Well... I screwed up my PBG4 DLSD

[vddrnnr]

Hi JoyBed,

Yes I noticed you have a 17" DLSD ( arghhhhh I want one, In fact I'm trying to "build" one ;-) seem my other post )
Maybe on that one the system behaves differently as the link I sent you was based on the
15" models which had these problems I think the 17" were never affected.

Best regards,
voidRunner

 

[Intell]

My understanding (and someone please correct me if I’m wrong) is the 32-bit G5s (the 970s and 970fxs of 2003–05) are technically capable of up to 8GB, depending on hardware configuration (i.e., the low-end G5 towers being held to 4GB caps, while the higher-end at 8GB), while the 64-bit G5s (the multi-core 970mps of late 2005) are technically capable of 16GB.

All G5 Macs produced by Apple were 64-bit. That was a big selling point for the G5 lineup. The limitation with the lower end G5 was the physical memory slots. They only had 4 slots and when filled with 1GB sticks, you got 4GB. Attempts to use the out of spec 2GB DDR1 sticks have had mixed results, most common is the stick not working at all.

 

[z970]

@Intell I was wondering when someone would correct her on that...

 

[LightBulbFun]

You know... Im starting to think that this computer is just making a clown from me. What the h*** is this? I finally managed to manually adjust the ram mapping to be more than 2gigs and to get the os x to boot and it displays me this? Im starting to wonder why im still not throwing it out of the window(cuz the window is 4times more expensive than the dlsd in my country).
View attachment 907753View attachment 907755

the 16XB thing is perfectly normal when your using 2GB sticks in a DLSD under tiger, its purely cosmetic

but as a side note I highly recommend you update to 10.4.11

or better yet 10.5.8 where the 2GB stick will then be properly recognised

(I have 2 DLSDs and have spent some time experimenting with different RAM sticks)

 

[Project Alice]

Okay, Im heading home.
View attachment 907650

I just had to chime in. I love the RX8!

 

[JoyBed]

I just had to chime in. I love the RX8!

You just brought smile to my face

 

[B S Magnet]

All G5 Macs produced by Apple were 64-bit. That was a big selling point for the G5 lineup. The limitation with the lower end G5 was the physical memory slots. They only had 4 slots and when filled with 1GB sticks, you got 4GB. Attempts to use the out of spec 2GB DDR1 sticks have had mixed results, most common is the stick not working at all.

Oh. I guess I was confused when running Monolingual a while back when there were two different PowerPC G5 application categories: 32-bit and 64-bit. For my mid-2004 DP 2.0, 64-bit applications were denoted as inapplicable to my model (nevertheless, I left any 64-bit code in place).

 

[Macbookprodude]

When someone figures out how to get 2GB of memory on a DLSD or any G4 for that matter. let me know. I have this nostalgia for PowerPC all of a sudden. I wish this was 2000 again.

 

[JoyBed]

When someone figures out how to get 2GB of memory on a DLSD or any G4 for that matter. let me know. I have this nostalgia for PowerPC all of a sudden. I wish this was 2000 again.

Wait what? The 2gigs of memory are supported already, we are trying to get past the 2gig limit.

 

[weckart]

I’m curious to learn how ASD will handle this. I’ve run ASD 2.6.3 for the DLSDs (both the 17 and 15), which I think runs some kind of minimal UI based on OS9, but it’s less clear whether OS9 or OS X are the bones underneath.

The UI is the same on both but if it boots OSX first you hear the DVD seeking whirring and away for a while first. The OF version boots up pretty sharpish. There is no OS9 code there, just a facsimile of the GUI from Platinum or even pre-Platinum MacOS and that continued into the Intel period.

 

[JoyBed]

Okay, I studied the schematics of the PBG4 DLSD 17' and the ram slots are both wired to take 2gig modules so I dont dnow why just one of the slots on my PBG4 accepts 2 gig module. So the answer to the question of how much ram PBG4 DLSD can take is 4gigs on hardware level. Now it just needs to be addressed in software, the OS X cant boot with anything more than 2gigs, I think its because it checks also the model and by that sets the maximum ram.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Wait what? The 2gigs of memory are supported already, we are trying to get past the 2gig limit.

Sorry. I meant 4GB. Been busy trying to get OS 9 to run right.. I am stuck where all web browsers are having issues wit rendering websites. No talking about youtube, just plain internet sites.

 

[Dronecatcher]

No talking about youtube, just plain internet sites.

Classilla is as good as it get really, try changing to different user agents in Preferences but don't expect much difference.

 

[JoyBed]

Okay, I studied the schematics of the PBG4 DLSD 17' and the ram slots are both wired to take 2gig modules so I dont dnow why just one of the slots on my PBG4 accepts 2 gig module. So the answer to the question of how much ram PBG4 DLSD can take is 4gigs on hardware level. Now it just needs to be addressed in software, the OS X cant boot with anything more than 2gigs, I think its because it checks also the model and by that sets the maximum ram.

I will quote myself(Yes I am capable of doing such a monstrosity), Im curious to see other people trying 2 gig modules in their DLSD PBG4 to see if it will react like mine or not. I will try to disassemble my PBG4 a do a reflow os the sockets and components between socket and the northbridge, maybe also the northbridge itself, and while at it the cpu and gpu and vram. @Dronecatcher you have a 1,67 DLSD try please a 2gig stick in first and second ram slot and tell me please how the PBG4 reacts to it.

 

[AphoticD]

Re: DLSD with > 2GB of RAM, I have just tried a few tests on one of my 15 inch models...

Starting point:
STD: 1GB PC2-4200 (upper)
REV: 512MB PC2-4200 (lower)
Boots OK.
OS X sees 1.5GB of RAM

1st test:
STD: none
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST OK.
Boots OK.
OS X sees 2GB of RAM

2nd test:
STD: 512MB PC2-4200
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST OK.
No Boot - display does not initialize.

3rd test:
STD: 2GB PC2-5300-667
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST failed - beeps and sleep indicator flashes

4th test:
STD: 1GB PC2-4200
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST OK.
Boots OK.
OS X sees 1GB RAM only

(Running 10.5.8)

 

[JoyBed]

Re: DLSD with > 2GB of RAM, I have just tried a few tests on one of my 15 inch models...

Starting point:
STD: 1GB PC2-4200 (upper)
REV: 512MB PC2-4200 (lower)
Boots OK.
OS X sees 1.5GB of RAM

1st test:
STD: none
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST OK.
Boots OK.
OS X sees 2GB of RAM

2nd test:
STD: 512MB PC2-4200
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST OK.
No Boot - display does not initialize.

3rd test:
STD: 2GB PC2-5300-667
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST failed - beeps and sleep indicator flashes

4th test:
STD: 1GB PC2-4200
REV: 2GB PC2-5300-667
POST OK.
Boots OK.
OS X sees 1GB RAM only

(Running 10.5.8)

Thanks a lot for contributing to this test! so... I used the same specs ram sticks like you but with one difference, your and mine results differ in the 1st result. Mine got the same results as in the test 3. My ram reversed ram slot cant see a 2 gig stick(but any other sizes work fine). Any other people doing some tests?

 

[Akulareb]

Hi!!
owner of a similar PowerBook G4 (Hi-RES) with the same ddr2 slots.

mine boots in every combination even with two 2gb sticks in. looks like is beeping now

The problem I see inside open firmware is that a 2gb stick has size of 80000000, but no matter what only one is recognised.
The other is shown as 00000000 to 00000000 so no addressing uhmm

 

[JoyBed]

Thanks @Akulareb for this finding. I also noticed when I got in a 1 gig and 2 gigsticks that in openfirmware the 2 gig got 00000000 to 00000000 and the 1 gig 00000000 to 40000000. But when you read the whole .properties you will find out that the OF actualy sees both sticks, under the ram types or something like that it is called, it sees both and their specs, the OF just doesnt give memory space to the sticks... Probably the OF knows that the OS X will not handle more that 2 gigs on this machine so by default it never alocates more than 2 gigs?

 

[Akulareb]

Thanks a lot for contributing to this test! so... I used the same specs ram sticks like you but with one difference, your and mine results differ in the 1st result. Mine got the same results as in the test 3. My ram reversed ram slot cant see a 2 gig stick(but any other sizes work fine). Any other people doing some tests?

Joybed I’ve been following the conversation for a while, and mine hangs too on splash screen after setting the proper addresses like in the picture below (512mb & 2gb sticks).

Maybe we should try and boot a live distro of Linux to see if it hangs or boot properly.
in that case OSX will have to be patched and the ram values stored in NVRAM to get saved?
all theory but would be great if it works

EDIT: there is also a section called “available“ which is hexadecimal and converted in decimal means 2.14gb or so, maybe is a mismatch between addressing and that?

 

[bunnspecial]

I will quote myself(Yes I am capable of doing such a monstrosity), Im curious to see other people trying 2 gig modules in their DLSD PBG4 to see if it will react like mine or not. I will try to disassemble my PBG4 a do a reflow os the sockets and components between socket and the northbridge, maybe also the northbridge itself, and while at it the cpu and gpu and vram. @Dronecatcher you have a 1,67 DLSD try please a 2gig stick in first and second ram slot and tell me please how the PBG4 reacts to it.

@LightBulbFun above has played more with this type of stuff than about anyone posting in this thread(save for maybe @Intell). He's told you the way a 2gb stick reported in Tiger is perfectly normal and what he's seen before in it.

I don't know if I have a DLSD right now running Tiger, but heck maybe I'll install it if I have time after work today and see what happens with a 2gb stick.

 

[JoyBed]

@LightBulbFun above has played more with this type of stuff than about anyone posting in this thread(save for maybe @Intell). He's told you the way a 2gb stick reported in Tiger is perfectly normal and what he's seen before in it.

I don't know if I have a DLSD right now running Tiger, but heck maybe I'll install it if I have time after work today and see what happens with a 2gb stick.

Actually as you might know the Leopard is my main system but its not working for a while so I play with stuff from a different partition with tiger on it.
[automerge]1587474150[/automerge]

Joybed I’ve been following the conversation for a while, and mine hangs too on splash screen after setting the proper addresses like in the picture below (512mb & 2gb sticks).

Maybe we should try and boot a live distro of Linux to see if it hangs or boot properly.
in that case OSX will have to be patched and the ram values stored in NVRAM to get saved?
all theory but would be great if it works

EDIT: there is also a section called “available“ which is hexadecimal and converted in decimal means 2.14gb or so, maybe is a mismatch between addressing and that?

That live distro idea is great.

 

[bunnspecial]

Actually as you might know the Leopard is my main system but its not working for a while so I play with stuff from a different partition with tiger on it.

Since we can't live partition on APM like we can with GUID, it's not as simple as if I'd set it up that way when I set up the computer. Unless I run it from an external volume(would have to dig up a FW HDD) I don't know any way to get a separate partition without dumping everything.

 

[weckart]

Has anyone tried with a Live Linux CD to see if it definitely is OSX?

Since we can't live partition on APM like we can with GUID, it's not as simple as if I'd set it up that way when I set up the computer. Unless I run it from an external volume(would have to dig up a FW HDD) I don't know any way to get a separate partition without dumping everything.

iPartition (now free) will do it if you have the room but an external drive is less risky.

Coriolis Systems

 

[MagicBoy]

Just leaving this here.

Also see's all 8GB in the shipping 10.2.x.

 

[weckart]

Just leaving this here.

Yes but what we are trying to ascertain with the last generation G4s is whether the RAM limit is hardwired in the hardware, included in the specific OF with those models or also in OSX when it picks up the SMBios of the hardware.