Hosting and bandwidth provided by MacHost.


Members Home arrow Forums

The forums are sponsored by PowerMax, Other World Computing, and Operator Headgap Systems. PowerMax sells new and used Macs & iPods -- with *no sales tax*, OWC sells Mac upgrades -- RAM, hard drives, and more, and OHS sells custom refurbished Macs, hardware, and accessories.

EveryMac.com Forum  


Umax S900 - Anyone still familiar with this baby ? - 2008/08/07 19:14 Developed some start-up problem[s] with my great old unit. [got all my Mac's going back to '88, but like this one best, even better than my osX notebooks]
Would really like to get it working agin. Have the full details, but reluctant to post them unless there's some old pro's out there.

Anyone out there that remembers and has a moment for
some review and input ? It would be much appreciated.

B.rgds,
harrold
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Re:Umax S900 - Anyone still familiar with this bab - 2008/08/08 02:54 Ask Away. I was always a big fan of the clones.

What's it doing ?
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Re:Umax S900 - Anyone still familiar with this bab - 2008/08/08 13:05 Rather, what it's not doing, i.e. booting up.
Wouldn't boot from boot drive or alternate holding key combo, nor from CD drive.
So, pulled the boot drive > partial boot, so re-start w/ext. OFF & successful boot. Ran Norton Util & fixed some problems. Re-booted w/ext ON, no luck. No further re-booting regardless of manner.

Then, pulled & re-inserted all scci connections & accelerator board, video board, f/w board, ata board, etc.
No luck.

Have ordered a new PRAM batt, assuming that the one boot [ext off] was a fluke.

No idea what to do next, if the new pram batt isn't the answer.[coming tues/wed].

Any thoughts on the situation ??
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Re:Umax S900 - Anyone still familiar with this bab - 2008/08/08 13:18 If it's booting with extensions off and not booting with extensions on, then there's probably an extension conflict of some sort. What system are you running, anyway?
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Re:Umax S900 - Anyone still familiar with this bab - 2008/08/08 16:30 Don't expect any miracles with a new PRAM battery. There are very few Mac that will not boot with a dead battery. Most will boot although you may need to zap the PRAM on start-up if it's been unplugged.

Have you tried the PRAM zap on start-up ?

As Cacicedo said, it sounds like there is a conflict problem somewhere.

What aftermarket components/software do you have installed ? The best thing to do is put it back to stock configuration and install a clean fresh OS to trouble shoot. My experience with OS 9 is that it only lasts for so long before having issues and usually needs to be re-installed eventually. A fresh new OS and re-installing software is a pain but it's the best way to eliminate/identify software problems.

I see you are using an ATA card and Firewire. I would pull both of those and see if it boots from the CD ok first. And if you have a G3 card put the OEM CPU in if you have it.

Once you get it booting from a CD properly then you can start adding hardware one component at a time to pin down the software and/or hardware problem.

Try another hard drive if you have a spare too. I've seen bad hard drives cause all kinds of odd problems.

Since I'm more of a PowerComputing guy and never had a s900 there may be some unique problems the s900 has. There is a Google group for Umax clones through LowEndMac. It may be a good idea to join the group because there are some very knowledgeable SuperMac members who would know your machine inside and out.

http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml

Post edited by: krowmagnum, at: 2008/08/08 16:36
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Re:Umax S900 - Anyone still familiar with this baby ? - 2008/08/09 11:01 Thanks for the input.

Only got _one_ boot-up, 'ext off' won't work any more. Was on the original 2gig HD, after having pulled the original boot-up, both using 7.6.1. Also pulled the ATA drive [booting off 8.6] in event that there was some sort of virus working.

Will try the 'zap pram' start next week when new batt arrives, along with pulling f/w, ubs & ata cards. If I can find the orig. board, will pull the Sonnet and put that back.

Thanks for the interest group address -- I had an old one in my bookmarks that's not valid, so I presumed it moved here.

Will report back next week.
Thanks again
hb
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.



EveryMac.com is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind whatsoever. EveryMac.com, and the author thereof, shall not be held responsible or liable, under any circumstances, for any damages resulting from the use or inability to use the information within. For complete disclaimer and copyright information please read and understand the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy before using EveryMac.com. Use of any content or images without expressed permission is not allowed, although links to any page are welcomed and appreciated.