Hello again. My 3rd problem of the week so far lol. Now my Powerbook 180c will not boot from any external SCSI device. Whenever I hook a SCSI cable up to it(I have 3 of them), it wants to boot instantly into SCSI disk mode. Is there a way around this so I can reload the OS? I don't remember having this problem years ago. Thanks.
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Powerbook 180C Wont boot from SCSI
- Thread starter Outlander
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Hi, there are two different modes to wire a HDI30 adaptor (the square plug, that goes into the PB's mainboard).
One mode is to use the PowerBook in SCSI disk mode (you would call it »target disk mode« in recent computers). Obviously your adaptor cable is set up to support this mode.
The other mode is used to hook external SCSI devices to the PowerBook as a host (to use a scanner, printer, storage or network adaptor).
Just make sure you get the appropriately wired adaptor cable and you are fine. You might look for the small L-shaped kind of adaptor, which include the HDI30 connector on on side and a D-Sub 25 pin connector on the other side, without a flexible cable. This adapters are available with a switch that allows to preselect any of both wiring modes.
I hope this helps.
P.S.: If you have several adaptor cables of the wrong make, you may also splice the cable and rewire the appropriate pin correctly.
One mode is to use the PowerBook in SCSI disk mode (you would call it »target disk mode« in recent computers). Obviously your adaptor cable is set up to support this mode.
The other mode is used to hook external SCSI devices to the PowerBook as a host (to use a scanner, printer, storage or network adaptor).
Just make sure you get the appropriately wired adaptor cable and you are fine. You might look for the small L-shaped kind of adaptor, which include the HDI30 connector on on side and a D-Sub 25 pin connector on the other side, without a flexible cable. This adapters are available with a switch that allows to preselect any of both wiring modes.
I hope this helps.
P.S.: If you have several adaptor cables of the wrong make, you may also splice the cable and rewire the appropriate pin correctly.
I have the same problem. What I've been able to deduce so far is,
If the HDI30 connector that goes into the laptop has 29 pins (i.e. the pin on the bottom right is missing) then it's a non-disk mode cable connector.
That one pin will set the computer in disk mode. So you want to use a cable with 29 pins.
However, if you have a scsi dongle (with a dock/scsi switch on it), then dock on means that the laptop will detect that one pin (i.e. disk mode will be set).
So you want the dongle to be set for scsi.
If you look in MacOS, scsi probe app, you'll see the CPU is set as scsi device #7 (highest priority) and scsi device #0 (is your internal scsi drive).
So on my scsi zip disk I can set it to scsi #6 or #5 (no conflict with the cpu and internal drive). Also my zip disk has termination set on as well.
So I've read a bunch of stuff and I tried a few but nothing works so far.
To boot scsi device #5 for instance, you have to press keys SHIFT+Option+Command+5+Del during the startup. This failed for me. But seems false considering that you used to boot fine.
I read that the system will boot the internal disk if it has a boot partition. You need to remove it so that it can boot from an alternate device. This seems false considering you used to boot fine. But question to confirm (you have a System folder in both internal and external disk)?
If the HDI30 connector that goes into the laptop has 29 pins (i.e. the pin on the bottom right is missing) then it's a non-disk mode cable connector.
That one pin will set the computer in disk mode. So you want to use a cable with 29 pins.
However, if you have a scsi dongle (with a dock/scsi switch on it), then dock on means that the laptop will detect that one pin (i.e. disk mode will be set).
So you want the dongle to be set for scsi.
If you look in MacOS, scsi probe app, you'll see the CPU is set as scsi device #7 (highest priority) and scsi device #0 (is your internal scsi drive).
So on my scsi zip disk I can set it to scsi #6 or #5 (no conflict with the cpu and internal drive). Also my zip disk has termination set on as well.
So I've read a bunch of stuff and I tried a few but nothing works so far.
To boot scsi device #5 for instance, you have to press keys SHIFT+Option+Command+5+Del during the startup. This failed for me. But seems false considering that you used to boot fine.
I read that the system will boot the internal disk if it has a boot partition. You need to remove it so that it can boot from an alternate device. This seems false considering you used to boot fine. But question to confirm (you have a System folder in both internal and external disk)?
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