XLR8 upgrade

acidtuch10

Registered
I have a XLR4 G4 500 from a beige G3 I purchased; well I just acquired a B&W 350mhz. Can I install (after the firmware patch) the G4 CPU into the B&W and run OSX with out buying the MACHspeed Control X software. And if need be can I revert to the G3 (origanal CPU) with the patched firmware installed? It’s my understanding that OSX will see and use the 1 Meg cache but OS9 will not without the MACHspeed software.


Thank you
 
Another short answer, if you ever want to go back to the G3 processor, you'll have to remove the firmware upgrade that allows use of the G4 processor.
 
Hi,
I hate to step on toes, but in my experience that's not the case at all. I've had to put the G3 back in to install X many times and never had to redo the firmware. And I used the patch from xlr8, I don't think there is a difference from the patches from other manufacturers, there might be, but I don't think so. Anyway, in my case the patch did not affect the use of the G3.
 
Ah, I remember what I was thinking of: apparently, you need to install new B&W G3 firmware to use the new G3 upgrade processors at 1GHz and 1.1GHz... the problem was, you couldn't use this G3 firmware updater if you had already installed the firmware to allow use of G4 processors.

The workaround was another firmware patch that removed the G4 firmware and restored the G3 firmware... then the new G3 firmware upgrade would work.

Sorry about the confusion.
 
use the sonnet firmware update to use the G4. the sonnet patch is the only one that also comes with an uninstaller. they all work the same pretty much but at least with the sonnet you can easily remove it.
 
I Installed the patch from XLR8's website, booted back into OS 9 and a pop up from the finder came up saying that the patch was successful - Shut down, pop in the G4 > hit the power > nothing > get the tone but then a blank screen... Pop it out and reinstall the G3.. boots right up .... OK So I pop the G4 back into the Beige and it boots right up... Weird I think so I pop the G4 back into the B&W - reset CUDA -- hit the power button and get a tone with no video, verify and recheck all jumpers and hit power button > same thing no video ( Radeon 7000 ) ---- G4 back into the Beige and the G3 back into the B&W and I give up. Beige with G4 500 now sits on ebay awaiting a new home.
 
Did you try a slower clock speed in the B&W with the g4? I had a 466 G4 in a beige with no problem, and it's supposed to run at 450 in a B&W, but it would not boot until I dropped it down to 400.
 
IIRC, xlr8 upgrades have a user-adjustable clock speed via rotary dial on the processor -- did you double-check that the clock/bus speed setting is correct for your machine and desired speed?
 
Actually this CPU has four jumpers on it ... I jumpered it at 400,450,500 and 550 all will produce a tone, HD spins up but still not video.. Tried with a radeon 7000 and a Rage 128... Put it into the Beige and it boots right up. Its on ebay right now - if interested - search under "Beige Powermac G4"
 
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