Is there a replacement for the original HD in my Quadra 800?

Question

Level 1

57 points

Is there a replacement for the original HD in my Quadra 800?

I booted up my Quadra 800 yesterday for the first time in probably 10 years or more. I got the floppy icon with flashing question mark, but then it proceeded to boot up after I pressed the lower reset button. Today the same thing happens at first, but the reset button no longer leads to normal boot-up. With Command-C I can boot from the OS 8 install disk, but when it's complete, I get the message that the HD cannot be accessed due to error -127.

Is there some strategy for trying to salvage the HD?

Is there a contemporary replacement for the Seagate ST3600N 500 MB HD?

Thanks,

Howard

Legacy: Lisa; 1MB Fat Mac; ][CX; Quadra; G3 Black, G4 Ti PB

Posted on Aug 29, 2015 10:13 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Jeff

Level 6

12,058 points

Aug 29, 2015 11:33 AM in response to hlritter

After the computer has sat for 10 years disconnected from electricity, it's likely that the internal battery (3.6, ½AA lithium) is dead. This can cause a number of problems when attempting to boot the computer, so I'd recommend replacing it. As for the hard drive, disconnect its ribbon cable and inspect for a clean connection without corrosion. If it appears to be OK, reconnect the ribbon cable. From lack of use, the arm with the read/write heads may be stuck. When I tried to troubleshoot a "missing" hard drive, I'd open the computer case, start it up, and firmly/repeatedly knock the hard drive with my knuckle. This was done in an attempt to jar it enough, to free a sticking hardware component. Success will vary, depending on the nature of the problem component. If a component on the drive's motherboard has gone bad, a motherboard transplant from an identical hard drive would be your only option. Unfortunately, the only replacement SCSI I/II, 50-pin drives that you'll find will be old and (probably) high-mileage ones that will have similar problems at some point. Their scarcity has driven up the selling prices on ebay. I think I paid about $20 for a 4 GB Apple/Quantum SCSI drive, the last time I purchased any — at least 10 years ago. Today, they cost about 4x as much. I'd start with the battery and then try disconnecting the hard drive's ribbon cable, remove the drive from the chassis and give it a few good knocks with your knuckle on the top cover. Be sure that you've dissipated any static charge that you might have by touching the computer's grounded chassis, before handling the hard drive.

Reply

Answer 2

hlritter Author

Level 1

57 points

Aug 29, 2015 1:13 PM in response to Jeff

Thanks, Jeff. I should have mentioned that the HD was spinning but not appearing on the desktop when I booted from the CD. I tried to use the disk utility but it did not seem to recognize an attached HD. Then I tried another utility, I forget the name, but it is apparently used to configure the hierarchy of attached disks. In this utility the HD appeared as "unnamed" and I reformatted it. Now it did appear on the desktop with the CD as the boot disk. I was able to install OS 8 from the CD and now everything seems to be working fine! Apparently it was not a hardware problem with the HD, but some sort of data corruption so severe that the HD wasn't even recognized as a disk by the OS. Sounds unlikely, especially since a utility saw it, but there it is.Of course, with reformatting, everything that had been on it was gone. But anything I hadn't needed in 10 years is unlikely ever to be missed, and the real motivation for getting the machine running again is to be able to play Myst and Riven. I will take your advice and replace the PROM battery, which to the best of my recollection has never been replaced—23 years!

Now, would you have any idea how to get the machine to recognize my LaserWriter Pro? When I try to print, the dialog box's default printer is a LaserWriter 300, and I get an error message when I try to print. Chooser has icons for a number of printers, including the LW 300, but not the Pro. Do I need a driver for my LW?

Incidentally, I just got the HD spinning in my even older, and longer-idle, ][CX, by taking it out and twisting it sharply back and forth around the platter axis a few times. Trouble is, on power-up it now spun, but the boot-up process got no further than a blank screen. And when I powered down and tried to restart, it did not power up at all. No fan, no HD spin, no lights, no power to the attached monitor, which gets its power from the main box. Is there a fuse in the PS?

Reply

Answer 3

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,213 points

Aug 30, 2015 12:30 AM in response to hlritter

Howard,

>Is there a contemporary replacement for the Seagate ST3600N 500 MB HD?

A SCSI hard drive emulator (to be used with an SD card) is shown at http://www.codesrc.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=SCSI2SD (I have not tested it). Could this possibly be of interest to you for an experiment?

Reply