So, I've replaced the hard drive in the Mac thinking that might have been an issue. However, I still can't get any system installed on the thing. Having had little success with floppies, the *new* issue I've run into is that I can't install anything with a CD. I have a CD of Apple's 7.5.3 and the actual retail copy of 8.0 from a purchase we made back in the day. Neither CD spins up after the boot chime. I've tried different key combinations: Command-Option-Shift-Delete, Command-Option-Shift-3, 'C', etc. Nothing.
There's nothing physically wrong with the drive from what I can tell - I've even disassembled it and cleaned the laser head. The guy I purchased the 630 from was able to get a CD to show up on the desktop of the original install (I reformatted the drive, because the original installation of 7.5.3 was in French). I'm not sure if this is significant, but the model says on the front: "Performa 630", not "Performa 630CD", though it does has a SCSI CD drive installed with all of the appropriate Foxconn connections, etc. that allow it to plug into Apple's proprietary board. So, now I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?
There's nothing physically wrong with the drive from what I can tell - I've even disassembled it and cleaned the laser head. The guy I purchased the 630 from was able to get a CD to show up on the desktop of the original install (I reformatted the drive, because the original installation of 7.5.3 was in French). I'm not sure if this is significant, but the model says on the front: "Performa 630", not "Performa 630CD", though it does has a SCSI CD drive installed with all of the appropriate Foxconn connections, etc. that allow it to plug into Apple's proprietary board. So, now I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?