Need help with MAC OS 8.6

[Tom9984]

Does anyone here know much about macs? I really don't know much about them.

ok, its a problem my dad has, so it might be hard to explain all this. He runs a photoshop in Guam and uses a Mac and card readers for digital camera etc and it's hooked up to the printing machine. Anyway everythings been working fine for a while. The card reader is like a Floppy Drive Card Reader using smartmedia or flash, not sure. Anyway this machine doesn't support MS disks.

He bought a new card reader that does support ms disks and he installed it w/o uninstalling the first reader. After installation it told him to restart the comp and so he did. The OS loads up, but the mouse and keyboard seem to be not working. My brother thinks that maybe w/o uninstalling the first one, the 2nd reader installation may have screwed up the comp (conflicts?) but then again he's doesn't know much about macs either.

I heard you're supposed to go into control panel, extensions and turn off everything before installing the reader?? I don't know...

He's tried unplugging and replugging the usb mouse into different slots and basically just replugging it. I read that if the mouse/keyboard doesn't work for whatever reason, you should unplug it, wait a few secs, and replug so it will automatically reload and install the driver. He restarted like a million time. Well none of that worked.

He tried everything in the pc card reader troubleshooting guide. It said if there were problems, he should restart and hold the shift key or something, not sure. But that didn't work.

I looked up basic mac keyboard commands to open up menus and stuff, but none of them seem to work. So I'm guessing both keybaord and mouse are not working. The computer is NOT frozen though, I told him to put in the reader install cd and see if it autoplays, and it did. But w/o keyboard/mouse working he can't do anything.


He has a lot of work on the computer so a format is a last resort. There's software to restore the computer but I'm not sure if that will erase stuff. I mean, I have restore cds for my PC and I've used them before. Mine had 2 options (1) format and restore to default (2) restore w/o deleting. I've used (2) before but sometimes it does delete/screw things up.

My dad isn't exactly super computer literate and a lot of this was info relayed to me via phone.

So I guess I'm asking what should I tell him to do to get the keyboard/mouse working again? Any suggestions?

Is there any cmos/post/boot setup screens he can get into? And even so, what should he do in there?

I'll try to get specs on his mac and hardware devices, but it's been hard. His english isn't exactly the best and my mandarin sucks.

For now, all I know is that he has a Mac with OS 8, a first card reader with no ms support, a 2nd one with ms disk support, he installed the 2nd one w/o uninstalling the first one. After a restart, keyboard/mouse don't work.
First card reader worked great for months, but after buying and installing 2nd one, mouse/keyboard dead.

Thanks guys, I really don't know what to do. I've been looking online and stuff but w/o the mac in front of me and no experience in using a mac, I don't really know what to do.

I'll try to get more details from him but I can only call him at nights at limited times (long distance plans). I'm in California :|

Thanks again.

 

[redbeard1]

You might try to have him boot into the OS without extensions. As the pc is booting up, holding the shift key down tells the system to boot without extensions. Hopefully this will enable him to boot in, and then he can uninstall the second reader.

 

[MrYogi]

try booting the computer with OS 8 boot disk and then delete all the installed files.

 

[Rakkis]

if turning off extensions won't work, try removing the new reader install the original one
hopefully that will boot. you then delete the original's reader's extensions.
then put in the new reader again

 

[Tom9984]

"try booting the computer with OS 8 boot disk and then delete all the installed files. "

Does that mean delete all the files on the hard drive? He has a lot of important business related-work on it. So that hopefully will be a last resort.

He said he tried doing the shift thing and also shift + command + r etc. to refresh/reload devices or something not sure. He also tried plugging in a different set of keyboard/mouse, still no go.

A friend of mine says the usb ports might be messed up/or burned out/damaged. If so, what does he need to buy?
Will something like http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=380188 work? If so we're willing to spent the $20-30 or whatever for it. There's only one computer repair shop in Guam, thus they charge like $100+ for repairs etc, so that is like a last option too.

"if turning off extensions won't work, try removing the new reader install the original one
hopefully that will boot. you then delete the original's reader's extensions.
then put in the new reader again"

How do you remove/install something if you're not in the OS? His keyboard/mouse doesn't work. Another thing, at startup sometimes there will be a safety scanner program, sorta like scandisk when you didn't restart your computer properly. His mouse/keyboard works there i think, but once the OS loads, both devices dont work.

Another possibility we thought of was that the 2nd reader has higher system reuiqrements that the mac my dad has. Like maybe it requires mac os 9.xx or something. He only has mac os 8...and even if he upgrades the OS in the future, we need to fix this problem first so he can actually use his comp.

Thanks again for the help, let me know what you think.

 

[Tom9984]

more details...he has MAC OS 8.6, blue and white....

will http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=380188 work?

will it auto plug and play recognize? if he installs the card and plugs keyboard + mouse into it, will the OS load and everything will work?

Or should he try to upgrade to OS 9 first? Will it install from boot provided keyboard/mouse work during the installation process??

 

[MrAnderson]

From what I remember of Macs, you should be able to just replace the operating system files w/o disturbing all your installed and saved applications. If there is just a system folder or something you might be able to copy the one from the install or restore CD over the existing one. I wish I could help more but it has been a long time since I have been out of school

 

[Tom9984]

"try booting the computer with OS 8 boot disk and then delete all the installed files. "

oh!! im an idiot, i thought you meant a format....but yea I'm going to tell him to try booting and see if he can manually delete the installed files/devices...hopefully this will work...

thanks, I wasn't thinking clearly, I'll see what happens and respond back soon..

Also, I found out you have to hold down C during boot right? In order to boot from a boot disk...alright.

 

[Tom9984]

ok he booted with the os 8.6 install disk, loads, mouse works...but what does he do to remove the reader etc.?

He says all he sees is mac hard drive, and when he enters that, all he sees are like photoshop files etc..

What exactly/specifically must he do to uninstall the reader? Does he have to manually delete the folder or run some control panel or config to remove it? He can't find the folder or anything related to config...all he sees are photoshop pictures and files etc.

he can also access the cd and its files....is there anything on the cd to run?

He says theres all these options on the cd and he doesnt know what to do/which to choose....

worst comes to worst, should he do a restore or reinstall? Will he lose his data? And if so, how does he run the restore or reinstall program?

Any suggestions?

THanks.

 

[Tom9984]

omg, the boot disc thing did work, he finally found how to delete extension....uhhh was that simple, thanks guys, this turned out to be a messy thread...thanks for bearing with 2 totally mac illiterate people...thanks

thats all, we're done yay..