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#1 2016-09-22 23:54:14
- Bulldog62
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- Registered: 2016-09-22
- Posts: 3
What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
Hello, I recently acquired a Macintosh IIci and there's some problems with it. When you turn it on you can here the hard drive start to spin and the lights on the keyboard flash and several seconds later the hard drive slowly starts to spin down and all that is left is the power supply fan and a blank picture on the screen. What could this be?
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#2 2016-09-23 03:38:23
- mcdermd
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- From: Corvallis, OR
- Registered: 2014-05-12
- Posts: 1,022
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Re: What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
Easy. Your hard drive has died. Just alive enough to show up on the scsi bus. Just dead enough the heads can't find track 0.
Last edited by mcdermd (2016-09-23 03:39:35)
Daily Drivers: 27" iMac 2.8 GHz Quad-Core i7 (Late 2009), 21.5" iMac 2.7GHz Quad-Core i5 (Late 2013), 11" Macbook Air 1.6 GHz i5 (Mid-2011)
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#3 2016-09-23 16:43:39
- MacOS Plus
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- Registered: 2015-12-09
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Re: What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
I figure the only way you can concretely prove anything about the state of the hard drive is to take it out and attach it to another working computer so you can see if it will mount and then run a repair to the partition if necessary. It's probably a fatal condition anyway.
Love that monitor though!
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#4 2016-09-23 17:38:10
- Bulldog62
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- Registered: 2016-09-22
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Re: What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
But even if the hard drive was dead wouldn't still show something on the screen?
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#5 2016-09-23 17:58:27
- ClassicHasClass
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- From: Electron Alley
- Registered: 2014-05-26
- Posts: 1,118
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Re: What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
I wonder if your power supply is marginal, actually.
Machine room (updated for 2019!): http://www.floodgap.com/etc/machines.html
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#6 2016-09-23 19:19:03
- Bulldog62
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- Registered: 2016-09-22
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Re: What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
What does that mean?
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#7 2016-09-24 20:25:28
- ClassicHasClass
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- From: Electron Alley
- Registered: 2014-05-26
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Re: What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
One of my IIcis had a similar failure mode where it would periodically wig out and it turned out the power supply was sagging under load. The fact it does it when the hard disk spins up makes me wonder. It's easy enough to swap and see if it's the problem.
Machine room (updated for 2019!): http://www.floodgap.com/etc/machines.html
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#8 2016-09-28 01:29:20
- volvo242gt
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- From: Duvall, WA
- Registered: 2014-05-22
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Re: What is wrong with my Macintosh IIci?
A dead hard drive should show the blinking question mark in a floppy icon that we're all familiar with. It does sound like a wonky power supply to me.
To the OP, has the motherboard been recapped? If not, that may be another possibility, although that usually shows up as being a very quiet startup chime (have to turn the volume all the way up in the Sound control panel to hear it) or a lack of response from the power button on the back or the power key on the keyboard.
-J
modern: Mac Pro 2.8GHz 8-core 6GB/500G/DVD-RW, Mid-2010 A1286 MBP
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