Identifying The Revision number of a Beige G3

Thank you Grant

I seen the same question asked on applefritter i just copy/paste to it here. im lerning allot from here and applefritter I go by madmax_2069 there.

There is a few things left unanswered for me with the Beige series of Mac's and i think every one knows what they are cause we all experience the Beige everyday and lern to deal with or find a way around the problems we all know with the Beige.

I wish i knew how to code and write drivers and software so i could help with development with the Beige and try to make drivers that will fully support the diffrent versions personality card's.

RE: 1. above

Has it been unplugged, moved, worked on, or left for a long time unattended? if so, you probably need a new battery. What revision makes no difference to this question. Why did you want to know?

Hi everyone,

I just came across this thread, and coincidentally I've recently been wondering if I might have been mistaken all this time about which Rev version my computer is... Up until now, I've only been using the System Profiler to figure this out. However, after following all the instructions written here, I'm finding that my computer might be a different version. Maybe someone here can make sense of these specs for me? The reason I'm asking is because I'm currently trying to troubleshoot a problem, and a concern for which ROM version my computer is has come up several times.

Here's what I found:
(my guess in parentheses)

- System Profiler: "$77D.40F2" (Rev A.)
- ATI chip: "Rage II + DVD" (Rev A.)
- Motherboard marked: 820-0864-B 1997 (Rev B.)
- ROM chip back: "LROG434-03", front: "820-0954-A" (Rev C.)

Also, on the power case there is a big white label on which is written, (in addition to a bunch of other info), "Rev B1". Stamped on that same case is this date: "Feb 25,1998". The date on the back of the computer is "3/21/98"

So... is the System Profiler wrong? Should I be referring to my computer as one that has a Rev B. motherboard with a Rev C. ROM chip, rather than referring to it in general as a Rev A.?

Thanks in advance for any help in clearing up this mystery for me.
~Kathleen




Beige G3, MT, 300mhz, rev.?, model #M6572LLA,Ultra SCSI Quantum Viking 4.5 WSE Mac OS 9.2.x RAM=728MB, USB card, FW card, ATI mach64_3DU Display card

Thanks Grant,

That explains quite a bit about all the different revisions then - what a confusing mess!

The main purpose folks have in asking, "Which Rev?"
is to decide whether they can support Master/Slave
IDE/ATA drives using two connectors on the same Hard
Drive cable under Mac OS 8 or 9. For that purpose,
only the code in the ROM is important, and its
checksum is the definitive measurement.

Actually, their concern is in regard to the voltage for the PCI slots - From what I read a while back, the Rev A. had a 2.1 PCI protocol that could support both 3V and 5V cards, but I heard that the Rev B. had some problems here. (It's been a while since I read about it all, so I'm a little fuzzy on that).

The graphics chip is a strong, but not a certain
predictor of the ROM chip revision. The other
evidence helps infer, but does not determine the ROM
chip revision.

So my computer then is a Rev C.? (Sorry, I'm still a little confused about which info to use to determine the revision)

~Kathleen

Beige G3, MT, 300mhz, rev.?, model #M6572LLA, RAM=640MB Mac OS 9.2.x WD Raptor 74 GB, SeriTek/1VE2+2 USB card, FW card, ATI mach64_3DU Display card

I have aBeige collecting dust as my server and it has a Rev A main board (RageII+DVD) with a Rev C ROM (I added it later just for fun) and a Rev C PERCH Card (hardware MPEG-DVD decode no Infra Red or TV Tuner connections but it still has the DAV and Modem connection )...

The ONLY way to verify ROM rev is via booting into OS9 (NOT CLASSIC emulation) and running ASP. The ONLY way to confirm board REV is via GPU chipset and board rev info stamp... Well... that is how I see it anyway.

RagePro Turbo? Turbo was used but Turbo was not activated until AGP slots were added.

Aside to Kathleen,

See, the more you learn, the less you know! (There will be a quiz on Friday, followed by an in-class essay on 'What I learned from taking this quiz'.)

Dave 2,

Since you seem knowledgeable, do you happen to know the difference between the 820-0991-A motherboard with the Rage Pro chip, the 820-0991-B motherboard with the Rage Pro chip, and the 820-0991-B motherboard with the Rage Pro Turbo chip?

The only difference that I can spot is that the motherboard with the Rage Pro Turbo chip is missing a rivet in the DB-15 monitor port, which suggested to me that perhaps Apple intended that model to be supplied with the Twin Turbo PCI card and possibly to discourage use of the DB-15 port - (alone, or with a second monitor?)

Just curious ..... Jon

From a functional stand point I have not found any differences. Chip revs may be slightly different but I have not looked to closely. My point about the "Turbo" issue not being implmented until AGP slots were used is based on an old Apple Knowledge Base Document which inidcated this to be so.

I did not notice the missing "rivet". Good eyes.

D.

Ok not to be a bugg but who answered the topic starters question or who was help full cause i cant tell.

Message to orignal poster

please mark some ones post as helpfull or solved if there post was helpful or solved your problem just dont mark the question as answered without marking wich post was helpfull or solved

Hi Jon,

[snip]... Unless you're a glutton for punishment, don't make something more complicated than it is. What most people mean by referring to their beige G3 Macs as Rev A is that they have a Rev A ROM chip - as reported by the Apple System Profiler.... which is of importance when they go to add a new larger capacity Hard Drive. End of story!

[/snip]

Well unfortunately, I have one more chapter to add to that story. I'm currently in the middle of troubleshooting a problem that possibly might be related to a PCI card issue. With some cards, companies are specifying that they support Beige G3s that are Rev B and later. I'm still waiting for a firmware update to be sent to me in hopes that that might solve my problem, but if not, the problem could be Rev A related (they told me it shouldn't be a problem, but we shall see...). So that's why I've been so curious (and confused).
%-)
~Kathleen

Beige G3, MT, 300mhz, rev.?, model #M6572LLA, RAM=640MB Mac OS 9.2.x WD Raptor 74 GB, SeriTek/1VE2+2 USB card, FW card, ATI mach64_3DU Display card

From what I can tell... The issue with the Rev A ROM is not larger drives as B and C are also limited to drives under 128GBs (unless on a PCI based ATA "controller" or in a FW enclosure (anyone try a USB drive larger tehn 128Gigs?)). The issue is that A ROMs will not support two devices on the same IDE "channel" under classic operating system (OS9 and earlier). In OSX you can use two dirves with an A ROM as OSX uses a "ROM in RAM" and the ROM file is on the harddrive... but it is kind of iffy (if you boot back into OS9 the other drive disappears... So... unless you are like me and into hitting your head against the wall the general issue is that A ROMs will not support two devices on the same IDE channel....


D2

Hello Kathleen,

Well now that we've established you're a glutton for punishment..... welcome, come on in, and make yourself at home.

All I was trying to say is that there exists some confusion on the subject, and you may be expecting a precision that isn't there.

I'm not sure I understand what the nature of your problem is, and it might be easier to be helpful if I did. Actually - as you may be discovering - I'm not the same level expert that some of the others here are, but the principle is still the same: it's easier to find the gremlins if you know how the problem manifests itself.

I'm also puzzled by the fact that you're waiting for a firmware update. I would have said that beige G3s didn't have firmware to update, but then I'm constantly learning new things about my beige doorstops. Blue and white G3s have firmware to update, and they also have a Revision B motherboard (with a 402 chip) that solves some fairly severe limitations of the original motherboard. You knew that, of course, but the tech support of card manufacturers is not always as deadly, and I wonder if that could possibly be a source of confusion.

Yours in confusion.....Jon

O.K. you guys, believe me... (lol) I am NOT a glutton - it's just that I've been in troubleshooting "h-e-double-l" for the last week here. I didn't want to get into the specifics in this thread 'cause it probably should be separated out into another one, but since you asked... it has to do with a SeriTek card and a WD Raptor hard drive that I'm trying to install. Basically they're not speaking to each other.

The tech support at FirmTek told me that I would need to have the firmware ver. 5.1.3 (5.1.1 is currently on the card). So while waiting for the firmware update, I came across this thread. When I went to check all the parts and compare the photos to what I have inside my computer, I began to wonder if my computer was really a Rev A. or not, or that maybe the problem I was having had to do with the compatibility between the chip version and the card, or the motherboard version and the card.

So you're absolutely right Jon..."See, the more you learn, the less you know!" (Hope that test on Friday won't be too difficult).

*;-D
~Kathleen

Beige G3, MT, 300mhz, rev.?, model #M6572LLA, RAM=640MB Mac OS 9.2.x WD Raptor 74 GB, SeriTek/1VE2+2 USB card, FW card, ATI mach64_3DU Display card

Hello again Kathleen,

Think I'm beginning to see the problem.

Think you're probably in the right place to get some light - - as good as any and better than most.

I'm not too helpful at this point because - starting at about the same point with a beige G3 - I opted to go to an ATA-133 controller card (SIIG, ACARD, Sonnet) and corresponding ATA-133 hard drive (Seagate). These have been (relatively) cheap and entirely trouble-free. I'm also working on building a U-160 SCSI, which is a little temperamental, fractionally faster, and twice as expensive. I also started by going to a 820-0991-(AorB) motherboard and $77D.45F2 ROM chip - not necessarily because I had to, but because I've found that by updating when possible I sometimes finesse a bedeviling problem or two.

Sorry to digress, but I couldn't resist.

To reiterate what I said earlier, I think there may be a couple of experts on serial drives lurking in the shadows, and perhaps if you just wait one will rise to the challenge and make himself known.

Regards and good luck ..... Jon

he was wanting to know how to tell what rev it was without turning it on