Trying to boot from CD-ROM, what am I doing wrong?

[kkritsilas]

I am trying to boot my 7300/200 from CDROM. This is a new to me surplus machine. It has a 100MB SCSI hard drive, and came with 4 of the RAM slots populated, an APPLE branded 18X CD drive. The machine gives the startring chime and puts out video to a Dell Ultra Sharp 2407 via a Mac to VGA adapter. The video looks fine. I first get a smiley Mac, then the floppy disk icon with the flashing question mark. The keyboard is a Power Computing one, with an Apple teardrop mouse, connected to the keyboard (the 7300 only has one ADB port). The front panel power LED turns on, but I don't get any keyboard LEDs turning on, nor do I see any on the CD drive. I can hear the CD drive spin up when I put a CD in, but no activity light. I also don't see any LEDs turning on on the keyboard, but the mouse does move the pointer around.

I am trying to get the machine to read a System 7.6.1 CD that was sent to my by one of the members here. I have tried to press the "C" button on the keyboard on power up and I have tried the "C" after the smiley Mac, neither work. I have tried "Shift-C", I have tried a "Shift-Command-Option-Delete" key sequence as well both on power up, and after the smiley Mac. Do I have the key sequence right, and I have some issue on the machine somewhere, or are the key sequences I have tried invalid?

 

[aladds]

Not 100% sure about non-Apple keyboards, but Apple ones certainly flash the Num/Caps/Scroll Lock LEDs on boot - have you tested the keyboard with another Mac? If you try something else like a PRAM Zap (Command-Option-P-R), does it work?

 

[jeremywork]

'C' should work for this model. By the time the happy mac comes up it's too late (or the C key has worked and the happy mac indicates it's booting from the CD.)

If no other bootable device is found, the system will usually automatically boot from the CD if it's found to be bootable. You could try leaving the hard disk unplugged and see if it begins booting from the CD. If not, it may be a problem with the disc or the CD drive.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Is the CD an official Apple one or has it been copied from an ISO?
I don't always have luck when I try to boot from a CD copied from a downloaded ISO.

 

[kkritsilas]

The CD is a burned one. I have 2 of them, one has 7.6.1, the other has 8.1. Neither work.

i have an Apple ADK keyboard on the way. The Power Computing keyboard doesn’t ever flash any of the LEDs. The Apple keyboard should be here in a week or so, and I will wait for it to arrive and try the holding of the C key down again, before I try disconnecting the hard drive ( i hate messing with the 7300’s plastics, i feel I am breaking things every time I mess with it).

i did try testting the PRAM, but I don’t know if it worked, as I am suspecting tge keyboard is bad at this point.