Q: Getting Data Off Performa 577

Yank the drive and get a SCSI to USB adapter. You should then be able to pull your data off that old drive and onto any modern Mac. Or a PC, I suppose.

I didn't find one when I searched on Other World Computing's website (macsales.com) but I saw a bunch on eBay and at some other retailers. Just be sure you're getting one with the proper pinouts, termination, and power supply.

cybersooz                           

If you could give the name of a city near you we could maybe find a user group near you.  Several people have found local help by connecting up with old timers who keep spare computers around. 

Computer recycling companies will sometimes have old external SCSI optical drives.  Pull the optical drive out and you have a hard drive bay. 

As for the computer, have you tried the keyboard power switch?  It may sound like a dumb question but those computers did not come on with the power switch.  They turned on with the keyboard, after the power was supplied to the motherboard.  That is the first noise you are hearing, the CRT responding to power on.

Ji~m

That was an interesting anomaly.  The text did not post.

Here it is again:

If you could give the name of a city near you we could maybe find a user group near you.  Several people have found local help by connecting up with old timers who keep spare computers around. 

Computer recycling companies will sometimes have old external SCSI optical drives.  Pull the optical drive out and you have a hard drive bay. 

As for the computer, have you tried the keyboard power switch?  It may sound like a dumb question but those computers did not come on with the power switch.  They turned on with the keyboard, after the power was supplied to the motherboard.  That is the first noise you are hearing, the CRT responding to power on.

Ji~m

Still no post.

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If you could give the name of a city near you we could maybefind a user group near you. Several people have found local help by connecting up with old timerswho keep spare computers around.

Computer recycling companies will sometimes have oldexternal SCSI optical drives.  Pullthe optical drive out and you have a hard drive bay.

As for the computer, have you tried the keyboard powerswitch?  It may sound like a dumbquestion but those computers did not come on with the power switch.  They turned on with the keyboard, afterthe power was supplied to the motherboard.  That is the first noise you are hearing, the CRT respondingto power on.

Ji~m

(not sure what was going on with the text but I had to strip it back to text in Word.)

Jim, I'm seeing the full text of your post in the email's from my subscription to this page, but not on the page itself.

John,

Thank you for the update.  I just found a video that might be useful on the original topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnh9UhqIer8&feature=related

Jim

I am not one to jump to suggesting a new PRAM battery because many computers allow for a 'warm boot.'

Because the keyboard wakes up the computer by signaling the startup sequence, the warm boot does not work.

Have you tried zapping the PRAM?  Hold down the P+R+command and option keys while turning on the power switch.  The brain cells are getting rusty on how that model responded to different commands.  It was an odd approach that fortunately was not used on other models except the all-in-one power PCs like the  5200.

Jim

My recollection is that those models used the rocker switch as a service switch only, and the action begins when you press the tringle-Icon-key on the keyboard.

Grant,

Thanx for the confirmation.  I know that if a computer chimes and starts without the monitor, a keyboard reset will often wake the monitor up, even if there is a dead PRAM battery.  In fact, the dead battery is why the monitor circuit is not waking up.

However, with the all in one computers, they need the wakeup/startup from the keyboard.  You can not reset something that has not started in the first place!  I have forgotten if those models have a reset on the motherboard.  I will have to dig one out and see what options they had.  Been too long (then again, it has not been long enough) since I used an old all-in-one.

Jim

cybersooz,

Here is the update.  I dug out a couple of 550s and put them through the paces.  The first one chimed, took a while for the monitor to light up and then gave the flashing question mark.  The LEDs on the keyboard should light up.  The chime should sound, the light on the lower front panel near the volume buttons should light up, the hard drive should spin up and then it should find the system folder.

The hard drive did not spin up at first.  Then it did it was struggling.  The restart keys are 'command' and 'control' and the 'soft power key' held down at the same time.  The chime should sound again.  It took three or four times before the hard drive sped up to the proper speed.  It has been sitting for a long time.  Dead PRAM battery does not stop it from booting.

Started the second CPU.  No chime but raster to the monitor.  No hard drive noise.  One swift hit to the right side of the computer and the hard drive started up.  No system folder so all it did was flash the question mark.  A couple of keyboard resets did not work but the speaker crackled to life after the third reboot.  Pulled the drive and was reminded that the hard drive has a multi-blade adapter on back.  Those contacts must be cleaned to insure good connections.  A pencil eraser will do the trick.

Good luck.

Ji~m