Help PowerBook 150 not Run disket flash Question mark System 7.5.3 - 18 parts.

So, there is a hard drive inside? The hard drive for the PB 150 would be 2.5" IDE/ATA.

Only if you have opened the PB 150: Do you know the hard disk capacity? Does the drive have an Apple logo?

When starting (without a diskette in the floppy drive), does the hard drive produce any kind of sound (just spinning, or reading)? Any different sound if you let the computer start from the NAD 7.5 (wait until the startup sequence is complete and the floppy drive is inactive)?

Did resetting the PRAM and/or Power Manager change anything? Any hard disk icon on the Desktop?

If there is a spinning/working (but not properly recognised) hard drive inside, we would need one or two disk utilities in order to to detect the drive and try to perform a driver software update or a complete reformatting/initialisation. This is not totally without complication, since it (as things are now) would require you to work only via the floppy drive (using floppy swapping). Let me think about how to solve this.

Do you have access to any external SCSI devices and cables that possibly could be useful here (Zip drive, etc)?

Jan

OK, that makes it much easier. Keep that hard drive with the Spanish System 7.1 in the working PB 150 for a while. To begin with, a few questions:

a) Could you check whether there is a PC Exchange control panel in the Control Panels (Paneles de Control) folder?

b) Can you find any Disk Copy (4.2 or 6.3.3) version on that hard disk?

c) Is there a StuffIt Expander version installed?

If not, use your Windows XP computer to make a disk with a StuffIt Expander 4.0.1 installer according to my earlier description:

It is also possible to obtain a version of StuffIt Expander for the PB 150 through a PC (but the PowerBook would need at least a temporary operating system first). With access to an older Windows PC (capable of running a DOS program) with a floppy drive, you may want to try the following: Prepare an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB diskette via FORMAT A: in DOS or the "full" formatting option under Windows. Download the MACDISK.EXE file from http://rrzs42.uni-regensburg.de/Macintosh/files/macftp.html . Run this MACDISK.EXE (DOS) program on the Windows PC. Follow the instructions on screen. The result will be a Mac-formatted (sic!) floppy that could be moved to and used with the PB 150. This floppy contains a StuffIt Expander installer. Once installed, drag downloaded .bin files onto the StuffIt Expander program icon to decode them.

d) Is there a file called Internal HD Format somewhere on the hard disk?

Jan

Hi,

When a hard disk has an installed and active PC Exchange control panel, it means that it is possible to transfer downloaded MacBinary (.bin), BinHex (.hqx) or StuffIt (.sit) files directly on PC-formatted 1.44 MB floppies. So, you should be able to download files via the Windows XP machine (without having to use a special utility like TransMac or MacDrive for Mac-formatted floppy disks).

Is it not possible to open a hard disk volume if you double-click on the icon? There appear to be two hard disk icons on the Desktop (partitions?).

You could perhaps try Find (Buscar) from the File (Archivo) menu.

Generally speaking, it is possible to deactivate an existing system and install another one on the same hard disk. This involves renaming the previous system folder and dragging the System suitcase out of it. However, for several reasons, I normally recommend that one starts with a freshly formatted hard disk.

In this case the idea would be to temporarily use the 7.1 hard disk to create/modify a bootable floppy to hold an appropriate disk utility (to be used in order to make an attempt to test or format the other hard drive).

Jan

1. To begin with, create the floppy with StuffIt Expander (see description above) on your Windows XP computer. Move that floppy to the PB 150 and try to install StuffIt Expander on the hard disk.

2. Make another Network Access (NAD 7.5) floppy (using the same method as earlier) on the Windows XP machine.

3. Download Internal HD Format (http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English -North_American/Macintosh/Utilities/Internal_HD_Format_1.3.sea.bin) onto the Windows XP machine. Do not decode or decompress. Keep the .bin as it is. Copy the .bin file onto a PC-formatted 1.44 MB floppy. Move the floppy to the PB 150. If the PB 150 recognises the PC floppy, it should be possible to drag copy the file to the hard disk.

4. Drag the .bin file onto the StuffIt Expander program icon on the PB 150. This should decode/decompress the file.

5. Insert the new Network Access disk in the PB 150 when the computer is running from the 7.1 system on the hard disk. Open the System Folder of the Network Access disk. Move all files in the three folders Apple Menu Items, Control Panels and Extensions on the floppy to the Wastebasket (Papelera). Empty the Wastebasket (Vaciar Papelera) from the Special (Especial) menu. This should make room for a small utility on the floppy.

6. Drag-copy the Internal HD Format application to the base level of the modified Network Access floppy. If everything is OK, you should now have a bootable floppy with a disk/formatting utility.

7. Shut down the PB 150 and remove the 7.1 hard drive. Install the other hard drive (the one you began with). Try to start the PB 150 from the modified Network Access floppy. Does the Internal HD Format application detect the (previously invisible) hard drive?

Hello again,

Please go through the seven steps in my previous message one by one. Follow the instructions to the letter.

For example, under 1. there is a reference to the following description about how to make a floppy containing StuffIt Expander for Macintosh on a Windows PC:

It is also possible to obtain a version of StuffIt Expander for the PB 150 through a PC (but the PowerBook would need at least a temporary operating system first). With access to an older Windows PC (capable of running a DOS program) with a floppy drive, you may want to try the following: Prepare an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB diskette via FORMAT A: in DOS or the "full" formatting option under Windows. Download the MACDISK.EXE file from http://rrzs42.uni-regensburg.de/Macintosh/files/macftp.html . Run this MACDISK.EXE (DOS) program on the Windows PC. Follow the instructions on screen. The result will be a Mac-formatted (sic!) floppy that could be moved to and used with the PB 150. This floppy contains a StuffIt Expander installer. Once installed, drag downloaded .bin files onto the StuffIt Expander program icon to decode them.

That way you will get a working StuffIt Expander installer for the PowerBook 150. I have also taken into consideration that PC Exchange is on the PB 150 (allowing the transfer to take place on a PC-formatted floppy). Do not use anything downloaded from other sources at this point. Just follow the exact instructions under the seven steps.

The Internal HD Format .bin file on the PB 150 looks OK (it has a truncated name). Once you have StuffIt Expander on the PB 150, that .bin file can be decoded.

Jan

Addendum

To clarify:

>That way you will get a working StuffIt Expander installer for the PowerBook 150.

The MACDISK.EXE file under the link provided is a small DOS program that is using a "built-in" disk image to produce a Mac disk. That is why you can start with an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB diskette and as a result get a Mac-formatted floppy complete with software. It is important to properly format the PC diskette before you start; the disk must be without defects. Once the operation under the DOS program has been completed on the Windows (XP) PC, immediately eject the floppy and move it to the PowerBook 150. When you open the floppy on the PB 150, it is a good idea to copy the StuffIt Expander installer to the hard disk first, and then carry out the installation. If StuffIt Expander has a generic application icon instead of a special one after the installation, rebuild the Desktop (https://support.apple.com/us-en/HT2344) on the PB 150.

>I have also taken into consideration that PC Exchange is on the PB 150 (allowing the transfer to take place on a PC-formatted floppy).

This has nothing to do with the StuffIt Expander floppy (which in the end is a Mac-formatted disk). It was referring to transfers in general. Your photo shows a "PC" floppy icon on the PB 150, so PC Exchange is working.

Hi,

The first photo: Below the Network Access floppy icon is a hard disk. Was this the result of running Internal HD Format from the modified Network Access floppy?

The second photo: Since the hard disk icon is top right, I assume that it contains a temporary system (the System Folder copied from the Network Access floppy). Also, I assume that the folder below is an empty folder waiting to be filled with the eighteen System 7.5.3 files.

The message that the disk is unreadable indicates that it is not a Macintosh-formatted floppy. Are you trying to transfer the System 7.5.3 segments on 1.44 MB Mac or PC floppy disks?

If you are using PC-formatted disks, there must be a PC Exchange control panel placed in the Control Panels folder of the temporary system folder (as it was on the System 7.1 hard disk). I do not know whether an earlier PC Exchange control panel version would work under the System 7.5 Network Access, though.

Otherwise, if you wish to transfer the System 7.5.3 (.bin) segments on Mac-formatted floppies from the Windows XP machine, a Mac-disk utility like TransMac or MacDrive would be needed.

Jan

Hello again,

Good to hear that you successfully installed the operating system.

This is merely one example of a web site with older freeware and shareware applications:

http://archive.info-mac.org/

PC Exchange is part of System 7.5.3, so downloads and transfers could be carried out directly on PC-formatted 1.44 MB floppy disks, if necessary. As always, copy downloaded MacBinary (.bin) or BinHex (.hqx) files unaltered to the PB 150, and decode using StuffIt Expander there.

Next, I suggest that you look for an external SCSI CD-ROM drive as well as an external SCSI Zip drive (and SCSI cables and terminators). That would make future transfers much easier. On a modern computer, you could create and burn an .iso CD-R (at a low speed) containing .bin or .hqx files, and then read these files on the PowerBook 150. See the pages 96-100 in the manual (https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/0/MA853/en_US/0305538APWRBK150GS.pdf) for details about SCSI.

Jan