sluggish graphics on my new QS dual gig. Why??

[studioj]

So I've been to hell and back today--my brand new G4 stopped booting. A hard knock on the hard drive actually made it boot up and I slipped a new drive in and copied the OS (9.2.2) to the new drive. It seems now the graphics are really sluggish. I did the software update. It downloaded a new driver for the Gforce 4 MX but it still is way more sluggish than my TiBook 500. Any ideas why this is? I've tried both a Cinema display on the ADC connector and a CRT on the VGA. If I drag a window over the volumes on the desktop and pull the window away it takes 3 seconds for the volumes to redraw! Same thing takes about .05 seconds on my TiBook. I did a benchmark test on the new WD Caviar drive and its flying so that shouldn't be the issue. How could my TiBook be so much snappier? The tech where I bought the system had me "reset the Logic Board"--could that have anything to do with it? Is this normal behavior and would a new graphics card fix it?

Thanks for any replies.

J

 

[rice_web]

You said you're using OS 9? It's possible that OS 9 doesn't support DDR memory very well, and thus you see a significant slowdown.

 

[studioj]

Yea I have to use OS9 because of my audio apps. I wiped and partitioned the drive when I got the machine and haven't reinstalled OSX yet. I'll install now and see if there is a difference.

Thanks.

 

[rice_web]

If it turns out that your new PowerMac doesn't work with OS 9, just return your new DDR PowerMac and pick up one of the discount dual-1GHz or dual-800MHz machines. They sell for less, and should work flawlessly.

Of course, maybe something else was a problem. We'll have to wait for others users' experiences.

 

[moby1]

Check your extensions!

If you copied OS 9 over from the TiBook then the 2D/3D extensions you need may not be there or may be disabled.

I'd suggest a clean install of OS 9 on the new machine.

Conflict Catcher 9 has a great feature: Install CC into BOTH System Folders and then do a "Clean System Merge". This will copy all of your extensions and control panels, etc. into the new "Clean" System Folder.

CC will also allow you to set up different extension sets for audio, etc.

I wouldn't use 9 without CC!

 

[studioj]

It actually is the Quicksilver Dual Gig that I got. I opted for the discounted price because of the negligible performance difference and noiser fan in the new one. I'm starting to think someting else got fried when the hard drive failed.

 

[studioj]

extensions

My new system folder is an exact copy of the stock drive that came with the dual gig. I was able to boot the failing drive long enough to copy over the OS 9 partition. You're right though, I should do a clean install. I tried disabling the ATI extensions but that didn't seem to change anything. Everything else is on.

Thanks!

 

[studioj]

Sure enough a clean install seems to have done the trick. Its as zippy as a doodah now. Where do I find conflict catcher? I just tried it on a different partition but would like to do on my first partition and merge the two system folders like you said.

Thanks for your help.