A malfunctioning Quadra 800

[macintoshman]

This thing, one my prized 68k, now my trubbles.

This is every boot:

It fails to find the OS so I put in a 7.5 disk tools disk and restart from that. It finds Mac OS 8 on the HD after 2 boots. 1 cold 1 hot

Now OS 8 says the system folder is damaged!!!!! I can still acess the HD so I will use my new ZIP disk to back up my apps.

Should I reinstall 8 or go 7?

The PRAM is bad too. Should I buy a new battery to correct the booting issue?

Macintoshman

 

[bigD]

I think you need to ship it to me. I'm in 92782.

Thank you for your time.

 

[macintoshman]

bigD, I am hanging on to it. I am just mad it it for not cooperating with me.

I am going System 7. We will see how that goes,

 

[bigD]

Unlike a lot of people - I actually like System 7 on any Quadra. The 800 is a great machine.

 

[Franklinstein]

Sounds like you're probably having hard disk problems. Were I you, I'd back up the drive and run full diagnostics on it before trying to reload any software. At the very least, I'd do a low-level format (if possible). Then I'd put System 7.5.5 or 7.6.1 on it.

I'm pretty sure those things had trickle power that sustained the PRAM settings in addition to the battery. As long as it isn't unplugged, it should keep its date/time settings. Otherwise, a new battery is only about $10 at Radio Shack, and a good buy for a machine that sees regular use.

 

[macintoshman]

It is fixed now. The system folder that came with it was screwed up.

 

[Quadraman]

I use System 7.6.1 on my Quadras. There are some tricks you can use with 7.6 to make it run some Mac OS 8 apps, so it is debatable whether 8 is actually necessary on these machines. The additional overhead of 8.1 over 7.6.1 isn't tremendously more, though, so it doesn't run too badly on a fast Quadra either if you should decide to use it.

Here's some benchmarks to prove my point.

http://main.system7today.com/articles/til/benchmarks.html

As you can see 8.1 doesn't do badly at all compared to 7.6.1 and blows away later versions, which you wouldn't be able to use anyway since they're PPC only.