"Mark Romberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked: >Thus, my question: how to install an earlier OS than 8.1, since multiple >clean installs haven’t remedied the problem, without a floppy. Is there any >type of external SCSI drive that is bootable without a driver? Excuse my ignorance about possible issues with PowerBooks later than the 190cs, but did you think of using SCSI Disk Mode? Supposing you have a second Mac and the right cables (in this case, the HDI-30/50-pin SCSI cable with 30 pins, a 50-pin pass-through terminator and the vanilla 25/50 pin SCSI cable) the easiest thing to do would be to hook the PB up to another Mac as if it were any external SCSI disk (yes, I know that the internal is IDE). You can do anything you like, from just installing a basic pre-8.1 system folder to nuking the whole internal and re-formatting it if you suspect a bad HD sector. Don't forget to "bless" the newly created system folder (open and close it again) before you leave SDM and let the internal run on it's own. This method seems to have much more of a practical touch to me than to give a %?@! about the floppy drive gone south, thinking of a million-floppy install of 7.5.3 followed by a zillion-floppy install of the 7.5.5 update. Better make the installer image on another Mac and do the SDM voodoo. The only other methods I can think of are using an external HD "pre-loaded" with a competent system and 7.5.x installing software - HDs carry their own drivers - and the CSOD key combo; or a ZIP drive using "Guest". Or a network install, but this requires a working system, so you're in a catch here. HTH, OM /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign \ / No HTML/RTF in email X No Word docs in email / \ Respect for open standards -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Enter to win a FREE Titanium G4 PowerBook! -- | & CDRWs on Sale! | Save on Mac software -- Shop Software Outlet.com <http://lowendmac.com/ad/software.outlet.html> Star Trek Collection: Movies 1-7 on VideoCD, $38.88 from CoolVCD <http://lowendmac.com/ad/coolvcd.html> - - - - - PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
