CD-ROM failure on TAM...

cosmichobo
If your TAM has been off a powered mains cable since February, it has a ready-made excuse for startup indecision. Replace the backup battery with a new one, a rectanguar 4.5-V alkaline with flying leads to the logicboard, That said, such batteries are scarce in Australia, so you may have to go to eBay, and even there they are getting scarcer. Plan for USD15 + USD6 postage, or thereabouts.

This and this, if you don't already know about them, may be useful sites.

The PRAM reset key combination is command-option-p-r. To start up from CD is plain c, or command-option-shift-delete if the c key alone does not work. (To ignore the default startup drive in favour of any other available startup drive is command-option-shift-delete.) To start up from floppy diskette, simply insert a boot floppy immediately after the chime.

I have just revived my TAM's optical drive, apparently death for half a year, with a simple shower with a dust cleaning spray of air. I was convinced that the CD reader was mechanically damaged cause it just didn't anything when I tried to put a CD in it. Now it works perfectly, incredibly.

Travis

I've tried zapping the PRAM now, but it didn't fix the problem. Tried restarting with Com Opt C, and Com Opt Shf Del, but it just gave me a flashing ?-floppy.

Plain c, and the four-fingered salute c-o-s-d will work if there is a valid startup device at CD-ROM (c), or another HDD or CD-ROM, internally or externally (cosd). The FDD needs no key command because it is always polled first by the system (small 's') Startup Manager.

PRAM zapping: From cold start, press the four keys immediately, and continue to hold them until after the fourth chime. This should refocus the TAM's mind (temporarily) on the location of the default startup device, which is usually the HDD. If the TAM gets no joy there, it should default to another startup device. Either a floppy with a blest System (7.5.3?) or a System on CD-ROM or an external HDD should suffice. If the TAM strikes out on all four of these you are really up the creek. What do DFA and DS report about the drives that they 'see'?

Let's suppose that the battery is clagged, even though the TAM seems to have split the time difference between NT and Queensland rather than losing it altogether. The TAM may lose PRAM settings between startups, but it is not being prevented from startup completely as is the case with some Macs. You should replace the battery soon, nonetheless.

On what medium do you have the original System (big 's') or OS? You need, on one startup volume, all three of 1) blest System to boot to the Desktop, 2) disk utility (Drive Setup) to force the mount of your HDD, and 3) Disk First Aid to check its health. Then you can re-install the HDD driver (DS). If the HDD won't oblige, it may be dead, or it may need a disk utility with more force, such as LaCie's Silverlining, InTech's HD SpeedTools and so on. Your bootable volume with Disk Tools can be on a CD-ROM (internal/external), or on an external HDD or the FDD.

cosmichobo
Faced with so many competing failures, your immediate problem is to 'get hold' of the TAM and work systematically from there. The floppy drive is potentially the least problematic startup device, but diskettes have limited storage for utilities. If you have, or download, the disk images for OS 7.5.3, and if the Quadra can still write floppies, you can run Disk First Aid to check that the HDD is resuscitable, re-install the HDD driver if it is, re-install an OS, and then try to startup from the HDD. Your goal in all of this is to be able to sort the TAM out by doing your troubleshooting and repairs from your most versatile startup device, the HDD. If you can do that you can then address the CD-ROM, sort it (and perhaps the external CD-ROM also) out, and then think of importing your music.

You may have not only a PRAM with poor self-esteem (and memory), but also a soft power-on problem. The backup battery you can soon replace, but the latter will take a little more effort to identify. In the meantime, leave the TAM connected to a live mains outlet all the time.

Travis:
Another easy thing to try- clean the CDRom drive. Get one of those cleaning discs at your local megamart and give it a spin.

Travis, could you expand on how you brought your dead TAM back to life after exposing it to the deadly OSX ? "...a paperclip on the PRAM terminals???"

Regards

Jason, with one dead TAM (well, freezes 30 seconds after start up)