PowerBook 145 Won't boot/HDD sounds fine

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Level 1

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PowerBook 145 Won't boot/HDD sounds fine

The hard drive sounds perfect. I just have the classic flashing "?" Floppy image. Due to the HDD sounding fine, could it be its dead? or will I just need to use an emulator to image some floppys to boot it? I tried resetting the PRAM but to no avail.

I just want to make sure that making the floppys is the right course of action before I dedicate too much time to the HDD

Macintosh PowerBook 145, Other OS, Vintage

Posted on Nov 15, 2010 9:05 PM

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Answer 1

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

24,295 points

Nov 16, 2010 8:28 AM in response to ShortYeti

The question-mark indicates that the computer cannot locate a valid system folder. Using a startup floppy would be the proper next step. The floppy has to contain a compatible operating system, and it has to be made in a correct way. Typically, a Disk Copy program (4.2 or 6.3.3, depending upon the type of disk image) is used on a semi-old Macintosh computer with a built-in floppy drive. Choose the Make A Copy / Make a Floppy command.

With suitable files (such as the Network Access Disk 7.5), and with appropriate utilities (for instance, Aladdin/StuffIt Expander for Windows combined with WinImage), it may even be possible to create a sector-copied 1.44 MB startup floppy on a PC.

http://download.info.apple.com/AppleSupport_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-NorthAmerican/Macintosh/Utilities/

Jan

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