SE/30: Endless startup loop?

[phreakout]

Dita, did you say earlier you have a Mac Classic, recently acquired? If so, is it a Classic 1 or Classic 2? If it's a Classic 1, then try the following:

Step 1: Restart the Classic.

Step 2: After the startup tone, press and hold down Apple (Command), Option, Letter X, and Letter O. (The Classic 1 came with System 6 Software built-in on the ROM chips. I think it is version 6.0.5 or 6.0.8, afaik.)

Step 3: Wait for the "Happy Mac" icon to show up on the screen and shortly later, the Finder desktop will appear.

NOTE: Make sure you don't hold down the keystrokes for very long or you'll be sending the command to "Rebuild the Desktop" (Apple/Command and Option at the same time.). If you do, It will ask you if you want to rebuild. If you pick Rebuild, then the Mac Classic will crash.

Step 4: Insert a blank 1.44MB floppy disk and erase it completely.

Step 5: After it's done erasing, open up the icon for the Mac's ROM. It will be the first icon mounted up on the desktop, before inserting a floppy disk.

Step 6: Copy the System Folder to the blank floppy disk.

Step 7: Open and close the System Folder located on the blank floppy disk. This will "bless" the System Folder and allow you to boot any Mac that will boot from a 1.44MB floppy and System 6, like the SE/30, for example.

Give this a try only if the Mac Classic is a Classic 1. I don't believe that the Classic 2 contains the same feature, but I could be wrong. This is why Apple gave the Classic 1 a code name of "XO". Strange but true.

Let me know, asap.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[JRL]

No, the issue at hand is that you're not supposed to change that extension (even if it seems as small as image. to img. no matter what.

phreakout's suggestion is very good (I forgot about that), and you should try that.

 

[ditabeardmemo]

OK guys, excellent suggestions. I have some good news and some bad news.

The Macintosh Classic I have now is indeed a Classic 1. Following Phreakout's instructions, I successfully booted from the ROM, formatted a new 1.44 MB floppy disk, copied the System Folder and "blessed" the System Folder. I then ejected the disk and inserted it in my SE/30, which I then powered on. While the SE/30 booted to a Happy Mac, it shortly thereafter displayed this message:

"This startup disk was created with a "Minimum" installer script and will not work on this model Macintosh. Use a standard installer script to update the disk for different models." Then it prompted me to restart, after which it automatically ejected the floppy.

JRL: When writing the "Network Access" disk image to a floppy, why will the Floppy Image Writer program only allow me to write files with ".img" and ".imz" extensions if I'm not supposed to rename the extension? Is this abnormal?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[phreakout]

Interesting. Huh.

Just for kicks, try rebooting again, but this time hold down the Shift key. This will prevent any extensions or the like from loading. If this doesn't work, then the message you received might be right. Darn it. In that case, you'll need to wait for the disks I am sending you.

Those disks will go out Wednesday, Dec 2nd, 2009. I mean it. What I was concerned about is that the disks won't start giving you problems. If they do, usually ejecting and reinserting the disks multiple times does the trick. Either the drive or the disks will act a bit flaky, and not want to cooperate. Let me know if that happens.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[ditabeardmemo]

Thanks Phreakout!

I tried booting the SE/30 from a floppy while holding down the shift key, but that didn't do the trick.

While I'm waiting for your OS disks, is there any method I can use to copy a complete Apple OS to a set of floppies using my Windows PC? The complete System 7.5.3 is posted on lowendmac.com as part.bin files, which I saw you mentioned in a previous post. Can I somehow get this onto floppies with the Windows PC?

 

[phreakout]

Thanks Phreakout!
I tried booting the SE/30 from a floppy while holding down the shift key, but that didn't do the trick.

While I'm waiting for your OS disks, is there any method I can use to copy a complete Apple OS to a set of floppies using my Windows PC? The complete System 7.5.3 is posted on lowendmac.com as part.bin files, which I saw you mentioned in a previous post. Can I somehow get this onto floppies with the Windows PC?

Unfortunately, the suggestions for conversion between Windows & Mac are right on the nose as far as how to do it. I think there still is some underlining issues regarding how the disks are formatted. I believe the program is writing PC format code in the disk's partition.

You will be able to store the part.bin files onto individual floppies, as is. But those files are MacBinaries and are parts of the whole installer. When you use Mac OS9 to open the files, they contain a few "tome" files equalling 30 to 40 megabytes. So expanding them and putting the contents on floppies is out of the question.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[phreakout]

I sent the disks out on Friday. You should be getting them any time now.

Run "Disk First Aid" located on the Disk Tools floppy to see if there are problems with the hard drive or its data.

73s de Phreakout.

 

[ditabeardmemo]

So here is my latest dilemma. Thanks in no small part to Phreakout's help, I was able to successfully boot my SE/30 from the internal hard drive, and access the contents of the hard drive. I initially booted from a Disk Tools floppy, ran Disk First Aid, and suddenly the hard drive appeared. After that, I've been able to boot from the hard drive each and every time.

The issue is that I can't seem to copy most files to the hard drive or create new folders on the drive. I always get a message stating that an "error of type -127 occurred." Any idea what this is and how I can fix it?

On a related note, I'm somewhat concerned about the integrity of the 600 MB hard disk installed in this machine, and would love to find a suitable backup drive that I can connect to the SCSI port. Can anyone suggest a good brand or model that can be acquired second hand?