Anybody get CM up on a PowerBook G4?

[Lt. Kije]

Has anyone succeeded in bringing CM to the PowerBook G4? Here at Chez Kije, we are in misery, saddened by what appear to be insurmountable issues in getting the CMAK demo to run. Are you a surmounter?

And yes, I'm able to boot into System 9.2.

The problem seems to be video. The CMAK demo wants my screen size to be something or other, yet all manner of resetting of screen sizes has so far failed to satisfy its imperious demands. I've tried setting several different screen resolutions from the PowerBook native 1280 X 854 all the way down to 640 X 480, including the hallowed 800 X 600, but nothing pleases CMAK, that haughty task mistress. I get a fatal error message before the game even launches, complaining of my screen resolution.

I'm not even sure which video card is in this PowerBook. Here is what System Profiler tells me:

Built-in AGP

Card Type ATY,DDParent

Card Name ATY,XiaParent

Card Model ATY,RV250M9

Card (Video) Memory 64MB

From my limited Sherlockian skills, I deduce that I've got an ATI Radeon, but beyond that I am unable to match the code words above to any ATI model names I've seen mentioned in forums (e.g. "ATI Mobility").

I've tried searching the Forums and FAQs and the only "clew" I've stumbled upon is something about my video card not announcing or identifying itself properly to CMAK. I went to the ATI web site in hopes there might be a driver update that would speak to CMAK in the proper tone, but never recognized anything as addressing my problem.

I'd go on and on here about how much I miss playing CM -- I drained away my golden youth playing CMBO and CMBB on earlier Macs -- but then I'd just start weeping and you guys wouldn't ever look at me the same again. So I'll just stick with gruff and demanding.

Any you grunts got some advice for the old man? Goldang it!

-- Lt. Kije

Baffled. Always baffled.

[jeffsmith]

I have both CMBO & CMAK

Running on a 466 MHZ iBook

with 8megs of VRAM

Shouldnt work

but it does :confused:

[Schrullenhaft]

It appears that you have a Mobility Radeon 9000 chipset. There were some problems with this chip and CM for the Mac - typically psychadelic colors, but not specifically the problem that you're seeing. Here's a link to the thread and the driver update:

Hell hath frozen over. ATI releases Hotfix for Mac/Radeon issues in CM!!!.

ATI driver update for Radeon 9000.

I'm not aware if any other 'Apple Updates' need to be applied (ROM, other drivers).

I assume that you're just running the internal LCD display and not an external monitor, is that correct ? I'm not sure if you need to remove the 'Classic RAVE' extension that's most likely present in your System Folder too.

[Lt. Kije]

Schrullenhaft,

Many thanks for your pointers. I tried the things you suggested -- ATI hotfix, remove Classic RAVE -- but no joy.

One odd thing I did notice is that my OS9 "Monitors" Control Panel seems to think I've got two monitors running off my PowerBook, an LCD and a second monitor. I assume the LCD is my PowerBook screen, but I may assume too much.

In truth, I have no second monitor attached.

Ah, well. Perhaps this is all somehow for the best. Perhaps. Somehow.

Nah.

-- Lt. Kije

All snuffly and stuff

[Schrullenhaft]

What resolution, etc. does the Display control panel think is running on the second monitor ? I wouldn't think running a second display would disable 3D hardware acceleration on any Mac screen. It could reduce the amount of VRAM available, but on your laptop I'd assume that there would be enough to run on the primary display ("1").

This setting may be 'video mirroring' which is just sending out the same image on the internal LCD to an external monitor. In that case there may be some swtich/button to disable it in the Displays control panel. However if it is mirroring, then it may be doing nothing to effect CM's display.

What extensions/control panels have you disabled. Have you cut down on any of them in case of a conflict here ?

[Lt. Kije]

Schrullenhaft,

Again, thanks for taking the time to reflect upon my situation. Actually, if you could spare a bit more effort, I wonder if you might make time to take my situation outside and beat it senseless? I'd be happy to hold your coat.

I also wonder if mirroring could be going on, seeing as how the OS9 "Monitors" Control Panel thinks that there are two quite distinct resolutions on the "two monitors" it lists. (Last time I checked, it thought the LCD was at 800 X 600 and Monitor 2 was at 640 X 480.) Would mirroring assume or try to force equal resolutions on the mirrored displays? Also, when I'm in OSX, there is no option to Turn Mirroring On, suggesting that at some deep hardware level the PowerBook correctly recognizes there is no external monitor attached.

As for running through the checklist and reducing all Extensions and Control Panels to a minimum, thanks for reminding me. One year of using OSX and I'd forgotten this basic step. I'll create a minimum list and retry.

-- Lt. Kije

Depending upon the kindness of strangers since 1973

[Schrullenhaft]

I've seen this on some PC installations where the videocard is capable of outputting a TV signal. The second monitor will be 640x480 (typically for NTSC video). Does your Powerbook have an S-Video or composite video output for TV ?

I'm not sure what the Apple Monitors/Displays control panel has available in it to disable certain output modes of the videochip. It may be related to other ATI video extensions in the system folder (though I don't know what they would be called if they exist).

[Schrullenhaft]

Lt. Kije, which particular PowerBook G4 do you have ?

From the info you provided about your video I would guess that it is a G4 867/1.0 15" (pre-January 2003). The 12" versions apparently are the models that can't boot into OS 9.x, but the 15" versions can (originally shipping with OS 9.2.1)

[Lt. Kije]

I'm not sure what the designation of this PowerBook is. It was purchased for me by the college where I teach, so it's not something I researched and selected. They bought it for me, it works, and I'm mostly happy with it. I do know it's an aluminum case, not a titanium, and has a 15" screen.

I dug around in the distant crannies of my hard drive and found the following specs that were given to me for this machine. I'm a little confused by these, as I see "32 MB DDR Video Memory" listed here but when I run Apple System Profiler it shows 64 MB video memory. So, as usual, I'm a bit unsure.

Sadly, this machine did not come pre-configured, specifically prepped for CMAK. Where are these peoples' priorities????

It's an outrage.

-- Lt. Kije

Relying upon the kindness of strangers since 1973.

(The year I first began working with computers.)

15.2-inch TFT display

1 Ghz PowerPC G4 processor

256 K L2 cache, 1MB L3 cache

512 MB SDRAM memory

60 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive

DVD-R/CD-RW Super Drive

ATI Mobility Radeon 9000

32 MB DDR Video Memory

10/100/1000 BASE-T Ethernet

56K internal modem

Two USB ports

One FireWire 400 port

Airport Card included

Mac OS X 10.2/9.2

[Wicky]

Boot up in OS9.2 - Open the 'monitors control panel' - click the grey question mark to activate Help Viewer - 'Using more than one monitor with your computer' (4th down)

You shouldn't be able to video mirror / extend desktop mode unless you do have another monitor attached.

Also inspect the 'ATI displays' control panel for any odd settings.

Was the computer new out of the box or has it been used before you got it.

[Schrullenhaft]

It looks like you actually have a Titanium PowerBook from what I can tell. This model listing at Everymac.com is the closest match G4 PowerBook 1.0 (15.2" screen). Interestingly there is another PowerBook designated the same, but it is different - DDR memory, ATI Radeon 9600 Mobility, aluminum case - G4 PowerBook 1.0 15". Your particular Titanium model could have had either 32Mb or 64Mb of VRAM, but I don't know what the model designations are to differentiate them.

As Wicky pointed out, the secondary display shouldn't come up unless something is attached (to either the monitor out port or the S-Video port). With nothing hooked up the second display shouldn't be present.

Near the bottom of this G4 Technical Specs article is a section titled "Does the PowerBook G4 support monitor mirroring? Dual-displays?". Unfortunately the Apple Technical Doc it refers to is a dead link, but it can probably be found.

[Wicky]

<a href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58330" target="_blank">

PowerBook (Bronze keyboard, FireWire and G4): LCD Functional When External Display Connected</a>

<a href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88064" target="_blank">

Using your PowerBook G4 with the display closed</a>

Nothing directly related to the problem but... it seems that when connecting and disconnecting an external monitor it specifies to put the puter to sleep/switch off. Possibly it's been connected up sometime i.e. during a presentation, when set up etc. then it's been disconnected prematurely and possibly the preferences have got stuck (?)

What you could do is remove the OS9 - System Folder - Preferences - 'monitors preferences' to the desktop and restart

In case you can't get anything to display - force restart again holding down 'X' to force it to boot into OSX (should be a double startup chime) - Then you can put the preferences file back to where it was and at least be back to where you started

Or you could do a fresh reinstall of OS 9.2.2

[Lt. Kije]

Schrullenhaft & Wicky,

Good pointers and suggestions, but repeated bouts of problem solving behavior here at Chez Kije are getting me nowhere except headachy. I think this is turning into a sullen deathmarch across the plains of Mordor when all I wanted was to play a game, errrr... simulation, for a few hours, relive those happy hours spent screaming at the screen, "What! You can't do that! That makes no sense at all! That was my only tank and there's no way you could have nailed it with one shot from some invisible uber-gun! You cheating, filthy scum sucking dog!"

I can't decide what the final straw was. Maybe it was when I somehow got my OS9.2 boot system so that it thinks my laptop screen isn't the main screen with the menu at the top and I now cannot use the basic menus in the Finder because I'll never see them again in OS9. Or maybe it was when I opened up my Controls Panel and Extension folders and discovered I have over 100 CPs and Extensions, including nine (9!) different ATI Extensions, and many CPs/Extensions without any English characters in their names. Hell, I have an entire folder in my System Folder called, and I'm not making this up, "∆ƒøˆ «√∑ر◊¿Œ". Clearly, this computer was set up by an IT Dept, and seeing to it that the user can make sense of things was not on their priority list.

Might as well have a PC, if I'm going to have a computer where nothing makes any sense, right? I think that's what the IT Dept is hinting at here.

Thanks for all your help. You guys, especially Schrullenhaft, have been great! I'm now moving on to something less irritating, such as hitting my thumb repeatedly with a can of baked beans.

-- Lt. (ow!) Kije (ow! ow!)

Ahh. That's better. (ow!)

[Wicky]

Go easy on the digits with the beans

For comparison under the bonnet I have 51 CPs and 254! conflict free Extensions (60 disabled) and I raise you 14 ATI extensions

System files/folders shouldn't be called "?ƒøˆ «?<sum>ر?¿Œ" as OS9.2 mac files generally conveniently called by what they are (This has changed somewhat since OSX) but if this is a vanilla OS9 install, it sounds as if something has gone awfully awry along the way.

Try getting the IT dept to dig out the 9.2 install disk and ask them to start from scratch while you nonchalantly and malevolently loiter with intent clutching your tin of beans.

It'll be worth it when your greyhound shoots the invincible King Tiger up the chuff