*********************** READ ME *************************
The December 1998 Macintosh Family Diagnostics Update Mailing includes one CD: the MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh CD v11.0. This CD is the last MacTest Pro update which you will receive for diagnosing PowerPC-based Power Macintosh and PowerBook computers released prior to the introduction of the PowerPC G3-based systems in October 1997.
Please retain this MacTest Pro (PPC) CD v11.0 and use it to diagnose the pre-G3 Power Macintosh computers. If you need additional copies of this CD in the future, it will be available through the Service Price Pages.
The CD containing MacTest Pro (680x0) for 680x0-based Macintosh computers is included in the Macintosh Family Diagnostic Starter Kit (part number 077-8312), which is also available on the Service Price Pages. Additional copies of the CD (part number 077-0110) can be ordered separately.
The information in this READ ME file refers to the "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" application and test modules, the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD, and the "MTP Emerg (PPC)" application, and is effective as of 12/15/98. This information supplements some sections of the User's Guide (rev. 11/98), which is in the Documentation folder on the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD.
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING
TEST QUALIFICATIONS:
The diagnostic tests contained on the "MacTest Pro (PPC) CD" v11.0 have been qualified on all Power Macintosh systems released prior to October 1997.
Running the diagnostic tests contained on the "MacTest Pro (PPC) CD" v11.0 in the Mac OS app a.k.a. "Blue Box" environment of Mac OS X Server is not supported.
Copies of these applications and test modules are also posted to the Service Diagnostics page of the Internet-based "Service Source Online".
The URL for this site is:
http://service.info.apple.com
This is a secure web site. Refer to the "Online News" section of the Service Source 2.5 CD for the current user name and password. After logging in, select "Service Diagnostics" from the Technical Resources pull-down menu.
* The "MacTest Pro (PPC) CD" v11.0 is bootable on all Power Macintosh computers released before the introduction of the PowerPC G3-based computers in October, 1997.
* The "MTP Emergency (PPC)" v11.0 disk image is bootable on all Power Macintosh computers released before the introduction of the PowerPC G3-based computers in October, 1997.
********* Applications *********
* "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" v1.0.9 has been revised to fix minor bugs and is designed such that it will not launch on iMac, Power Macintosh G3, PowerBook G3, and PowerBook G3 series computers. "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" now automatically quits all other open applications before running any tests.
* "MTP Emerg (PPC)" v1.3.2 has been revised to fix minor bugs and is designed such that it will not launch on iMac, Power Macintosh G3, PowerBook G3, and PowerBook G3 series computers.
********* Test Modules *********
* "CD/DVD/DAT Tests (PPC)" v1.1 fixed a bug with multiple SCSI bus support for DAT drives, and no longer allows DAT drive tests to be looped.
* "Expansion Card Tests (PPC)" v2.2.1 has been revised to fix minor bugs.
* "PowerBook Series Tests" v3.4.1 has been revised to fix minor bugs.
* "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 1" v4.2 has been revised to fix minor bugs.
* "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 2" v1.1 has been revised to fix minor bugs.
* "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 3" v4.2 has been revised to fix minor bugs.
* "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 4" v3.0 has been revised to fix minor bugs.
* "RAM/VRAM Tests (PPC)" v1.3.1 has been revised to better support Mac OS 8.5, and no longer allows the tests to be loaded if Open Transport is active.
The "MacTest Pro (PPC) CD" v11.0 contains Mac OS 8.1 (Finder 7.5.6). It is bootable on all Power Macintosh computers released before the introduction of the PowerPC G3-based computers in October, 1997.
You may launch the "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" and "MTP Emerg (PPC)" applications and the printer and display utilities from the CD, whether or not you boot from the CD. Instructions for using the CD are included in the "How To Use This CD" document on the CD.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you boot from the internal hard drive and then launch "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" from the "MacTest Pro (PPC) CD", you MUST have System v7.5 (or later) on the internal hard drive, otherwise, the "Run MacTest Pro" options on the CD will not work properly. These options are launched using aliases; aliases built under the current Mac OS are backward compatible to versions of System v7.5.x, but not to earlier versions of the operating system.
Instructions for using the "MTP Emergency (PPC)" v11.0 bootable disk are included in the "Using the MTP Emergency (PPC) Disks" section of the User's Guide, in the Documentation folder on the CD.
* The "MTP Emergency (PPC)" v11.0 bootable disk contains the "MTP Emerg (PPC)" v1.3.2 application, Disk First Aid v8.5.1, and a special installation of Mac OS 8.1. Use it for all Power Macintosh computers released before the introduction of the PowerPC G3-based computers in October, 1997.
* The "MTP Emergency (PPC)" v11.0 floppy disk must be locked before insertion when booting on a PowerBook 1400 or 2300 series computer, otherwise the boot blocks on the disk will be overwritten and the disk will become unusable. This is an incompatibility between the Mac OS on the floppy disk and the floppy driver used in these PowerBooks, and does not indicate a failure. If the "MTP Emergency (PPC)" floppy disk has been corrupted in this way, you may create a new disk from the disk image provided on the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD.
The "Operating Tips - Work around - Known Bugs" listed here are either new with this release or represent issues that all MacTest Pro (PPC) users MUST be aware of. An electronic copy of the most recent User's Guide is included in the "Documentation" folder on the CD.
********* Applications *********
*** MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh ***
Some tests performed by "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" may cause alerts or other dialogs to appear during the first loop. These alerts may need to be dismissed by the user before testing will continue. This interruption can impact the looping of tests, so it is recommended that the user not leave the machine unattended until at least one loop of testing has been completed.
There is a known incompatibility between "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" and the "MetroNub" extension (which is a part of the MetroWerks CodeWarrior installation). If the MetroNub extension is loaded, it may cause some MacTest Pro tests to fail. Disable the MetroNub extension before running MacTest Pro, otherwise your test results will be unreliable.
On some machines, if you launch "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" or "MTP Emerg (PPC)", then quit, you may crash while launching the next application (including relaunching "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" or "MTP Emerg (PPC)".) This is a known bug, and does not indicate a problem with the machine being tested. It is recommended that you always restart the machine after running "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" or "MTP Emerg (PPC)".
Although Power Macintosh computers with PCI expansion slots can support the addition of NuBus cards via a third-party PCI-to-NuBus bridge product, "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" does not support any NuBus cards installed in such a bridge. For example, the Hardware Info test module will not list these cards in the Expansion Slot Information.
Printing with QuickDraw GX is not supported.
Problems have been observed with logic board test modules that crash (indicating a System Error Type 3 or Type 10) before completing 24 hours of looping. This is a known problem involving the application and the way it allocates memory over extended periods of test looping. Do not reject a logic board based solely on this test result. Before restarting the test, you may limit looping time to less than 24 hours by using the Looping Preferences option under the Edit menu.
When launching "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" v1.0.9 or "MTP Emerg (PPC)" v1.3.2, a search is made for the most recent version of Disk First Aid. If Disk First Aid is not found on the same disk as the application, the boot drive (if different from the application drive) will then be searched. While this search is performed there may be a slight delay.
When running MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh on a Power Macintosh with minimal RAM installed (for example: 8 MB RAM), it is possible that there will not be enough memory to launch Disk First Aid from the Special menu; in this case, no error is reported. If this condition occurs, quit "MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh" and launch Disk First Aid manually.
*** MTP Emerg (PPC) ***
The CPU clock speed that is displayed in the Hardware Info Log and by "MTP Emerg (PPC)" is an approximation based on information gathered from the system; the presence of accelerator cards may affect the accuracy of this information. The speed information should be used for identification purposes only, not for benchmarking.
The Hard Drive portion of "MTP Emerg (PPC)" cannot test ATAPI ZIP drives or IDE hard drives that are "slave" (ID=1) devices on configurations that support "ATA Device 0/1" (two ATA devices per bus.)
If "MTP Emerg (PPC)" reports that a volume needs to be repaired but "MTP Emerg (PPC)" is unable to repair it, try using the latest version of Disk First Aid, available on the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD.
When running any of the Hard Drive tests using "MTP Emerg (PPC)", attempts to stop testing immediately after starting the tests may result in a crash; you should wait until the status line has been updated with some % complete before stopping the tests.
When booting from the "MTP Emerg (PPC)" bootable disk on Power Macintosh computers which support Energy Saving features, the computer may not be able to wake up it it goes into sleep mode. Restart the computer if this condition occurs.
When booted from the "MTP Emerg (PPC)" bootable disk, "MTP Emerg (PPC)" will incorrectly identify a Power Macintosh 7300 as a Power Macintosh 7500/7600 series.
When booted from the "MTP Emerg (PPC)" floppy disk on a PowerBook 5300, you may experience a "Type 11" error while running the MTP Emergency application's System Software test, or immediately after the test has finished. This is a known software incompatibility between the System Software Test and the PowerBook 5300, and does NOT indicate a failure of the logic board or other hardware.
*** MTP Emerg (PPC) and RAM/VRAM test module ***
When running the RAM/VRAM tests on certain configurations, the screen may go blank for a short period of time, or may appear distorted while running the RAM/VRAM tests. This is only temporary, and does not indicate a problem with the logic board or RAM/VRAM under test.
When you run the RAM/VRAM tests on one of the Power Macintosh 4400 series computers, the test will accurately report whether the DIMMs passed or failed the test, but no failure location or configuration information will be reported.
********* Test Modules *********
*** AppleTalk and Open Transport Issues ***
Many of MacTest Pro's test modules do not run well unless AppleTalk and Open Transport have been turned off and the computer is rebooted. Some tests affected by AppleTalk and Open Transport will not be available unless the system has been booted from the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD (which has a boot system configured to disable AppleTalk and Open Transport.) Others will display a warning message if not booted from the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD. If you are not booting from the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD, it is recommended that you turn off AppleTalk and Open Transport, and reboot the computer before running tests.
*** CD/DVD/DAT Tests (PPC) ***
CD/DVD test notes:
"CD/DVD/DAT Tests (PPC)" v1.1 will load and attempt to run on non-Apple devices and/or with non-Apple drivers (such as FWB CD-ROM Toolkit), however it has not been tested with third-party CD-ROMs and drivers. The results obtained may not be reliable. For example, it has not been tested for compatibility with CD-ROMs with block sizes other than 2048 bytes.
The left and right audio channel tests may fail to produce sound, even though the audio channels are functioning properly. For this reason, the audio channel tests are no longer selected by default. You may use the "Apple CD Audio Player" desk accessory with a known-good audio CD to test basic audio functions.
Audio tests on older external SCSI CD-ROM drives, such as the original AppleCD SC, AppleCD SC Plus, and AppleCD 150, are no longer supported, and will be reported as a failure if the tests are run.
When "CD/DVD/DAT Tests (PPC)" v1.1 begins conducting audio tests, the "PAUSE" functionality is disabled for the duration of the audio tests.
The DVD tests can use either the CD-ROM Test disc, or the Apple DVD Test disc.
DDS Tape drive test notes:
The DDS Tape test requires a blank write-enabled 4mm Digital Data Storage (DDS) tape formatted for the Media Recognition System (MRS). Look for the DDS and MRS identification markings on the label of the 4mm tape. If these identification markings cannot be found, the media is not supported by the DAT drive, and the tape test will fail if that media is used to test the DDS Tape drive.
When testing DDS Tape drives, it is recommended that you eject the tape and reboot the machine between every run of the DDS Tape drive test portion of "CD/DVD/DAT Tests (PPC)". Looping is disabled if the DDS Tape drive test is selected.
*** DOS Compatible Card Tests (PPC) ***
"DOS Compatible Card Tests (PPC)" does not support testing of the 166MHz DOS Compatible Card. It is not qualified on Power Macintosh systems released after November, 1996.
*** Expansion Card Tests (PPC) ***
NOTE: The "Expansion Card Tests (PPC)" test module has not been qualified on Macintosh systems released after March, 1997.
When adding VRAM SIMMs to an HPV card, all VRAM expansion slots must be filled for the card to be able to recognize the added memory. If the "Expansion Card Tests (PPC)" is run on an improperly configured card, the test will not recognize or test the added VRAM SIMMs.
*** Hardware Info (PPC) ***
On Power Macintosh configurations with PCI expansion slots, when running the "Hardware Info (PPC)" v1.8 test module, information in the Expansion Slots Info portion of the Hardware Info log may not identify some cards installed in those slots. This can occur when there are no available software drivers for the cards. For example, an Ethernet PCI card might not appear in the Expansion Slots Info if the card is not connected to an Ethernet network or if the appropriate Ethernet software is not installed and configured correctly.
On some Power Macintosh configurations, such as the Power Macintosh 4400 series, when running the "Hardware Info (PPC)" test module, information in the Expansion Slots Info portion of the Hardware Info log, may indicate that the machine has a PCI video card in slot $E1, when in fact this is not possible. This is due to the way built-in-video is implemented on these machines; there is no consistent way for the "Hardware Info (PPC)" test module to distinguish between a real PCI video card in slot $E1 and built-in-video on machines that have PCI expansion slots.
On PowerBook 3400 configurations with an external display connected, when running the Hardware Info (PPC) test module, information in the Display Monitor Info portion of the Hardware Info log will indicate that the machine only has a built-in display, and does not mention the external monitor. This is due to the way built-in-video is implemented on the PowerBook 3400 series; there is no consistent way for the "Hardware Info (PPC)" test module to distinguish between a built-in display and an external display.
*** Mass Storage Device Tests (PPC) ***
"Mass Storage Device Tests (PPC)" v1.4 is designed to test all hard drives and internal Zip drives released by Apple, when formatted with Apple drivers.
There is a known problem with some non-Apple removable media drives (such as Syquest) if a mounted cartridge volume in the drive is dragged to the Trash (to unmount it), and the Mass Storage Device Tests is then used to test the removable drive. To avoid the problem, do not unmount the cartridge volume before running a test on it.
"Mass Storage Device Tests (PPC)" v1.4 will load and attempt to run on non-Apple devices and/or with non-Apple drivers (such as FWB HD Toolkit), however it has not been tested with third-party devices and drivers. The results obtained may not be reliable. For example, it has not been tested for compatibility with hard drives with block sizes other than 512 bytes (such as 4GB drives which may have block sizes larger than 512 bytes).
*** PowerBook Series Tests (PPC) ***
NOTE: When testing any PowerBook you MUST have the Power Adapter attached and plugged in, otherwise you may see false failures.
To run "PowerBook Series Tests (PPC)" v3.4.1, you should always boot from the CD. If you do not, the SCC subtest will be deselected. The SCC subtest can be reselected, however an alert message will instruct you to turn off AppleTalk and reboot.
Before looping "PowerBook Series Tests (PPC)" v3.4.1, turn off sleep mode via the control panel; otherwise the PowerBook may not be able to wake up if all tests complete correctly and the PowerBook goes to sleep. Restart the PowerBook if this condition occurs.
If you intend to run the SCC and/or IR tests from "PowerBook Series Tests (PPC)" v3.4.1, you must perform ONE of the following three steps before you launch MacTest Pro: (1) Boot from the MacTest Pro CD; or (2) set AppleTalk to inactive and restart; or (3) go to the Extensions Manager and verify that the Extensions Set being used is the standard (locked) "Base Extensions Set". Then restart to insure that only the standard base set of extensions are loaded.
*** Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 3 ***
There is a known incompatibility between "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 3" v4.2 and Silver Lining v5.6.3 or earlier. This incompatibility causes "MacTest Pro (PPC)" to falsely report failures of all logic board tests. Do not replace a logic board based solely on these test results. To obtain reliable results from the "MacTest Pro (PPC)" diagnostic tests, do one of the following: (1) upgrade to Silver Lining v5.6.4 or later, and update the drivers on any drives which use this software; or (2) disconnect any drives which use Silver Lining v5.6.3 (or earlier) and reboot the computer.
*** Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 4 ***
In order to run the "VIDEO Controller" test for Power Macintosh 5500, and 6500 computers, "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 4" v3.0 requires an additional application named "ATI264MTP2". The "ATI264MTP2" file must be in the "Test Modules" folder along with "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 4" test module in order to be located and launched at the appropriate time.
For older Power Macintosh machines covered by "Power Macintosh Tests Vol. 4" v3.0, such as the 5400 and 6400 series machines, the "ATI264MTP2" application is not required. It's presence while testing machines other than the Power Macintosh 5500, and 6500 computers will not affect the diagnostic tests.
*** RAID software ***
The "Hardware Info (PPC)" v1.8 and "Mass Storage Device Tests (PPC)" v1.4 test modules, and the "MTP Emerg (PPC)" v1.3.2 application do not fully support RAID formatted mass storage devices - this includes hard drives formatted with third-party RAID software or Apple RAID software, such as can be found on Apple Workgroup Servers. For example, the "MTP Emerg (PPC)" Hard Drive test may recognize and test the RAID drives, but may not identify the names of the RAID drives properly, and will note this discrepancy in the log. It is suggested that you use the testing features of the RAID formatting software that came with your RAID drives, if such features are available.
*** RAM/VRAM Tests (PPC) ***
"RAM/VRAM Tests (PPC)" v1.3.1 will not load unless Open Transport is inactive. Either boot from the MacTest Pro (PPC) CD, or use Extensions Manager to disable Open Transport extensions, or hold the shift key down while booting to disable all extensions.
*** Serial Loopback Test (PPC) ***
"Serial Loopback Tests (PPC)" v1.1.1 will not load unless the computer is booted from the MacTest Pro CD. See the "AppleTalk and Open Transport Issues" section of this Read Me.
In order to run the "Serial Loopback Test (PPC)" v1.1.1, a Mini-Din 8 cable (part number 590-0552) must be connected from the modem serial port to the printer serial port. For computers with a communications slot or a personality card, some additional setup may be required. See Hardware Setup (Computers with a Comm Slot) in the MacTest Pro User's Guide (PPC) for setup information.
Information about the current versions of System Enablers, and MacTest Pro for Power Macintosh test modules can be found in the accompanying VERSION INFO file.
