Megawolf PCI Serial card - Extensions crashing OS9 at boot!

[supernova777]

http://www.megawolf.com/

i have a remus/2 pci card which provides 2 serial ports
http://www.megawolf.com/romulus-remus.html

i have this currently installed in my MDD 1.25ghz (2003)
trying to activate these ports for use with OMS! as per

The current software for Romulus/4 or Remus/2 can be obtained from our downloads page
http://www.megawolf.com/downloads2.html

pretty sure i downloaded: http://www.megawolf.com/updates/RRInstaller1.08b6.sit

i might have to contact them directly
MegaWolf, Inc. Internet mail: [email protected]
1771 Grasso Blvd. voice/fax: 203-562-1243
New Haven, CT 06511

ok so basically my problem is that .. installing looks great.. its a very verbose installer which tells alot of technical info abotu what its doing
but then i reboot and i get the error with a little bomb when it tries to load up and then i have to restart with extensions off and disable the loader extension for the card
in order to boot again so the driver is not working at all. which really sucks;(
im not sure if this is due to me using the more recent mac os rom?

[supernova777]

http://www.google.ca/gwt/x?gl=CA&hl=en-CA&u=http://www.proaudiosupport.com/a14495/support-megawolf-romules-remus.html&source=s&q=megawolf+extension&sa=X&ei=7TabU9TjA-a78QG3lIHYDA&ved=0CBsQFjAG

While Opcode does not support the megawolf Romulus/Remus card. There is OMS compatibility from Freemidi.
FreeMIDI 1.4 has expanded compatibilty with OMS by adding the option "use OMS when available". OMS is used in the FreeMIDI shell.
When using the Romulus/Remus card with MIDI software which requires OMS, download Megawolf's most recent freeMIDI driver. it contains files that give OMS acces to the card. you can find this at
megawolf.com it also has README files with instructions.

this post claims the card itself is not compatible wtih opcode oms...  *eek*
but the driver i have downloaded talks about oms setup so perhaps this was something that was overcome by the developer of megawolf?

[supernova777]

some more system details:

Megawolf 1.08b6 installer..
Mac os 9.2.2
Mac os ROM 9.6.1
1GB ram (4x256mb DDR)
powermac g4 1.25ghz MDD (2003)

any ideas what i should try next??

there is another older installer
v1.07 (prior installer)
i will try this?

[supernova777]

the specific error i wish i could screen grab but the system locks

"Sorry, a system error ocurred.
Romulus-Remus Loader
 error type 11
to temporarily turn off extensions, restart
and hold down the shift key
                                               >> RESTART

[Jakl]

some more system details:

Megawolf 1.08b6 installer..
Mac os 9.2.2
Mac os ROM 9.6.1
1GB ram (4x256mb DDR)
powermac g4 1.25ghz MDD (2003)
 

Chris is there a reason you're using Mac os rom 9.6.1? Why not use the last one which was 10.2.1 in the general install for fw400?

[supernova777]

im not sure i guess i installed with os9general.dmg i believe that is the one that has the 9.6.1 rom
do u think this could be the problem? is 9.6.1 not even for the mdd g4's?

I think the extensions for this thing are from the days of os 8.5 tho.. i think maybe it must be some version problem
it is a pci card.. i suppose i could test it on a few other g4's and see if it crashes the same..
its about all i can do at this point..

[supernova777]

anyone know what error type 11 means?

[MacTron]

anyone know what error type 11 means?

"miscellaneous hardware exception error"

[supernova777]

ok so this crash might mean there is something physically wrong with my card?? hmm

perhaps i should just try it in a different slot?


*** update
so i took the card into a diff slot, same crash

also tested booting with the extensions turned on but the card removed.. and the freeze didnt occur..
so perhaps my card is damaged somehow... or perhaps the remus/2 megawolf card is not compatible with the powermac mdd?

best thing for me to do i guess now is to test on my g3 450mhz b&w and see if the results are the same

[supernova777]

ok ive removed the remus/2 serial card and placed it into the g3 450mhz
ive checked the os 9 install on the g3 450mhz as being Mac Os ROM 8.9.1
and it works flawlessly.. no problem on boot!!!!!
using the megawolf utility called "Romulus-Remus tool" to inspect the slots of the mac
shows that the card is initialized (if they are not initialized it says with text and a big X thru the wolf icon that represent each port)

so this is interesting.. is it a hardware incompatibility? or mac os rom incompatibility?
the os 9 version is the same ... 9.2.2 on both the mdd + the g3..
hmmmmmm

side note:
this B&W G3 450mhz .. i dont know why but it seems incredibly fast!!
is it because of the mac os rom 8.9.1? could it be there are more version appropriate rom installs for certain machines?
like Arjen_1 was saying about his 933 working better with a lower version?
i dont even really understand what the Mac OS ROM is other then some type of firmware

im trying to get the megawolf card to work with the Opcode studio 128x interface right now.. to proove that both are working;) i will do this with the g3 450mhz first i guess
then figure out how to get it to work on the mdd

*** SUCCESS with OMS! its found the opcode studio 128x;))
yeaaaaaaaaaaaa baby
tested all 8 midi outputs frm ableton live 4 demo midi output is working excellent;) 

[Jakl]

side note:
this B&W G3 450mhz .. i dont know why but it seems incredibly fast!!
is it because of the mac os rom 8.9.1? could it be there are more version appropriate rom installs for certain machines?
like Arjen_1 was saying about his 933 working better with a lower version?
i dont even really understand what the Mac OS ROM is other then some type of firmware

Great to see everything working well there Chris...:-)

I know my MDD FW400 uses the general install MacosROM 10.2.1 for OS9.2.2, but you said you had 9.6.1 which didn't make sense to me - are there two for mdd at different bus speeds? The 133mhz bus and the 167mhz bus? Not sure? I don't have a 133mhz bus to test.

[supernova777]

round 2 - back again 2nite to test the card in the quicksilver 933mhz g4 to see if its a yay or a nay;)

***update!
works flawlessly in the quicksilver machine also..
its got mac os rom 10.2.1 installed

i guess that should be my next step? to try 10.2.1 on the mdd? reinstall? ugh
im thinking i will just move my g4port to the mdd and use that there, and keep the megawolf in the quicksilver 933
and avoid reinstalling on the mdd. hmm but i do want to find out the definitive answer to this issue!

[supernova777]

just a heads up i just moved that card back to the original mdd that it was having problems in -- and now it works fine???
totally strange!

same installation, same mac os rom, etc
the only difference would have to be which slot its been inserted into.. before it was in slot 2, and now its in slot 5 (furthest frm the video card)
possibly maybe it wasnt inserted properly or maybe some dust or something in the slot of slot 2?
totally strange..
anyways its working fine now! 2 ports.. both recognized fine

[supernova777]

could it (the error i was having before) have been because i had the pci sata card adapter in the mdd at the time of the error?
is there a limited number of pci bus master? or something?

[supernova777]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr99/articles/applenotes.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/20010812204901/http://www.hinton.demon.co.uk/mac/pcicards.html
original prices wow

some detailed schematics here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010722091947/http://www.hinton.demon.co.uk/mac/mac_if.html