Old School Macintosh Classic II

[DaedalCipher]

I have an old Mac Classic II, but when I turn the power on, all I get is a picture of a

floppy disk with a question mark blinking inside it. Does this mean the computer can't find

the hard drive, or what? Also, how would I fix this problem?

 

[EightySix Four]

that's exactly what it means, it doesn't know where the disk is, and my guess is the hard drive was stripped from it, or ithe hd is dead

 

[DaedalCipher]

Well, I know the hd wasn't stripped, so it must be the latter. Do I have to replace the hard drive then?

 

[aceman817]

when i used to service those, i took out the drives, tapped on them lightly with a screwdriver and they sometimes were once again redected by the macos. an apple technician showed it to me once and i was surprised.

 

[DaedalCipher]

Thanks. I'll try that.

 

[PottedMeat]

i think it needs an operating system, you can download a bootdisk online somewhere with system 7/8/9 for free (all legal if i remember). however it could be missing a harddrive.

 

[Ecgtheow]

LowEndMac has some good info on this model.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: crazySOB297
that's exactly what it means, it doesn't know where the disk is, and my guess is the hard drive was stripped from it, or ithe hd is dead

HD may not be dead so much as blank. To fix it, you're going to need some system software and a program to write it to floppies.

I don't know the exact manner of clicks on Apple's site to get there anymore, but System 7.0.1 is a free download (best OS for a Classic II). You'll want the individual floppies set.

To write them to disc, use rawrite. Google it.

 

[DaedalCipher]

Thanks again. I appreciate all the help. I'll let you know how it turns out. And if you don't care how it turns out, I'll let you know anyway. Thanks again.

 

[TerryMathews]

Oh yeah, this may come in handy as well...

If you insert a floppy and want to get it out, without booting into the Finder (or can't), hold down the mouse button as you turn the system on. Continue to hold it down and the system will (eventually) eject the floppy.

Also, for installing the System software on that Classic II, you'll want to boot with the Disk Tools disk first, format the drive (Use Drive Setup to partition, then format), then reboot and use the Install 1 disk to start the installation.

The Classic II isn't a bad machine, but it's very limited.