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LC475 complains system 7.1 is too old (no boot)

belzrebuth

Well-known member
The disk drive in my LC475 has recently started acting up and it's now to a point that the machine freezes when entering the desktop so I decided I should perform a clean install to another disk.
I think the computer was running 7.1 when the disk worked but I can't remember if it was 7.1.2 or other revision.
So I tried booting the machine with a system 7.1 install floppy disk but after a happy mac it complained that the operating system is too old (the window actually said that I need a newer OS).
I also tried 7.1 disk utils disk but it failed with the same error.

Does the LC475 need a newer revision to boot like a 7.1.2 or other?
I used the 7.1 images I found here :
 

belzrebuth

Well-known member
I've tried booting with an image of 7.5.5 disk tools I've found on another LC475 thread and I was able to boot!

So now I need to find a way to install some kind of an earlier OS ( system 7.5.3) in order to finally update to 7.5.5.
Since writing 25 or so floppies for system 7.5.3 and then 7.5.5 is a bit too much what could be the quickest way to get system 7.5.5 to a computer with a blank (initialised) hard disk?
 

trag

Well-known member
System enablers were files you put in the system folder to enable certain models to use that system.

It was Apple's way of providing support for computer models that came out after the system software version was released.

In later System version you wouldn't need the enabler, because Apple added support for existing models to new releases.
 

Nixontheknight

Well-known member
I've tried booting with an image of 7.5.5 disk tools I've found on another LC475 thread and I was able to boot!

So now I need to find a way to install some kind of an earlier OS ( system 7.5.3) in order to finally update to 7.5.5.
Since writing 25 or so floppies for system 7.5.3 and then 7.5.5 is a bit too much what could be the quickest way to get system 7.5.5 to a computer with a blank (initialised) hard disk?
yes, there is a 7.5.3 net install but you need a bridge machine to get the files from because it's too big to fit onto a floppy
 

Nixontheknight

Well-known member
I've tried booting with an image of 7.5.5 disk tools I've found on another LC475 thread and I was able to boot!

So now I need to find a way to install some kind of an earlier OS ( system 7.5.3) in order to finally update to 7.5.5.
Since writing 25 or so floppies for system 7.5.3 and then 7.5.5 is a bit too much what could be the quickest way to get system 7.5.5 to a computer with a blank (initialised) hard disk?
using the 7.5.5 disk tools disk, you can take its system folder and drag it to the hard drive, or if you have more than 1 floppy, you can write 7.5.5 install floppies from macintosh garden or from some other archive website
 

Juror22

Well-known member
The easiest solution would be to add system enabler 065 to the system 7.1 folder that you are attempting to boot from.
Here is a link to some information that might explain how they were used with the different machines.

If you have access to a SCSI CD, there is a CD available from the Garden (search for Apple_Legacy_CD.iso) that has a number of OSs on it that you could install from.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
I don't know what the system enabler is !

For computers that were released after 7.1 was, Apple released System Enablers. These are little files that contain extra code and gubbins to make the newer hardware work. All of this extra code was bundled up into 7.5, so 7.5 doesn't need them so much.

If you're happy running 7.5 that saves you mucking about. If you want 7.1 specifically (I prefer it, personally), you can install 7.1 then copy the System Enabler file into the System Folder. You can download all the system enablers here:

 

belzrebuth

Well-known member
yes, there is a 7.5.3 net install but you need a bridge machine to get the files from because it's too big to fit onto a floppy
I have a G4 with serial port and I've used it to share files between it and a SE machine thru Appletalk.
Can you tell me a bit more on how to perform a net install?!
I only have an internal SCSI CD drive and a Iomega SCSI zip drive, no external CD drive.
 

Nixontheknight

Well-known member
I have a G4 with serial port and I've used it to share files between it and a SE machine thru Appletalk.
Can you tell me a bit more on how to perform a net install?!
I only have an internal SCSI CD drive and a Iomega SCSI zip drive, no external CD drive.
You need a file from the basilisk ii how to, just search “basiliskii setup” and it’s the emaculation wiki link
 

belzrebuth

Well-known member
I actually sat down and wrote all 19 system 7.5.3 floppies.🙃
I've used system 7.5.3 Revision 2 images I found somewhere, hope they're good.
My plan is to install 7.5.3 and then update to 7.5.5 thru floppies again.

I've got 2* LC475, one LC and a IIsi that had their HD drives fail. Τhey were sitting for quite some time but it's still very weird that they all had their hard disks fail after one or two succesfull boots.
I'm waiting for some BlueSCSI PCBs so I'll install some hard disk replacements instead of messing with old SCSI disks.
 

mg.man

Well-known member
I've got 2* LC475, one LC and a IIsi that had their HD drives fail.
With that many Macs... rather than mess with floppies, you might want to consider picking up a FloppyEMU from BMOW. I often use mine plugged into the internal floppy port on machines that don't have the external floppy port... works fab!
 

belzrebuth

Well-known member
It's not all of it. I've got a Performa 630 (which is due for repair) and a SE FDHD.
I never thought I needed a Floppy EMU because all my Macs have 1.4MB floppy drives so it's easy enought to write an image from any modern computer.
My main problem is hard drives because they seem to fail one by one.
A Floppy EMU would be a cool way to install all those operating systems to my SCSI2SD solutions though.
Actually a close friend has one but I never used it; I should ask him to give it to me when all my BlueSCSIs and some RASCSIs I've bought are ready to be installed to my systems.
It should save me quite some time writing floppies for each OS.

Does it have all the operating systems pre-installed and ready to be transferred?
Or I have to load it with the images I need?
I remember I've read that it can boot any mac or something but I'm not sure if I can perform a clean install with it without loading the image files.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
The Floppy Emu is one of the most useful things I've ever got for my older Macs; if you have more than a couple, it's worth it very easily.

It comes with some images already on it; but it just uses a normal micro SD card to store them on, so it's really no trouble to download and add ones you want to the SD card (e.g. I have British localisations of OSes, and a lot of oddities on mine)
 

mg.man

Well-known member
Does it have all the operating systems pre-installed and ready to be transferred?
It comes with install diskettes for most of the versions up to 7.5. As @cheesestraws mentioned, it also uses a "standard" format MicroSD card, so all you need is an adapter and you can pop that into any modern Mac / PC then add whatever you want.

I remember I've read that it can boot any mac or something but I'm not sure if I can perform a clean install
It gets a little tricky here... you can boot any of the diskette images - like a disk/tools diskette or Install 1 diskette for many of the 7.5 and earlier Mac OS versions, and it also can be put into HD20 mode - which means any Mac that supports this SE or older, or an SE/30 with a ROM-inator (the standard SE/30 ROM/SIMM doesn't have HD20 support) can boot from a HD image on the FloppyEMU (I have 6.0.8, 7.1 and 7.5 HD images on mine). I'm pretty sure the Classic and Classic II support HD20, and I believe some of the LC range.

I have British localisations of OSes, and a lot of oddities on mine
Ditto... I've loaded mine up with various hardware support disks that I need from time to time... Oh... and having recently acquired an original Apple IIe... I've been using my "spare" FloppyEMU in Apple Disk II mode! 😀 Totally useful bit of tech!
 

belzrebuth

Well-known member
Okay, so I got a RASCSI and was wondering whether a premade 7.5.5 or even 7.5.3 disk image larger than the 40MB ones which have zero space left is avalaible.
 
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