Important Information For Your Power Macintosh G3 Computer
This document provides information about your Power Macintosh G3 computer that supplements the information in the Setting Up Your Power Macintosh manual. Read this document for information about known conditions with this release and possible solutions. Also read the About Mac OS 8 document located in the Mac OS Read Me Files folder on your hard drive. For up-to-date news and compatibility information, please see the Apple Support web site at http://www.apple.com/support/
Notes about installing additional memory, PCI cards, or SCSI devices
- Important safety information
Please read your manual, Setting Up Your Power Macintosh, for important installation and safety information before attempting any equipment installation. This manual may be downloaded in PDF format from http://www.info.apple.com/manuals/manuals.taf . Pay particular attention to the chapters Connecting Additional Equipment and Installing PCI Expansion Cards, Additional Memory, and Internal Storage Devices. - Connecting additional SCSI devices
One of the most common mistakes made when installing SCSI devices is incorrect termination. Please refer to the manual chapter Installing PCI Expansion Cards, Additional Memory, and Internal Storage Devices for information on how to correctly terminate the SCSI bus. - Removing external SCSI devices
Never remove an external SCSI device without turning off the power to your computer. Removing an external SCSI device when the computer is powered on may result in the SCSI bus hanging. If this occurs, you must power down the computer to correct the situation.
Notes about features on your Power Macintosh G3- RAM Disk
The RAM Disk on the Power Macintosh G3 computer will be reinitialized on every restart or reboot. Any data you have stored on a RAM Disk should be copied to the hard drive before a restart or shutdown. The RAM Disk feature should only be used to store data and applications which will be used between restarts and shutdowns. - TV Mirroring
The TV Mirroring feature allows you to record to a VCR or view on a television, what is displayed on the computer monitor connected to the built-in graphics port. This feature is available on Power Macintosh G3 computers with video input and output ports.
The feature is accessed by using the TV Mirroring Control Strip. For more information on TV Mirroring, refer to the section in the manual on Connecting video equipment for output from the computer.
When TV Mirroring is turned on, the frequency and resolution of the computer monitor is changed to match that of the television. Because the television frequency is not commonly supported by many computer monitors, the monitor display may become distorted or black. In such a case, it is better to turn off the monitor by deselecting the Leave Monitor On option in the TV Mirroring Control Strip. Since fixed frequency monitors by definition cannot change frequency to match the television, they are automatically turned off, and the Leave Monitor On and Overscan options are made unavailable.
If you inadvertently turn on TV Mirroring, the feature will automatically turn itself off in 10 seconds unless you select the OK button in the confirmation dialog. - Video Capture
Video capture is available on Power Macintosh G3 computers with video input and output ports.
The video capture feature will work with VM on, but the quality of captured video will improve if VM is turned off. AppleTalk should also be made inactive while capturing to prevent network activity from introducing slight variations in the quality of captured video.
To achieve the best video quality, the monitor connected to the built-in graphics port should be set to Thousands of Colors and the capture window size should not exceed 320 x 240 pixels. The best compression to use with this computer is Component Video.
If you have problems capturing video or the captured video looks very pixelated, try reducing the resolution and/or number of colors on the monitor connected to the built-in graphics port. Your computer may not have enough video memory to capture video and display high resolution graphics at the same time. Refer to the Setting Up Your Power Macintosh manual for information on installing more video memory.
If you have a monitor connected to the built-in graphics port and another monitor connected to a PCI graphics card, then to capture video you must have the video capture window of whichever application you are using completely contained on the monitor connected to the built-in graphics port. - Sound source selection
There is a new SoundSource Control Strip which allows you to select the sound source your computer will use. This feature is similar to selecting a sound source (tuner, CD, tape, phono,...) to listen or record, on your home stereo system. Alternately, the sound source on your computer may be selected in the Sound panel in the Monitors & Sound Control Panel.
Notes about compatibility- Apple PC Compatibility cards
The Apple PC Compatibility card with 100MHz 586 processor (7 inch card) and 166MHz Pentium processor (12 inch card) are supported using PC Setup 1.6.3 software version or greater. Updates to PC Setup may be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.apple.com/support/
The Apple PC Compatibility card with 100MHz Pentium processor (12 inch card) is not supported by the Power Macintosh G3 computer.
- QuickTake 150 camera
The QuickTake 150 camera should be connected to the modem port and not the printer port. The printer port will not reliably communicate with the camera.
Some of the QuickTake scripts under the Script menu in the Apple PhotoFlash 2.0.1 application may not work. - Apple Telecom software
The GeoPort modem is not supported by the Power Macintosh G3 computer. - QuickTime Conferencing and Apple Media Conferencing
QuickTime Conferencing and the Apple Media Conferencing application are not supported by the Power Macintosh G3 computer. - Apple QuickTime Conferencing camera
The QuickTime Conferencing camera may be used with the Power Macintosh G3 computer with video In/Out ports, by using an RCA to RCA video composite cable along with the cable supplied with the camera. Connect the cable supplied with the camera to the S-Video In port on the computer. On the split end of the cable, connect the power connector to the camera's power port. Instead of connecting the video portion of the split cable to the camera, use an RCA to RCA video composite cable to connect between the camera and an RCA Video In port. - Apple Video Player and 3rd party video capture hardware
The Apple Video Player application which comes with your computer is intended to work with Apple video capture hardware. Using Apple Video Player with 3rd party video capture hardware, may not work or result in poor quality video capture. Contact the 3rd party video capture hardware manufacturer to find a compatible video capture application. - Apple Token Ring card
The Apple Token Ring PCI card is not supported by the Power Macintosh G3 computer.
Notes about known conditions- No sound or cannot record from an application
If you do not hear any sound or are not able to record from an application or system utility such as Alerts in the Monitors & Sound Control Panel, then you may not have the correct sound source selected. Some applications and system utilities require the user to select an appropriate sound source to use. Use the SoundSource Control Strip or the Sound Monitoring Source pop-up menu in the Sound panel of the Monitors & Sound Control Panel. For more information on sound source selection, see the Help Guide in the Monitors & Sound Control Panel. - Connecting to both LocalTalk and Ethernet
If you have Ethernet selected in the AppleTalk Control Panel, you should disconnect any LocalTalk cable. A software condition prevents having a LocalTalk cable connected to the computer if the AppleTalk Control Panel is not set to the Modem or Printer port. If you wish to switch between Ethernet and LocalTalk, you must disconnect the LocalTalk cable when you switch to Ethernet. - Slower performance when printing to a LocalTalk printer
A software problem may cause your computer to exhibit slow performance while printing over LocalTalk on a high traffic network. During printing, the mouse pointer may appear to move sluggishly. - Loss of Ethernet after installing new software
Some software installers will inadvertently replace newer extensions with older versions which are not compatible with this computer. This frequently occurs with the Ethernet (built-in) extension. If Ethernet is unavailable after installing software, check that the Ethernet (built-in) extension is version 2.0 or greater. If it is older, then you will have to reinstall your system software from the System Software CD which came with your computer. - Booting from the wrong hard drive or device
If your computer has more than one hard drive and it is booting from the wrong drive, check the setting in the Startup Control Panel. You must select a device in the Startup Control Panel or the computer will select the first device it finds to boot from.
If you have a bootable CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart, the computer may boot from the CD instead of the device selected in the Startup Control Panel. To get around this condition, restart the computer again, and press the eject button on the CD-ROM drive to eject the CD.
Miscellaneous- Removing System Software items using the PowerMac G3 Installer
The Remove feature of the PowerMac G3 installer does not work and should not be used. Instead, the individual pieces you wish to remove must be dragged from the System Folder manually.