Mac OS 9 Lives

Classic Mac OS Hardware => General Hardware Discussions => Topic started by: Teddypotter on March 29, 2023, 09:13:20 AM

Title: No cdrom detected
Post by: Teddypotter on March 29, 2023, 09:13:20 AM
I have installing mac os 7.5 on a old powermac 8100/100 from a cdrom.
After the install there is no cdrom drive anymore.
Everything works exept the cdrom drive.
I found a program cdrom toolkit but how can i transfer it to this computer ?
The file is to big to put it on a floppydisk.
The cdrom drive is a plextor scsi . When i started a tool called lido it can see the cdrom . Weird problem.
This powermac is unusable without a cdrom drive . This is a very bad computer and is not userfriendly it all.
Mac os 7.5 is also not userfriendly because there is no any information whats wrong .
What to do?
With only a floppy i can not put any big files on this computer . Very frustated.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: Teddypotter on March 29, 2023, 10:18:18 AM
I have installing mac os 7.5 on a old powermac 8100/100 from a cdrom.
After the install there is no cdrom drive anymore.
Everything works exept the cdrom drive.
I found a program cdrom toolkit but how can i transfer it to this computer ?
The file is to big to put it on a floppydisk.
The cdrom drive is a plextor scsi . When i started a tool called lido it can see the cdrom . Weird problem.
This powermac is unusable without a cdrom drive . This is a very bad computer and is not userfriendly it all.
Mac os 7.5 is also not userfriendly because there is no any information whats wrong .
What to do?
With only a floppy i can not put any big files on this computer . Very frustated.


Not very helpfull here . It is not the business of this site to help anyone with a old computer
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: IIO on March 29, 2023, 11:49:39 AM
one short sentence about your experience with mac os and one short sentence about what kind of CD you tried to insert (and what happens when you did), and they might have the answer you are looking for.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: ssp3 on March 29, 2023, 12:31:45 PM
Lovely attitude. Do we owe the noob anything?
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: IIO on March 29, 2023, 12:38:22 PM
lovely is my other name.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: ssp3 on March 29, 2023, 12:46:18 PM
His, not yours.  :)
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on March 29, 2023, 01:30:25 PM
I have installing mac os 7.5 on a old powermac 8100/100 from a cdrom.
After the install there is no cdrom drive anymore.
Everything works exept the cdrom drive.
I found a program cdrom toolkit but how can i transfer it to this computer ?
The file is to big to put it on a floppydisk.
The cdrom drive is a plextor scsi . When i started a tool called lido it can see the cdrom . Weird problem.
This powermac is unusable without a cdrom drive . This is a very bad computer and is not userfriendly it all.
Mac os 7.5 is also not userfriendly because there is no any information whats wrong .
What to do?
With only a floppy i can not put any big files on this computer . Very frustated.

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac/specs/powermac_8100_100.html (https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac/specs/powermac_8100_100.html)
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on March 29, 2023, 01:32:43 PM
Not very helpfull here . It is not the business of this site to help anyone with a old computer

Normally we demand before a post introducing yourself here http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,1991.0.html (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,1991.0.html)


Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on March 29, 2023, 01:41:25 PM
Lovely attitude. Do we owe the noob anything?

If we owe something to someone normally is DieHard the one that introduces us the user as a contributor/donor.

AFAIK Potter is a new user in a hurry. Let´s try to help him even if he doesn´t have read the rules of the site.

If I had a 8100 (never did) I would install 8.6 or 9.1.  Even if I decide to use system 7 I would use the latest 7.5.3. But I have no idea how to do that.

Oldest Mac I have is a G3 B&W Rev. 1 and always installed 9.1 or 9.2.1 on it

Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: DrNo7 on March 29, 2023, 09:56:18 PM
Two other points to keep in mind to help fix the situation:
× back in Mac OS 7 days, the installation media were machine specific in the hardware they supported. So if the installation media was not a universal one or the one for PowerMacs 8100, you are missing important pieces. And sometimes, it is faster to reinstall with the right installation media than diff the extensions/control panels
* the trick to get big things on a computer with only a floppy drive, is to use Stuffit Deluxe to make a .sit archive of whatever you need, and ask it to split it into 1MB chunks. Copy them over with as many floppies you have, and Stuffit expander will merge everything back.

You should not be very far from where you want to be ;)
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: IIO on March 30, 2023, 01:24:56 AM
a CD drive should work as is (and it is highly unlikely that a plextor is incopatible wih a grey mac) unless it is broken or you try to read a CD in an unknown format.

but installing OS8 or OS9 is a good idea, anyway.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: ssp3 on March 30, 2023, 07:38:17 AM
It won't. Apple blocked the use of non Apple CD-ROM drives. This is well known problem and there are several ways to deal with it.

Using OS9 on PM8100 will be a torture. Despite the OS9 being the latest, it is not the greatest for every Mac out there.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: chrisNova777 on March 31, 2023, 12:51:13 AM
you could always just add an external CDROM + external ZIP drive
and get your network card working and connected to local network
you can use a modern mac to share a dvd drive over the network cant you?
might require some knowledge of AFP + appleshare?
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: ovalking on March 31, 2023, 12:02:00 PM
I agree with ssp3.

The OP is a bit confusing, but I assume the original CD-ROM was replaced with the plextor post-install. This is non-standard so may not work

We're given little info about the symptoms, but Drive Setup can be used to check the hardware is on the SCSI bus, but it won't tell you about compatibility.
I don't know what CD-ROM Toolkit can do. It may help if it includes a driver for the Plextor.

Of course, the easiest way to get files on/off is via the network.

I do not recommend OS 8.6 or 9.x for this machine unless some specific s/w needs to be run.
7.5.5 is the best choice of OS for this machine - freely available and much faster.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: IIO on March 31, 2023, 12:18:52 PM
then why did it work for the OS install? ;)

he is long gone and we do not really know the problem, but we should continue to fix the problem at all cost, lol.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: ssp3 on March 31, 2023, 01:18:00 PM
It is unknown in what state the machine was prior to installing 7.5. Maybe it had OS with all necessary extensions which were then overwritten by install. Or, if the OP comes from a dark win side, he doesn't know how to move extensions around ;)
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: IIO on April 01, 2023, 05:58:48 AM
it obviously was in a working state, which is why i think that a driver for the plextor must exist. beside that, it seems unlikely that someone installs a non working drive into a machine and then sells it.

i have used various plextor drives myself, but only with the next generation (7300, 8500) and only at the external port, so i am completely unaware of issues with the internal port. yet not suprised, it would be typically apple.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: ssp3 on April 01, 2023, 08:00:21 AM
I've been using Plextor CD-ROM drives exclusively on everything from Q605 to PM9600 and everything NuBus and PCI inbetween. Internally and externally. All possible models, from 4CS (caddy, 4x speed) to 40TS (40x speed). In all those years (from about late '90s) I've never seen a driver written by or for Plextor. The solution always was to either roll back older Apple extension or ResEdit the newer ones. Simple as that.

Also, my memory escapes me, but, I think, if the bootable CD is the only valid volume and HDD is blank, Mac will boot from any CD-ROM drive, even from non Apple. I think I was in such situation once. Maybe there was some key combination to invoke that, but I don't remember it anymore.  ;D
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: IIO on April 01, 2023, 09:11:55 AM
that could be that booting from the drive using the c keyboard command could actually make a difference.

so i guess we found the solution: he can simply erase the HD everytime he wants to read a CD. perfect solution for a noob with an old computer.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: ssp3 on April 01, 2023, 12:55:12 PM
It might have been cmd-opt-shift-delete.
Title: Re: No cdrom detected
Post by: zefrenchtoon on April 02, 2023, 01:18:57 PM
Hi!

Any bootable CD will contains a minimal driver and that's why he can boots it off.

Then, because it is a plextor drive, MacOS don't recognise it because of Apple fight to Mac's modifications.

Finally, Apple did give a universal CD driver in MacOS 7.6 (or 7.6.1) because of Mac Clones …
And IIRC, they did the same with 8.6 with a CD/DVD one.

So, if you want to get your Plextor drive working on any MacOS, you will have to use these specific versions of Apple branded drivers.
Or use any Apple hacked drivers.
Or use any thrid party driver (like FWB Toolkit, Intech CD/DVD SpeedTools …)

In my 6100, I replaced the old 2x CD drive by a Pioneer 32x DVD one … and because it is a DVD drive, the universal Apple driver of 7.6 crashes at boot time.
So I delete Apple driver, installed Intech ones and let's go !

Long time ago, this DVD drive was in my 7500 (G3 upgraded) and I had to do the same thing.

The driver itself is not very big and should fit on a floppy. Intech installer is just a piece of software that copies files in the good places so the driver is in a folder close to the installer.
You can find it here :
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/cddvd-speedtools-60  (after checking, the installation ".sit" itself is less than 1MB)


Finally: I beg all your pardon because I did the same mistake as Teddypotter, I posted my first thread before presenting me (but I present myself some times after)  ;)


To Teddypotter, if you want more help on your 8100, you will be better going on 68kmla forum