Upgrade card problem

[hardhead]

I have a NewerTech G3 upgrade card in my mac. I forget the clockspeed, but it's about 215mhz, and it's got a backside cache of .5 megs. It was one of the very first G3 upgrade cards for the 6100. Recently it's been getting REALLY pokey, and a few days ago I noticed that when the extension for the card comes up at startup (it's always the first one) the part of the extension icon that has the backside cache size indicator is crossed out. I'm assuming this indcates that the backside cache isn't working correctly. The machine's performance would seem to indicate this as well. What is likely teh problem and what can I do to fix this? ANy info owuld be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[Chris]

Did you install any software lately? If you installed new system software, the version of the extension that you have may not be compatible. The solution would be to download a newer extension. If you installed any other software that places an extension in System Folder, it is possible that you have an extension conflict between the software's extension and your NewerTech extension.

If you did not install anything... did you do anything else to your computer?

[hardhead]

Hey Chris
First thanks for your reply. Secondly, no I haven't installed any software lately
although I have a slight suspicion that something (ie a virus) may have been downloaded a few weeks ago. I found a file that I didn't recognise, double-clicked, and it looked like something launched, then the computer restarted. However, being on a Mac, I'm not too worried. I have had a mac for years and have only seen evidence of viruses once or twice. That said, I have no Virus protection on the machine. Other than that, I'm wondering if it's not possible that the cache is broken or turned off or something. The computer is significantly faster with it.
Any other thoughts?

[Mongoose961]

How much hard drive space do you have left? It sounds like your Virtual Memory could be low. A hard drive that is running out of space can cause the system to get "pokey"

[hardhead]

Hello
Thanks for your reply, but no it's not virtual memory, of that I'm sure. I have half a gig of free space. No, the big mystery is why the part of the extension icon that indicates the specs on the backside cache is crossed out. I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to e-mail NewerTech, since they made it. The chip could be fried, but it's only about 4 years old.

[Alex]

You should contact NewerTech about this problem. It could possibly be due to a virus, but not likely. (Your description somewhat reminds me of the AutoStart 9805 worm, but that is spread by infected CD-ROMs)

[hardhead]

Thanks
I will probably contact Newertech soon, but as I think I said, that will likely cost money. I'm just trolling to see if anyone else has had similar problems and if I could get a quick fix.