Forcing a driver/extension to load late

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2014, September 3 - 8:08pm

Syntho

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Joined: 2014 Sep 3

Forcing a driver/extension to load late

I have a MOTU 324 PCI audio card and a Sonnet G3 upgrade CPU running OS8.6 on a 9600. The MOTU driver loads first in line, but I need it to load AFTER the Sonnet extension or else I get freezing.

I've put nothing but spaces in the Sonnet extension and it didn't help, and I also changed the name of the MOTU driver with Zs and ~ signs, moved it into the System folder, and absolutely nothing is working. Conflict Catcher can't reorder the MOTU driver either, it's not in the Reorderable list. So the problem is the MOTU driver. The Sonnet extension can be reordered as per usual.

I was told that perhaps the programmers of the MOTU driver put a non-printable character in the resource fork but I'm not too savvy with that stuff. I briefly looked over the MOTU driver in ResEdit and didn't see anything out of the ordinary or a place to input a non-printable character to get it to load first.

Is there any way that I could force the MOTU driver to load a bit later, or do the opposite and force the Sonnet extension to load first? Simple file renaming isn't going to work. I haven't tracked down exactly what's making the MOTU driver load first yet so maybe someone here will know what to try.

Here are the drivers for you to take a look at: http://www57.zippyshare.com/v/2970575/file.html

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2014, September 4 - 2:45am

sfp1954

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Joined: 2013 Dec 29

Are you sure it's not in the System Startup folder (as opposed to the extensions folder)
Have you tried searching for invisible files (set visibility = invisible)
Are you sure it's an extension and not a control panel?

I suppose it's also possible that when the system sees the card at startup it automatically installs the driver - no matter how it is spelled or where it is located.

2014, September 4 - 3:48am

themacmeister

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Joined: 2009 Oct 26

Found this really interesting article here -> http://sourceforge.net/p/qtcomponents/bugs/1/

You can actually convert an init into a thng, meaning a shared llibrary. Only loads when needed.

I remember there was an application/extension that could pause non-essential startup tasks until x-seconds after startup, allowing a faster perceived startup time (Startup Doubler?), You could set MOTU app to startup automatically, and then load the Sonnet card a few seconds later...

That is as far as my thinking takes me...

2014, September 4 - 10:59pm

MikeTomTom

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Joined: 2009 Dec 7

Looking at what you uploaded...

The PCI-324 Driver is loading as a "shared library". Its File Type is shlb but inside there are no obvious "thng" resources and no "INIT" resources, so it is very unlike a typical Extension. Most of what runs is located in the data fork and whats in there, looks more like whats found in a typical PPC application than an extension.

In the data-fork's code... To me (a non expert) it looks as though the PCI-324 code wants to replace the Gestalt (of the Mac?) with its own pseudo-Gestalt in a global variable, as it loads.

If so, the Sonnet which will have some strict voodoo as to whats OK, would have a serious problem with this driver.

Your "Sonnet Processor Upgrade" extension version 3.1 ... Is this the extension that shipped with the G3 card, or a newer update? I suspect the latter. Perhaps you could try earlier versions of this driver. Bug fixes often unleash newer bugs while squashing the older.

Perhaps also, there are newer (or older) versions of the PCI-324 driver that you can try.

Another thing to try (anything is worth a shot). Move the PCI-324 driver into the "Extensions (Disabled)" folder, make a copy of it and using ResEdit (open the copy in ResEdit then go "File" menu, "Get Info for PCI-324 Driver"), change its File Type from "shlb" to "APPL". Case is important here & 4 characters only. Save this and move the changed icon into the "Startup Items" folder inside the System Folder. Reboot, this will definitely cause the driver to load after the Sonnet, but it has a clutching at straws chance of working.

2014, September 16 - 10:04pm

MikeTomTom

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Joined: 2009 Dec 7

"I have a MOTU 324 PCI audio card and a Sonnet G3 upgrade CPU running OS8.6 on a 9600. The MOTU driver loads first in line, but I need it to load AFTER the Sonnet extension or else I get freezing...

...Is there any way that I could force the MOTU driver to load a bit later".

There is another thing you can try (I just read this via an old Apple Dev CD).

Make an alias to the Extension you want to load 1st (Sonnet) and place it into the Control Panels folder, then re-boot.

Evidently items in the Control Panels folder load before the Extensions folder items.