Hi guys,
So, I'm still playing with my Mac IIfx. After much goofing around, I've arrived at what seems to be a major impasse.
I currently have two drives in the IIfx - one is an IDE drive connected to the internal SCSI port (via an IDE-to-SCSI adapter), and the other is an old Apple-ROM'd SCSI drive, connected to the "regular" 50-pin port on my JackHammer card. The second drive is being powered by an old gutted SCSI case (so it's not drawing power from the IIfx's power supply).
On the JackHammer drive, I've got Mac OS 7.6, and most of my applications and utilities. On the drive connected to the motherboard, I've installed a clean, fresh OS 7.1.3, and RocketWare. So, here's the problem:
When I have the JackHammer card inserted (whether or not a drive is connected to it), and I try to boot from the mobo-drive (with RocketWare), I get the initial boot process, the Rocket "Whoosh", the system restarts, and after a moment (when the Rocket would normally take over), I get a black screen with a flickering "Sad Mac."
Here's the strange thing - if I remove the JackHammer board, the system (and the Rocket) boot perfectly, from the IDE drive connected to the motherboard.
Any ideas? Maybe I should be investing in one of those ATTO high-speed SCSI cards instead? Are my two coolest NuBus cards destined to clash?
Huxley
Check the control panel for the JackHammer card and see if bus mastering can be disabled. Alternatively, take a look at the Rocket software. The Mac can only have one active bus master.
I'm still having no luck - I keep getting the "Sad Mac" when the Rocket tries to boot. I was unable to find any settings relating to which card should be the bus master, but I've tried changing the cache settings and the various options on the JackHammer, but with no success.
So, now I'm wondering if what I'm trying to do is even possible! Has anyone out there actually managed to get a Rocket to boot with a JackHammer card installed?
Thanks for the help - I can't shake the feeling that I'm this close to getting this working!
Huxley
Hey,
You said:
"On the drive connected to the motherboard, I've installed a clean, fresh OS 7.1.3, and RocketWare."
I always thought that 7.1.3 was for Power Macs. It was released to run on the first power Mac. Or do you have a fat version?
William
www.williamahearn.com
Actually, I may have misspoken - it's running a fresh 7.1, but with "Update 3.0" installed. Now that you point it out, I don't believe that actually counts as being a true "7.1.3" install.
One positive note - I installed the JackHammer control panel onto the Rocket boot drive, and from there, disabled the JackHammer card... and the Rocket booted fine! I just really want to get them both working at the same time...
I wonder - do you think the physical placement of the cards in the system could be related to the problems I'm having?
Thanks!
Huxley
Hey,
Have you seen this?
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/hw/hw_09.html#Section9
Might help.
William
www.williamahearn.com