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Level 1

0 points

Macintosh Classic boot problems

Hi guys,

I hope that you can fix that problem..

Yesterday, I bought a Macintosh Classic with the keyboard and mouse (ADB). It works but when you turn it on, for the first 10-15 seconds it shows a dark grey screen. After, the screen becomes brighter with the same background and the pointer shows up. I got it running for 15 mins but nothing happened. I also noticed that there was no startup sound. Please help me I am so sad about never seeing this guy running properly. I Tried startup keys such as shift and probably all of these. With shift, an error message came with the sad mac face. I tried to get it back, but it never went back even with other keys. When I turn it on, it stays with the mouse pointer and that gray pattern. I can also move the pointer around.

Cheers,

Sam

Macintosh Classic-OTHER, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier

Posted on Aug 10, 2015 9:17 AM

33 replies

Katarak Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 13, 2015 9:39 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Jan,

I just tried the key thing. Nothing happened.

I used Stuffit 10 for Windows, then I moved the image to my old win ME PC via usb, then used winimage on the old PC. I did format and write.

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,261 points

Aug 13, 2015 12:43 PM in response to Katarak

Sam,

A Macintosh Classic should boot from a system contained in ROM when the four keys are depressed. Since this does not work, and booting from floppies (which appear to be correctly made) does not work, and booting from the hard disk (providing that it has a system installed) does not work, it could could be a problem with the logic board.

You could try to make another bootable floppy on another Windows computer (possibly even using a USB floppy drive), or you could look for another pre-1998 Macintosh computer to create floppies via Disk Copy 4.2 (the best way to verify that disks have been properly written), but it may not change anything.

Regarding a possible logic board fault, I can only guess. It could be a damaged semiconductor (for example, we cannot rule out that someone disconnected a cable while the computer was running, or against all rules connected a PC-style parallel or serial device to the SCSI port), a leaking electrolytic capacitor, or a cracked solder joint. Try once again to inspect the board with a magnifying glass or a microscope.

Katarak Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 14, 2015 3:05 PM in response to Jan Hedlund

I'll try this. Maybe I will also bring it to the repair shop, they may have better tools than me.

Macintosh Classic boot problems