Reviving Quadra 630

[MikeInMass]

I want to revive my Quadra 630, which I haven't used in probably twenty years. It powers on and shows the icon of the floppy disk with a flashing question mark, so that's a start.

One stupid question: how is the machine supposed to be powered off? The soft power button on the keyboard doesn't seem to do the trick-- I have tried pressing it, and holding it; neither powers the machine off. Does this suggest something wrong in the power circuitry somewhere? In that case, what's my best path forward? I do have a spare machine that does not turn on, that I could cannibalize for parts; but since the spare machine doesn't turn on, it's probably not going to solve any power supply problems.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Floofies]

If you can't get the machine to boot, then the only ways to power it off externally is to either use the reset button on the back (next to the monitor video output port), or unplug the PSU.

The hard drive could be unformatted, disconnected, dead, or missing. Thankfully, the Quadra 630 uses standard PATA instead of the usual SCSI Macs of that era, so replacing the drive is straightforward. You can access the HDD bay on the front of the machine, after removing the front bezel by disengaging the clips on the bottom. I am warning you, you can very easily break some plastic, so be extremely careful. The Quadra 630 case plastic is just a nightmare, and in my experience I can't prevent breaks no matter how gentle I am.

If it turns out you need a new drive, the two easiest options I know of are to use a CF card or a regular PATA HDD. In my own Quadra 630s I've successfully used a Transcend TS8GCF170 paired with this adapter marked HXSP-2108P.

After that you will need some sort of installation medium to format the drive and install Mac OS. If your Quadra has a CD-ROM drive this is as easy as using an install CD. Without an install CD, you would need to create an extra partition on the HDD in which to load an image of the install disk, or a just a crapload of floppy disks.

Here's an image which illustrates where to find that hard drive:

 

[MikeInMass]

Hey thanks! Glad to know that the power supply is operating nominally. Thanks for the links to the CF card and adapter, too. I'll pick those up.

One web page I found described reinstalling the OS on a fresh drive as a pretty long process. So I'm also glad to hear that it might be as simple as popping in the install CD... I've got the old 8.1 install CD someplace... now to see whether the CD drive works!

 

[Floofies]

The PSU is most likely not operating normally. The PSU and logic board tend to have leaking capacitors which can cause some damage.

8.1 should work on a Quadra 630 just fine, although 7.6.1 is the best system for that machine in my opinion. You should be able to run Drive Setup from your install CD to see if the HDD even shows up.

 

[Brett B.]

I don't recall the 63x machines being more prone to capacitor failure than any other equipment - do they even have the leaky electrolytics like a lot of the others in that era do?  I could be wrong but my LC630 is the only one I haven't recapped - it's been a few years but there must have been a reason for that.

63x machines have a power button on the back of the case, FWIW.  You can use that to kill it or simply unplug it.  Power key on the keyboard has never served as a power down button on any Mac unless the OS is loaded - then it prompts you - sounds like your machine is functioning normally.

I run Mac OS 8.1 on mine but it is also overclocked to 40MHz, has a full 040 chip and maxed out memory.  I have no issues with performance and 8.1 runs very well, although it could be a turd with a lot less memory and the stock 33MHz chip.  I do recall a HUGE performance increase when I upgraded from 8MB to 16MB, and then to 52MB.

 

[Floofies]

About the caps/psu: Every Mac with electrolytic capacitors will eventually get leaks, and even if there aren't leaks the voltage will slowly drift out of spec. I can safely assume, and often do, that even during normal operation the PSU voltage is drifting out of spec.

As for the OS, I just find 7.6.1 to be a bit snappier than 8.1 on that model.

 

[LaPorta]

If it turns out you need a new drive, the two easiest options I know of are to use a CF card or a regular PATA HDD. In my own Quadra 630s I've successfully used a Transcend TS8GCF170 paired with this adapter marked HXSP-2108P.

I was tempted to go that route myself...but why the F are the CFs so expensive??

 

[johnklos]

SATA-IDE adapters work well, too. I've used a 2 TB drive, just to see if I could, and currently use a 250 gig SATA SSD in a Quadra 630 type system (Performa 636? 640? Whichever one had two SIMM slots and could take up to 192 megs of memory).

 

[Bubheart'sDaddy73]

SATA-IDE adapters work well, too. I've used a 2 TB drive, just to see if I could, and currently use a 250 gig SATA SSD in a Quadra 630 type system (Performa 636? 640? Whichever one had two SIMM slots and could take up to 192 megs of memory).

I've been struggling to get an SSD to be recognized by my Power Mac 6500 - I tried two different 'PATA/IDE-to-SATA' adaptors (Startech and VGEBY brand) both which claim to work with the IDE interface, but the drives won’t show up in Disk Utility. I've tried the Disk Utilty from the startup disk for 8.5 and 9.1 and have tried this with both a Samsung 840 Evo and Sandisk, same result - nothing. Tried every which way for jumpers, and even tried without any jumper settings at all. Can you offer any suggestions please? Thanks.

 

[LaPorta]

I've been struggling to get an SSD to be recognized by my Power Mac 6500 - I tried two different 'PATA/IDE-to-SATA' adaptors (Startech and VGEBY brand) both which claim to work with the IDE interface, but the drives won’t show up in Disk Utility. I've tried the Disk Utilty from the startup disk for 8.5 and 9.1 and have tried this with both a Samsung 840 Evo and Sandisk, same result - nothing. Tried every which way for jumpers, and even tried without any jumper settings at all. Can you offer any suggestions please? Thanks.

This.

 

[Bubheart'sDaddy73]

This.

So it's a regular PATA SSD (or HD) or CF Card with the adaptor Floofies mentioned? Ok, thanks.

 

[Bubheart'sDaddy73]

[SIZE=1.4rem]...two easiest options I know of are to use a CF card or a regular PATA HDD. In my own Quadra 630s I've successfully used a [/SIZE]Transcend TS8GCF170[SIZE=1.4rem] paired with [/SIZE]this adapter marked HXSP-2108P[SIZE=1.4rem].[/SIZE]

I'll give this a go with my Power Mac 6500 I think - thanks for mentioning it here (I've tried regular SSD-IDE adaptors but nothing is being recognized by Disk Utility).