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Beige G3 w/ DVD on ATI = disaster

M

mahohmei

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2002
6
0
Tallahassee, FL
Beige G3/266 DT w/ DVD player and DVD personality card [hardware decoder]. 384 M RAM, 45 G + 4 G HDs, OS 9.1 [and no plans to go to X]

The on-board video stopped working properly on me, so I took "advantage" of this opportunity to pop in an ATI Radeon 7000 Mac Edition, which I am sofar loving, with just one problem: DVD playing.

Apple DVD player 1.3 won't run like it used to, since it doesn't have the "required hardware". I try downloading and installing DVD player 2.x, but they won't install either, since they require that the computer NOT have hardware DVD decoding.

I want to play DVDs! Anyone have any idea what I can do? I've heard from other sources that there are hacked 2.x DVD players that can do it. I found a hacked 2.3 DVD player, but it won't work either. Thanks.

--matt
 
check out www.xlr8yourmac.com type in your system specs in their drive compatability section and see what others like you have down , they also have notes on radeon 7000
 
Do you have just the ATI video card installed, or do you still have the "DVD personality" card installed?? If you still have both cards installed, yank the one that is not the Radeon 7000.

Is that "DVD Player" a DVD-Rom drive??? Which drive is it?? What did you set the jumpers to?? Is anything else on the same ribbon???
 
"Do you have just the ATI video card installed, or do you still have the "DVD personality" card installed??"

The beige G3 came with the AV personality card installed in a proprietary personality slot--I can not remove it. The VGA port itself is built onto the motherboard, and the personality card has the RCA stereo audio/video/S-video in and out.

"Is that "DVD Player" a DVD-Rom drive??? Which drive is it?? What did you set the jumpers to?? Is anything else on the same ribbon???"

It's a 20xCD/2xDVD Matsu****a drive that came with the Mac. It's sharing an EIDE ribbon with a 4 G hard drive; the hard drive is slave and the CD/DVD drive is master.

The ATI video card works beautifully with everything but the Apple DVD player--1.3 and 2.3 [hacked] won't recognize it, and 2.x won't run on beige G3s.

Thanks.
 
Alright newbie... use the correct quote method when you are repeating more then a few words...

Something else, that card that is in the riser CAN be removed, without ill effects. There are three screws holding it in, and you should be able to figure it out (it's NOT that hard).

You do NOT want to have optical drives and a hard drive on the same ATA ribbon. Set them up on seperate ribbons, the hard drive as master, and the optical as master as well, if it is alone on the ribbon. If that 4GB drive is not the one you boot from, then you can have it on the same ribbon, but the access speed of the hard drive will be brought down to the speed of the optical drive (below ATA33 speeds). If you are booting from the 4GB drive, then DO take it off that chain.

Drop the hacked software, and install a good copy of 9.2 (and update it to 9.2.2 right away).
 
Something else, that card that is in the riser CAN be removed, without ill effects. There are three screws holding it in, and you should be able to figure it out (it's NOT that hard).

I've actually removed that card and, to what I can remember, the Mac did not give me a startup chime. However, I'll give it a shot. Oh--if I did remove it, I'd lose all audio capabilities, since the headphone/microphone minijacks are on it, as are the RCA A/V in/out jacks.

That 4 G drive is more of a toy than anything. I can rip it right out with no ill effects at all to my productivity, since I use the 45 G drive [alone on its own ribbon] for practically everything.

Here's the weirdest part: 9.2.x won't work with my ATI Radeon 7000. I clean-installed 9.1, and it worked like a charm. I did the upgrade to 9.2.1, and the Mac hung on boot before a single extension loaded--even shift-starting did not fix this. Thus, I keep 9.1 in my system--I've talked with the Mac guy at my old workplace and he told me that I'm not missing anything significant with 9.1 as opposed to 9.2.x. And btw, I did drop that "hacked" player.

Thanks for your advice. I'll do your suggested magic and let you know how it goes.
 
Things I tried:

- Removed that hard drive, so the DVD drive is now alone on a ribbon. Didn't work.

- Removed the personality card. Mac booted like a charm, but no audio whatsoever. I also, of course, lost all modem functionality. That, I don't want. And by the way, I still got the same error launching video player. :-(

Here's a quote of the error dialog box I get:

Apple DVD Player canmnot open because the required hardware was not found.

If you have another application open that uses sound or video, quit that application and open Apple DVD Player again. If you are using a PowerBook that requires a DVD-Video PC Card, make sure the PC card is properly installed in the appropriate slot. ((Quit))
Click to expand...

I haven't the slightest idea what to do. This was, as I said, with Player 1.3, and my Mac won't let me install Player 2.x. Am I just up the creek? Thanks.
 
I'm not very familiar with OS 9, but have you tried searching for specific extensions that support the personality card, or individual functions of it, and disabling any that might be relevant? I see a whole slew of DVD- and video-related extensions in my Extensions Manager (in OS 9.2.2). Just a guess...

Also, maybe ATI or Apple has some troubleshooting info on their site.
 
Just another thought... did you install the Radeon card per the included instructions (not skipping any steps)?? There very well could be drivers there that you need to install to get the full functionality. Also check ATI's web site for updated drivers, as well as on versiontracker for updates.
 
Originally posted by AlphaTech
Just another thought... did you install the Radeon card per the included instructions (not skipping any steps)?? There very well could be drivers there that you need to install to get the full functionality. Also check ATI's web site for updated drivers, as well as on versiontracker for updates.
Click to expand...

I installed everything right to the book and have all the latest drivers. I've talked with some other people, and this seems to be a weird problem. First off, the ATI Radeon won't work with 9.2.x; just 9.1. Then, I have this problem of the DVD player refusing to play my DVDs--even though they're recognized by Mac OS when I pop 'em in the DVD drive.

The only thing I can think of that would "really" fix this problem would be paying through my nose to have the Mac repaired by an Apple-authorized repair technician--can one even get a replacement personality card?

If anything, I have a feeling this is some kind of an omen telling me to get a new Mac. ;-)

Seriously though, all it seems to need is a DVD player with a software decoder--Apple DVD Player doesn't seem to do the trick, since any given version either won't recognize the ATI card as a valid decoder, or will refuse to install due to that the computer already _has_ a hardware DVD decoder. :-(
 
They should be able to order the part, if that is the part that has gone bad... You will have to get a cost from them, since I don't know what they get for pricing.
 
I know that you said that you weren't going to update to OS X, but I'd try it. Radeon now offers support for your graphics card, which is sweet. I have the same system, as a server, but it's the tower version. Everything works fine under 10.

If you are looking to update to X cheaply, I suggest going to OWC here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/specials/MailList.cfm

Only 50 bucks for OS 10.1. Sweet deal!

Later,
Draft
 
Originally posted by AlphaTech
They should be able to order the part, if that is the part that has gone bad... You will have to get a cost from them, since I don't know what they get for pricing.
Click to expand...

After putting down the cash for a Radeon 7000 and an ATI XClaim, it'd be a shame to just up and pay for a replacement board--I don't know if it would be more or less than the ATI, but I _would_ get my original functionality back as a DVD system. I'll have to admit, though, that this Radeon gives me faster redraws than did the built-in Rage Plus or whatever, so I guess I have to pick the lesser of two evils.

Giving the Mac to the folks at the campus computer store would probably put the Mac out of comission overnight as they look at it, which I kinda can't afford now since all my classes are online. It'll be my August semester break project. ;-)

Anyway, since I'm graduating in just one semester, it really doesn't matter, since I'll soon be rich enough to afford my G4 tower with two 23" Cinema Displays...maybe... :-D
 
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