[comp.sys.mac.hardware] Classic MacII ROM incompatibilities?

jordan@Morgan.COM (Jordan Hayes) (08/01/90)

I have a "Classic MacII" (purchased in November '87) that I recently
purchased a Radius Pivot display for.  I've had two cards get delivered
apparently DOA ... I tried it on a friend's IIx, and it also didn't
work.  Symptoms: card does not get recognized on boot, Pivot CDEV does
not show up in the Control Panel.  Anyway, someone from Radius
mentioned that on the old MacII ROMs, there was an incompatibility with
large monitors (specifically, he said, NuBus cards that address more
than 1 Mb of memory).  I've called *every* Apple Authorized Dealer in
Manhattan, and they *all* are idiots!  No one even knows what a ROM is?!?.

	Me:	"Hi, I'd like to know what it would take to get the
		 most recent MacII ROM set?"
	Them:	"Don't you mean RAM?"
	Me:	"No, I mean ROM."
	Them:	"I'll transfer you to Service"
	Me:	"Thanks ..."
	Serv:	"Hello?"
	Me:	"Hi, I'd like to know what it would take to get the
		 most recent MacII ROM set?"
	Them:	"Don't you mean RAM?"
	Me:	"Thanks ... <click>"

A few questions:

	1) Aren't MacII ROM upgrades free?  My machine is no longer
	   under warranty, and I can't afford the downtime of taking
	   a machine in to let these IDIOTS mess with my machine.  I'm
	   capable of soing the swap myself (I did the PMMU, hey, I'm
	   practically an EE) ...

	2) Am I barking up the wrong tree?  Has anyone else had a problem
	   with ROM incompatibilities?  I have a PMMU that I got with
	   Virtual, and it works, so I don't have the ROM that doesn't
	   like PMMUs, but I can't figure out why I would have gotten
	   *two* DOA video cards ...

Thanks!

/jordan

jordan@Morgan.COM (Jordan Hayes) (08/05/90)

Jordan Hayes (me) <jordan@Morgan.COM> asks:

	[ problem with Pivot and old MacII ]

I got several replies about this -- thanks.  Problem was that I needed
a newer NuBus chip, which is soldered onto the motherboard, so it
required a logic board swap.  I got a dealer to do it in about 45
minutes.  The swap is free.  Works great, snarfed me a socket for the
lithium battery, and my Pivot works like a charm.  I'm so happy that I
did a full backup and restore on my hard disk.

Oh: my serial number on the board ended in -03 -- this is an old one.

/jordan

strick@slcs.slb.com (Don W Strickland) (08/09/90)

Yes, your description DOES sound on target with the ROM vs Pivot trouble.
Yes, you should be able to get a FREE ROM exchange performed by a dealer.

Call Brian O'Neal, Third Wave Computing, Austin, TX, 512-832-8282.

Tell him I sent you.  He should be able to arange the upgrade.

ephraim@think.com (Ephraim Vishniac) (08/10/90)

In article <1337@s5.Morgan.COM> jordan@Morgan.COM (Jordan Hayes) writes:
>Anyway, someone from Radius
>mentioned that on the old MacII ROMs, there was an incompatibility with
>large monitors (specifically, he said, NuBus cards that address more
>than 1 Mb of memory).  I've called *every* Apple Authorized Dealer in
>Manhattan, and they *all* are idiots!  No one even knows what a ROM is?!?.

Here's the answer, straight from the Apple's mouth:

From: kateley@Apple.COM (Jim Kateley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Summary: PMMUs vs Mac IIs -- which ones don't work
Date: 10 Feb 90 21:11:16 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer, Metro Plaza, San Jose CA
Lines: 33

In article <3092@pur-phy> sho@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu.UUCP (Sho Kuwamoto) writes:
>You machine will be affected if you have Rev. A ROMs.  They moved
>to Rev. B ROMs sometime around February 1988.

Actually, there are two seperate repair extenstion programs for the Macintosh
II. 

The first, announced in Feburary of 1988, addresses a ROM glitch where
NuBus cards with more than 1MB of address space cannot be accessed.  This is
the "Rev A to Rev B" program.  Your dealer can see page 8.4.13 of their service
programs binder for details. 

The other, announced in August of 1989, is for the HMMU/PMMU socket situation
where the socket for the PMMU on some units does not have all the necessary
pins for a PMMU to function (although it does have enough pins for the HMMU).
Your dealer can see page 8.4.14 of their service programs binder for details.

In the first case, you would have a problem if you had a NuBus card that
required more than 1MB of address space.  In the second case, your MacII
would not work if you installed a PMMU.

Both situations require a main logic board swap, which is at no cost to you.
-- 
Jim Kateley          UUCP: {sun, voder, nsc, mtxinu, dual}!apple!kateley
S,P,HnS!             DOMAIN: kateley@apple.COM  Applelink: kateley1
Disclaimer:   What I say, think, or smell does not reflect any policy or
	      stray thought by Apple Computer, Inc.


--
Ephraim Vishniac    ephraim@think.com   ThinkingCorp@applelink.apple.com
 Thinking Machines Corporation / 245 First Street / Cambridge, MA 02142
        One of the flaws in the anarchic bopper society was
        the ease with which such crazed rumors could spread.