Macintosh Plus Floppy Problems

If you have New In Box mint condition Mac Plus, it could be worth a pretty penny ... (browser find for "mint" on this page)

Original Packaging Helps Increase Values of Vintage Macs | Cult of Mac

http://www.cultofmac.com/147902/original-packaging-helps-increase-values-of-vint age-macs/

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I have not messed with these vintage Macs since I used them for work!

I am SURE there will be someone who has good advice on your specific issue.

I would certainly consider selling this on eBay if I could get the price stated in the article above. One could buy a VERY nice brand new Mac or iPad Pro for that amount.

Most of these Macs are dead - but they make very interesting fishbowls!

If a disk simply can't be read, the Mac will just eject it.

Over a period of many years, floppy disk materials will degrade. Merely using it once could have rendered the disk permanently inoperable.

A contaminated floppy disk drives's magnetic head could be a factor. I suggest using an inexpensive (< $10) "floppy disk cleaning kit" and trying again using the same disk. If that one doesn't work, try another disk, realizing that may result in similar damage.

My first Mac was a Mac Plus. By the time I passed it on, I had more than one external drive on it, 4 MB! RAM, a LaserWriter IISC printer (very heavy, but a very good printer), and an external 13" monitor.

Things to check -

(1) What is the Mac using for booting? Since a Mac Plus has no internal hard drive, the choices are a floppy (that was the original design intent) or the external hard drive (the Mac Plus has no internal hard drive).

(2) Did you replace the internal ("PRAM") battery? If not, do so. If memory serves, there's an access hatch for that near the center top of the rear of the Mac Plus (or maybe under or inside the handle-hold on top).

The Macintosh Plus has an unusual 4.5V alkaline battery (No. 523 or equivalent). As Don indicated, the battery compartment is accessible from the outside (it is situated just above the power switch). It is a good idea to check that the battery has not been leaking. Some Macintosh computers do have startup issues related to weak PRAM batteries, but a Plus should boot even with an empty or missing battery.

Is the external drive an extra floppy drive or a hard disk drive? Any type/model on it?

A diskette containing a valid system is needed for booting from a floppy drive. Please note that the maximum floppy size for the Plus is 800K (DSDD/2DD diskettes). 1.44 MB HD diskettes cannot be handled. If necessary, new System 6.0.x floppies can be created from 800K disk images downloaded from Apple, but that would require another pre-1998 Mac with a built-in floppy drive (and a Disk Copy 4.2 or 6.3.3 utility).

If a Plus spits out the floppy it usually means it cant read the data. This could be due to the floppy being too old, or there being dirt on the reader head. Do you have any other floppies that you can use to see if its the floppy or the drive?

As others have mentioned, this commonly is due to a unreadable disk. If you have a second floppy drive see if has trouble there as well. Also try restarting and trying again.

The Plus uses 800KB floppies and doesn't support the newer "HD" floppies, which hold 1.4MB. If you're entering an HD floppy and it's formatted as a 1.4MB disk your Mac won't recognize it. However, if I remember correctly I think the Mac will still give you the choice to format the disk.

Also, if you are using your Mac and have had to swap out a floppy and you tried doing something that requires the floppy that is no longer in the drive then it will eject it and request the older floppy. It will eject entered disks that you enter until you enter the one it needs.

Example:

Boot with disk "System"
Enter disk "Office"

Run program "ClarisWorks"
Switch to the Finder to run something else. (Assuming you are using Multifinder or System 7.X.

Eject disk "Office"

Later you want to continue using "ClarisWorks".
Switch back to ClarisWorks.
ClarisWorks needs to get information from its floppy.
The Mac ejects whatever disk you are using (unless if you have a second floppy drive that is empty).
You now need to enter disk "Office" to continue.

If you enter something other than "Office" it will eject the disk and ask again.

This swapping of disks like this are most common when using a Mac with only one floppy drive. You'll have to often swap disks as needed if you're running something that's not on your System disk. If you have a hard drive or a second floppy drive that you boot from then this is less common.

Sometimes the PRAM battery needs replacing. I have seen this symptom on Macs of all ages when the battery reaches at least 4 years old.