My new pet ... a Quadra 700

[daniel-b]

Hi all,

I have a new Mac - a Quadra 700. I also got an old external SCSI CD-ROM (apparently read/write) and two hard disks: a very old 40MB Apple disk of unknown functionality, and a Quantum Fireball which seems to be brand new, and which turned out to be 1.1GB.

After cleaning it up (I find wet wipes - the type meant for the kitchen - to be very useful for this) I managed to boot it from the zip drive. I then installed the Quantum Fireball, formatted it and transferred the system over, and that boots too.

Basically everything seems to work. The only thing that looks odd is that when it starts up it always restarts and then boots; in other words it boots at the second attempt. Does anyone know what this might be?

Also the PRAM battery is dead and I'm going to get that out as soon as possible. It's a pity that it's buried in a place where you can't see it without taking the whole machine apart.

D.

[dmr727]

Post pics! Nice machine - the 700 is one of my favorite 68K Macs. I love the case design - not just the modularity it shares with the IIcx or IIci, but the look of it as well. All business.

Dunno about the restarting issue. I had a IIcx that would reboot on its own from time to time, and I traced it back to a leaking capacitor. Hopefully it's something simpler to fix for you.

[firemedicmark]

post pics pleassssse!

[MacTech68]

Not sure about the reboot. It might be switching a mode of some kind, like Classic Networking to Open transport.

You might be interested in "bootbeep" control panel. It gives you and alternate startup chime, and clicking the version number in the control panel shows a pic of the development team.

Download Boot Beep

And you won't get leaky caps on the motherboard. They're all solid Tanalums.

[daniel-b]

Hi all,

I spent the morning taking the Quadra apart and cleaning it up.

I removed the PRAM battery, which was dead.

I also attempted the floppy drive cleanup and lubrication thing. Since ALL of the floppies I have seen have had crunched gears in the drive motor, I took this apart first and cleaned and greased the inside.

THe result is that now, with the motor removed, I can insert and remove a diskette very freely. However, with the motor installed, it won't go all the way in.

Is this normal? As I understand it, this type of drive is supposed to draw the diskette in with the motor, so it makes sense that I can't push it in, but it might also mean that I've misaligned something, and I don't want to hear the sweet sound of crunching gears again

Thanks,

Daniel

PS: Pictures coming up later.

[MacTech68]

Originally Posted by daniel-b

Hi all,

I spent the morning taking the Quadra apart and cleaning it up.

I removed the PRAM battery, which was dead.

I also attempted the floppy drive cleanup and lubrication... ...The result is that now, with the motor removed, I can insert and remove a diskette very freely. However, with the motor installed, it won't go all the way in.

Is this normal? As I understand it, this type of drive is supposed to draw the diskette in with the motor...

If you haven't applied power to the drive as yet, then the eject motor hasn't returned to it's "home" position. Whilst this is entirely possible, it's also possible that the switch on the eject motor assembly is faulty.

The motor is only used to eject the disk, not insertion. My suggestion is to apply power to the drive (ie just fit it and turn the Quadra on). You may hear the motor run briefly as it returns to it's home position, the cam interrupts the switch and the motor stops. If it then works, you're good to go. If it doesn't, then the switch needs attention.

You can even run the drive with the motor wires connected but the eject motor assembly unscrewed and removed. If the switch is faulty, the eject motor will run forever.

[daniel-b]

You are not gonna believe this, but the floppy drive WORKS.

I did indeed hear it whirr when I first turned on the machine, and after that it accepted diskettes and ejected them. I have yet to try saving anything to them though ...

Here are some pictures from my work:

I took everything out of the box:



Motherboard:



I removed the battery:



I washed the drive cradle:



This is the inside of the floppy when I opened it. I had literally been packed with dirt:



And after I cleaned it:



Everything back together:



And working (note the floppy icon):

[daniel-b]

An update and a couple of questions:

I was able to format a diskette (albeit with some errors), and then write a textfile and read it back, so fundamentally the floppy drive seems to be working.

Questions: How do you use a floppy drive cleaning disk on a Mac? (I can't believe I'm using these again. I haven't even seen one for about 10 years).

Also, the internal SCSI hard disk is not set to ID0. Does this matter?

[David Schmidt]

Originally Posted by daniel-b

Questions: How do you use a floppy drive cleaning disk on a Mac? (I can't believe I'm using these again. I haven't even seen one for about 10 years).

If you can find one... you load it up with the cleaning fluid (probably denatured ethyl alcohol) and drop it in the drive. The Mac will spin and whir on it, trying to read it - and it'll clean the head in the process.

Originally Posted by daniel-b

Also, the internal SCSI hard disk is not set to ID0. Does this matter?

No. It just needs to not conflict with whatever other SCSI thingies are on your bus; so make mental note of its ID so you set anything else to something other than 0.

[daniel-b]

Originally Posted by David Schmidt

If you can find one... .

Thanks. It's amazing what you can find on eBay

[MacTech68]

Originally Posted by daniel-b

An update and a couple of questions:

I was able to format a diskette (albeit with some errors), and then write a textfile and read it back, so fundamentally the floppy drive seems to be working.

Questions: How do you use a floppy drive cleaning disk on a Mac? (I can't believe I'm using these again. I haven't even seen one for about 10 years).

Also, the internal SCSI hard disk is not set to ID0. Does this matter?

Originally Posted by David Schmidt

If you can find one... you load it up with the cleaning fluid (probably denatured ethyl alcohol) and drop it in the drive. The Mac will spin and whir on it, trying to read it - and it'll clean the head in the process.

No. It just needs to not conflict with whatever other SCSI thingies are on your bus; so make mental note of its ID so you set anything else to something other than 0.

Agreed. However, you can use the Head Cleaning option in TechTool for a longer cleaning cycle.

See http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=14684893 for link to Techtool

[daniel-b]

Originally Posted by MacTech68

Agreed. However, you can use the Head Cleaning option in TechTool for a longer cleaning cycle.

See http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=14684893 for link to Techtool

Thanks. That was one of my threads; I should have remembered that.

D.

[daniel-b]

Hi all,

I thought I'd post one final picture to this thread.

This is the display of the Quadra 700 on my 24" Samsung monitor. It's really nice, although a little stretched. The resolution is 1152x870, at a stunning 16 colors. The Quadra 650 produces exactly the same display.

[MacTech68]

Originally Posted by daniel-b

Hi all,

I thought I'd post one final picture to this thread.

This is the display of the Quadra 700 on my 24" Samsung monitor. It's really nice, although a little stretched. The resolution is 1152x870, at a stunning 16 colors. The Quadra 650 produces exactly the same display.

More VRAM !!

[daniel-b]

Originally Posted by MacTech68

More VRAM !!

Eventually . . .

[95yjman]

Sweet machine!

[MacTech68]

Originally Posted by MacTech68

Not sure about the reboot. It might be switching a mode of some kind, like Classic Networking to Open transport.

Looking at this again, I'm pretty convinced that this is the case. Whilst a 68040 CPU can run either (with enough RAM), the motherboard default (ie, with a flat or missing PRAM battery) is for "Classic Networking".

If you open "Control Panels" from the Apple Menu, and see "AppleTalk" and "TCP/IP" control panels, then you're running Open Transport (which is far more stable and desired). If you see "MacTCP" and "Network" then you're running "Classic Networking" which is pre system 7.

[daniel-b]

Originally Posted by MacTech68

Looking at this again, I'm pretty convinced that this is the case. Whilst a 68040 CPU can run either (with enough RAM), the motherboard default (ie, with a flat or missing PRAM battery) is for "Classic Networking".

If you open "Control Panels" from the Apple Menu, and see "AppleTalk" and "TCP/IP" control panels, then you're running Open Transport (which is far more stable and desired). If you see "MacTCP" and "Network" then you're running "Classic Networking" which is pre system 7.

Hi,

I recently replaced the PRAM battery in this computer and the problem went away.

Thanks,

Daniel

[pacmania1982]

I know its not a Quadra 700, but here's my Quadra 800. I got an ethernet transceiver thru the mail, so I put it all together and tried to get it online, but the original 540MB HDD died. Luckily I had two in my Umax SuperMac S900 clone. I took one out and reinstalled 8.1 from an install CD I bought years ago. I could never bare to throw it out.

I used firewire to transfer some stuff from the MacBook Pro over to the iMac, and then used AppleTalk over TCP/IP to transfer to the Quadra. Also using AppleTalk, I can take files off it including some screenshots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO57ufZxkNU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=864OqrDatQY

[OSMac]

Got an old Quadra 700 tonight myself, looking forward to tinkering with it.
Double startup dong, HD very noisey, FD not reading or writing but boots into OS 8.

Found this great set of photos from another Quadra cleanup ...

http://flickeflu.com/set/72157622729895475