Re: YMCA Daycare 2GS no boot.

[gsaikin@primenet.com (Gina Saikin)]

In article <6a10ph$ihn@newsops.execpc.com>, nyetop <alone@mydesk.com> wrote:

> Nathan Mates wrote:
> 
> > >My kid's daycare center has a IIGS. They put in the boot up disk and
> > >nothing happened. Any ideas on what we might do to diagnose the
> > problem?
> 
> > In short, turn the power off and disconnect *everything* (all slots
> > inside,
> > all devices outside) except for the monitor and power cord, and
> > try turning the system on. If that works, add back components one
> > at a time (with the power off) until it no longer works-- and that
> > last component is likely the cause of the flakiness.
> >
> >   Thanks for the good answer, except for "disconnect everything". I
> > presume the mother board is left connected, but all else is removed
> > from its sockets? And is it true, that a boot disk is in drive before
> > turning on power?

What program won't boot, and what are you seeing on the screen when it
doesn't...does it say "check startup device' with a little Apple flipping
back and forth, or does it say 'cannot load PRODOS'?  If it says the
former, some kid may have gotten into the control panel and changed the
start-up slot.  If it says the latter, the disk might possibly be
damaged.  Does it have a harddrive on it?  "Nothing happened' is not
terribly enlightening.  Usually, when I get a call and they say 'nothing
happened' they simply mean they got an error message.  If you can tell me
what they see on the screen....

Also, what Nate meant by all disconnected, is that any extra cards in the
machine - accelerator cards, and so on, be pulled out of the slots WITH
THE POWER OFF FIRST - including the RAM card.  Also, turn on the machine
while holding down the option and apple key FIRST, before removing
stuff...this is the self-diagnostic mode.  If you are using some kind of
accelerator (zipgs), you'll get an error code.  Otherwise, it should say
'system good' after going through some crazy stuff.

Make sure it just isn't saying 'check startup device' or 'cannot load
prodos' before you go about taking out components.  Then do a self-test as
described above, THEN, if all else fails, do the component switching.  I'm
not against what Nate suggested...I'm simply suggesting some simpler and
less time-consuming things first :)

Gina