-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Question about Power Mac G3/266 tabletop
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:43:36 +0100
From: Ted Treen <ted.tr...@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: ted.tr...@btinternet.com
To: Paul Cefola <paulc...@buffalo.edu>
Paul Cefola wrote:
Gents,
I have a G3/266 tabletop which is running Mac OS 8.5.1. This machine
was purchased by me during the fall of 1997. There were on the order
of 20 system extensions that loaded during the start-up process..
The machine has some old files on it which are valuable to me -- both
for my consulting work and also personal data.
Recently I had the G3 keyboard go bad with the symptom that the Mac
froze after the extensions started to load.
Currently I have replaced the keyboard and have gotten the machine to
boot while holding the shift key down (disabling the extensions).
Since I have not changed the extensions for a long time, I suspect
that I corrupted one of the extensions.
My question is what do i do next to return this machine to a usable
state?
I am writing this on a Windows Vista machine.
Thanks.
Paul Cefola
Well Paul, the first think to do is to make backup copies of those
valuable files. Then, just to be sure, and to satisfy any feelings of
paranoiac tendencies, make another backup.
Put the backups somewhere very safe!!!
Now, IIRC from my pre-OSX days, the way of identifying rogue extensions
was to start up with shift held down, as you did, and look in the system
folder for a folder called 'Extensions (Disabled)' or something very
similar. Drag that to the desktop, rename it to 'Suspect Extensions'
and then start up as normal. The system will automatically recreate an
empty folder in the System folder called 'Extensions (Disabled)'.
Adding the extensions in the 'Suspect Extensions' back one by one (just
drop them onto the System folder;- the OS will recognise them as
Extensions & offer to put them in the 'Extensions' folder) and
restarting each time will generally show which one is causing the grief.
This is tedious, but you can instead add half the suspect extensions -
if it freezes, you can be fairly sure the villain is in that half.
Restart with shift again, and just the ones you've added should then be
in the 'Extensions (Disabled)' folder.
Doing it in 'halves' can be misleading in the rare possibility you've
got more than one extension gone bad. Also be aware that OS8 & OS9
treat fonts as system extensions, and a corrupt font can a) give all
sorts of nasty problems, and b) be the devil's own job to track down.
Keep us informed & ask again if there's anything you're not sure of.
HTH,
Ted
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