Mac newbie and an old powerbook

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Happy_Dragon - 27 Aug 2004 07:07 GMT

Recently I picked up an old powerbook duo 230 (and some accessories) off of
a scrapheap. Since it turned out to boot, I decided to learn a bit more as
most of my previous experience is with x86 mswin & *nix.

One of the parts I have is the external floppy unit, but I was under the
impression that System 7.5 could read pc formatted floppies. I remember
this from the little experience I had with MacOS 8.

Whenever I insert a floppy it complains that it is unreadable even if it is
already mac formatted. The initialization always fails. Extensions off ==
shift at boot?

The only help google has been to this point is to suggest that the pram
battery is dead, which I already suspected since I have to use the power
adapter. It seems the only way to get a fresh system on here (which I
really want to do) is by floppy as I haven't been able to find any mention
of a (bootable(?)) install cd that would be in this machine's range. So am
I seeing the results of a dead pram or am I likely stuck with a dead drive?

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Adrian W - 27 Aug 2004 18:30 GMT

> Recently I picked up an old powerbook duo 230 (and some accessories) off of
> a scrapheap. Since it turned out to boot, I decided to learn a bit more as
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> already mac formatted. The initialization always fails. Extensions off ==
> shift at boot?

It does sound like the drive may be faulty. The drives are indeed
normally capable of reading PC formatted floppies as well as Mac
formatted floppies. In the Control Panel Panels folder inside the System
Folder you should have a panel called PC Exchange - this gives you the
PC functions - if you startup with Extensions disabled the Control
Panels are also affected and you will lose that ability. However, if it
doesn't even work with known working Mac floppies it seems like the
problem is elsewhere.

I suppose you could try putting a wet type cleaning disk in there to see
if it can be brought back to functionality. If you've tried a few
different disks it would seem that the fault is with the drive. A failed
PRAM backup battery wouldn't affect the drive. The main battery is
highly likely to be dead also. (If you are keen enough it is possible to
cut it open and replace the cells. I have done this with 2 Duo batteries
with success, but extreme care is required as a short circuit can lead
to the creation of a very handy incendiary device!)

For info on your Duo:
http://www.lowendmac.com/pb/230.shtml

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Adrian

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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / August 2004

Mac newbie and an old powerbook