OK. So you need a wider net/bigger hammer. It's RAM time. The 9600 can use FPM or EDO RAM, but not both at once, whereas the 9500 uses FPM only. I guess that you have three 128MB cards and a 16MB card. Retire the 16MB card, and put any other unpairable cards (one 128MB?) aside during testing. Be sure that the others are all of a kind (FPM or EDO) and pairable. RAM in the x500 and x600 (x= 8 or 9) should be paired (for interleaving), working downwards from A6/B6 towards A1/B1. No guarantee that this is the present cause of trouble, but it could be. I saved a 9500 from massage with a hammer by removing a supposedly harmless unpaired card.

That same NewerTech manual that you linked to has the gen about the fixed-processor DIP settings. I take it that the MaxPOWR Control Panel and extension are accessible to you, even though not installed on the HDD yet? Getting your HDD initialized and installed with OS 8.6 or 9.1, or 9.2.2 with the help of OS9Helper, will make that software available to the CPU and assist your search for the Desktop.

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