PM 9600 System Error Type -127

[vja4Him]

Our PM9600 was working just fine, until this morning. It started to boot, loaded all the extensions, then the bomb!! System error type -127.

I tried rebooting several times, same problem. Tried booting from Norton, Tech Tool Pro, and Disk Warrior, but the same error appears. I tried holding down the S key to turn off extensions, and also held down the C key to start from the CDs, but didn't work.

Any ideas? Is this PM toast? What can I do to get it to boot and try using a disk utility application?

-- Jim

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[aphetica]

This might not be the right idea, but personally I reseat all my connections to the mobo when I run out of ideas... sometimes it works. *shrug*

 

[Quadraman]

From Apple's website

-127 dsHMenuFindErr Could not find HMenu's parent in MenuKey

Apparently something that is needed at bootup is corrupted or missing. You may have to do a fresh install or at the very least track down which file is missing or damaged and replace it from the master disc. The spot where that file resides on the hard drive may also be damaged. You may have to map out any bad sectors before trying to fix the file or reinstalling. I don't know what sort of utilities there are to analyze the sectors on the hard drive for Macs, though. I am sure someone else here does.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Hrm, the original poster mentioned trying to boot from CD, and still getting the error, so it's obviously not purely a file system problem.

Try removing all but a minimum number of RAM sticks (four in the 9600, IIRC.) And try different RAM sticks.

 

[vja4Him]

Hrm, the original poster mentioned trying to boot from CD, and still getting the error, so it's obviously not purely a file system problem.
Try removing all but a minimum number of RAM sticks (four in the 9600, IIRC.) And try different RAM sticks.

I never thought of RAM sticks as the possible problem!! Maybe the RAM from our dead 7300 would work ... ??? Looks like a fun project to work on for the next couple days .....

 

[tomlee59]

I don't know if the 9600 is one of the models that goes wonky when the PRAM battery gets weak, but if it is, then that's another thing to investigate. That said, I do think that bad RAM (or a flaky socket connection) is a likely cause of your problem. But it's always nice to have another thing on the checklist, just in case Plan A doesn't work.

 

[Temetka]

Before I fire up any machine that has sat unused for a period of time I do the following:

1. Open Case

2. Clean interior with spray air.

3. Remove and blow out the PSU.

4. Reseat all cards and cables.

5. Reinstall PSU.

6. Close Case.

7. Offer sacrifice to God's of Tech

8. Power the sucker up.

Over time, buildup in toe form of dust, lack of use and storage do weird things to machines. I know that if it is just sitting there, unused and it was known to work before it was stored; then it should work fine. However this is not always the case. I have learned the hard way by spending countless hours troubleshooting a machine, when a simple system cleaning and card / cable reseat usually do the trick.

Give it a shot and report back.

 

[vja4Him]

Before I fire up any machine that has sat unused for a period of time I do the following:
1. Open Case

2. Clean interior with spray air.

3. Remove and blow out the PSU.

4. Reseat all cards and cables.

5. Reinstall PSU.

6. Close Case.

7. Offer sacrifice to God's of Tech

8. Power the sucker up.

Over time, buildup in toe form of dust, lack of use and storage do weird things to machines. I know that if it is just sitting there, unused and it was known to work before it was stored; then it should work fine. However this is not always the case. I have learned the hard way by spending countless hours troubleshooting a machine, when a simple system cleaning and card / cable reseat usually do the trick.

Give it a shot and report back.

I cracked open the 9600 .... The inside was already very clean!! I reseated the RAM, took the PRAM battery from my dead 7300 and replaced the dead PRAM battery in the 9600. Installed two HDs from my dead 7300, and added the USB card from the 7300. Also, took the RAM from the 7300 and added to the 9600, so now there should be 584MB of RAM on the 9600.

Put everything together .... Now the 9600 does boot .... One of the previous problems seems to be the CD-ROM ... Not sure, but maybe it is not connected internally correctly? That probably explains why I couldn't boot from any of the CDs!!! I will need to open up the 9600 and change the plug for the CD-ROM to see if that works.

I'm running Disk Warrior from another internal HD (from my original G3 Blue & White, which is dead). Seems to be working ok. I need to figure out how to get the CD-ROM working, so I can try booting up from DiskWarrior, Norton, or TechTool Pro, and run the disk utilities and repairs.

I'd like to get a new, small HD (40-60GB, IDE?) for this 9600, maybe even a new SCSI HD (6-9GB?). Any suggestions??

-- vjmacaddict

+_+_+_+_+_+_+

 

[Quadraman]

Before I fire up any machine that has sat unused for a period of time I do the following:
1. Open Case

2. Clean interior with spray air.

3. Remove and blow out the PSU.

4. Reseat all cards and cables.

5. Reinstall PSU.

6. Close Case.

7. Offer sacrifice to God's of Tech

8. Power the sucker up.

Over time, buildup in toe form of dust, lack of use and storage do weird things to machines. I know that if it is just sitting there, unused and it was known to work before it was stored; then it should work fine. However this is not always the case. I have learned the hard way by spending countless hours troubleshooting a machine, when a simple system cleaning and card / cable reseat usually do the trick.

Give it a shot and report back.

I cracked open the 9600 .... The inside was already very clean!! I reseated the RAM, took the PRAM battery from my dead 7300 and replaced the dead PRAM battery in the 9600. Installed two HDs from my dead 7300, and added the USB card from the 7300. Also, took the RAM from the 7300 and added to the 9600, so now there should be 584MB of RAM on the 9600.

Put everything together .... Now the 9600 does boot .... One of the previous problems seems to be the CD-ROM ... Not sure, but maybe it is not connected internally correctly? That probably explains why I couldn't boot from any of the CDs!!! I will need to open up the 9600 and change the plug for the CD-ROM to see if that works.

I'm running Disk Warrior from another internal HD (from my original G3 Blue & White, which is dead). Seems to be working ok. I need to figure out how to get the CD-ROM working, so I can try booting up from DiskWarrior, Norton, or TechTool Pro, and run the disk utilities and repairs.

I'd like to get a new, small HD (40-60GB, IDE?) for this 9600, maybe even a new SCSI HD (6-9GB?). Any suggestions??

-- vjmacaddict

+_+_+_+_+_+_+

Do you already have an IDE card? High capacity 50 pin SCSI drives are usually expensive compared to IDE drives.