Macintosh Classic boot problems

Hi Sam,

This appears to indicate a hardware problem. Normally, one would hear the startup sound before a grey background and pointer are shown. One should perhaps not rule out that there was a startup sound, but that it does not reach the speaker, or that the speaker is damaged. Is there a sound if you plug in headphones?

Apart from the single error message, was there ever anything else on the screen (such as a floppy icon with a flashing question-mark)? Any sounds (for example, from a hard drive)?

All work inside a compact Mac is dangerous because of the high voltages involved, and must only be performed by someone with the necessary expertise. Charges can remain in certain components/circuits even after the computer has been switched off and disconnected from the mains.

Has the 3.6 V logic board battery been checked? It may not be a bad idea to have boards inspected (using a magnifying glass), Things to look for are bad solder joints, discoloured/cracked components, and leaking electrolytic capacitors.

Jan

Sam,

>I just booted it with my ear-pods and there is the startup sound.

OK. Could be a problem with the switch in the headphone jack, a broken wire, or a faulty speaker.

>I got an error message, it says: 00000003

00006DB6

>The error message says 00000003

0000DFFF

The interesting part would be 0003. This could indicate a failed RAM test. You may want to check an expansion card and memory modules to begin with (remove and reinstall, clean contacts).

Sam,

Could you not ask someone with the necessary knowledge to help you? For safety reasons, please understand that I prefer not to give advice about these matters in a forum like this. If you absolutely wish to do any work yourself, do read about methods and safety procedures first, and learn as much as you can (generally speaking, a lot of information can be found on the Internet through a web search for something like a computer name and "take apart", "repair", etc).

Also, handle fragile SIMM holders with care.

Jan

A bad battery can sometimes cause unexpected symptoms, so it is usually a good idea to replace it. The battery is a 3,6 V ½ AA size lithium type (non-rechargeable).

Be careful when you remove the expansion card from the logic board, and then any SIMM from the expansion card. Make sure that the holders/latches do not break.

>After, this message came on: 00000003 0000FFEF.

Could still indicate a failed RAM test. Did the message come back, or did it just happen once? Removing the memory expansion card would leave the computer with only 1 MB of RAM (on the logic board), which could be enough to run tests under System 6 (not System 7). If it works then, that would mean a problem with the card (SIMMs, connector).

>I am wondering if I could take the HDD out and run it with a floppy.

Yes, but a SCSI terminator should be placed where the hard drive cable was connected.

>I also got a mac SE, the screen is broken, do you think I could take this HDD?

In principle, yes, but I do not know whether an old hard drive in the SE possibly could have a height that would not fit inside the Classic (but you will soon find out).

>And for the floppy, does a normal one works?

Do you mean the type of floppy disk to be used in the Macintosh Classic? The Classic can handle both HD diskettes (1.44 MB) and DSDD/2DD (800K), whereas a plain Macintosh SE (not the FDHD variant) only works with DSDD/2DD (800K) diskettes.

>And where do I find the OS?

Do you have access to another (working) pre-1998 Macintosh computer (with a built-in floppy drive)? Any other computers (Mac or PC)?

It is possible to use a Windows machine like that to create bootable Mac floppies from certain Disk Copy disk images. The Network Access 7.5 disk, which can be used as a boot floppy, is one example:

The special procedure requires the use of an appropriate version of Aladdin/StuffIt Expander for Windows in order to decode the .bin (MacBinary) and decompress an intermediate file to begin with.

The stuffit-expander-10-windows.uu from the site below could possibly be OK (see the abstracts text file for details; the uuencode must be decoded before the freeware utility can be installed on a PC): http://archive.info-mac.org/_Compress_&_Translate/

A disk-image utility for PC will also be needed. For example, the shareware utility WinImage 6.10.

Install the programs on the PC.

Prepare an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB (HD) diskette through the FORMAT A: command in DOS or via the "full" formatting command under Windows. This is important.

Download the Network Access Disk 7.5 .bin file.

http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English -North_American/Macintosh/Utilities/Network_Access_Disk_7.5.sea.bin

The Windows operating system may truncate the file name. Drag this downloaded file (as it is) onto/into Aladdin/StuffIt Expander. Aladdin/StuffIt Expander should decode the file into an archive (document) called Network Access Disk 7.5, and automatically decompress the latter into a Network Access folder.

Inside the Network Access folder you will find a Read Me document and a file called Network Access.image.

Insert the empty PC-formatted diskette into the PC's floppy drive.

If WinImage is used, drag the Network Access.image onto the program icon. In the WinImage application window, select Write disk (from the Disk menu) or click on the Write disk icon. When the operation is completed, immediately eject the diskette. In order to make this work, it may become necessary to (temporarily) switch off any active anti-virus software.

1.44 MB is not much, so you should really have a working hard drive in the Classic. Floppy disks are best for startup purposes, as tools disks, and for transfers and backup.

>I got myself the formatted os 6 disks. I got the install #1 in

Which System 6 version?

Any change if you try to hold down the four keys Command(Apple) + Option + Shift + Delete(Backspace) at startup?

Any change with a disconnected hard drive?

A bad diskette (startup floppy) cannot be ruled out.