Ebay'ed 180 Won't Boot from Floppy...

[massiverobot]

So I got this PB180 from ebay for a great price ($20) and then I got the PowerMonster2 thinking I'd have a nice 180 setup.

But getting down to it, I can't get this 180 to boot from floppies.

I created both the Gamba Superboot75, and the Install disk from 7.1 Pro.

I've installed the System Enabler 113 on the SuperBoot75, and the 7.1Pro disk seems to already have it.

I'm lucky enough to also have a friends 150, and I can boot _it_ with both of these floppies, so I know it's not the floppy.

The 180 turns on, and after about 10 seconds I get the Disk icon w/ flashing "?"

I stick in the floppy, the 180 find it, the Happy Mac appears.

It seems to do 3 long reads, then 2 quick and then it spits out the disk (both of them)

Then it does something wierd- as it resets, the screen clears, I see the bottom 1/2 of the screen have a checkboard pattern for just a 10 of a second, then the speaker makes a 'kkkkptttt' and it's back to the disk icon w/ flashing "?"

It should be booting from one of these I think.

I've tried it both with the original 2.5 scsi (same thing), no HD (won't show disk icon).

Any ideas what I'm seeing?

 

[massiverobot]

Also, my friend would give me the 150, and I'd just put the Powermonster2 in it, but it's IDE.

 

[spiceyokooko]

There are a number of things going on here which may or may not be interrelated, but you need to start proving some knowns and unknowns before trying to tackle all of the possible problems.

The first known or unknown you need to prove is whether the floppy disks you're creating will actually boot this machine. Just because a floppy will boot a PB150, doesn't mean it will boot a PB180, particularly as the System Enablers those two Powerbooks use are different. The 150 uses the Powerbook 150 enabler and the 180 the 131 as you've correctly identified.

Someone else was having problems booting a PB180 and it's worth reading through that thread to see if anything there will help you -

http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=18735&start=0

The disk images I supplied that person came from an official PB180 Install set, so there's a good chance the Disk Tools image from that set should boot your machine. The fact your PB180 is spitting out disks suggests one of two things 1/ The disks aren't the right ones to boot that machine or 2/ There's something wrong with either the disk media or the floppy disk drive.

The only way you'll really know is to start from a known good PB180 Disk Tools disk.

 

[massiverobot]

Ok, so you are correct, and the way it's spitting the disks out does suggest that it's something about the floppy the 180 doesn't like.

If you can share (I sent you PM) the actual 180 install disk images, I'd really appreciate that.

But I've also taken some steps to make what I have work:

- Gamba's list of systems that do NOT require enablers for his Powerboot75 includes the PB180

- The PB180 requires SystemEnabler 113, which I put on on the Powerboot anyways.

- I can see a System Enabler 113 on the "Install" System 7.1 Pro disk

But yeah, something is bad. Having a real, verified PB180 Floppy Image would be awesome.

 

[techknight]

apple's free System 7.5NAD will boot a PB180.

 

[massiverobot]

Great News!

After trying the NAD and seeing it fail the same way- I made the only logical conclusion- it was the floppy. So I pulled the floppy from the PB150 that I have (amazing how floppy tech changed from the 180 to the 150) and make it work- and it booted System 7.1 Pro!

Sadly, the Powerboot75 wouldn't boot for me- BUS Error. But I made the 7.1Pro Disk Tools, put on the patched HD SC Setup and added in the System Enabler 113, booted my 180 and formatted the PowerMonster card.

So now I'm just imaging the rest of the 7.1 Pro disks and will install.

Thanks for the tips and help getting past this- I just need to find a PB 180/160 Drive now so I can put this all back together. The PB150 Floppy works but won't mount in the PB180 case without some heavy mods.

 

[techknight]

i might have a spare. Not sure though at this point. I have a few parts machines.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

Have you tried cleaning the heads of the problematic floppy drive?

 

[insaneboy]

IDE HDD? beginning to think I should get a 150 and not bother with the 180.

 

[LCGuy]

Unless you can get a 150 that you know definitely has had its RAM upgraded (and therefore has the ultra rare RAM upgrade adapter), I wouldn't bother with a 150 unless you a) don't care about the passive matrix display, and B) never plan to use more than 4MB of RAM.

 

[insaneboy]

gonna make my own post

 

[LCGuy]

The 150 also only has one serial port, NO ADB, and NO video out. If none of those concern you, you'll be fine...but me...I'd prefer the 180.

 

[insaneboy]

moved the conversation here

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=19079