SE/30 System error...

[Octaedre]

Hi !

This is my first post on this forum, so if there is an introduction topic please let me know I'll go over there to properly introduce myself...

I am posting this because I wanted to restart my Macintosh SE/30, but couldn't. It always worked great, but I just hooked it up again and it's not starting. The thing is, it has been a while since I last booted it up, so maybe that's the issue ?

I have the happy mac on startup, then the Welcome screen and then it's loading all the extensions, but at the time when it should go to the desktop, a System Error occurs. It's a Finder error, error code #2, with the small bomb on the window.

The problem is there is a restart button on said window but it doesn't work no matter how many times I click on it. I have tried turning the computer itself on and off a couple of times but as far as I remember you're not supposed to turn the computer off this way so I'd like to avoid doing it too much to avoid causing any damage to the computer.

Anyone has an idea ? I thought maybe restarting using the System floppy (I think it's running System 7.1 but I could be wrong, it's definitely System 7 though) but I unfortunately have no idea where mine is.

Thanks in advance !
Alex.

 

[unity]

Well the idea is that if you turn off the computer bluntly, you can corrupt some hard drive files. But if its froze, the drive has probably gone idle anyway. Just flip the switch and see if it happens again.

Issues that can cause this would be a failing hard drive, bad PRAM battery, corrupt preference file. Something causes the address error, but it could be anything. Its probably the most common error.

 

[Octaedre]

Yeah that's the thing with these error codes isn't it ? Only vaguely helpful.

Tried a few more times, no dice. Exact same message and still impossible to hit "Restart". What's peculiar is that it still goes through the entire launch sequence seemingly fine, but seems to hit a wall immediately afterwards...

I hope it's not the hard drive failing though... My soldering skills are about on par with a half-asleep koala.

 

[unity]

It *might* be the hard drive, corrupt data is the first sign. But usually these old drives like to dye pretty past.

Never, EVER, let a koala solder.

Did you boot with extensions off (hold shift key)?

 

[Octaedre]

Haven't done that actually, I'll try in the morrow and let you know if that worked. (it's around 1:30 in the morning here so I'm about to go get some sleep)

The thing is I've just yesterday replaced the superdrive on my Macbook, but somehow the idea of having to dismantle my SE/30 is much more frightening to me. Although I guess if there's any soldering to be done I'd prefer doing it on the SE/30 than on a Macbook.

 

[techknight]

Recapped yet? 

 

[Elfen]

How long was the machine off or in storage before it was turned on again?

Got a system floppy to boot from? Or Norton's Emergency Boot Disk?

 

[feeef]

Hey Octaedre,

Nice to see another french member!

Error #2 means Address Error and it could come from many things. It could be a bad RAM stick as well. The best for you would be to find your bootable floppy and try to boot the mac from the floppy. If you can't find it and can't make one, let me know, I can make one for you, with some hardware check programs and send it to you by post mail. As we are not far from each other it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Octaedre]

Ok, the Shift-at-launch method worked. The computer booted without a hitch. I thought it may have been a temporary error so I tried restarting it normally, bam same thing, Error #2. Booted it again with Shift : no problem.

I forgot how blazing fast this thing actually is. That's also why I love Mac OS9.

It has been unplugged for maybe two years, or more... But now I'm probably going to be using it more (it's really good as a typewriter, as there are literally no distractions, no internet, nothing, does wonders for concentration). Anyone has a clue what extension might be causing this ? Don't recognize all the extensions that power up at launch (there are the usual Fonts and Quicktime and stuff), though there may be a couple that don't serve any actual purpose (Disinvectant for example).

I should probably make a bootable floppy just in case. I have a usb floppy disk reader/writer so I can actually communicate with the SE/30 (which is cool). However the floppies that I format on the SE/30 seem to be read-only, and the SE/30 doesn't seem to read Mac OS Extended-formatted disks. Anyone has a good OSX app for managing floppy disks ? (or OS 9 even, I still have my G3 iMac at hand)

 

[unity]

If there are no setting near and dear to you, you could dump the entire preferences folder. There may be an extension making a call to some corrupt preference. But the proper way would be to remove all extensions to a folder and load them back in groups of 5 or so until you find the bad one, then remove that last five one by one.

 

[Octaedre]

I just nuked the preferences, except for Finder and Users, since none really mattered and some were even still there from apps that aren't on the computer anymore.

I also put the extensions into a separate folder to try and find the bad one, and even there I'll be able to erase some of them (disinvectant doesn't serve any purpose, nor does the minitel connection assistant since the minitel doesn't even exist anymore, etc.)

I'm amazed how well this computer still works. Using it somehow feels extremely satisfying...

 

[feeef]

Anyone has a good OSX app for managing floppy disks ? (or OS 9 even, I still have my G3 iMac at hand)

If you are using Mac OS 9, you can use Disk Copy to make bootable disk tools floppies from an image file (you may be able to find an image on the internet). There is a menu for that. It is very easy and has always worked well for me. The most difficult, to me, has always been to find a working floppy!

I agree with you, the SE/30 is indeed a very good machine!

 

[djhaloeight]

Welcome to the forum Glad to hear it booted correctly with the extensions off. Much better than a hardware problem. At any rate, I'd get it recapped if you plan on keeping it around.