OSX on G3 Desktop

SOLID · Oct 31st, 2003, 12:51 PM

I've been running OSX on my G3 Desktop for months. All of a sudden the video started crapping out. I knew I was pushing the video limits of this machine, but for the most part I'm just doing basic desktop work so video quality wasn't a big issue.

I restarted yesterday with OS9 and all seems to be fine with the video.

Because it just started happening after running fine for months, I'm wondering if one of the OSX updates has put more demand on the video system? I'm assuming I'll have to upgrade to a PCI video card, what do I need. I don't think I need anything too outragous. Anyone have any ideas for me.

Thanx.

Sayyad · Oct 31st, 2003, 01:08 PM

Yeah, I had a similar experience with my G3 tower. I installed the 10.2.8 update and it basically fried my computer (which now sits quietly across the room, gathering dust and waiting for me to find a 10.2 CD so I can fix it). I have the standard built-in video card as well as a PCI Radeon. The update installed ok, then I rebooted. It showed video output from my built-in video card for a little while, but my main monitor (on the Radeon) had stuck at 800x600 and when I tried to launch "Displays" system preferences crashed. I launched iTunes and dragged it into the onboard video's screen and then hit play. The video on that screen instantly became garbled and then went to just black diagonal lines across the screen. Luckily I had the Radeon so I could see that the machine was still running. But everything became really really slow all of a sudden so I had to force it to shut down. Upon rebooting, everything went back to normal (main display resolution and speed, anyway) and I figured it was just a small glitch. Then my built-in video display went to the black lines again and the machine slowed right down so I had to shut it off. When I tried to reboot it after that, it just stuck at the gray apple (no spinning wheel thing or anything else on screen, no video on the built-in video monitor). It now does this every time I try to start up, hence it's sitting quietly across the room doing nothing. Anybody know what's going on? Is there any quick fix to this? Thanks,

Sayyad

SOLID · Oct 31st, 2003, 01:36 PM

Sounds like we are having a similar problem. When my screen goes black in OSX I am able to force a restart and everything is OK until the next time it happens which could 10 minutes or 10 days later.

Everything fine in OS 9 so must be a software/video issue.

Any of you MAC gurus got any answers for us?

Lawrence · Oct 31st, 2003, 01:44 PM

If it's OSX 10.2.8 you are using...
Then try downgrading to OSX 10.2.6
Also...
To get a better response from the ehMac guru's...
Try posting in the correct forum.

BTW...There are no "MAC" guru's on ehMac,
Or at least...Not the ones you'd think MAC stands for. (Heh)
Although...There might be some "Mac" guru's.

(There probably are some "MAC" guru's actually...Come to
think of it, Gosh...Darn it...I hate editing messages)

While I'm editing this message...Tell me...How much are
you selling your problems for?

Dave

[ October 31, 2003, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: dolawren ]

monokitty · Oct 31st, 2003, 02:21 PM

I'll help you for $20/problem....

[img]tongue.gif[/img]

SOLID · Oct 31st, 2003, 03:36 PM

OK, OK, I'm an idiot I posted this topic in the wrong forum. My humble appologies. If one of the moderators see this could you please move to Troubleshooting forum.

Thanx.

Larry Jorgenson · Dec 17th, 2003, 01:33 PM

Re: 10.2.8 on G3's

Some have problems, some don't is what I've been able to figure out.

I personally had major problems trying to run 10.2.8 on my G3. The screen would go off (black) and the machine would be frozen. This would happen sometimes after a few minutes, sometimes after several hours, sometimes when idle, sometimes when under small-heavy processor loads.

After reinstalling several times and trying all the usual tricks in the book I finally paid heed to those warning about 10.2.8 and did a clean install of 10.2.0 and only updated to 10.2.6. I haven't seen the described crash since (3+ days of running).

This is what my experience is. Try it for yourself and report back.

monokitty · Dec 17th, 2003, 01:39 PM

A lot of the people who have freezing and black screens when updating to 10.2.8 seem to be using the built-in video of the Beige G3 - not a good idea. The built-in video does not supprot Mac OS X (no 3D accerleration, poor 2D acceleration), and I have a feeling 10.2.8 finally pulls the final plug on the on-board video. When I installed 10.2.8 on my Beige G3, I had no freezing problems, stability problems or black screen problems - I was running the monitor off an installed PCI ATI Rage 128 16 MB video card - haven't tested the on-board video yet. My advice: If you are going to be using 10.2.x on a Beige G3, get a 3rd-party PCI video card that properly supports Mac OS X (any PCI Rage 128 [16MB] or RADEON [32MB] card). Using the on-board video, which isn't even supported, is full of potential problems.

Lawrence · Dec 17th, 2003, 05:47 PM

ATI hasn't updated their Video drivers for the 16 mb Rage card
since 2002, I know because I have noticed that the older 2002
driver is sluggish in OSX 10.2.8

The only thing you can do is to either bug ATI
or down grade to OSX 10.2.6
or put it off like me and put up with the sluggishness.

$ No charge

Dave