Startup
& Boot Problems
Proprietary Video & Monitor Mania
Exchanging
Data & Networking
Swapping
Parts, Opening Cases
Written
By: Adam Rosen
This article was published in the Adam's
Apple column on Low End
Mac
As many people know, Macs are durable machines that can remain useable
and useful a decade or more after they were manufactured. Whether in
use to run legacy applications, old games, repurposed as systems for
the kids, or acquired as collector's items, many old Macs can (and do)
see service long after the warranty expires.
I
deal with older (pre-G3) systems regularly, both through my consulting
work and my personal collection the Vintage
Mac Museum. Here are some tips I've found for keeping
the old beasts running and exchanging data with current systems.
Startup & Boot Problems
When
a Mac's been sitting on a shelf too long (or in the garage, basement,
etc.) it may have problems starting or booting up. This could
be related to a dead or low battery, a dead or stuck drive, or a failed
component.
If
the date and time have reset each time you unplug the Mac and you get
a warning on startup, you need a new PRAM (NV-RAM) battery. Some batteries
are easy to change, others (especially portables) can be very difficult.
A dead or
low PRAM battery can prevent a system from booting or can cause erratic
boot behavior; this is particularly common with laptops.
If
a replacement battery is not available or the battery is inaccessible,
plug in the AC power adapter and leave the computer charging for 30-60
minutes. This often recharges the battery enough to permit booting.
If an hour doesn't work, leave it plugged in overnight and try
the next day.
Often
an old Mac will power on but not spin up the hard drive, or the drive
will try to get going but instead make groaning or ticking sounds. This
could be caused by dried up lubricants in the motor bearings or other
mechanical wear. Leaving the drive to struggle and make noise too long
can cause further damage, but sometimes a bit of power-cycling can help.
Switch off the Mac, wait a few minutes, then try again. Repeat a few
times, with the drive off but AC power connected between starts. This
sometimes jiggles and warms things up enough to get the disk unstuck.
Some
people recommend freezing
a drive
to fix this problem, but I haven't tried this method myself so
caveat emptor. However you get it working, the disk may or may not continue
to work fine after it loosens up, so copy any important data off a disk
that's behaving in this fashion to be safe.
If
you Mac has a CD-ROM drive you can boot from an Apple software install
CD (hold the C key down at startup). Use original replicated Apple CDs
for Systems 7, 8 and 9 if possible, these have a longer life span and
are more compatible with older CD drives then copies made to Recordable
CDs (CD-R).
All
Macs with built-in floppy drives can boot from floppy disk; very old
Macs require floppy drives to boot. Keeping a few extra floppy drives
around, especially external drives you can plug in to the back of a
Mac which has a floppy drive port, is especially helpful.
A
groaning or buzzing sound that revs up and down at low RPMs (and sometimes
sounds like a wounded animal) is often a cooling fan undergoing a slow
death. Fans are easy to replace and worth taking care of before more
expensive damage occurs.
If
you Mac doesn't make any noise at all when switching it on (no
fans, no motors, no lights, even after charging overnight), or you hear
a popping sound when starting up followed by nothing, you may have a
damaged power supply, logic board or other hardware component. Usually
finding a second Mac of the same model is needed to swap out parts;
see below for further details.
Proprietary Video & Monitor Mania
Old
CRT monitors are a dime a dozen (literally in some cases), but they're
bulky and heavy; unless you have lots of space it's hard to keep more
than a few around. I make due around the Mac Museum primarily with 2
monitors for older systems: a 15” VGA LCD (1024x768 resolution)
and a 17” multisync CRT.
Nearly
every Mac that has a video out port or dedicated video card supports
1024x768, what's needed is an adapter to convert the Mac's
DB15 connector to a VGA (HD15) style output. These are cheap and readily
available; a few different ones may be needed due to quirks
between machines. The 15” LCD monitor is small and can work with
nearly any old or new Macintosh.
The
other useful item is a multisync CRT. 17” models are dirt cheap
(often free) and can support 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and sometimes
up to 1280x1024 resolutions. Older Apple monitors come with the DB15
style video connector; newer Apple monitors and other brands use a VGA
plug, so a DB15-to-VGA adapter is needed.
Exchanging Data & Networking
Exchanging
data between new and old Macs can be challenging, whether over a network
or via removable media (sneaker-net). It's often necessary to setup
a bridging arrangement using one or more intermediate computers to get
files and software moved across Mac generations. Mac's didn't have built-in
Ethernet until the Quadra series, and the AppleShare AFP network protocol
has changed over the years.
Fortunately
Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 support AppleShare IP and thus can talk to Mac
OS X servers via TCP/IP. All 68040 Macs can run Mac OS 8.1, and pre-G3
PowerPC models can support flavors up through Mac OS 9.2.2.
Set
your Mac OS X system to a static IP address on your network and enable
Personal File Sharing. In the Chooser on the older Mac select AppleShare,
click the AppleShare IP button and enter your server's address.
You'll be prompted for the login name and password (which you
can save), and the shared drive mounts on the desktop.
Mac
OS X 10.2.x or 10.3.x file sharing seems to work most reliably with
Mac OS 8.x and 9.x; 10.4.x and 10.5.x systems also work but not as reliably,
particularly with large file transfers. Apple is aware of this problem
(the 10.4.11 update addresses part of this issue), but a 10.2.8 or 10.3.9
equipped G3 or G4 with sharing enabled makes an ideal file server to
use with both older and newer Mac OS versions.
To
reach System 6 and 7 Macs that don't have Ethernet, LocalTalk
Bridge can save the day. This free extension from Apple allows
a Mac equipped with both Ethernet and LocalTalk (RS422 serial) ports
to bridge the two networks. The Bridge Mac can talk to the older Macs
via LocalTalk (using serial cables or phone-net adapters) and the newer
Macs via Ethernet. Enable File Sharing on the Bridge machine and you
have a server the older systems can talk to.
Sneaker-Net
is also an option. Zip disks make a great transfer medium for old Macs
since drives are available in SCSI, IDE and USB flavors; you can copy
something from a Mac OS 8 or OS 9 machine to a modern OS X system on
a disk using HFS+ formatting. In my experience 100MB disks are the most
reliable size and are supported in all flavors of Zip drives.
On
the lowest end, all beige Macs (68k and early PowerPC) have floppy drives.
Mac floppies came in 400k (single sided), 800k (double sided) and 1.4MB
HD (high density) flavors. Nearly all floppy-equipped Macs can read/write
800k disks; some old models won't read HD floppies, and some newer
models won't handle 400k format. USB floppy drives can be found
(also dirt cheap these days) that work with OS X, though you usually
need to stick with 1.4MB HD floppies on these drives.
Quadra and PowerBook 5xx: Ultimate Bridge Machines
For
the Museum and when working with client Macs, I've found Macintosh Quadras
and PowerBook 5xx models to be the Ultimate Bridge Machines. These systems
have built in Ethernet ports (AAUI adapter required) and RS422 serial
ports for LocalTalk. Running Mac OS 8.1 they can network via AppleShare
IP to a file server running Mac OS X (be sure to set AppleTalk to the
Ethernet port), mounting the OS X disk on the OS 8 desktop . With LocalTalk
Bridge installed and File Sharing enabled, I can then access the OS
8 disk on System 6 and System 7 desktops. Copying files between, say
a Mac Plus running 6.0.8 and a PowerMac G4 Cube running 10.3.9, then
just involves a relay step via the Quadra or PowerBook.
If
networking doesn't work, or you need to deal with floppy disks, again
the Quadra or PowerBook 5xx work handily: both have floppy drives that
support 400k, 800k and 1.4MB HD disk formats. Note that some floppy
drives may not mount 400k disks on the desktop, but these can write
400k volumes with Disk Copy if needed.
I
used all this bridging capability recently to extract a needed file
from a 400k disk image I had archived on my OS X system: copy the disk
image to a PowerBook 540c over Ethernet, create a 400k floppy disk with
Disk Copy 4.2 on the PowerBook, read the 400k floppy in a Mac Plus running
System 6.0.8, copy the needed file back to the PowerBook via LocalTalk,
then copy back to my OS X Mac via Ethernet!
A
lot of steps, but possible (and I've always loved the 540c, so
I'm glad to see this model still performs useful tasks)!
Swapping Parts, Opening Cases
It's
handy that old Macs are usually dirt cheap, since they may have hardware
problems or failed components and be in need of some spare parts. If
you use a particular old Mac regularly or have just acquired one and
all isn't working, find some spares to cannibalize parts from. Yard
sales, flea markets, craigslist and eBay are great sources of old systems;
if you're in the Boston area, try the MIT
Flea in the warmer months.
Getting the case open or the part you need removed can sometimes be
challenging. Use your SPARE to learn how to open the case, that way
you can test whether that cracking sound you hear is normal (as the
instruction tell you) or a learning experience (hint: small plastic
pieces shouldn't fall out of the case). Many good take apart guides
are available
free online.
Don't
force connectors, switches and cables, they shouldn't be super
difficult to connect or remove. If they are, you're probably overlooking
a small tab or screw somewhere (this is where the test model with sacrificial
plastic is so handy). Floppy drives and CD drives often need lubricants;
WD40 has worked well for me (YMMV), though I'm sure I'll get flamed
for admitting this.
I tend to replace items as modules rather than doing component repair
(resoldering capacitors and the like); this usually comes down to swapping
one or more of the following items:
-PRAM
battery (very common)
-hard disk drive (common)
-optical or floppy disk drive (try lubricating)
-power supply (more common with age)
-motherboard, RAM or video cards (uncommon)
-CRT or LCD screen assembly (if working may be dim or blurry)
I don't
repair CRT screens, high voltage power supplies or monitors, it's easier,
safer and cheaper to just dispose of them (during my town's hazardous
waste recycling day each quarter) and replace with a spare.
Adam Rosen
