Wallstreet PowerLogix G4 - ROM flashing upgrade utility

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Wallstreet PowerLogix G4 - ROM flashing upgrade utility

After successfully installing Tiger on a [Wallstreet upgraded|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1390427&tstart=45] to G4 with a Sonnet Crescendo, I found also a PowerLogix Bluechip G4 500MHz.

This CPU works perfectly with the Wallstreet it came with (a former 250MHz 13" according to the previous owner) but it just displays a black screen when mounted on another Wallstreet (a former 266MHz). I tried all the possible reset (PMU, PRAM, even desktop rebuilding...) and all the possible combinations with screens, disks, RAM, ... to no avail.

By cross-tests, exclusion and following several reading, I suppose it is a matter of the "ROM flashing procedure" that I am totally missing, as suggested in this page of [Accelerate your mac|http://www.accelerateyourmac.com/PB G3/powerlogixbluechip/index5.html] concerning the G3 upgrade.

Apparently I could not trace this "ROM upgrade utility" anywhere, not even on the [OWC support page|http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/processors.cfm].

Does anyone know where I could find it or could you veeery kindly provide me with it in case you happen to have it? Or am I just missing the point?

Thanks for any insight,

Giulio

PB G4 17" 1.33GHz, PB G3-4 500MHz Wallstreet, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jun 6, 2008 12:50 PM

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Answer 1

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Jun 6, 2008 9:25 PM in response to emfdb

emfdb,

I believe the issue with the PowerLogix in the 266MHz Wallstreet and the dark display is the incompatible system bus speeds of the PowerLogix and the logic board. This happens when you put a WS1 250MHz or 292MHz microprocessor card in a WS2. I'll see if I can explain...

Wallstreet 1: This came with the 233MHz/no L2 cache (66MHz), 250MHz (83MHz), and 292MHz (83MHz) CPUs; logic board can run at either 66MHz or 83MHz bus speed.

Wallstreet 2: This came with the 233MHz/512K (66MHz), 266MHz (66MHz), and 300MHz (66MHz) CPUs; the logic board can only run at 66MHz.

The system bus speed is determined by the microprocessor card. You can place any speed WS2 CPU on either the WS1 or WS2 logic board since the WS1 board can run at 66MHz or 83MHz, but you can only place the WS1 83MHz CPUs on the WS1 logic board. Since the ROM must be copied from the native microprocessor card to flash the PowerLogix, the copy-utility may also be setting the system bus speed for the PowerLogix card. In your case, a 250MHz (83MHz system bus) CPU was used to set up the G4 card and you are now trying to run it on a 66MHz logic board. As I understand it, the ATI graphics chip on the WS2 logic board will not run with an 83MHz bus speed, thus the dark display.

Since I do not know how the PowerLogix ROM copy-utility works, this is all pretty much speculation on my part but your problem does mimic the incompatible parts mentioned earlier.

Sorry, but I have no idea where you can find the manual for your PowerLogix or the copy-utility.

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Answer 2

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Jun 6, 2008 10:22 PM in response to emfdb

emfdb,

I forgot to mention another possible cause of the black display with which you may already be aware. If a Wallstreet running OSX loses all power (no main battery plus no power adapter plus a flat PRAM battery), the Wallstreet can start up to a black display; no PRAM or power manager reset corrects the issue. The only fix is a boot to Classic, then a simple restart to OSX. This somehow corrects a problem with the power manager caused by OSX plus the fix will "stick" until all power is lost again.

If you have any Classic CD that will boot the Wallstreet (retail MacOS 8.5 > 9.2.2) or original Wallstreet special Mac OS 8.1 CD, boot to it, then see if the display lights up. You may have to install an Apple microprocessor card in place of the G4 since I don't know if special extensions are required for the G4 nor what version OS is required (might be 9.1 or 9.2.x).

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Answer 3

emfdb Author

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Jun 7, 2008 1:59 AM in response to jpl

jpl,

Thanks for the reply. Actually I think that you may have spotted the issue especially in your fist post (i.e. incompatibilities among the two Wallstreet revisions) but I have to add my new results that could suggest also something different.

The previous owner managed to find and send me such utility, namely a BlueChip.zip containing the following items:
- BlueChip_Install.mov (QuickTime movie)
- G3/G4 Cache Profiler 1.5 (Classic Application)
- G3/G4 Profiler INIT 1.5 (ColorSync Extension Document)
- G4 Cache Enabler (ColorSync Extension Document)
- PowerLogix Flash Utility 2.1 NC (Classic Application)
I have extracted the files and saved into the Wallstreet hard disk.

The following is the hardware I have for this "experiment":
- Apple CPU at 300MHz
- Wallstreet supposedly ex-266MHz (that's how I got it) so it should be compatible with the 300MHz CPU; the disk has two partitions with OS 9 and Tiger, cloned from my third and "official" Wallstreet running perfectly with the Sonnet; new PRAM battery and decently running main battery
- (Wallstreet 13" ex-250MHz, as the previous owner wrote, that came with the PowerLogix CPU)
- PowerLogix 500MHz G4 CPU

I watched the movie with the instructions and I proceeded accordingly:
- switch off the PowerBook and restart with extensions disabled (Shift pressed)
- launch the Flash Utility that runs correctly, just as in the video, asking to switch off, swap CPUs and reboot
- switch off, swap CPUs and reboot
- now, while in the movie I see that the lucky owner of that Wallstreet has a black screen with a PowerLogix textual application running and flashing the PowerLogix CPU with a file previously loaded into the hard disk, I just have the black screen (...) and I hear that OS 9 is "correctly" loading and opening; so I can even press the power button, hear the beep, push Return and the Wallstreet just switches off...
I tried twice the flashing procedure and things did not change. Here and there, occasionally I also added some PRAM and PMU reset.

I also tried to boot the Wallstreet with the PL CPU and an OS 9 disk but the result is the same black screen. I just remembered that I have also another 266MHz CPU, maybe just the one from the first Wallstreet in the list, and now I will try the same procedure, starting with the 266MHz CPU... never know.

Maybe this flashing procedure can only be done once and it is not reversible?? Does this make any sense? As I said, as soon as I install back the PowerLogix CPU in the Wallstreet it came with (allegedly an ex-250MHz), that Wallstreet just boots fine as the first Wallstreet just boots fine with the 300MHz Apple CPU.

Thanks,

Giulio

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Answer 4

emfdb Author

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Jun 7, 2008 2:27 AM in response to emfdb

Just tried the same procedure (twice) with the 266MHz Apple CPU: same result. I also tried to use only a 128MB RAM both with the 266MHz and the PL CPU: nothing. I could try the PL on the Wallstreet with the Sonnet, just to see what happens (I am sure that it was a 233MHz with cache, revision II, since I bought it).

I am starting to think that the flashing procedure is one-way only. Is it possible that the CPU can not be reflashed or reset somehow??

Thanks for any other possible idea,

Giulio

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Answer 5

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Jun 7, 2008 7:24 PM in response to emfdb

Giulio,

I cannot answer your questions...I just don't know. I would, however, summarize all that you have tried and send an email to OWC. Obviously you did not purchase the G4 from them, but they are a good company and they may take a few minutes to address your problem, especially if the right tech sees your email.

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Answer 6

emfdb Author

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Jun 9, 2008 12:00 PM in response to jpl

jpl,

After hammering my head around through several other tests, I ended up writing to the OWC support and the following was their reply: "The cards are flashable once. The firmware on the rev 1 wallstreets is different then the rev 2 units."

So this is supposed to explain everything though I never read about such CPU upgrades being "blocked" once for all. Unfortunately the Revision I, either with the PL and with the Apple CPU, appears to be somehow allergic to Tiger (when I swap the disks and I insert a working double-partitioned disk with OS 9.2.2 and Tiger) and it shows it with "acid" colors, clearly with a "heavy graphic error". Actually, even in its original configuration, OS 9 only shows the resolution at 1024x768 and that's all. Did you ever read about such (mis)behaviour?

Thanks,

Giulio

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Answer 7

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Jun 9, 2008 12:51 PM in response to emfdb

Giulio,

I am glad you at least received an answer for the flashing of the G4; you had tried everything possible, so it seems "one flashing" of the CPU card is the end of the line.

Regarding the 1024x768 resolution being the only available option: This is a limitation of the WS1 logic board. On the WS2, Apple upgraded the ATI RageLt graphics chip to an ATI RageLtPro which offered resolution switching.

I have a WS2/233MHz/L2 currently running 10.3.9, mainly for the easy installation of 10.3.x (on CDs) with my CD-ROM drive. I did have 10.4.x running and it seemed to run fine. I don't use the 'book much anymore, but I did notice that an occasional startup in 10.1/10.2 (no XPostFacto) would produce a psychedelic/distorted display that would require a restart, sometimes more, to finally get past this issue. There is nothing wrong with my 'book, just Apple's failure to write an ATI extension (.kext) for the Wallstreet's graphics chip. I believe Apple finally wrote one for the Lombard in the late 10.2.x or the early 10.3.x series. I cannot recall if using XPostFacto for 10.3/10.4 eliminated the startup display issue.

If you go to the Forums at the XPostFacto site, you can read about the various issues the Wallstreet has with OSX. There is also a way to modify one of the ATI kexts to partially support the Wallstreet, but I believe it has limited value and can be problematic.

The only suggestions I have for running the PL on the WS1 with OSX are these:

-Try several restarts to OSX to see if you can get past the display problem. I could usually see (barely) the Restart command under the Apple menu and was able to successfully restart. If this is not your case, force a restart with command-control-power or let it fully start, then hit the power button > return to shut down.

-I am wondering if when you boot to 9.x and launch XPostFacto, then go the 'options' screen, turning OFF backside cache may help. Again, you may find some answers on the XPF forums.

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Answer 8

emfdb Author

Level 1

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Jun 9, 2008 1:00 PM in response to jpl

jpl,

Thanks for these additional, and comforting,information. It is the first time I read about such graphic limitation of the Revision I Wallstreets but at least now I know that everything is working properly here and that I do not have any malfunction. Yes, "psychedelic/distorted display" does sound familiar.

Right, tweaking with XPF (and searching on the forum) could be an option and now that I know that it is not a hardware problem, I will try something. I will let you know if I will ever manage to have OS X running on the Revision I.

Regards,

Giulio

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