAG hidden someplace on the circuit board. The reason why the functionality "exists" is so the engineers can debug the hardware, but often on production runs they strip off the "unnecessary" components to save money. If I'm correctly second guessing the practices at Apple when these systems were built, instead of having "unstuffed" (missing) components on production boards, they just created an add-in card (like the "gPort") to enable the serial interface. -- J.C. Roberts
