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[ceratophyllum]

I'm trying to fix an old Lombard and it locks up whenever I try to copy a file from a small 128MB USB stick or if I unstuff a large file. Starting Netscape or Classilla also results in a lock up. When locked, the mouse cursor can still move, but you can't click anything. The time does not update.

Installing os9 worked without any crashing.
I installed 9.2.2 on a 128GB ssd having booted from CD using the "Universal" disk image from Macintosh Garden. The ssd is in one of those msata-to-IDE44 converters found on eBay. I used the same enclosure on my working TiBook, so I think it is not the problem.

I disabled a bunch of wacky extensions for devices I don't have, reseated the RAM (256 + 64 mb modules) and reseated the processor card. (Actually you have to take out the CPU card to get at the bottom RAM module.) There did not seem to be very good contact with the heat sink: the CPU chip is covered in white muck and the metal heat sink just pulled right off with no resistance.  I put a tiny amount of thermal paste on it and put everything back together and it crashes MUCH less often now.

Unstuffing and copying files from USB seems safe now. Classilla still locks up the system. MacLynx runs but I have no connection.

Alas, the ethernet card seems not to work: my router does not see anything connected to assign (DHCP) an IP to....

[aBc]

Have you reviewed this previous Lombard topic from
2021? (Seems that some Lombards don’t like to be
“upgraded”.) http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=6065.0
You might discover some insights.

However, first I’d suggest running this small app “PPC
Checker 210.sit” attached to this post ...
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=6065.msg45686#msg4568
just to see exactly which CPU your Lombard might have. 

*Well that 2nd link with attachment doesn't seem "direct".
(So see Reply #25 in that thread instead for that file.)

[refinery]

Is the cooling fan working?

[ceratophyllum]

I think it comes on from time to time but it's very quiet. I guess it would run all the time if the cpu were overheating? (Is there any point at all to having a tiny fan, nowhere near the CPU?) So maybe that's not it....  Anyway, it is definitely more stable after taking the cpu card + RAM out and putting it back in. For some reason USB seems to have stopped causing lockups.

It's probably a lonestar CPU: RAM modules bigger than 128mb don't work in the bottom slot. At least the ones I have don't and I'm not spending one more penny on this decrepit computer. (And I'm so not paying outrageous vintage prices for broken junk Pismos on eBay.)

The main use for it is the irda port to install packages into my Newton 2000 with a dead serial port.  Too bad irda disappeared early in the G4 days, it was rather handy. Newton irda Package Installer works well. So mission accomplished. Mostly.

[aBc]

Yeah, my Lombard fan very rarely was on and the bottom always became very warm (hot) even with the original HD and configuration. After all of that experimentation with it back in 2021 - I simply put the original HD back in and fresh installed OS 9 again. It seemed (seems) quite happy being an OS 9 only machine and now rarely (if ever) gets booted since then.

Now collecting dust around here, in some dark corner... somewhere.

[ceratophyllum]

CPU Checker confirms it is a Lonestar rev2.2.

It seems like the instability is caused by using usb drives: if I never stick any in, this system runs fine.
The ethernet works and classilla doesn't crash. Even if I can copy files from USB without a lockup, it usually isn't long before other apparently random things lock the system.

I wonder how, err, universally tested on very old G3 systems this "Universal 9.2.2" install disc is.  Maybe I should start fresh from the original 8.6 and upgrade to 9.2.2 using only Apple upgrades.

Before I go the reinstall + upgrade route, I'm going to play around longer to confirm the problem is just USB.

[aBc]

Saddened to hear about your LoneStar rev2.2 CPU. I definitely sympathize.

Pertaining to USB… it can depend upon which version you might be using:
1.1, 2.0 or even 3.2 (Gen 1 or  Gen 2). AND how they’re formatted. Even as
the 3.2 versions are supposedly backwards compatible, I tend to have much
better luck with the 1.1 or 2.0 sticks in the Lombard.

Also. You might want to check for the “Multiprocessing” folder in Extensions.
If present there… move, disable or delete it. Might not matter, but might help.

And I had a Blue & White G3 once that did seem to benefit from systematic
re-installs of original Apple software and upgrades. However I’ve found that
the “Universal 9.2.2” install disc works just as well once I trim extensions &
control panels  for “best” performance after installation.

*There’s an absolute workhorse, 800 MHz, 12” G3 iBook here beside me that
never seems to falter AND I’ve also used the Universal” on it and many other
G3s here as well.

There’s only one other installer (two versions) that I recommend and it might
differ primarily only in what it has to offer in terms of diagnostic tools… and
that’s “MacTron’s Bootable Rescue and Installer” CD download - which can
be found via the Hotline server under MacOS Diagnostics & Repair.



And now my thanks to you for finally motivating me to include screenshots
of all that is contained within “MacTron’s Bootable Rescue and Installer” CD
download. Even if it isn’t eventually added to the on-Forum downloads, I can
now at least link to its’ contents visually, here:

See: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=7321.msg56649#new

And with that, perhaps you might use it to diagnose possible Lombard problems?

Best of luck with the Lombard.
Cheers! 

[ceratophyllum]

Yeah, I'm back where I started now. And there are still lockups.... I'd really like to swap out the processor card, but it looks like only crappy (probably the same bad version) 333MHz are for sale on the bay and I think the prices are too high: around $50-$100 for stuff people list as "untested."

Seems like only yesterday people were shedding Lombard/Pismo processor cards onto eBay after they bought Daystar XLR8 G4 upgrade cards.....Now you gotta be rich as an oil baron to buy one in the rare event an upgrade card is even for sale.  I mean, it's not like going from G3 to G4 is going to make that much difference now: shades of obsolescence. Doh! I meant "collectibility."