Re: Mac OS 8 on floppies

In article <sehix-A77259.13330408022006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Steve Hix
<sehix@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm trying to bring up a PowerBook 1400cs without a CD drive. It has a
corrupted installation of 7.5.3, which means I can only start up the
machine with extensions turned off.

I've got a full set of floppies to install 7.5.3, but it doesn't have the
PowerBook 1400 enabler (was just the thing to set up the PB 520, though).

I've got an 8.1 install CD (just opened the shrinkwrap last night, it's
good), but the CD drive that arrived last night seems to be defective.
(Every other Mac with an optical drive here can read the CD just fine.)
The drive's LED flashes for a while, but the drive won't mount, nor will
the machine boot from it. And yes, I know the 1400 uses
command-option-shift-delete instead of holding down the C key to boot
from a CD.

Steve-

Your CD drive that seems to be defective, may not be. The PB 1400 is
notorious for having problems with the SCSI bus. Since the internal HD is
not SCSI, the bus is NOT internally terminated. You must provide a
termination near the machine, and another at the far end of the chain. In
the simple case, you may get away with one termination, but two would be
better, even if they are stacked together at the end of a short cable.

My memory is quite dim, but I don't recall the PB 1400 having an enabler.
I thought enablers were only for System 7.1, which is too old for that
PB. If you have one in your System Folder, could you boot with Extensions
off and copy it to the System Folder of the 7.5.3 installation disk?

I believe the PB 1400 has the square SCSI connecotr. If so, there is an
adapter that converts it to the more common connector, that also has a
switch that allows you to boot the PB in "SCSI Disk Mode". If you had
that, you might be able to connect it to the SCSI connector of another
machine, and install from the other machine. Again, you need to terminate
the bus.

It may be possible to resurrect the existing 7.5.3 installation. You
could boot with extensions turned off, remove extensions from the
Extensions Folder and add them back a little at a time to find which one
is corrupted, rebooting each time of course!

Fred
.

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