LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

18 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Hi All,

First of all, I'm new to the board and excited to be here! I've recently resurrected my childhood hobby and having a blast!!

My LCIII 80MB hard drive went bad and I'm trying to replace it. I managed to get my hands on a 1GB SCSI Quantum ProDrive, Apple branded, but I cannot figure out how to get the LCIII to recognize it. The typical disk utilities all fail to see the drive.

Is there some capacity limitation for the LCIII or do I need to use some other utility/system to format the drive for use?

I cat wait to get this Apple running again so thanks for taking a look! -k

eeun's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 8 months ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1895
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Welcome!
The LCIII should have no trouble recognizing an Apple-branded 1GB drive, and Apple's various disk utility/formatter software should see it too.

Some troubleshooting suggestions:
-Are you sure the 1GB drive works? Do you have another machine you can try it with?
-Have you set the scsi ID on the new drive? Apple standard is ID#0 for the first hard drive, but as long as it doesn't conflict with other devices, it shouldn't matter.
-Also check for various other settings like parity and termination (and termination resistor blocks near the scsi connector) that may differ between the two drives.
You might be lucky enough to find a chart of drive jumper settings online if you search for the model number.
Basic methodology it to make the new drive settings match the known working (until recently) drive.

"SCSI voodoo" is a term that was used a lot when that interface was more common. This is why.

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Thanks so much for the info!

The 80MB and 1GB drives are very different from each other, and I cannot seem to locate any jumpers at all for the 1GB drive. I will have another look at them this afternoon.

I purchased the drive from ebay, from a seller that has sold a lot of these drives and "guarantees" that it works.

I did use Apple's disk utility from the original system disks and it did did not recognize the drive.

I also tried the 1GB drive in a Quadra, which also did not recognize the drive...

jwg1962's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: Jan 29 2012 - 07:17
Posts: 363
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

There are also some other utilities available for hard drive installations.
Lido Scsi tools is one
Silver Lining is another.

I think these are available at macgui.com. If not I have copies of both of them and can get them to you.

They even work if the disk was formatted for AUX or it has non-standard drivers on it.

Thanks,
Jay

Dr. Webster's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 16 hours ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1760
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Does the drive even spin up when it's plugged in? If not, I'd say it's dead. Otherwise, sounds like a termination problem to me. Can you post pictures of the drive, or at least share the specific model number?

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Ive' spent the last 2.5 hours working on this and I'm on the brink of giving up, except something tells me that this drive should work. Yes, it spins right up and sounds normal. Jay, thanks for the info on the utilities. Unfortunately I cannot find a bootable image for those yet. I have a few pictures of the 1GB drive, trying to figure out how to upload them now.

There are 5 jumper settings on this drive, and I've tried every one without success. Is it possible that I need 2 jumpers? A0 and TE?

[inline:attached_image_#]

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

IMAGE(http://s10.postimg.org/x7xsajp9h/DSC_4275_Small.jpg)

IMAGE(http://s10.postimg.org/haz0dtwv9/DSC_4278_Small.jpg)

IMAGE(http://s10.postimg.org/7exxe6r39/DSC_4279_Small.jpg)

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

One more thing I forgot to mention. I dug up another Mac, Quadra model that normally works fine, and could not get the 1GB drive to be recognized in it either (all jumper settings). I'm totally baffled. -k

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

One more thing I forgot to mention. I dug up another Mac, Quadra model that normally works fine, and could not get the 1GB drive to be recognized in it either (all jumper settings). I'm totally baffled. -k

eeun's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 8 months ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1895
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Try pulling that tiny jumper from TE (termination enable) and move it one to the right, to A0. That disables termination, and sets the ID to 0.

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Yep, did that and started up - not recognized. Also did the same to A1 and A2. Same result. Sad

jwg1962's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: Jan 29 2012 - 07:17
Posts: 363
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Let me see if I can get you a bootable diskette with Lido or Silver Lining on it. I will make a diskcopy image and send it to you. Can I have your email address?

Thanks,
Jay

Dr. Webster's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 16 hours ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1760
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Have you tried with no jumpers on the drive at all?

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Yes, tried no jumpers at all. Drive still not recognized.

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Jay thanks for all the info! I managed to get Silverlining booted up and it also failed to recognize the drive. When the SCSI jumper was set to A0, no drive was recognized. When set to TE, Silverlining hung for 10 minutes scanning the bus, after which time I powered the computer off. When no jumper was connected, the drive was not recognized.

At this point, I'm trying to decide whether I should keep the drive or throw it out. Before I toss it, maybe the ebay seller will have a little compassion and refund/replace it.

Again, thanks to all for responses! -k

jwg1962's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: Jan 29 2012 - 07:17
Posts: 363
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Kev,

Yes. Silverlining should at least recognize the drive. It might complain about bad drivers on it and then let you wipe and reinstall. If it is hanging, this is surely a symptom of the drive not working properly. I have a few of these fireballs and they either work or don't.

As a lat resort, you could plug it into a SCSI card on a Windows or DOS PC and see if it gets past the init screen. My guess is that you will get a bus error or send unit command error.

It sounds like the mechanics are okay, just the electronics are shot.

Sorry that didn't help.

Jay

Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: Oct 26 2013 - 16:14
Posts: 25
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Update: Found a guy in my area with a bunch of SCSI drives for sale. I bought a 6-pack and all of them work great on my LC. I can't believe I wasted so much time on a single dead drive!! So happy to be up and running now though!!! -k

jwg1962's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: Jan 29 2012 - 07:17
Posts: 363
Re: LC III 1GB Hard Drive Recognition Problem

Ah. But the experience you gained in troubleshooting skills was well worth the time and may save you in the future.

At least that's the way I always look at it. Smile

Jay

Log in or register to post comments