Q: PowerBook 190/190cs Won't Find OS
Howdy everyone. I've had this problem with my brother's PowerBook 190 forever, and I've never been able to figure it out. The problem is that it won't find any OS even when the hard drive is in and the PowerBook 190 enabler is in the right place (I think). The PowerBook's OS (7.5) was seriously messed up when my brother bought it—it included two operating systems; one that seemed more in tact than the other, but neither fully working or complete. The PowerBook was limited to what it could do for this reason. My brother and I decided to move the PowerBook 190 enabler over to the more complete-looking OS, and it began starting up with a floppy disk in the center and a question mark. Even after restoring the hard drive to the way it was before we messed with it, the PowerBook still refuses to find an OS. I've tried everything to reinstall the OS through my MacBook Pro, my PowerBook Titanium, my Lombard PowerBook, and nothing will come of the extensive effort I've put into fixing the 190.
Strangely, both my brother and I have never been able to figure out exactly what PowerBook it is, though. It has a "PowerBook 190" plaque on the display, but the screen itself is in color, and it's 10.4" instead of 9.5" (the same size as a 190cs). We don't know what the guy did to the computer, but maybe it has something to do with why the OS can't be found. We tried buying a floppy disc drive to install OS 7 again on the PowerBook, but not only did the floppy drive die right away, we could never find PowerBook 190 OS 7 install discs.
Does anyone know why the PowerBook won't find an OS? Does anyone know if there's a way to force another computer's OS install discs to work? Does anyone know if buying another floppy drive from eBay would help at all to solve these problems? Does anyone know if the PowerBook enabler is supposed to go in the System folder? As far as I know, the PowerBook 190 has very few keyboard startup commands; it's not like I can hit C as it starts up to install an OS from a floppy.
P.S. I've been doing all the work on the hard drive by extracting it from the 190 and connecting it up with a USB external hard drive; just so you know.
Here's a picture of the problem:
http://s714.photobucket.com/albums/ww142/tommyjames337/?action=view¤t=DSC_ 0389.jpg
I will continue to try working on it—maybe it needs a 190cs enabler?
Strangely, both my brother and I have never been able to figure out exactly what PowerBook it is, though. It has a "PowerBook 190" plaque on the display, but the screen itself is in color, and it's 10.4" instead of 9.5" (the same size as a 190cs). We don't know what the guy did to the computer, but maybe it has something to do with why the OS can't be found. We tried buying a floppy disc drive to install OS 7 again on the PowerBook, but not only did the floppy drive die right away, we could never find PowerBook 190 OS 7 install discs.
Does anyone know why the PowerBook won't find an OS? Does anyone know if there's a way to force another computer's OS install discs to work? Does anyone know if buying another floppy drive from eBay would help at all to solve these problems? Does anyone know if the PowerBook enabler is supposed to go in the System folder? As far as I know, the PowerBook 190 has very few keyboard startup commands; it's not like I can hit C as it starts up to install an OS from a floppy.
P.S. I've been doing all the work on the hard drive by extracting it from the 190 and connecting it up with a USB external hard drive; just so you know.
Here's a picture of the problem:
http://s714.photobucket.com/albums/ww142/tommyjames337/?action=view¤t=DSC_ 0389.jpg
I will continue to try working on it—maybe it needs a 190cs enabler?
667Mhz DVI TiBook & 2Ghz MacBook 1GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.9),  eMac,  MacBook (Black),  PowerBook Titanium 667Mhz DVI
Posted on Apr 3, 2009 9:23 AM
by Jan Hedlund,Solvedanswer
I should add that the (nineteen) downloadable System 7.5.3 files can be drag-copied to 1.44 MB floppies. There is no need for a special utility in this very case. The files can then be copied to the destination hard disk as they are; an appropriate version (for example, 4.0.1 or 5.5) of StuffIt Expander would be required there for the decoding of the .bin = MacBinary. Place the decoded files (one .smi and eighteen .part) in a common folder. These files together constitute one large disk image. One can mount the entire image by double-clicking on the first (.smi) file. The installer will be found in the mounted image.
BTW, if of interest, detailed technical information about the PowerBook 190 can be found here. A manual has been made available for download here.
Jan
BTW, if of interest, detailed technical information about the PowerBook 190 can be found here. A manual has been made available for download here.
Jan
Posted on Apr 11, 2009 2:56 AM