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WTF?? Computer Hell part 2

nitz

nitz

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 23, 2003
53
0
Germany
This is a revisit to a thread I started in late March. To get an idea of what I have done so far and to get a more detailed description of the problem please take a look at the thread here.

Short recap: got a Quicksilver G4 800mHz running 9.2.2 (german os) that has all sorts of problems crashing. So far I have done or had the following done in an attempt to fix this problem.

Completely reformated the hard drive twice reinstalling 9.2.2 and system updates.
Removed all peripheral stuff (USB drives, adaptec 2906 scsi card, network cable).
Had motherboard replaced.
Had power supply replaced.
Switched out RAM
Had electrician come check out the circuits in the building (A-OK).
Switched monitor card

All together this machine has been to the shop 4 times. And they say they could never find a problem.

After getting the motherboard replaced it ran smooth for about a week and then the problems started up again. Like I said in the previous thread I can not replicate the problem. As soon as you think "Aha it only happens when the case door is open pointed north east" the problem goes away and another pops up.

Since the last time we have had the machine back it has been a little more stable but it still has problems. So far we have received the following errors accompanied with the bomb (Fehler, in this case, is the German word for error):
Addressfehler (2) x3 at start up
Fehler (11) x2 at start up
Fehler (3) at new start
Fehler (UhrzeitSync) Something to do with the clock sync. This asked me to reinstall system software, and open transport.
Fehler 10 Desktop Print Monitor
SystemFehler "Eudora (2)"
Filesharing extension (10)
ATIGraphics Accelerator-Adressfehler (2)

A few times it has just completely frozen stiff.
Once the mouse started "pulsating" according to witnesses. (Carol Ann, Carol Ann, is that you?) That could have been a hangover though ;-)

Almost everytime when a system error pops up and the user is prompted to restart, the computer restarts with no problems. Additionally, it almost always boots properly when exstensions are disabled.

I'm about to chuck this piece of crap out the window. The thing is if we go directly to apple and they say to take it to the nearest authorized repair center it will be the 5th time it has been there.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?

Nate
 
Hey dude, look on the bright side. At least it isn't running Winbloze, cuz then you would really be screwed.
 
Originally posted by aphexist
Hey dude, look on the bright side. At least it isn't running Winbloze, cuz then you would really be screwed.
Click to expand...

True, True. I'd be looking raving mad waving a gun around muttering things under my breath like, "Ahma gunnuh git you Billy Boy". Or maybe I would just chuck it out the window.

OSX is unfortunately not an option right now. This decision is not mine. I run X at home and on my iBook but at work our typsetters need quark 3 and a bunch of scripts that go along with it. I've bitched and moaned all I can. Ugh. F*ckers.
 
Sounds like you have extention conflicts. Try using Conflict Catcher. It's pretty good at isolating extention problems.

You might also try downgrade back to OS 9.1. I think OS 9.2 is mostly for running in Classic mode under OS X.
 
And if nothing else, cut your loses and use it as an exuse/justification for upgrading to a G5... LOL

guess thats not really an option, and correct me if i'm wrong here guys, since it won't boot into OS 9
 
Get an UPS. I suspect you have noisy power. You may want to get a "line conditioner" type UPS, rather than a simple standby type.

You may also have some kind of problem with your LAN, like a power circuit shorting to the Ethernet (I've seen this happen before). Computers are extremely sensitive to noise on their data circuits. Try running for a while with no ethernet or printer/usb cables hooked up. If that works well, you might interpose a "sacrificial hub" between the computer and the ethernet.

I suspect any computer you put in there is going to act the same way. The QS 933 is a very stable machine under normal conditions.
 
Next part to swap would be the processor like Gigawire said. I'd be pretty upset if it was my computer. Ask if the will give you a replacement one. Goodluck!
 
Re: WTF?? Computer Hell part 2

Originally posted by nitz
This is a revisit to a thread I started in late March. To get an idea of what I have done so far and to get a more detailed description of the problem please take a look at the thread here.

Short recap: got a Quicksilver G4 800mHz running 9.2.2 (german os) that has all sorts of problems crashing. So far I have done or had the following done in an attempt to fix this problem.

Completely reformated the hard drive twice reinstalling 9.2.2 and system updates.
Removed all peripheral stuff (USB drives, adaptec 2906 scsi card, network cable).
Had motherboard replaced.
Had power supply replaced.
Switched out RAM
Had electrician come check out the circuits in the building (A-OK).
Switched monitor card

All together this machine has been to the shop 4 times. And they say they could never find a problem.

After getting the motherboard replaced it ran smooth for about a week and then the problems started up again. Like I said in the previous thread I can not replicate the problem. As soon as you think "Aha it only happens when the case door is open pointed north east" the problem goes away and another pops up.

Since the last time we have had the machine back it has been a little more stable but it still has problems. So far we have received the following errors accompanied with the bomb (Fehler, in this case, is the German word for error):
Addressfehler (2) x3 at start up
Fehler (11) x2 at start up
Fehler (3) at new start
Fehler (UhrzeitSync) Something to do with the clock sync. This asked me to reinstall system software, and open transport.
Fehler 10 Desktop Print Monitor
SystemFehler "Eudora (2)"
Filesharing extension (10)
ATIGraphics Accelerator-Adressfehler (2)

A few times it has just completely frozen stiff.
Once the mouse started "pulsating" according to witnesses. (Carol Ann, Carol Ann, is that you?) That could have been a hangover though ;-)

Almost everytime when a system error pops up and the user is prompted to restart, the computer restarts with no problems. Additionally, it almost always boots properly when exstensions are disabled.

I'm about to chuck this piece of crap out the window. The thing is if we go directly to apple and they say to take it to the nearest authorized repair center it will be the 5th time it has been there.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?

Nate
Click to expand...
Sounds like a bad processor card or poor drivers for the processor card.
 
Fender is right!

Get Conflict Catcher! I wouldn't even run OS 9 without it.

An extensions conflict can take a long time to track down but see what extensions you are running and do searches on likely candidates (3rd party) to see if anyone else is having problems.

It can be very frustrating but once you find the dirty little cullprit - voila! BTW- you're not running Lightwave are you...;)
 
Re: Fender is right!

Originally posted by moby1
Get Conflict Catcher! I wouldn't even run OS 9 without it.

An extensions conflict can take a long time to track down but see what extensions you are running and do searches on likely candidates (3rd party) to see if anyone else is having problems.

It can be very frustrating but once you find the dirty little cullprit - voila! BTW- you're not running Lightwave are you...;)
Click to expand...

I concur. We had a very similar set up (and problems) to this at my office years ago. I remember sitting with the problem child one day and turning extensions on one by one until I found a few that seemed to be causing problems.

But I can't for the life of me remember which ones they were...sorry! But if Confilct Catcher can do that work for you I'd get it in a flash. I'd certainly try this before changing the CPU.
 
??Btrule out an exstension conflict because we have already completely wiped the hard drive twice and were still having the problems with just the Mac os standard set with no additional hardware/software.

Also the network connections seem to be okay. We don't have any problems with any other computers on the same hub or when we connect them to the same cable. the computer would also crash when it was not connected to the network at all.

Also as I stated in the original thread, it would sometimes crash when we would change the hardware configuration. Especially wierd was that one day it would only start up if the case door was opened and laying open on the ground. When you shut the door and started it up it would crash. Also once for about a week, it would always crash if any device was in USB port2. Wierd.

We have two identical machines that are running the same software except the problem machine has a scanner attached with a Adaptec 2906 scsi card. These other machines have no problems. We have already removed the scsi card but the problems remain.

The only thing that we haven't swapped out is the Processor. With the Apple Hardware test CD that came with the computer, it checked out ok. Is there any other way to test it and see if it is okay with out actually taking it out and putting another in?

Nate
 
Swap out the processor from the identical machine that works. Re-install OS 9.2.2 and run it for a while.

I think your best bet is to just buy a new machine (by "new" I mean new to you)...
 
hmmm ...

Sounds like a funky processors. It sounds like it maybe over heating foe some unknown reason.

Rather than swapping the processer, test the questionable processor in one of the other machines. Don't put the GOOD processor in the BAD machine. If the problem is cauesed by somethng else, you don't want it to mess up another processor.
 
Bit of a long shot this one, but a friend had a similar problem with her comp, worked everywhere else, crap at home, we think it was the underground train system that runs beneath her house. You could try lending the comp to a desert island dweller and see what happens. Not too much you can do about rogue electromagnetic radiation as far as I know. Hope this helps, Nick
 
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