Sirwiggum,
Thanks for the post and welcome back to the Retro Mac community! It sounds like all the symptoms you are experiencing narrow down to the RAM and a dead PRAM battery. You'll need to access the logic board, which involves some disassembly, replace the PRAM with a new one after cleaning the battery holder contacts. Also, temporarily remove the RAM, check for any debris or corrosion on the contacts, RAM card and logic board, clean them if there is any with isopropyl or denatured alcohol. Then, reattach the RAM card, reassemble everything back together and turn it back on. The problems should be solved.
As far as networking goes, you've got a few choices. You can add the Classic II to your existing home network, but you need the right adapter, software and settings. There is no PDS slot inside the case, so you'll have to resort to the external SCSI port or the Printer and/or Modem Port for connectivity. Asante makes interfaces for both the SCSI and Printer ports to link to an Ethernet cable. They can be bought through Asante or used via eBay or the like. If you choose Modem port, you could utilize 2 external phone dial-up modems and a long 4-wire telephone cable for connecting the Classic II and a modern Mac together. The latter will be dial-up modem slow; so beware.
For software, the Classic will need System Software 6 or 7.x.x with AppleShare system extension, Open TransPort and/or MacTCP 2.0.x with AppleTalk installed. If you use phone modem, you'll need a terminal emulation software such as Zterm or one that's included with Microsoft Works 2.x/3.x/etc., WordPerfect Works, ClarisWorks or AppleWorks.
For Ethernet connections, maker sure you configure your router to go at 10 Mbps or 10BaseT speed at Half Duplex, no Auto Negotiation. You may even have to setup a static IP address for the Classic II to be assigned. Enter those settings in MacTCP or Open TransPort and then try restarting your Mac to test it out. If using dial-up and terminal software, set up a Mac-to-Mac or computer-to-computer connection. The Classic will be the receiving end and the other computer (Mac or PC) will send. Configure the settings for both machines to be a fast speed (Kbps) at non-parity, 8 stop bits and 1 data bit. Handshake can be none or XON/XOFF. From here, it's just a matter of telling the sending computer to send a file and the Classic II will automatically listen and receive new data. Once you start sending a file, it should then be received in sync. If you have a whole folder of files to send, be sure to compress the folder into a single file such as .zip, .sit or the like.
One last thing to mention. If you do network via Ethernet with a more modern Mac, make sure that recent machine has OSX Tiger or earlier installed. OSX Tiger 10.4.x was the last version of OSX to suppport AppleTalk. All new versions have dropped it completely.
73s de Phreakout. :rambo:
Thanks for the post and welcome back to the Retro Mac community! It sounds like all the symptoms you are experiencing narrow down to the RAM and a dead PRAM battery. You'll need to access the logic board, which involves some disassembly, replace the PRAM with a new one after cleaning the battery holder contacts. Also, temporarily remove the RAM, check for any debris or corrosion on the contacts, RAM card and logic board, clean them if there is any with isopropyl or denatured alcohol. Then, reattach the RAM card, reassemble everything back together and turn it back on. The problems should be solved.
As far as networking goes, you've got a few choices. You can add the Classic II to your existing home network, but you need the right adapter, software and settings. There is no PDS slot inside the case, so you'll have to resort to the external SCSI port or the Printer and/or Modem Port for connectivity. Asante makes interfaces for both the SCSI and Printer ports to link to an Ethernet cable. They can be bought through Asante or used via eBay or the like. If you choose Modem port, you could utilize 2 external phone dial-up modems and a long 4-wire telephone cable for connecting the Classic II and a modern Mac together. The latter will be dial-up modem slow; so beware.
For software, the Classic will need System Software 6 or 7.x.x with AppleShare system extension, Open TransPort and/or MacTCP 2.0.x with AppleTalk installed. If you use phone modem, you'll need a terminal emulation software such as Zterm or one that's included with Microsoft Works 2.x/3.x/etc., WordPerfect Works, ClarisWorks or AppleWorks.
For Ethernet connections, maker sure you configure your router to go at 10 Mbps or 10BaseT speed at Half Duplex, no Auto Negotiation. You may even have to setup a static IP address for the Classic II to be assigned. Enter those settings in MacTCP or Open TransPort and then try restarting your Mac to test it out. If using dial-up and terminal software, set up a Mac-to-Mac or computer-to-computer connection. The Classic will be the receiving end and the other computer (Mac or PC) will send. Configure the settings for both machines to be a fast speed (Kbps) at non-parity, 8 stop bits and 1 data bit. Handshake can be none or XON/XOFF. From here, it's just a matter of telling the sending computer to send a file and the Classic II will automatically listen and receive new data. Once you start sending a file, it should then be received in sync. If you have a whole folder of files to send, be sure to compress the folder into a single file such as .zip, .sit or the like.
One last thing to mention. If you do network via Ethernet with a more modern Mac, make sure that recent machine has OSX Tiger or earlier installed. OSX Tiger 10.4.x was the last version of OSX to suppport AppleTalk. All new versions have dropped it completely.
73s de Phreakout. :rambo: