ThinkClassic

silasqwerty1

Member

Registered: 2017-10-31

Posts: 2

Macintosh 512ke Not Starting Up

Hello! I recently got an old Macintosh 512ke and it is not starting up. I hear what seems to be the startup sound, but the only thing to show up on the screen is the cursor and a floppy disk with a blinking question mark in the middle. As far as I can tell, it seems to need a new hard drive/boot floppy. I don't have any other computers capable of writing an 800kb mac format disk. I did not get a mouse with it, and the battery in the back had to be removed due to "minor" leakage, could that be an issue? Thank you in advance!

LCGuy

Administrator

From: Sydney, Australia

Registered: 2014-05-13

Posts: 844

Re: Macintosh 512ke Not Starting Up

The blinking question mark is actually a good sign, it means that the machine is actually, indeed working. These machines don't have a built in hard disk, internal HDDs weren't a factory option until the Mac SE and Mac II in 1987. You will need a boot disk to get the machine to work, if you don't have another machine that can write 800k disks, or a friend who does, you can buy a boot disk here. Or better yet, spend a bit more money and buy a Floppy Emu (available from the same site), which will allow you to boot and run software on the machine via images stored on a microSD card.

silasqwerty1

Member

Registered: 2017-10-31

Posts: 2

Re: Macintosh 512ke Not Starting Up

Thank you very much! A few floppies came with it, but as far as I can tell none are bootable. I don't have the cash for a floppy emu at the moment, but buying a boot disk looks like a possible option. Good to know that everything appears to work at least!