MacJojo

Q: PowerBook 140: non-working floppy

Folks,

 

I just received a great PB 140 with 8 Meg's of Ram and a pretty huge hard drive. It functions perfectly except for the floppy drive, which does not work at all. If the 140 worked in SCSI mode, I would have no problem connecting it to my SE/30 and installing the zip disk drivers; thus never having to use the floppy again, for the most part; however, it doesn't.

 

The only thing I'm left with is AppleTalk, and I have been unable to find how to connect one Mac to another to transfer simple files. It's also been so long that I don't recall the process. Both machines are running 7.1. Can someone point me to a site that would allow me to re-learn the process?

 

 

Your help is appreciated.

MBP; MP; MacMinis (and many 'ancient' Macs), Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Aug 17, 2012 8:51 AM

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Q: PowerBook 140: non-working floppy

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  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Aug 17, 2012 10:49 AM in response to MacJojo
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Aug 17, 2012 10:49 AM in response to MacJojo

    Try this: Use this link:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search&locale=en_US&q=

     

    and, on the resulting page, enter "AppleTalk" in the "Search Support" field and select "Include Archive" from the "Include or Exclude Archived Documents" field, then hit "Search."

     

    I found a lot of old AppleTalk "how-to" articles with that search. There are many pages and you have to go several pages in before the old articles start to show up.

     

    Maybe you've thought of this but I'll ask anyway---have you tried a floppy cleaning disk in your drive? I don't know if they are still available but I resurrected several unresponsive floppy drives back in the OS7-9 days with such a cleaning tool.

  • by dalstott,

    dalstott dalstott Aug 17, 2012 4:08 PM in response to MacJojo
    Level 4 (2,625 points)
    Aug 17, 2012 4:08 PM in response to MacJojo

    Go to LowEndMac groups for contacts who are familiar with the older hardware. There is a Powerbooks group that would cover your PB140. They also have a swap list that can help with obtaining parts.

     

    PowerBooks is a forum for users of the original Mac Portable and all pre-G3 PowerBooks (including pre-G3 models with G3 upgrades).

     

    http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml

     

    http://lowendmac.com/lists/swap.html

  • by Jan Hedlund,Helpful

    Jan Hedlund Jan Hedlund Aug 17, 2012 5:50 PM in response to MacJojo
    Level 6 (9,869 points)
    Aug 17, 2012 5:50 PM in response to MacJojo

    You can use a MiniDIN-8M to MiniDIN-8M Macintosh printer cable for a direct connection between the Modem Ports of the PB 140 and the SE/30. Alternatively, you could use LocalTalk or PhoneNET cabling.

     

    In short: Start both computers. Enable AppleTalk on both machines (in the Chooser). Restart. Enable/start File Sharing on at least one machine (name and possibly password in the control panel). Select AppleShare in the Chooser (left) of the other machine. Select a computer to connect to in the Chooser (right). Click OK. Enter data in the connection dialogue, and click OK. Select a shared disk to use in the following dialogue, and click OK.

     

    There are many possibilities, including sharing settings under the File menu. Details can be found in the System 7.1 reference handbook

     

    Jan

  • by Jan Hedlund,

    Jan Hedlund Jan Hedlund Aug 17, 2012 6:12 PM in response to Jan Hedlund
    Level 6 (9,869 points)
    Aug 17, 2012 6:12 PM in response to Jan Hedlund

    Correction

     

    >... Modem Ports of the ...

     

    ... Printer Ports of the ...

  • by MacJojo,

    MacJojo MacJojo Aug 17, 2012 6:56 PM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (80 points)
    Aug 17, 2012 6:56 PM in response to Allan Jones

    I did try the Lindy floppy cleaner as my first line of attack. It had worked for me on a much older Mac (SE/30), but it did not work for me on this one.

  • by MacJojo,

    MacJojo MacJojo Aug 17, 2012 7:00 PM in response to Jan Hedlund
    Level 1 (80 points)
    Aug 17, 2012 7:00 PM in response to Jan Hedlund

    This is totally what I'm going to attempt tomorrow.  It sounds very familiar and hopefully this will work. Thank you!

  • by MacJojo,

    MacJojo MacJojo Aug 24, 2012 11:41 PM in response to Jan Hedlund
    Level 1 (80 points)
    Aug 24, 2012 11:41 PM in response to Jan Hedlund

    You totally solved my issue, Jan. Thank you so much!