It continues...
Most of the upgrade parts and software are at the house now. All except the memory upgrade. I had ordered a 40 Meg chip, but apparently they're not made anymore and the company cancelled my order without telling me. I found this out last night.
I ordered a new 32 Meg chip this morning for $83.00. Once it arrives I can get down to making the changes. I have the sites showing how to change out the hard drive. I'm replacing it with an 8 Gig CF card and adapter. I'll be replacing OS 7 with OS 8.
I had to get a pass-thru SCSI terminator (from Olde Mac Milt) to attach the CD drive. That is on it's way.
Wish me luck.......
Why are you spending so much money refurbishing a machine that has a reputation of being one of the worst Apple products ever sold?
I guess... I just don't really see it qualifying as a collectible, and when talking practicality you could easily find a whole G3 Powerbook with at least 128MB of RAM for about what you just spent on that 32MB upgrade for a 5300cs.
(And that's an inflated used Mac dealer price, not a "street price")
--Peace
Eudimorphodon,
It just so happened that someone had a brand new in the box, never been opened or used 5300cs up on ebay. I won it for $100.00.
I wanted a laptop to play with, but I did not realize just how bad it's reputation was until I started reading about it. lol
I decided to do what I could to make it into a pretty good platform. I have read in several different threads right here that if the OS is updated, it can be a good machine.
I just now went up to the site that you sent me and I'm considering getting one of those too.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Well,
Theres one thing that I know and that is that I don't know everything. lol I come to find out that in order to update my PB to OS 9, I have to go through OS 8.5. So I went up to the Apple web site and found ( what I assume are) images of OS 8.5 that I can download to my G4 and then transfer to 3.5 inch disks.
Sounds rather simple doesn't it? I also cannot find anyway to re-format 3.5 inch disks on either the PB, or the G4 Tower. Currently the disks I have are formated IBM. I can erase them, but I can find no way to format them to work with a Mac.
There seems to be one saving grace however, There is a conversion program on the G4 to convert images to usable disks. I have not tried this yet, I want to get opinions from you fellows as to whether or not I'm moving in the right direction.
I am open to any and all suggestions or comments...
Hey,
8.5 to get to OS 9? Why? OS 9 isn't an update. Why not just wipe the drive and install 9?
William
www.williamahearn.com
William,
As you can see by my icon, I'm an apple II guy and kin of new to Mac's. I can tell you what I tried...
I placed the OS 9.1 CD into the drive and brought it up while pressing "C" on the keyboard as the CD says. A message came up and said that in order for me to update to 9.1. I first had to have OS 8 on the drive.
So, besides finding a copy of OS 8 up on ebay, I decided to check the Apple.com web site to see if they had it.
They do. But I think it's all in image format and once downloaded and transfered to 3.5 inch disk. it has to be converted.
Steven,
Here's what I think is happening. There are two ways to install an OS onto a Mac. A "clean" install and a "fresh" install. In a "clean" install, the user injects the new system into the old system and replaces it. That old system becomes a folder labeled "Previous System." In a "fresh" install, the user wipes the hard drive of any system and installs the new one. Since you are launching the CD on a machine with a present system, the Mac is thinking that you want to perform a "clean" install and only OS 8 will allow OS 9 to be installed that way.
So . . . boot from the OS 9 CD. Can you get past the dialog box about needing OS 8? If so, open utilities. Open Drive Setup and wipe the drive. Then the install should go fine. If you can't get past the dialog box, pull the folder marked "system" out of the 5300 and place it on the desktop. Reboot. You will get the "?" Put the OS 9 Install CD into the drive and it should boot on its own. BE WARNED: When you wipe the drive, everything will be lost. EVERYTHING.
I know this sounds kind of complicated so if you have questions, someone here has answers.
William
www.williamahearn.com
i thought that a 5300 could only take a max of Mac OS 9.0, he is trying to put Mac OS 9.1 on it. i am not sure it will take.
you might be able to use this http://www.os9forever.com/os9helper.html and mod that Mac OS 9.1 install CD somehow, but the compatability matrix shows the 5300 not being compatable (but for 9.2.x) i am not sure if its not compatable with the OS or with the helper.
or try the way you are trying now
William and MadMax,
Received both suggestions this morning. I will give both a shot.
Thanks to both of you for the assist.
Ok...
I tried to do the different things that were suggested with no luck,
but along the way I had an idea...
What if I were to haul everything on the hard drive down to the trash, then re-boot? The computer would have to look for an OS elsewhere and probably pick up on OS 9.1 in the CD.
Does this sound feasable?
Max,
According to the compatibility list, OS 9 Helper will not work on a 5300.
Hey,
9.0 will go on a 5300. 9.1 won't. At least according to LEM and Everymac. You can try wiping your drive and then copying the system on the CD to the 5300's hard drive. Have no idea if that will work.
William
www.williamahearn.com
It sounds to me like you have an OS 9 upgrade disk, not a full retail install disk. And whatever you have downloaded from Apple won't be a full OS 8.x install either - it's not available for download. Most likely you have the 8.0 to 8.1 upgrade images.
The simplest thing to do will be to find a full OS 8.x-9.x retail install disk on ebay.
With the amount of RAM in a 5300, I wouldn't be too confident about running OS 9 on it, even if it will install. I would suggest 8.1-8.6 or even 7.6.1. You might want to have a look at a site called System 7 Today
A long time ago, there was a group called "Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show." They did pretty well for a while. lol The did a song about fetishes called "Freakers Ball" If you are ever inclined... listen to it.
I have come to the conclusion that in order to love Mac's, you need to be a Sado-Masochist. lol
Question: What is the worst thing a Sadist can say to a Masochist?
Answer: NO!
or
"Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me."
I bought a copy (full version) of 7.6.1 on cd to upgrade the OS. I also found the disk images of 8.5.1 on another site. These are the .bin images and need to be "unstuffed" to work. In the meantime...
I finally figured out how to format a 3.5 inch floppy on both the G4 and the PB, by using the "ERASE" function.
My order for the 40 Meg ram card was cancelled and the company that was supposedly selling it says that it is not made anymore, but they still list it on their site.
I went to another site and ordered an 32 Meg ram card and it is on back order.
On the Plus (+) side, I can read cd's from my CD 150 now.
I'm just a simple Apple II guy... I don't know what I was thinking.
Well, I am off and running again. My OS 7.6.1 CD came in yesterday. I set everything up before dinner so I could go in and update the PB.
Put the disk in the CD, waited for everything to come up, and commenced the installation.
The PB locked up.
I rebooted, and tried to get the computer to come all the way up, but it refused. I used the first backup disk I made 3 weeks ago and was partially successful, but even after an hours work and trying different things I could not get the PB to come back up all the way.
In the mean time I have been trying to gather as much info as I can about formatting 3.5 inch disks with Mac OS. There is just no easy way to do this that I can find. I even went into Help and typed in "Format Disks" and it just looked at me.
I do have one solution that has not been done yet; I have my CF card and addapter that I can put in and start from scratch.
I am about to totally give up on Mac's and go back to working with something nice and simple.....a IIe maybe.
Any suggestions and/or comments are greatly appreciated.
About three weeks ago I bought a 5300c to go along with my cs. It came with a whole bunch of extra goodies including extra batteries, carry bags, SCSI Zip Drive, SCSI CD Drive, and extra power adapters.
I spent less than $100 and thought it was a great deal since the 5300 came loaded with OS 9.1. When it arrived, I just opened the bag and looked inside to see that it was there, but I did not pull it out... Until last night.
When I pulled the computer from the bag I could here a "Tinkling" sound. When I looked at the back of the computer the upper half (screen) shell was broken and the hinges were all askew. I tried to open it and get the screen back to a decent angle, but no go. I plugged in the power adapter and tried to turn it on and no go.
By this time I was disgusted. I decided to take the machine apart for parts. This would give me extra parts for the 5300cs and a little experience in replacing and/or adding RAM, Drives, etc..
I pulled the keyboard (as outlined in one of the threads here) and found the interior of the computer corroded with a thick glob of something and the upper right quadrant had burn / melted marks on it.
The substance had travelled all the way through the machine, but missed the hard drive and several other parts. The first thing I found was that this computer had the highly sought 48Meg RAM card installed (in perfect condition), so I pulled it for use in the cs. I also found out how to replace the hard drive and several other parts.
All in all it was an unusual experience which I hope I never have to go through again. lol
I went up to eBay and did a neutral follow on feedback as when I first received the package I left positive.
A good lesson for me. Check the contents every time. Be sure that what I payed for is what I got.
<<9.0 will go on a 5300. 9.1 won't. At least according to LEM and Everymac.>>
According to Mactracker's latest version, the newest that will go on a 5300 Series is 9.1.
i got my info from everymac.
yeah Max, according to everything I'm reading the 5300 will only take OS 9.1.
The good news: I am becoming a 5300 tech whether I want to or not. I pulled the hard drive out of the cs and replaced it with an 8 Gig CF card. Before I could initialize the disk I had to do a low level format. That lasted most of the night last night. I'll finish the initializing this evening (Partitions, etc.) when I get home from work. I have a fresh OS 9.1 cd ready to install. I also installed the 48 Meg RAM card that happened to be in the 5300c, so she'll be maxed out when she's finished.
LOL Just another learning experience...
After following one thread I nstalled an 8Gig CF card for a hard drive. After following another I placed a 48Meg RAM card. I did a low level format, and then Brought her up on OS 8.1.
I still have a problem with the RAM and she's only reading 16 MEG, but I have a 32 Meg card on order.
Now, the fun part. I have been trying to load Microsoft Office 2001 for Mac. She gets down to about 250 files left to load, then she locks up. Is this software too new for this machine? I must be doing something wrong, but what?
The Baby is delivered. I swapped out my Apple CD 150 and hooked up and Apple CD 300, loaded in the Office 2001 disk and she was copied over within about 20 minutes. No lockups whatsoever. So now I have the following:
Powerbook 5300cs with:
16 Meg RAM (32Meg Card on order)
8 Gig CF Card HD (with adapter)
Mac OS 8.1
Adobe Reader (for PDF files)
MS Office 2001 (Word, Excel,Power Point)
A bit of clean up and double checking some items and she'll be fully completed. Works Fine... Lasts a long time.
I would like to thank everyone here for their assistance and comments. I have learned from each and every one of you. Hopefully as time goes on and I become a bit more knowledgable, I can return the favor.
Just one little warning... if this really was a "new in box" 5300cs, it may not have the newer parts that were supplied with the Powerbook 190/5300 Extension Repair Program. If you're treating this thing as a collector's item you might not actually want to use it much. Otherwise it may start disintegrating at a surprisingly rapid pace.
This page says at the bottom how to tell whether your unit went through the repair program or not.
--Peace
Eudimorphodon,
Just checked. They're there. Right after the Serial Number.
Oh no. I never had any intention of keeping it as a collectors item. This is my first Apple Laptop and I wanted to see what I could do with it.
I think I'll name it "The Little Laptop That Could".
all this for what, 75, 120 mhz?
i had one of those once before, i spent alot of time just trying to get 7.6.1 to work on it. seriously though, i hope it works out long enough for you to atleast enjoy all your hard work!
Hi folks, the 5300 is one of the few macs that is unable to boot up from and do a clean install of OS 9.1.
This was the same with my 8100, and therefore the 6100 & 7100 as well. I think it's a NuBus thing. I can't remember if a 9.0 disc will clean install. I think it can. OS 8.6 is a good place to start from as well.
Remember to be *very* careful plugging in and removing the AC power. Be gentle and do it as seldom as possible. That was one of the weak points that was reinforced during the Repair Extension Program.
Justin,
It may sound like a lot of work and some money for a small return, and if you look at it from any practical viewpoint, you're probably right. You do have to remember that nearly all things Mac are basically new to me (I'm an Apple II guy and a Tinkerer). I'm the kid who took his dad's alarm clock apart just to find out how it worked. lol Sometimes I got it all back together and it worked ok, other times I got a whuppin. Either way it was fun. Thats how I wound up being a Gas Turbine Systems Engineer in the Navy.
Now I write Technical Manuals for the USPS and I get to take their machines apart and put them back together so I can write about them and their mechanics won't have any problems when they do maintenance.
Its all fun
well as long as you enjoy it, thats all that really matters