problem with Q605 startup

[billtchr]

I'm in the midst of organising my old Macs, and the Quadra 605 that was working fine previously all of a sudden won't start up.

It chimes, the hard drive starts to spin up, then it spins down again before anything else has happened, and the flashing question mark comes up on screen.

The turn it off and right back on again fix doesn't work, which leads me to believe it isn't the battery...any other ideas? Or did the HD suddenly die?

Thanks!

 

[slomacuser]

yes it is problem in HD. when SCSI disk is not used so often it stop working anyway I think the data is still on, you just need some HD utility software like FWB HD Toolkit software or something to wake up the disk

 

[billtchr]

Thanks...I'll dig through the pile of software and see what I can find! I'll let you know it works out...

 

[equill]

As slomacuser suggests, the drive has probably failed its startup self-check. Prudence says that you need another drive, but the old one is not necessarily all Gloom and Doom yet. If you have an external SCSI enclosure to which you can remove it, you may, after several careful startups, each separated by a little rest time, be able to pass the startup hurdle and get hold of the drive long enough to get your data off. It may even need a disk utility other than Apple's to do so: LaCie, FWB, InTech, ATTO, whatever, depending as it was the mechanical check or the memory check that failed. If the data were of no consequence to you, maybe just a funeral with military honours is needed.

If it is Winter wherever you are, make sure that the drive is at 15-25°C before you press it hard to perform. It has been known for a lateral blow with the heel of a hand (firm, but not excessive) to free up a drive that was previously disinclined to behave. Yours already spins up, however, and is seemingly disinclined to continue rather than disinclined to begin its business.

de

 

[LCGuy]

Just out of curiousity, was it a ProDrive ELS? Those are known for doing just that.

 

[billtchr]

The drive was the 160 MB that came with the computer...the data is totally replaceable, so getting a new one for cheap would not be a problem. Looks like that might be the route to take, unless I can dredge one up from one of the other computers...

Thanks for the help!

 

[bigD]

I've had that same problem on a couple of my 160MB drives. One on a MacTV, the other on a Quadra 605. I never did figure out a workaround. I just found replacements.

 

[andreadandrea]

One question:

When you had this problem, could you boot from floppy?

I ask because I have in my q610 a 160MB HD that does not boot, just spins a little and then stops.

But I cannot boot from floppy...

I only wanted to know if it was the same case and getting a new HD with Macos on it would do...

byebye

Andrea