I'm trying to help a family get their Mac working. The 68040 was twice used when they got it, and they don't have a clue about computers. I know the previous owner, and she said everything still worked when she gave it away. I'm really good with x86 hardware, Windows, and Linux, but I have virtually no experience with Macs. When I try to boot the computer, it gives me a picture of a 3 1/2 floppy with an X over it. They have two floppies that boot, a Norton Utilities disk and an OS 8 rescue disk. I can't do much from either. I did find this tool on the OS 8 disk that's supposed to scan for drives. I tried it, and it said it was scanning for SCSI drives, but it didn't find anything. I checked the power and SCSI connections, and both looked good. I suspect the computer doesn't see the hard drive. Is it a standard SCSI hard drive that I could connect to an Adaptec SCSI card and look at in Linux? That way I'd know if the HD is good and has the files Mac OS would need. If it's the HD that's bad, can I use a 4Gb Quantum that wasn't made for a Mac? Is there anything else that could be wrong? I don't have a full set of restore disks or CD(s), so I'll also need to know where to get that if the OS is trashed.

Several questions you have here. The Hard Drive may be IDE as I think it was the 68040 where IDE drive were first introduced to the MAC Quadra. All the drives in the Mac world are pretty much PC compatible. It is when new drives are introduced to the MAC that you see problems as the MAC requires Hard Drive drivers. The X on the floppy means it can't boot from the floppy as it has no OS on it, it is bad or the floppy drive is dirty and cannot read. Your OS can be found here. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/image-solutions/ macsofmacos.html The computer has no USB ports and less than the 32 meg required for most apps today. I suggest you look at helping the family find a G3. Shop around and you may find a 233 iMac with all the early requirements for under 400.

I'm fairly sure I remember the hard drive being SCSI. I can understand why the the computer would show an Xed floppy if the floppy isn't bootable, but why wouldn't it move on and boot from the hard drive? If the hard drive isn't bootable, does it show a floppy with an X or something more appropriate? It looked like there was RAM added at some point because there were 4 chips. It's not really an issue anyway because all they really want to do is access the Internet and play a few games. The family doesn't have much money, which is how they ended up with an old Mac. I don't think they would buy an new Mac, even for under $400. If I get the OS CD, I'm not sure it'll help. The computer just suddenly stopped working when they got it, but the previous owner never had trouble with it. The previous owner wouldn't have deleted the OS, so I'm thinking there's something else wrong.

Try this: http://macfaq.org/ p