rodfromsept-iles

Q: SE doesn't recognise the internal HDD

I have three SEs, all from a school lab, that were connected together with others, Pluses and printers.

They are no longer connected together.

All three have a floppy drive and a HDD. Only one will boot from the HDD.

On startup the other two do not recognise their HDD and I have to use ea floppy with the system on it.

Since the HDDs are not "seen" I am unable to do anything with them : repair, set them up as a start-up disc, etc.

They start with the usual chime and the Mac with the question mark, I slip the floppy in and they complete the start-up.

The internal drive spins and the indicator light flashes.

They do not show the internal HDD on the screen, but will show an external.

I have not yet started to swap parts between the good one and the other two.

Does anyone have an idea on how to activate an invisible HDD?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3), Canada

Posted on Jun 4, 2016 5:41 PM

Close

Q: SE doesn't recognise the internal HDD

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by theratter,

    theratter theratter Jun 4, 2016 6:04 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles
    Level 4 (3,907 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 4, 2016 6:04 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles

    You will have to use the floppy startup discs to boot the machines in order to run the Disk Repair Tool, partition, and format the HDD if it is still functional. Only then can you install MacOS onto the HDD. That's about all that I remember.

  • by rodfromsept-iles,

    rodfromsept-iles rodfromsept-iles Jun 4, 2016 6:58 PM in response to theratter
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 4, 2016 6:58 PM in response to theratter

    Thanks for your rapid reply.

    That is exactly what I am trying to do and it worked on a SE 30.

    The problematic HDDs are turning and the leds are blinking but they do not show up on the desk-top so they have become invisible.

    Disc repair etc has no access to the HDD. If I could format them it would be game over victory.

    Maybe I should try dropping them on the floor.

    The machines are useless with just one floppy working and no HDD. No better than a Mac +.

    I was hoping that there is a switch somewhere that should be set or reset or some Apple gymnastics of commands that would be useful.

    I tried resetting the PRAM to no success.

     


    Cheers

    From the cold wet north

  • by macjack,

    macjack macjack Jun 4, 2016 7:05 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles
    Level 9 (55,663 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 4, 2016 7:05 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles

    Launch/Utilities/Terminal and copy & paste this command at the prompt:

    diskutil list

    Press return.

    If it sees the disk, note the number of the disk (far left column) you want to mount.

     

    Then, enter this command:

    mount /dev/(number of disk)

    Put in the number no parenthesis.

    Press Return.

     

    Also might try

    mount force /dev/(number of disk)



  • by rodfromsept-iles,

    rodfromsept-iles rodfromsept-iles Jun 4, 2016 7:27 PM in response to macjack
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 4, 2016 7:27 PM in response to macjack

    Sounds interesting but is it for OS X or system 4 or 5 from 30 years ago ?

  • by macjack,

    macjack macjack Jun 4, 2016 7:30 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles
    Level 9 (55,663 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 4, 2016 7:30 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles

    Doesn't matter. It is for OS X, Unix hasn't changed in 30 years

  • by Jan Hedlund,Helpful

    Jan Hedlund Jan Hedlund Jun 5, 2016 11:04 AM in response to rodfromsept-iles
    Level 6 (9,864 points)
    Jun 5, 2016 11:04 AM in response to rodfromsept-iles

    The Apple HD SC Setup application on Disk Tools (or system) floppies was intended for original Apple SCSI hard drives. If the hard drive had been reformatted with a third-party utility (or if the internal hard drive is not an Apple one), an appropriate third-party formatting utility would normally be needed. For example, Lido 7.5.6. The problem is that a plain Macintosh SE (not FDHD) has a floppy drive for 800K (not 1.4 MB), which means that there is relatively little space for floppy disk modifications.

     

    Which operating system do you have on your system floppy disk(s)? Exactly which disk utilities have you tested? Is there an Apple logo on each hard drive?

     

    Is the SE/30 that you mentioned fully working? Which operating system is it running? Do you have access to System 6 or 7 floppy disks?

     

    If necessary, the SE/30 could be used for the handling of downloaded files and for floppy modifications.

  • by Vegabondsx,Helpful

    Vegabondsx Vegabondsx Aug 4, 2016 3:00 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles
    Level 1 (51 points)
    Old Hardware
    Aug 4, 2016 3:00 PM in response to rodfromsept-iles

    In addition to the Disk Repair tool if you have access to SCSI Probe, which was a common utility/control panel, it will show you all the SCSI disks attached to the Mac. It will show a list of SCSI devices, including the Mac itself. When you check you'd expect to see two entries. One for the Macintosh SE and one for its hard drive.

     

    If you don't see the hard drive try connecting an external SCSI device like another hard drive or CD ROM drive if you have any to rule out any issues there.

     

    If you are comfortable opening the case then you can try unplugging the SCSI cable from the drive and the logic board and attach them again. You can also swap disks from a known working drive to see if works in the troublesome SE and the troublesome HD in a Mac that you knows recognizes HDs fine. If you have an external SCSI HD enclosure you can also try putting the drive in that. Doing all of these will help narrow down where the problem is.


    It may be a ROM or SCSI controller issue, but usually when either those are the issue then there are also other problems with the machine, like the zebra-like vertical lines (which my SE FD's suffering from at the moment due to a leg in its high-ROM is broken).

     

    Usually in my experience the HDD is either disconnected (cable loose) or needs to be reformatted for whatever reason. Hopefully it's one of those.

     

    A word of warning though, If you do open your SE(s) be careful not to touch the exposed CRT (monitor) or power supply (this should be enclosed). Doing so can potentially give you a nasty shock. If you're worried then wait a few hours after disconnecting the mac or discharge the monitor manually. The harm that these CRTs are a bit overblown, but it's still best to play it safe and avoid touching it (unless your discharging it).

  • by rodfromsept-iles,

    rodfromsept-iles rodfromsept-iles Aug 4, 2016 3:02 PM in response to Vegabondsx
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 4, 2016 3:02 PM in response to Vegabondsx

    Thanks loads. A reasonable response from someone who really understood my question. You must have grey hair.

    When I get back on it I will try your suggestions right away.

    Grey haired Rod