[CUBE] PM G4 Cube - Upgrade or not!?

[Luis Meleiro]

Hello cubists,

This is not a success story, but rather a sad testify about my PL 1,35GHz upgrade adventure.

First things first... I've tried everything suggested by experimented mac users/friends/technicians and PowerLogix...

I've backed up my entire internal HD drive first, followed the manuals and VideoCD provided by PowerLogix, pressed CUDA button once, started up the Mac and both Mac OS 9 (firmware patch and system folder mods needed) and Mac OS X worked fine. Testing the hardware I faced the terrible issue that would lead me to corrupt my internal Seagate 80GB HD, my external FW 160GB HD and my internal iBook 20GB HD. YES, the FireWire was the culprit of all this ONLY when in Mac OS X. YES, all of this worked flawlessly when in Mac OS 9. YES, I've tested it with several independant FW disks and cables.

1. Had to run DiskWarrior on my iBook and my external 160GB HD in order to repair my data.
2. Had to format/repartition/reinstall Mac OS 9 and X in my internal 80 GB.
3. Fresh(es) OSs now. Still no difference. FW copy crashing in Mac OS X Finder, Spinning beach ball of death, etc...
4. Removed my internal Seagate 80GB and swapped it for a Western Digital 120GB. Reistalled. No go. FW not working.
5. Downclocked Seagate 80GB to ATA66. Reinstalled. No way Jose.
6. Remove firmware patches. Put back original CPU (stock 450MHz). No FireWire issues when in Mac OS 9 or X. Cube works like a genuine swiss quartz swatch now.
7. I'm done with upgrades for now... time to relax!

Cheers to all,
LM

>>> luis_meleiro at cilsp.com - 2004/06/17 09:38 AM >>>
Listers,

I've finally upgraded my Cube with a PL 1,35GHz but I'm facing occasional erratic behaviour in the Mac.
I've 'religiously' followed the Video CD included by PL and I'm positive I've done it as PL indicates.

My computer boots, works, but gives me occasional crashes/kernel panics each time I open Apple Disk Utility or Apple System Profiler. This happens everytime I choose ATA or FireWire options. It seems the machine isn't able to find/list ATA or FireWire connections. This is not persistant though, sometimes I boot and open the same apps and everything just goes smooth... it recognises my internal 80Gb ATA hdd and my external 160Gb FW hdd.

I've tried archive and install from Panther CDs but it can't install the system in my internal hdd. Nevertheless, I've accomplished a perfect Panther installation in my external hdd.

I've reseated everything from the beginning and checked for bad cable connections/contacts. Didn't find anything wrong.

Does everyone here who recently installed faced these or similar issues?
What shall I do to understand/nail what might be happening?

Please help/advise. Thanks in advance,
LM