Wow, the LCII discussion sure brings back memories. My first "color" Mac was a used LCII that I purchased for $700 bucks. At one point I owned three of them (one was labeled a Performa 600-series, but seemed to be exactly the same machine), two of which were in use in broadcast environments as audio playback machines. My original LCII's hard drive DID eventually fail. It got noisy and finally wouldn't spin up anymore.
I also had boot issues when the PRAM battery went dead. As I recall, these batteries aren't the button-type found on most PCs; I think they more resemble a short AA-size battery. The Starmax (Apple-licensed Motorola Mac clones... remember those?) machines I had REALLY got tweaky when the battery went, and those batteries are weird cube- shaped units. Tough to find now, in my experience. To transfer files between computers that don't easily speak to each other, in the past I've uploaded the files to an FTP site (or even a free service like YouSendIt), then used the "receiving" computer to download them. Even if your old Mac has just a dial-up modem, at least it's a possibility. Of course, that doesn't help much when you're trying to set up a new OS on the receiving machine, since it can't boot to begin with. I'm having the same failure issues with 3.5" floppies. Generally they'll format okay, but it's been very hit- or-miss lately as to whether I can copy files to or from. I wouldn't be surprised if our old floppy drives share in the blame, since there's a lot of moving parts in there, including--in most cases--a drive belt. Kinda like plugging an 8-track tape into your old Galaxie... maybe it'll work, maybe not. :-) Have fun! BRUCE On Oct 22, 5:13 am, "Wesley Furr" <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for your reply! > > The dead PRAM battery would make sense then...one or maybe both that did > fire up needed a power cycle or so before they would come up - sounds like > maybe that PRAM battery gets some charge from the computer? I will have to > look into replacement... > > The working hard drive is an IBM 40Mb. The other two are both Quantum 80Mb > drives. My Windows PC will recognize and read data (via the TransMAC > program) off of the 40Mb. Both Quantums are dead - the SCSI card in my PC > won't even recognize that they are plugged in. Kinda weird as they both > spin up and make noise like they are alive...usually even dead or dying > drives are at least ID'ed by the system at boot time... Oh well! The IBM > seems to be working fine, but it is a bit noisy (spindle noise)...I guess > I'm just worried that the other two are dead and it might not be far > behind... > > I do not have any bootable Mac disks. I do have blank floppies I can dig > out and try to use. I found one on my desk...when I put it in it asked if I > wanted to format it. I said yes, it worked a minute, then spit it out and > said format failed. I'll have to try again with another disk...seems like > half the floppies I try to use lately (in the PC world) only about half want > to work...which is amazing as the old 5.25's that are years older seem to > continue working just fine! > > From some more reading, I'm gathering that to make a bootable disk, perhaps > all you have to do is format it and copy the "system" folder to it? And > then after using the "disk tools" boot disk (which I don't have), I can > initialize another hard drive, then boot off the floppy and copy the > "system" folder back to it and it becomes bootable? At which point, you > copy the System 7.5.3 files over and do the proper install? > > I'll have to dig out the newer Mac...hopefully it will still work too! > Pretty sure it's SCSI...and also pretty sure it has Ethernet. I also seem > to recall messing around with it years ago and somehow managing to browse a > Windows PC to copy files around... > > Thanks, > > Wesley > > > > -----Original Message----- > > I have not personally ever seen/used an LC, but from what I've seen time and > time again on this website, dead PRAM batteries are often the reason these > computers dont chime, have a black screen, etc. Thats why the drive worked > in one machine but not the other. I wouldnt worry about the drive that works > (for now) unless it makes funny sounds. The other disks could possiby be > broken, corrupted, etc. > > Also, could you please give more details on the "newer" Mac you have. > Like, what model is it, what OS version, does it have SCSI, etc. I assume > you can get files from your PC to your "newer" mac? > > Do you have any floppies you could maybe boot up the LC with? And can you > connect the drives that show the flahing question mark to your Windows PC? > > Lastly, I would open up the case of the LC IIs and clean out the dust with > compressed air, as well as make sure all hard drive cables are snuggly > connected. -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
