Please help,I am new to Macs.I did a stupid thing.My powerbook has Mac o.s. 7.5.The software disks I have are 7.5.2.When trying to do a clean install I was getting the message that I could not install to this disk,switch disks.I then checked every box available,and clicked custom remove.(stupid I know)Now when I start the Mac I get a happy mac then it gives me the question mark.When I tried to reboot with my Mac 7.5.2 disk number 1,it tells me I can,t use these disks with my powerbook.Help!

Use this link (http://www.info.apple.com/info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf?RID=30) and you will see that the PB180 doesn't really support 7.5.2 for some reason. You have to get a full set of floppy install disks for a different version OS. I suggest installing 7.6 for your machine as opposed to any of the 7.5.x revisions, as it is pretty stable but honestly: System 7.1 would be best considering your old mac. It's very stable and has lower hardware requirements. With the newer OS's comes the need for speed and memory and other hardware advancements that make it difficult to be productive on an older machine. Remember that when you boot from a floppy you have to hold down the delete-option-command-shift keys (DOCS) all at once and hold them down until it boots.

I am in thee same situation you were a year ago. Normally pc-user I wanted to make a slim system to save memory for apps. I moved the finder and system to a new map on a powerbook 180 I recently bought to give my doughter as a christmus present. I renamed the old systemmap and renamed the new map systemmapp (corresponds to system folder in english language OS). Now I can't boot from the HD. I tried to boot from a OS 7.1 tools disk floppy and first I get a happy mac, but then it tells me I can't use this system and to use the installer to upgrade the disk. I have no other disks. All I want to do is to boot from floppy, get access to the HD and put my old system in the correct folder again. Missary!! How do I get/make a boot disk???? I am able to download files from the net. Please, Please Help I tried the 7.1 tools disk on a powerbook 145B and it worked! According to http://www.info.apple.com/info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf?RID=30 OS 7.1 should boot, but the powerbook 180 seem to be very picky......