Re: //GS suddenly won't boot

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

mehenn writes ...
> 
> I gave an old //GS Woz LE to a friend of mine who's never owned a computer.
> Heck, it was 11 years old but still worked fine and ran everything he
> needed.  After he received it, he got it up and running and all systems were
> go.
> 
> It has an Applied Ingenuity 40 Meg hard drive installed in slot 7.  Slot 1,
> 4, 5, and 6 are empty.  Slot 2 has an AE IBM card and slot 3 has an AE
> accelerator.  The RAM slot has a full AE 1.5 Meg card, I think; it may be
> bigger than that, nut it has lots of RAM.
> 
> He called me this afternoon in a panic because he can't get the machine to
> boot.  I talked him through the control panel and we verified that slot 7
> was set to Your Card.  We tried booting with Slots set to 7, 5 and Scan.  He
> removed, cleaned and re-seated the RAM card and hard drive controller card
> and we tried the whole thing all over again.  We put a Hyperstudio disk in
> the 3.5" drive (because I though it might have an op system on it) during
> the second series of boot attempts.
> 
> The only reactioin to all of this is the signature BONK and then an "Unable
> to load PRODOS" screen.  He stated that the drive light on the 3.5"
> flickered but didn't stay on for any appreciable time.
>


     The following may help. It is from the new Csa2 FAQs file
F002HDNSCSI.txt on Ground at

ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs
http://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs

     

From: B.J. Major

014- Does it matter when I power-ON my SCSI hard disk?

     From the Apple IIgs Owner's Reference, page 267:


"In order for the Finder to recognize a hard disk, the hard disk must be
switched on and up to speed before you start up (or restart) the
computer. Switch on the hard disk, wait about 10 seconds for it to come
up to speed, and then restart the computer."

     From the Macintosh User's Guide for desktop Macs, page 216:

"IMPORTANT:  Always turn on any external SCSI devices connected to your
Macintosh before turning on the computer itself.  Otherwise, your
computer cannot recognize the SCSI devices."

___________________________



     Granted, there are some interface-HD combinations which work fine
when the computer and HD are powered-ON at the same time. Also, there
are factors which may cause a system to work with simultaneous power-up
in one location and not work this way after being shipped across the
country.

     If it is possible to power-ON the hard disk before turning ON the
computer, then, as BJ indicates, this may fix your friend's problem.



     Regarding the 3.5" drive problem: the above fix, if it works, is
likely to take care of getting your 3.5" drives recognized. Otherwise;
try inserting a valid ProDOS diskette into Drive 1 before or just after
power-up-- just so long as the diskette is in place when the drive is
first scanned. Usually this forces recognition of 3.5" diskette drives
and enables correct functioning.


Rubywand