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Roman oswald
Level 1 (10 points)

Q: Powerbook 1400C/166 harddisk problemes.

I have a 1400c whit a dead harddisk. Now i have a 6.4 gig and some 30/40/60 gig harddisks. I want to install the 6.4 gig (enough space for 8.6) but the disk got not recognized by the system. Also the 30/40/60 gig are not recognized by the system. I installed 8/6 on another laptop an placed the disk in the 1400. Not booting. When i try to install whit a 8.5 or 8.6 install CD the diskinstall util will only see the CD and not the harddisk.

What could be the problem?

I read something about a "PowerBook 1400 HD Updater", is that what i need?

PowerBook G3 M5343, Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on Sep 15, 2009 9:29 AM

by jpl,Solvedanswer
jpl jpl
Level 7 (28,285 points)
A:
Roman,

The PB1400 HD Updater is not needed for normal operations. Apple says:

"The PowerBook 1400 HD Updater is designed to provide a reference file that may not have been copied on the hard disk of some Macintosh PowerBook 1400 series computers. The reference file is not needed for normal operation of the PowerBook.

However, a disk utility program, such as Disk First Aid, looks for the reference file. If the file is not on the hard disk and you use Disk First Aid or another disk utility, you will see a message reporting that the hard disk is not an HFS volume and can’t be checked by the program. (The message may be somewhat different with a disk utility other than Disk First Aid.)"

If you have a known-good HD installed and the MacOS 8.6 install disk does not see the HD...

1. Reset the PRAM and power manager, then see if the HD appears.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431?viewlocale=en_US
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US

2. If no success, open the Utilities folder on the MacOS 8.6, launch Drive Setup and see if the HD appears in the DS window. If it does, highlight the name and then initialize the HD as MacOS Extended Format (HFS Extended, HFS+), quit DS and try the installer again.

3. If you cannot see the HD no matter what you try, you may have a problem on the logic board.

Posted on Sep 15, 2009 11:34 AM

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Roman oswald

Q: Powerbook 1400C/166 harddisk problemes.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by jpl,Solvedanswer

    jpl jpl Sep 15, 2009 11:34 AM in response to Roman oswald
    Level 7 (28,285 points)
    Sep 15, 2009 11:34 AM in response to Roman oswald
    Roman,

    The PB1400 HD Updater is not needed for normal operations. Apple says:

    "The PowerBook 1400 HD Updater is designed to provide a reference file that may not have been copied on the hard disk of some Macintosh PowerBook 1400 series computers. The reference file is not needed for normal operation of the PowerBook.

    However, a disk utility program, such as Disk First Aid, looks for the reference file. If the file is not on the hard disk and you use Disk First Aid or another disk utility, you will see a message reporting that the hard disk is not an HFS volume and can’t be checked by the program. (The message may be somewhat different with a disk utility other than Disk First Aid.)"

    If you have a known-good HD installed and the MacOS 8.6 install disk does not see the HD...

    1. Reset the PRAM and power manager, then see if the HD appears.

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431?viewlocale=en_US
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US

    2. If no success, open the Utilities folder on the MacOS 8.6, launch Drive Setup and see if the HD appears in the DS window. If it does, highlight the name and then initialize the HD as MacOS Extended Format (HFS Extended, HFS+), quit DS and try the installer again.

    3. If you cannot see the HD no matter what you try, you may have a problem on the logic board.

  • by jpl,

    jpl jpl Sep 15, 2009 2:05 PM in response to Roman oswald
    Level 7 (28,285 points)
    Sep 15, 2009 2:05 PM in response to Roman oswald
    Roman,

    I'm not sure what the maximum size HD is supported in the PB1400, but I have read somewhere that 8.2GB is the largest. If it is anything like the black powerbook G3s that were limited to a 128GB internal HD, you can install a larger drive on these G3s but only the first 128GB of the large HD will be recognized; partitioning does not help. I just don't know whether this is also true with the PB1400, i.e. meaning it can still use an HD larger than what is supported.

  • by Roman oswald,

    Roman oswald Roman oswald Sep 16, 2009 10:57 AM in response to jpl
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 16, 2009 10:57 AM in response to jpl
    It's working.

    Resetting pram won't work. It hang after the reset on a black screen and the green light was on. So i did a couple of pram resets and PMU resets after another and after some time the machine booted

    Tnx