breuel@h-sc1.UUCP (thomas breuel) (03/14/86)
> Well, it happened to me: the infamous sad faced mac off of my hard disk > running under MacXL. It happens (too) frequently. Let me remark that there is no formatter for the ProFile harddisk that runs on the Lisa (only an initialisation program). Rumour from Apple has it that there is a formatter that runs on the Apple II, but I have not been able to get a version (and I don't have a ProFile controller for my Apple II anyhow). Therefore, any serious drive problems are not fixable, and you would have to order a new, pre-formatted drive from Apple ($340+installation), which is particularly annoying, since it is simply an ST506 which you can get for less than $75 at mail order places (or ELI's in Cambridge). (Well, in fact, it is an ST506 with a modified analogue board (sounds familiar :-), but it is usually the drive and not the analogue board that bites the dust, and you could fix problems yourself by swapping analogue boards between an ST506 and the bad ProFile drive and re-formatting, if you could re-format...). > Someone a few days ago suggested a recovery procedure that involved > booting off of MacTools and then doing the disk repair. Unfortunately, I would like to hear about it, I must have missed the posting. > when I do that, I cannot get the system to recognize that there is a > hard disk out there. I would appreciate (very, very much) a step > by step, key stroke by key stroke, tutorial on how to recover. Well, let me describe what I did the last time my ProFile went really bad: when I tried to boot from it, the Lisa hung with a smiling Mac. (With a dim smiling Mac, let me add: when MacWorks boots from my ProFile, the screen is almost dark. If you have this problem, I can send you a workaround (an INIT resource that fixes the brightness)). Likewise, HardDiskInstall timed out on opening the driver or doing some read, with the read/write head stuck on apparently the same track as during a failed bootstrap. I took the ProFile to a friend who has both an Apple II with a ProFile controller and a MacXL with a ProFile. First we tried to re-format the ProFile from ProDos, but all the 'format' command does is to re-initialise it for ProDos format. Nevertheless, this changed the Mac ProFile into a non-Mac ProFile. When trying to re-initialise it with HardDiskInstall from the MacXL, the install program still hung. However, we managed to re-initialise the disk using the following procedure: - boot a MacXL with a working ProFile - insert a disk with a System and Filer into the disk drive - make the floppy the startup drive (N.B.: this may be an ESSENTIAL difference from your weird procedure because it lets you actually later select 'Erase Disk' on the ProFile before the System or Finder tries to do anything else with the ProFile) - unplug the working ProFile and plug the bad ProFile in instead - select the ProFile disk and choose 'Erase Disk' from the Finder - pray... - power down the Lisa, boot up a disk with HardDiskInstall and try to go through the normal install procedure While this is highly in-elegant, it may just work and save your harddisk. I don't know whether the Apple II/ProDos step was essential. When selecting 'Erase Disk', the Finder put up an alert 'This is not a MacIntosh Disk'. Now a few other remarks about Lisa's (some of which might even be useful to you): According to a letter sent to Apple dealers, there are two options to MacXL owners: - convert from Lisa 7/7 to MacWorks and/or have the dealer install the screen conversion hardware. If take advantage of either offer, you get one year of free warranty. Both 'downgrades' and the year of warranty are free according to the letter (i.e. you don't have to pay). However, the way the letter read, you cannot get the year of free warranty without choosing either option. - trade in the MacXL for a credit of approx. $2600 towards the purchase of a Mac+ *and* a HardDisk 20, which means that you basically have to pay roughly $1500 to take advantage of that option. I bought my MacXL computer because I found its hardware to be better than the MacIntosh hardware (in particular, the MacXL has a rudimentary MMU and a screen of usable dimensions and resolution). I also own an Apple II, which has been a reliable and very useful computer for many years. However, within roughly half a year after its announcement, the MacXL line (the 'Top of the Line Apple 32 Supermicro') was discontinued, and the support of the computer has been rather miserable ever since. This does not mean that Apple has not honestly tried to support it within economic reason from their point of view, but simply that their attempts weren't too successful from my point of view. I still believe that the MacXL hardware is superior to the Mac/Mac+ hardware in many respects. Because of the growing incompatibilities between the MacXL and the MacIntosh line, I would, however very much like to trade in my MacXL for a Mac+. Such a trade-in, however, effectively involves an expense of approx. $1500. Since I am (a) a graduate student (i.e. limited finances) and (b) can get another computer system with harddisk (e.g. Atari, or Amiga without harddisk but 2M disk space, or (gasp) IBM clone) for just the $1500 I would pay to trade in my MacXL, I don't consider this trade in a good deal at all. I am very disappointed with Apple, and, unless a marvel happens, my next, all better, more powerful computer, is unlikely to be an Apple of any kind. Thomas.