[Info-vax] OT: For MAC Lovers Only :-)

[Steven Schweda]

> And here I have always been led to believe this was a
> Windows only solution.

   Well, duh.  The flashing folder/disk icon means that the
firmware couldn't find a disk with a valid OS on it.  In that
case, (re-)installing the OS would seem to me to be a pretty
reasonable course, especially if Disk First Aid can't repair
it.

> I have a Powerbook 160 which sometimes doesn't start up
> right.

   I was recently given a PowerBook 165, which has a failing
Quantum GoDrive GR160S 160MB 2.5-inch SCSI disk, which has a
fairly low probability of spinning up successfully.
Somewhere between zero and twenty retries typically gets it
going, though (so far).  I also installed a 2032-coin-cell
holder to replace the dead, soldered-in, original coin cell.

> I believe it installs from a stack of floppies, so I am not
> very excited about doing a clean install.

   It can probably load the OS from whichever medium on which
you have the OS.  My System 7.5[.x] kits are all floppies,
but I have a 7.6 CD-ROM.  (System 7.5 = 1 "Before You
Install", 1 "Disk Tools", 7 Install; System 7.5 Update 2.0
(7.5.3) = 14; System 7.5.5 Update = 3.)  For a CD-ROM, you'd
need an external SCSI CD-ROM drive (and the odd-ball compact
SCSI cable, and possibly a matching CD-ROM driver, ...), and
I wouldn't bet that an old PowerBook knows how to boot from a
CD-ROM.  (But the System 7.6 CD-ROM includes 19 floppy images
for the installation, plus four more with docs and tools, so,
as usual, many things are possible.)

> I have about reacjed the point of doing Treatment 7:
> Perform a clean install.

   Assuming that the System folder is not too corrupt, a Web
search for, say:
      bless "system folder"
should find some suggestions.

   Re-installing the OS has the advantage of a fresh start,
which can be considerable with the typical piece of old junk.

> With OS-X, [...]

   Is there a System folder on Mac OS X?

   And yes, a VMS forum is probably not the best place to
seek Mac advice.