I have an old MacSE from 1990 and wanted to startup after maybe 20 years. It starts up but it shows a disk with a blinking Question mark. Do I need to insert a disc to see what I put on the hard drive? I would like to give this computer to a local computer museum but want to delete any documents, personal info, etc before donating. I was unable to locate any old disks I may have had. Any input would be helpful. Thank you.
Earlier Mac models
Hi,
Yes, the blinking question mark indicates that the computer is unable to locate a valid system folder. The best way would be to try an appropriate startup floppy. Depending on the amount of RAM installed, this could be a Disk Tools disk for one of the supported system versions (see Macintosh SE FDHD: Technical Specifications) or a Network Access Disk 7.5. It is possible to download such disk images, but in order to create bootable floppies you would need access to another pre-1998 Macintosh computer with a floppy drive.
Hi,
Yes, the blinking question mark indicates that the computer is unable to locate a valid system folder. The best way would be to try an appropriate startup floppy. Depending on the amount of RAM installed, this could be a Disk Tools disk for one of the supported system versions (see Macintosh SE FDHD: Technical Specifications) or a Network Access Disk 7.5. It is possible to download such disk images, but in order to create bootable floppies you would need access to another pre-1998 Macintosh computer with a floppy drive.
You could perhaps check whether someone you know has an older (pre-1998) Macintosh computer with a built-in floppy drive. Alternatively, if there is an active Apple User Group (User Groups - Apple) in your area.
If your Macintosh SE FDHD has at least 2 MB of RAM, a Disk Tools disk could be something like the System 7.0.1 floppy (http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-British/Macintosh/System/System_7.0.1/Disk_Tools.image.sea.bin). As mentioned earlier, the Network Access Disk 7.5 (http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/Utilities/Network_Access_Disk_7.5.sea.bin) can be used as a startup disk as well, but 4 MB of RAM would be recommended. Someone with a working pre-1998 Mac could use a Disk Copy utility to create a sector-copied 1.4 MB floppy from a disk image.
Thank you for your response. Unfortunately I don't have any of the floppy disks I once had and not sure how to obtain one. I have read that the computer may just need cleaning but that's another challenge.
Mac SE FDHD Start up
