Need Help with IIgs

[Jen <jennifer_c88112@aol.com>]

Hi, I'll be honest right up front, I'm a newbie to Apple and Mac
systems. I've been a PC user for 10 years, and have always wanted
my own Apple computer to learn. Yesterday I picked up a IIgs
system, rgb color monitor, keyboard, mouse, 3 1/2 and 5 1/4 disk
drives and an ImageWriter II printer for $25 (hope that was a good
deal) at a garage sale.

I got it home and it seems to work though it keeps trying to boot to
the 5 1/4 drive and then says "CHECK STARTUP DEVICE"

Is it looking for a boot disk? or is that some other error?
I tried unplugging  the disk drives and booting without them
and it still gives me the same message.

I did see on the initial boot screen it said ROM 3, from what
I've gathered from the various sites I've been on since yesterday,
this is a good thing.

Also, aside from actually opening the case is there any way to
determine if there is a hard drive inside?

I found Alltechs site which has a 340mb hard drive with system
software loaded and some apps for $99. If its worth it and this don't
have a hard drive I'll get the drive.
http://www.allelec.com/harddiap.htm

I know this is no PowerMac, but I am interested in learning about this
system and getting it running. If anyone has any info or ideas on the
error message please let me know.

Thanks

Jen