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

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2012-10-13 03:36, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> In article <a9f5f667-270b-4c95-8415-ff119b3a187b at q16g2000yqc.googlegroups.com>,
> 	Steven Schweda <sms.antinode at gmail.com> writes:
>>> 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.
>
> Close, but no cigar.  I had three disks that had been bootable.
> All still have all the softwre on them and yes, they even have
> the "smiling mac" on the system folder.  But, they still would
> not boot.  As I just told JF, installing 7.1 from the CD onto
> each of these fixed whatever the problem was.

Having the digital equivalent of a sticker on the floppy does not 
necessarily make it bootable. :-)
There are special things of importance to get a disk bootable, in most 
cases. And it involves areas of the disk you do not look at, or even 
see, during normal operation. And if those areas have been corrupted, 
you cannot boot. Doing a reinstall it not only reasonable, it is pretty 
much required on any operating system, at that point.

I thought you knew more about computers and operating systems than this, 
Bill.

	Johnny