Sonnet Tempo HD ATA133 PCI card with an identity crisis

[SDG]

I bought this recently to add some cheap storage to an all SCSI PowerMac. This is a card with one ATA port on the top and another at right angles to which a laptop HD can be added. It came in three flavours: Mac, Windows and Mac/Win. The Sonnet label on the back identified this as a Mac-only card. However, none of my Macs could do anything with it and the ones that registered it in System Profiler saw it as an ATA 133 TX2, which indicates a Windows only card.

Sure enough, it worked in a PC I slotted it into and the bios number confirmed Windows only. The seller linked me to the Amazon dealer he had bought it from (long out of stock) and that indicated a Mac/Win card. The seller used it with Linux and knows nothing about Macs, nor had he changed the firmware. Sonnet's site only has a couple of Mac firmware updates for this card but neither sees the card when installed in a Mac.

At some stage, someone must have tampered with the card and changed it to Windows but I can't see how they would have done it as there is no Windows firmware to download or a flashing tool for this card.

Does anyone know of any hack that I could use to get the original Mac firmware (I have v3.25 and v4.0 for Mac) back on this card? I would be happy to use a PC if need be and have already crossed flashrom off the list of hopeful utilities to do so.

[reader50]

Sonnet still lists this card as a non-legacy card. Presumably still supported. I'd run the question past them, including the card serial number.

note: the Tempo HD downloads lists a 4.5 firmware separately. When I checked it just now, it gave me an app rather than a file. So it's an extra flasher.

I would try each of the possible flashers, both under OS9 and 10.2, just in case one will recognize your card. Then contact Sonnet if nothing works.

[macStuff]

hey guys
jsut a friendly reminder
you are free to attach links + images to your posts to help explain yourselves easily


https://www.sonnettech.com/product/legacyproducts/tempohd.html
makes it easy to illustrate + communicate more effectively

Sure enough, it worked in a PC I slotted it into and the bios number confirmed Windows only. The seller linked me to the Amazon dealer he had bought it from (long out of stock) and that indicated a Mac/Win card. The seller used it with Linux and knows nothing about Macs, nor had he changed the firmware. Sonnet's site only has a couple of Mac firmware updates for this card but neither sees the card when installed in a Mac.

what bios number? how did you confirm that it is windows only?
because, according to this info, id say its most likely that the card is compatible with both macs + pcs

judging by looking at the pci connectors and the fact that it has 2 notches
and the fact u said you were putting it into an older scsi powermac
there maybe a problem with power voltage to the card, as the older machines
provide 5v to pci cards? i think? and the pci v2.1 cards (with 2 notches in card)
can take 3.3v to power the card... this could be a reason.. im not saying it *IS*
for sure because i dont know all the details yet. but i would reccommend you hold
off on trying to flash the card, i think its very unlikely that someone would have had
to have tampered/rewrote/reflashed the card to some other firmware - why? - simply because it was never neccesssary to do so in the first place because the card was already compatible with both.

im not 100% certain of the details
or when the "Cut off" time was but i remember personally
that pci spec became an issue for me around the time of 2003-2004
just when the powermac G5 came on the scene..
anyway it might be that u have a system that is only capable of providing 5v to the card
and you have a card that requires a higher level of pci revision conformity? that is.. the card wants to be powered with 3.3v of juice and its getting 5v... now in the electricians world it might be ok to run a card with a bit of extra juice but in the computer world its not a match; im not 100% certain this is the problem just trying to add to the info here to help u figure this out

http://pcisig.com
this site has info on the pci revision details
actually no this is all about pci-express not pci
oops

need more input:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempohd.html https://www.cnet.com/products/sonnet-tempo-hd-hard-drive-20-gb-ata-133/specs/ https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/3485682/Sonnet-Tempo-HD-PCI-Card/

pertinent details please! rather than having us all guess..
how about you let us know which "all SCSI PowerMac" it is that you are trying to use this card inside of?  a "real photo" of the "Actual" card you have wouldnt hurt either if you want help figuring this out, give us something to work with here;)

you may want to come up with an alternate plan tho
because this card does not seem to be bootable at all
its meant as a secondary storage solution
not primary.. its not meant to be a boot drive for an older system
it cant be used to boot macos 9 so im not sure what u are doing with it!
its kind of a waste of a whole pci slot aswell.. (you only have so many!)

i think u would find that;
if you were to install this card in ANOTHER system
that has a pre-existing boot drive booting the system,
that you would see the drive once you are booted up,

this adapter is not bootable on mac!
meanwhile it probably boots just fine on a pc



you will need to get a different solution i think

[SDG]

OK.

1. The Tempo HD comes in three variants as per the manual, identified by a model number on the back. THD-M-xxx  (Mac), THD-W-xxx (Win) and THD-MW-xxx (Mac/Win). Mine has the first label. Mac only. The card has a bios recognised only by a PC of 2.x. I had expected to find a Mac bios of 3.5 or later. The only two Mac firmware updaters on Sonnet's website are 4.0 and 4.5. Both are compiled applications with the firmware embedded and neither could detect my card in any of my Macs. I found an earlier updater v3.25 via archive.org. Same story with that one.

2. The board has the same Promise controller as the ATA133 and Trio cards and both are bootable. In fact, all three share the same firmware. I see nothing in the manual on Sonnet's site that says this board can only be used for storage. It may be that the laptop drive is intended for storage - perhaps for A/V purposes. The card's bios complained on the PC at boot up that the attached laptop drive only had a 40 wire connection and would not operate at full ATA133 speeds unless I attached an 80 wire cable. Otherwise, the only caveat I saw on Sonnet's website was that only master drives are bootable with Sonnet cards. Slaves will not boot.

3. The board is supported by Mac OS 8.0 through OSX 10.4, maybe also 10.5.

4. This board was intended for use in a PowerMac 9600. Failing that a Beige G3 desktop would have room for it. The board is supported by pretty much any PCI Mac except the Cube. Voltage is not an issue. I have tried it in two 9600 towers a G4 AGP and an G4 MDD as well as a generic tower PC with a Celeron 900 processor. Only the latter picked up the card and its bios on boot up. All machines had working operating systems on them. I tried with OS8.6, OS9.x and Tiger. The PC I halted after it booted into DOS.

5. System Profiler on Mac OS 8/9 detected the card as an unknown PCI and relayed device and vendor IDs but detected no bios revision as none could be loaded. Tiger did not detect the card at all.

I didn't want to write a long screed as I assumed a lot of this information was deemed knowledge on this site and I had not tried to do anything obviously unsupported by this card. I have written to Sonnet as suggested but not expecting much in the way of a reply given the age of the card.

[macStuff]

it says that it isnt bootable on sonnets own page
"Bootability Not Supported"
this is why i never paid this interface anymind even if i did see them for sale..
because what good is it? i figure the whole purpose of this device is to add a
non-bootable drive. to be used with pro tools? or some other app that may
require a dedicated drive?

anyway,
what are u going to use it for if it cant boot?

[SDG]

Sonnet's page is a bit of a mess. The item listed on the Products page has the Tempo HD listed under Legacy Products and shows it as non-bootable and only supported by OSX on a few G4 and G5 models. However, this is the THD-MW model as stated on the manual, which is not my card. Under support, the card is not shown as a Legacy Product and the Quickstart guides clearly mention the three different models each with their own distinctive part number.

Go back via archive.org and a different story emerges.

https://web.archive.org/web/20040415152958/http://www.sonnettech.com:80/product/tempohd.html

Supported from Mac 4400 models onwards and bootable from any device attached. Note the Part Number THD-M-xxx

Sonnet has replied back to me referencing the manual shown on its Products page, which is not my card.

[macStuff]

i suggest u talk to user "max1zz" on here and inquire further with him personally and hell be able to set u up for a very economical price
but that will take a few weeks snail mail time

[SDG]

Thanks for the tip but that would be sinking more money into this card than it warrants. Sonnet has recognised the issue but won’t help as it doesn’t own any old Mac equipment to troubleshoot further. I’m cutting my losses and sending the card back as it seems that there is no straightforward solution. All the firmware I have found is embedded in updater applications so those would have to be decompiled to start with.

[macStuff]

SDG
please listen to me and talk to my friend Max1zz
he can make you a sata card for a good price
many other people have done so here on the forum

whats involved is that he buy a generic sil3112 sata card
and will remove + resolder a larger flash rom
onto the card so that it can accept the seritek firmware
(the seritek firmware contains code that checks the mfr
+ size of the flash rom chip so it only works with larger
eeproms of a certain manufacturer)
and then you have a mac os 9 bootable sata2 pci card
with 2 ports

i have a few cards and they work great just as good
as a regular seritek 1s2 - only mine werent made by
max but someone else over at 68k army site

you can contact him at http://www.max1zzz.co.uk
admin [at] max1zzz [dot] co [dot] uk

[SDG]

I’ve had a go myself at soldering the necessary eeprom chips to take the seritek firmware but the flashing always fails at address 0x0 even after flashrom detects the card and correct eeprom. Frustrating.

Might have a word with him. The Tempo card is on its way back already.

[macStuff]

wow i just realized this card is for 2.5" PATA laptop drives
https://web.archive.org/web/20030201195913/http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempohd.html
http://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/tempo_hd_macwin_qsg.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20030721120102/http://sonnettech.com/publicfiles/pdfs/pdf_datasheets/tempohd_datasheet.pdf
but is a promise chipset? it must be if its compatible with the same firmware as the tempo 133 from sonnet; because tempo 133 uses promise chipset

firmware: https://web.archive.org/web/20030201232620/http://www.sonnettech.com/downloads/software/tempo133_firm_325.sit

Tempo ATA133, Tempo HD, Tempo Trio
Firmware Updater
Posted: October 25, 2002
      
IconTempo ATA133, Tempo HD, and Tempo Trio Firmware
Version: 3.2.5

Please Note: Large hard drives (greater than 137GB) are supported under OS 9.x and OS X 10.2.x with firmware Version 3.5.0. If you are not planning to use these large drives, download this firmware (Version 3.2.5).

IMPORTANT! This firmware updater is only for use with Tempo ATA133, Tempo HD, and Tempo Trio PCI Host Adapter cards.

Description: This software updates the firmware on the Tempo ATA133, Tempo HD, and Tempo Trio to version 3.2.5. This version addresses compatibility issues related to Mac OS X Version 10.2. The firmware also enables firmware version reporting in the Apple System Profiler.

Note: Before proceeding with the firmware update, you must ensure your system is NOT booted in Mac OS X, nor Mac OS X Classic mode; this software will only function in Mac OS 8.1 through OS 9.x.

After expanding the .sit file, double-click the Tempo ATA133 Firmware 3.2.5 icon. Click Continue, then click Update Firmware. Once the update is complete, a dialog will appear stating that the firmware was updated successfully; quit the application, then select Restart from the Apple menu for the changes to take effect.

[macStuff]

I’ve had a go myself at soldering the necessary eeprom chips to take the seritek firmware but the flashing always fails at address 0x0 even after flashrom detects the card and correct eeprom. Frustrating.

Might have a word with him. The Tempo card is on its way back already.

did u change the voltage to the eeprom aswell?
by resoldering one of the jumpers on the board actually i think its an inductor or a resistor not a capacitor

[SDG]

Not at first. The errors turned out to be solder joint issues on the eeprom. Those were easily fixed and I have done about 4 or 5 cards since. Changing the voltage by moving the resistor on the cards that had that particular setup did not seem to make any difference. The eeproms I got worked perfectly fine at either voltage.