6500 install hell

[Rich Dolinsky]

on 6/25/02 8:21 PM, Nathan A. McQuillen at nm@steaky.org wrote:

> OK, folks. I've been feeling pretty competent this last year or so, but
> this one has me snookered.
> 
> I was recently given a 6500/250 with 32MB RAM and the standard WD 4GB HD.
> I figured, hey, this was never much of a Mac, let's get YDL on it post
> haste. And there my troubles began.
> 

First things first.  Standard HD config on this machine was 2 or 3 megs, not
4...thats wierd.  The 275 and 200 had 4GB drives though.

> 0. Stage directions: I'm using a known-good burn of the Fuji ISO. Internal
> SCSI CD-ROM.  MacOS 8.0 on an external SCSI drive, BootX. Machine has been
> cleaned and de-gunked, all connections secured, MacOS ran for 36 hours
> with no failures. This lulls me into a false sense of security, for the
> moment I install BootX, the kernel, and the ramdisks and hit that little
> button:
> 
> 1. Graphical installer wouldn't bring up X. This was NOT A PROBLEM since I
> don't use the graphical much anyway. But:
> 
> 2. Text-only install runs -- or so I think. Partitioning goes smoothly,
> installer then chugs away at the default dev. workstation install for *24
> HOURS* (can you spot the first sign of trouble?), seems to finish
> unpacking and installing, then freezes. Cannot switch consoles. Leave it
> for a few hours, reboot.
> 

For this machione 24 hours is a bit much, but not totally suprising
considering my 8600 took 4 hours to install base.

> 3. I have a half-baked install on the WD drive, but I can't tell what's
> screwed up and what isn't -- much is missing from /etc/ and I shudder to
> think what else is gone. So I try to install again. THings happen, right?
> 
> 4. Second install fails in the same manner.
> 
> 5. OK. At this point, I begin suspecting hardware. I swap out the WD drive
> for a 30GB Maxtor, pull the internal SCSI devices, add my trusty
> Matsushita external CD-R, and boot again.

Not sure if this was at all I good idea.  ATA interface on that machine is
only 33MHZ rated.  Putting an ata 100 drive would not be a good idea...check
that.  

> 
> 6. BootX begins giving me address errors unless I start up with extensions
> off and then boot Linux from the BootX app. Cannot do it on startup.

Go back to standard config.  Should remedy this

> 
> 7. Having done so, the installer stalls on partitioning: first few
> partitions set up OK, then silence... switching consoles and typing 'ps'
> or anything else gives me a 'Terminated...' message in the installer and a
> reboot.
> 

Sounds liek not enough RAM to me...everyone else agree?

PS you can get some damn good prices for ram for this machine real easy.  As
in 28.68 for the ram shipped to your home.
www.ramseeker.com for some damn good prices on mac memory.
If this machine has the potential to be worth more than 30 dollars for what
you will be using it for, then go for it.  If not, junk it.  I really dont
think its a logic board error.  Before you do buy the ram, however, take out
the PRAM battery and reset the PMU (little red button between processor and
memory)

> 8. I am stymied. Not enough RAM? I thought I could install easily with
> 32MB... am I remembering this wrong? Or is it bad RAM? I have no EDO DIMMs
> to swap out and I'm not sure this machine would be worth the cost of
> buying a new stick to test... A bad MLB? Definitely not worth it. But why
> did the first install run, and why did the process clearly *degenerate*,
> going from a slow but steady first install to now failing even to
> partition? Has my CD gone bad? Did the government just want us to *think*
> laser rot was a myth? Or is it simply karma, kismet, or dumb bad luck?
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Thanks, all. You'se the best.
> 
> - Nathan McQuillen
> 
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