Adding Firewire to Lombard?

I tried an Iogear 3 port Firewire card on 10.2.8 and it worked great. But not in OS 9.2.2 So I got this Startech one instead cuz it says OS 8.6 or later on their site.

http://www.startech.com/ststore/ItemDetail.cfm?ProductID=CB1394&tab=b&mt=

But in 9.2.2 it doesn't work either. It doesn't even say firewire. Just a blank card with no name and picture. So tried this driver intead and no luck either.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macos/10842&vid=45709&mode=info

It now says firewire and shows the orange firewire symbol. Butg my Lacie firewire drive still doesn't show.

What am I doing wrong. Or is this too new to work on my Lombard.

http://www.compusa.com/products/productinfo.asp?productcode=310236&pfp=cat3

It was formatted in OS 10.4 on a G5. No PC partitions. All mac.

Thanks,
ivnj

15 inch black keyboard, Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Posted on Mar 23, 2006 5:29 PM

19 replies

Kavan Sidhu Author

Level 2

331 points

Mar 27, 2006 12:50 PM in response to Kavan Sidhu

And even more weirdies. I swapped the extensions form Previous System folder to the new install of 9.1. No difference. Then I put everything back to normal. I then swapped the System and Finder of both and 9.1 doesn't boot on Previos system folder. But 9.2.2 boots on the new install. But if extensions were swapped before and no boot it must be System and Finder. But replacing System and Finder still allows boot. So it has to be extensions causing the freeze. But extensions still froze even when swapped so it can't be bad extensions.

Then I put system and finder back to. And made a copy of the 9.1 folder so I never have to reinstall.

And I installed 9.2.1 update and it froze. Thinking 9.2.2 might work I installed that also. But still freezing.

But with a fresh install of 9.1 and just System 9.2.2 and Finder 9.2.1 copied over it boots. So the 9.2.1 and 9.2.2 updates are installing sometihng that is freezing. And as said before swapping extensions makes no difference. It doesn't clear up the freezing. So something else has to be causing the freezing. But what else could possibly cause the freezing.

I'm all out of ideas for now.

Thanks,
ivnj

Kavan Sidhu Author

Level 2

331 points

Mar 27, 2006 8:05 PM in response to Kavan Sidhu

Ok, I found older verson of Airport 2.0.2 that says 9.0.4 and no 9.2.1 needed so my 9.1 should do.

Anyway, I found out the other problem. I'm swapped everything a few at a time and found the problem. A file in the system folder called (MAC OS ROM) is causing the freezing.

I used my 9.2.2 folder and it freezes all the time on boot. MAC OS ROM is 9.2.2 I used a copy of another folder I had installed containing 9.1 and replaced the MAC OS ROM file.

Everything like a fresh install of 9 and 9.1 and then 9.2.1 and finally 9.2.2 on there.

So a fresh 9.2.2 finally and the only thing replaced was MAC OS ROM form 9.1.

So a full 9.2.2 system folder with a MAC OS ROM that is 9.1 instead of 9.2.2 and now no freezing.

So MAC OS ROM is the only file replaced. So that has to be the problem.

MAC OS ROM 9.2.2 causes freezing and 9.1 doesn't.

But why MAC OS ROM. What does that file do.

And should I use a complete 9.1 system folder? Or is there anyharm usuing a 9.2.2. system folder with a 9.1 MAC OS ROM?

Thanks,
ivnj

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Mar 27, 2006 8:30 PM in response to Kavan Sidhu

Kavan,

Nice work on troubleshooting the OS.

The MacOS ROM file was a new addition to the System Folder when Apple moved to New World ROM or ROM-in-RAM with the Lombard and all later Macs. Instead of having all the startup and other management instructions in the ROM chip, they moved some of these instructions to RAM which loads at startup. RAM is faster than ROM plus Apple could easily make changes to the ROM that loads into RAM.

As to why MacOS ROM 9.2.2 has a problem with the FireWire card I cannot answer, nor can I answer if you will have any problems running MacOS ROM 9.1 in OS 9.2.2. As I said before, OS 9.1 is an excellent OS and will provide all the power and features that you need as long as AirPort 2.0.2 works OK. I would tend to err on the conservative side and run OS 9.1 since I don't know the effects of mixing major OS components.

I would like to congratulate you on your persistence in solving this issue. Your problem is the first of its kind I have ever seen, so maybe we should name it the "Kavan Remedy"!

Kavan Sidhu Author

Level 2

331 points

Mar 27, 2006 10:00 PM in response to Kavan Sidhu

I always seem to have problems nobody has ever heard of beofre. Anyway I'll try it with the 9.1 rom file for a few weeks and see if 9.2.2 ever crashes or what happens?

The copper lonestar cpu that everubody complains about here could also perhaps be part of the issue. I've got it.

But I'll just try it as is and see in a few weeks.

Thanks,
ivnj

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Adding Firewire to Lombard?