Getting started with an incomplete Performa 6100

[somedude]

Hello fellow addicts ,

I am very new to this, but I came across this 6100, just the box and even that incomplete.

Someone threw it out and removed the drive before doing so.

I hope there is still a chance of reviving it, although it might be an ambitious project.

It powers on and I can hear the CD drive seeking, although the LED does not flash, and this it all I know about the health of this machine.

Here is what I thought I should do, step by step:

- find or build an HDI-45 adapter and connect a monitor to it. I have a monitor with VGA, DVI, S-Video and Composite, in case there are other connections possible.

- turn it on and hopefully get to the BIOS (sorry, I come from a PC world and I don't yet master the lingo)

- find a way to adapt a keyboard and mouse or stumble across some ADB perifs at a garage sale

- find an old 50 pin or 68 pin SCSI drive and connect/adapt it into the machine

- find an OS 9.1 iso and try to load it on

- use it!

Since these machines go for around $50 on eBay, I can't spend a lot of money on anything, but I will spend a little bit to get it going.

So I wonder what you guys think: go for it, give up, anything in between.

Thank you very much for any pointers.

 

[Machead]

Macs don't have a 'BIOS' like PCs do; this vintage of Macintosh immediately looks for a valid Macintosh hard disk or floppy to boot from. If it can't find one, then it will put up a picture of a floppy disk with a blinking question mark inside it. The first thing you want to do is find an ADB mouse and find or build a VGA to Mac Video adapter (pinouts.ru has one, and tells you how to adapt it for different resolutions). The keyboard can come later, but should come soon. You can use an S-video cable to connect the keyboard to the computer (ADB and S-video have the same connector), and the keyboard will have a connector for the mouse.

Mac OS 9.1 is a heavy OS. I would recommend something older, like 8.x or 7.x (it can run operating systems as old as 7.1.2). All can be found on Macintosh Garden. I think you have to hold down "C" to get the Mac to boot from the CD drive (I do on my PowerMac G4).

 

[Elfen]

First of, that HDI-45 connector is not standard, it is only an Apple's connector that is on the 6100/7100/8100/etc. systems and the computer often came with a cable that converts it to a Mac 15-pin connector. You would need that cable and then a Mac to VGA adapter to connect it to a non-apple monitor. You should be able to find them on Ebay.

You need to make sure it turns on at least. With just RAM, it should Bong and no other noise there after such as Death Chimes, or various special effects Apple put in for Bad RAM or Bad ROM. It is silent after a Bong, it should be a working Mac.

If there is a heatsink on the CPU, you should remove it and clean up the heatsink and CPU of its HeatSink Goo, and replace it with a tiny dab of modern Heat Sink Goo before replacing the heatsink on the CPU.

Got Pics to post up? I would like to see it go from what you got now to into an actual working system.

RAM - Put in the most you can afford. As I remember, 64Megs was a minimum for many things though they were sold with as little as 16Megs. It can run System 7.1-PPC as a minimal system. System 7.5/7.6 would best for it. Back in those days, Hard Drives were small by comparison, so something larger than 80MB would work nicely on them, but it is still a 50-pin SCSI Drive. I forget, was there a special edge connector one has to put on the drive to put it into the 6100? You might have to get one if it does, there should be a similar one on the CD ROM Drive if it does. Its grey in color.

The CD Drives then were usually in the low end of the Red Spectrum and some were into the Infrared side, so the laser may be flashing but you may not be able to see it.

OS8 can work on it as I remember but it requires more RAM than System 7. It mostly depends on what you are going to use the machine for.

 

[tanaquil]

If you have any interest at all in continuing to play in the classic Mac sandbox, all the items you would need to pick up are cheap in themselves and will be useful with multiple machines. I say go for it.

You don't have a (local) vintage Mac collector friend you can borrow from, I suppose?

For mouse, keyboard, and VGA adapter, if you don't have luck with craigslist or a garage sale, check eBay and be a skinflint. I just picked up a mouse and keyboard combined for $25 shipped. I wouldn't pay more than $15 for a monitor adapter, you can probably do better.

If you have a Windows machine and a USB floppy drive, you can make a floppy disk the 6100 floppy can read. Until you get a monitor and mouse, you won't be able to test it fully, but if the disk is bootable (try a Disk Tools floppy from the garden), the drive should accept it and make pleasing sounds. If it's not bootable, it will spit it out. Harsh grinding noises, not so good.

Good luck!

 

[tanaquil]

Re: hard disk, SCSI 50 pin drives are getting harder to find, but I have seen them for $50 or under if you hunt. Another option is to order a SCSI2SD. SCSI Zip drives can also be found - hunt for a low price. With almost all these things, there are sellers who charge a lot, but also some who sell at very reasonable prices.

Your point about not wanting to spend more on fixing up a computer than whole units go for on eBay is good, but a lot of those cheaper machines on eBay come with expensive shipping charges or have missing parts or accessories. It all depends on whether you think fixing an old machine up is fun for its own sake.

 

[MJ313]

6100's need a good pram battery or no video will show up. So make sure you have a good one if you are going to try and get this machine going.

 

[somedude]

Everyone,

Thank you very much for the amazingly fast and comprehensive advice.

Now I understand why Mac fans are so passionate.

I will post details and photos, as well as my progress, but here are some more info.

When it powers on I hear one sound, but I can't tell what it is.

There is RAM in both slots, no markings though, and I also have some EDO kicking around.

Thanks for the info on periphs.

BONUS: there is a CD for 7.5 in the drive!

If anyone needs an iso, let me know.

More to follow.

 

[somedude]

6100's need a good pram battery or no video will show up. So make sure you have a good one if you are going to try and get this machine going.

Thank you, I have to Google "pram".

 

[MJ313]

This is pretty much what you would need, although you can probably find them local or from someone here as well.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/BAA36VPRAM/

 

[somedude]

Thanks. Parameter RAM... I found the battery and I will check it.

@Elfen,

Looks like standard 50 pin SCSI. Can I install any size I can find under 128G?

As far as the LED, sorry - I meant the activity one at the front of the drive, not the laser.

 

[tanaquil]

Startup sound: this?

That's great that there is a 7.5 cd. But it sounds like maybe you need the keyboard to start up from it (by holding down the c key).

 

[somedude]

As I have been reading about it, it seems that I could build a VGA cable if I could find an HDI connector somewhere.

What scares me though is that based on some stuff I read, I might be missing the ROM.

There is a memory-looking card in the slot labeled cache, but not the other one, marked as ROM in the spec sheet.

Edit: it might be missing the cache, not the rom.

 

[somedude]

@tanaquil,

Yes!!!!!! Exactly that chime.

So he's alive and well...

Thank you very much for the post!

I can't actually eject it, so it might have already booted from it since the HDD is missing.

It only ejects right after power on.

Oh, while wearing my reading glasses I can see that it's not an LED on the drive, but an eject hole....

LOL

Googling the RAM chips, there are 2 modules with 16 chips of 16Mbit, so it should have 64 megs.

I also have some of the same modules but EDO, so I might try them once I get video.

I am tempted to "make" an HDI connector by soldering wires onto a perforated board, but it might be risky.

 

[trag]

The ROM module usually contains four chips about 1.1" X .5" each.   The module will have an Apple part number that ends with 0747 or 0741 IIRC. 

Good research.  As I was reading the thread I was preparing to post to tell you about the ROM module, but you figured it out on your own before I reached the end of the thread. 

The ROM and cache can go in either slot, so sometimes you will find the ROM in the cache slot and the machine works fine.  The 6100, and 7100 ROM are the same and the 8100 ROM will work though it has a different part number.   Also, the ROM for the Power Computing  NuBus machines will work as well.

 

[Elfen]

@Elfen,

Looks like standard 50 pin SCSI. Can I install any size I can find under 128G?

As far as the LED, sorry - I meant the activity one at the front of the drive, not the laser.

LOL! I thought you lifted the drive's top (like I do) to check the laser...

Ha! The 6100 will be very happy with a 10GB SCSI Drive. These things came 80MB Drives as I remember.

 

[somedude]

Thank you very much

I must say, the discovery part is quite interesting and not having video yet forced me to start with researching the mobo, chips, memory and installed cards.

@trag

One other clue was that I get the "all's well" chime, which would not be possible without the ROM, not to mention the cache being optional. Should I look into sourcing a cache module? In the PC world, cache makes a huge difference.

@elfen

I thought you would get a kick out of it, so I posted...

I might be able to get an 18.2 SCSI drive with a 68 pin connector, which I believe could be adapted to 50 pin.

 

[trag]

@trag

One other clue was that I get the "all's well" chime, which would not be possible without the ROM, not to mention the cache being optional. Should I look into sourcing a cache module? In the PC world, cache makes a huge difference.

Cache makes a big difference for these as well. The 256k cache is probably what you will be able to find. There was a 1 MB cache available as well but it's rare. Bunsen has been looking for one for more than a decade, I think. OWC had the caches for a couple of bucks and a bundle of 500 of them for like under a hundred dollars, but they disposed of them a while back.
Is there anything in the PDS slot? According to Apple, if there isn't an expansion card in the PDS slot it needs a termination card. Most of the termination cards have been lost because no one remembers what they are and they don't show up on Ebay (much) because they're a simple card with passive components only so most folks do not think they're worth posting as a mystery card.

All that said, I think some folks here claim their x100 machines operate okay with nothing in the PDS slot. Apple claimed operating that way could damage the machine, IIRC.

 

[somedude]

Nothing in the PDS slot, but I doubt there was anything in there.

Looks like the pervious owner simply pulled out the drive to ensure their data was safe, then discarded the machine with everything in it, including the OS CD.

 

[somedude]

Sorry, but I just can't find any info on PDS termination for 6100. Just for 8100 and 7100.

I will give it a try without.