Power Mac 5500 hard disk woes...
I had a PM 5500 but with a faulty HD. I decided to swap in an 800 MB Quantum Trailblazer from a Performa 5200 I had laying around and was met with some success. However I wanted something a little bigger for my purposes so I found a 40 GB Western Digital Caviar and another 4GB Quantum Fireball SE from an older G3 I have. Here are where my problems start..
To format these, I have been using an external firewire drive enclosure so that I can do it from my Powerbook. So I try formatting and installing Mac OS 9.1 onto the 40 GB and no go. I try again with the 4 GB and still nothing.
This is what happens...
I boot up the 5500 with one of the other HDs in, and it gives me the floppy question mark error. It spins up, there's a delay before the question marks appears, then the HD sounds like it resets itself and the question mark is shown again. I've checked jumper positions and they are all on master. Just to see if it would help I tried other jumper positions but the computer obviously didn't like that so I was greeted with a black screen.
My question is.. What makes the 800 MB so special that it is allowed to boot, while the other two are victim to a continuous spin up, reset, spin up,
reset cycle. These two drives are both functional, and when I boot into the Mac OS 9 install they are recognized.
It is also important to note that I have tried to copy over the 8.6 system folder that resides on the working HD and copy them over to the other HDs, still met with no success. Also, this 5500 may be living in another chassis. I don't remember exactly but I do remember transplanting mobos from all-in-ones like the 5500 and the 5200 with their respective drives and outer plastics. Not sure if that would change anything.
I think I'm missing something and any help is greatly appreciated... Thanks.
Powermac 5500 Mac OS 9.1.x Not sure.. But I believe this 5500 lives in another chassis.. I might have swapped it some time ago.
To format these, I have been using an external firewire drive enclosure so that I can do it from my Powerbook. So I try formatting and installing Mac OS 9.1 onto the 40 GB and no go. I try again with the 4 GB and still nothing.
This is what happens...
I boot up the 5500 with one of the other HDs in, and it gives me the floppy question mark error. It spins up, there's a delay before the question marks appears, then the HD sounds like it resets itself and the question mark is shown again. I've checked jumper positions and they are all on master. Just to see if it would help I tried other jumper positions but the computer obviously didn't like that so I was greeted with a black screen.
My question is.. What makes the 800 MB so special that it is allowed to boot, while the other two are victim to a continuous spin up, reset, spin up,
reset cycle. These two drives are both functional, and when I boot into the Mac OS 9 install they are recognized.
It is also important to note that I have tried to copy over the 8.6 system folder that resides on the working HD and copy them over to the other HDs, still met with no success. Also, this 5500 may be living in another chassis. I don't remember exactly but I do remember transplanting mobos from all-in-ones like the 5500 and the 5200 with their respective drives and outer plastics. Not sure if that would change anything.
I think I'm missing something and any help is greatly appreciated... Thanks.
Powermac 5500 Mac OS 9.1.x Not sure.. But I believe this 5500 lives in another chassis.. I might have swapped it some time ago.
Powerbook G4 15", Mac OS X (10.4.3)
