Macintosh Classic II Stopped Working

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Level 1

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Macintosh Classic II Stopped Working

Hi there,

I bought a Macintosh Classic II last weekend. Everything on it worked perfectly fine. Today, however, something went wrong. I had an old Verbatim 2DD floppy disk that I was planning to erase and format. I had a couple other generic floppy disk that I erased and formated perfectly fine on the Classic II, so I thought this one would be no issue. I put in the the drive, and clicked Format when prompted. The computer went to work formatting the disk. However, halfway through formatting, it froze. I could move the mouse, and tried clicking cancel, but nothing worked. Since there was no way to force eject the disk, I just flipped the switch and powered off the computer, figuring it would just eject the disk upon startup like it had with another disk I had left in when I powered down. However, after turing the computer back on, I got the boot chime, and then....nothing. The screen turned a slightly darker shade of grey, the chimes of death played, and that's it. The disk didn't eject, and the computer stayed in that state. I mananged to get the disk out when the computer was powered down by inserting a paperclip into the hole next to the drive, but the drive is still stuck down. Now whenever I turn the computer on, it does the same thing (startup chime, screen on, gray screen, chimes of death). I really hope I didn't wreck the computer. I'm still terribly unfamiliar with older computers, can somebody please help and fix this situation? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Christopher.

Posted on Mar 28, 2014 4:15 PM

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Answer 1

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,207 points

Mar 28, 2014 8:22 PM in response to HeyMama555

Hi,

It is not easy to offer exact advice in a case like this. In order to determine a possible cause, it may become necessary to open the computer. This should only be done by an expert. Please note that work inside a compact Mac is very dangerous because of the high-voltage circuits involved. Charges can remain for a long period even after the computer has been turned off.

It would probably not be a bad idea to check cable connectors and reseat RAM/ROM modules. Also, a low logic board battery voltage (the nominal voltage is 3.6 V) can lead to startup issues with some models. At the same time, the boards could be inspected for obvious signs of damaged components (such as leaking electrolytic capacitors).

One of few things that can be tried from the outside would be a PRAM reset (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379) and that should not be expected to change anything here.

Jan

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Answer 2

HeyMama555 Author

Level 1

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Mar 28, 2014 10:12 PM in response to Jan Hedlund

Hi Jan,

Well, I was really worried that I was going to have to crack open my Macintosh and root around inside it (which I really didn't want to do), but the strangest thing just happened.

I had left the computer plugged in but powered off for about 7 hours now, and on a whim after coming back to your answer, I flipped the switch. I heard the start up chime, the screen came on, and I waited for the grey screen and chimes of death. And.....they never came. Lo and behold, it booted straight to the desk top with no problem! I even heard the floppy drive eject!

I still don't know what went wrong when I powered off while it was trying to format that disk that caused it to gray screen on me, or what leaving it powered off for 7 hours did to fix that, but it's working fine now! Maybe the power of your comment sparked it into coming back to life 😝

Thanks a bunch for the advice, even if in the end, I didn't wind up using it!

-Christopher

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Answer 3

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,207 points

Mar 29, 2014 3:42 AM in response to HeyMama555

Hello Christopher,

Could it possibly have been temperature-related? Perhaps something with the power supply. Just guessing here. We cannot rule out electrolytic capacitors changing characteristics (it is not unusual to find faulty capacitors in older computers). You would have to closely observe the future behaviour of the computer. Regarding the battery, does the machine retain its time/date settings after having been disconnected?

Jan

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Answer 4

Apr 12, 2014 11:13 AM in response to HeyMama555

Some electrical ciruit setting may need minutes to fall back. In old PC-DOS world in some cases you were explicit asked to wait > 5 Minutes after shut down before restart. In critical situations I shut down, take out the plug, short the two pins and wait for some 30 minutes - sometimes with success.

Joe - PC & Mac Oldtimer

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