Booting LC III from 7.5.3 CD

#1 Wed, 3 Jun 2015 - 22:06 68kMLA

I have a Mac LC III, an AppleCD 600e, and a System 7.5.3 CD

When I boot the Mac holding down Command-Option-Shift-Delete, I just get a flashing "?" floppy icon. As soon as I release the keys, it boots from the hard disk normally.

The CD reads perfectly from inside MacOS.

How can I boot from the CD?

#2 Wed, 3 Jun 2015 - 22:18 68kMLA

Select it in the Startup Disk control panel.

#3 Wed, 3 Jun 2015 - 22:35 68kMLA

tanuki65 said:
Select it in the Startup Disk control panel.

I tried that, and it does appear in the startup disk panel, but after rebooting it still boots to the hard disk, even though the CD is still selected there.

#4 Wed, 3 Jun 2015 - 23:15 68kMLA

You only have to hold down "c" to boot from cd

#5 Thu, 4 Jun 2015 - 00:23 68kMLA

Holding down "c" may not work on '030 Macs. Holding down Delete alone might. Another way that I barely remember is holding down the SCSI number of the device with the Command-Option keys.

#6 Thu, 4 Jun 2015 - 10:38 68kMLA

If I can't use a command to boot from a CD drive I use a SSW 7.5.5 Network Access Disk that has been gutted of all of its non important files and has had the Apple CD extension added.

Essentially this enables you to start up your Macintosh from a floppy disk and a CD should appear on the desktop.

#7 Thu, 4 Jun 2015 - 14:36 68kMLA

Assuming the CD is SCSI, try "Command-Option-Shift-Delete" paired with the ID #. That will at least tell you definitively whether there's a problem with the CD's bootability (from the LCIII's vantage).

(Sort of off-topic but on Powerbooks, for instance, that use both IDE and SCSI I've never figured out how that works. I assume that command only affects the SCSI bus.)

#8 Thu, 4 Jun 2015 - 16:58 68kMLA

Also, if I remember correctly, it has to be an Apple ROM'ed drive. if its not, it wont boot.

And that old of a machine, the "C" key doesnt work. You need to hold the key-combo for the SCSI ID.

Worse case scenario is un-bless the system folder of the HDD by moving one of the system files out of the folder.

Then try again, it will see the CD and boot from it, ONLY IF the drive is good, and its apple ROMed