PowerBook 540C Troubles

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hockeyman16

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Mar 15, 2003

5

0

• Mar 15, 2003

• #1

My friend just gave me a PowerBook 540C, but it does not want to boot. I am new to the Mac world, and so I am unsure of what to do. I have been to multiple web sites for help, and I got information on how to zap the PRAM and how to do a couple of other things. Zapping the PRAM does not help and the CD my friend gave me is not compatible with the computer (it can't boot off of it).
I do not have any kind of a boot disk and the only other computer I have access to is my Windows PC. Is there any way, using a program I found called HFV Explorer, to download certain files and create a boot disk? If so, where do I go and how do I know which are the right files?

Supposedly, this program, Disk Tools, is supposed to fix things, but I don't know where and how to get it and how to make a floppy disk bootable.

Thank you for your help in advance,
Louis Campagna

 

Gus

macrumors 65816

Jan 1, 2002

1,078

0

Minnesota

• Mar 15, 2003

• #2

When you say "It won't boot", do you mean that the machine does NOTHING on hitting the power key, or do you mean that the OS does not boot? Do you get a flashing question mark, or a picture of a floppy with a question mark on it, or maybe a picture of a Mac with "x"'s for eyes?

If it is the first situation, then the problem is probably a little more serious. If it is any of the others, it is because there is no valid system folder on the drive. You can find/buy original floppies of OS 7-7.5.5 on eBay or other older Mac sites, but otherwise, you will have to have someone make a boot disk for you on a Mac. I'm not familiar with the HFSExplorer, so I'm sorry I can't help you there. Let me know about the "booting" issue.

Regards,
Gus

 

Gus

macrumors 65816

Jan 1, 2002

1,078

0

Minnesota

• Mar 15, 2003

• #3

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, how were you trying to boot off of a CD with a Powerbook 540c? I am assuming that you must have an external SCSI CD-ROM drive connected to it, as the 540c is not capable of having an internal CD-ROM drive. In fact, I am not sure if the PB 540c is capable of booting from an external CD drive. I DO know though, that it will boot from the floppy drive, which I am assuming your friend had in this Powerbook.

Just as a side note, this was one of my favorite Powerbook models. I had one for a year or so, and I hated giving it up.

Regards,
Gus

 

Gus

macrumors 65816

Jan 1, 2002

1,078

0

Minnesota

• Mar 15, 2003

• #4

Oh yeah, (boy, am I annoying or what?), you should probably have put this in the Mac Help/Tips section. Just an FYI.

Regards,
Gus

 

H

hockeyman16

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Mar 15, 2003

5

0

• Mar 15, 2003

• #5

When I boot the PowerBook, I am faced with the Happy Mac, followed by the disk with the blinking question mark. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone with a Mac that could make me a boot disk. I have tried a few programs on Windows to try and create one myself, but with no luck.

I do have an external CD-ROM drive, and it will read a CD, but it is not the right CD, of course, and the friend that gave me the Mac does not know where the right CD is, as he thought the wrong one was it.

I do not know what to do to fix all of this, but I am willing to do just about anything to get it right. This is my first Mac, and I seem to be having more problems with it than my Windows machine!

Louis Campagna

 

H

hockeyman16

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Mar 15, 2003

5

0

• Mar 15, 2003

• #6

I tried again to rig a boot disk in Windows, and now, when I put it in the Mac, it acts like it's going to boot up, then I am faced with a black screen with a sad Mac and the error code:

0000000F
00000066

What now?

 

H

hockeyman16

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Mar 15, 2003

5

0

• Mar 15, 2003

• #7

I tried the disk again, excecpt I held down "Shift" while it was booting and I got a message saying that the startup disk would not work and that I should use the installer to update it or something to that effect.

What can I do?

 

H

hockeyman16

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Mar 15, 2003

5

0

• Mar 16, 2003

• #8

I finally got the boot disk to work, but the computer does not recognize the hard drive. The hard drive icon does not appear on the desktop and I never got a dialog to initialize it.

What, if anything, can I do to make it recognize the hard drive?

Louis Campagna