Update: Ok so I reseated the ram as mentioned in my previous post. The system booted up well three times in a row after that, but that was probably just luck. This is because the next morning it was back to the old floppy with a question mark on it. I am beginning to think that the problem lies in the hard drive after all. Either the hard drive itself is sticking, and this is why it only boots up every once in awhile, or the cables connecting the hd need to be reattached, although I find the second option unlikely because I already reattached them when upgrading the ram. Furthermore, when I am shown the question mark floppy disk at startup, I am able to insert a floppy with a system 7.1 system folder on it and the machine will boot up perfectly every single time. Once the machine has booted up from the floppy, the hard drive is not displayed on the desktop, which means that it is not being found right? Because if it was just a matter of the system folder not being found, the hard disk would still be recognized, correct? I am going to include some pictures to help show you guys what I am talking about. Thanks for your help so far, really without this site I would be toast (without jam).
OK here is a series of photos when my quadra recognizes the hard drive and boots up successfully.
Next is a crash screen that appears occasionally. It always has the same numbers and symbols under the mac though, so this probably tells you guys something.
Finally is the icon that I get when it cannot find my HD (or find my system folder...)
So to sum things up here... There are three different screens I get when I turn on my quadra. Either a successful boot, a crash screen, or a question mark floppy. Once I get it to boot correctly once. It will keep booting correctly until I leave it for a bit and try again. Then the occasional crash screen is mixed in with all this. I am guessing this is because once I get the hard Disk unstuck, it will keep running until the drive has a chance to stick again. But once again, this is just a guess...
OK here is a series of photos when my quadra recognizes the hard drive and boots up successfully.
Next is a crash screen that appears occasionally. It always has the same numbers and symbols under the mac though, so this probably tells you guys something.
Finally is the icon that I get when it cannot find my HD (or find my system folder...)
So to sum things up here... There are three different screens I get when I turn on my quadra. Either a successful boot, a crash screen, or a question mark floppy. Once I get it to boot correctly once. It will keep booting correctly until I leave it for a bit and try again. Then the occasional crash screen is mixed in with all this. I am guessing this is because once I get the hard Disk unstuck, it will keep running until the drive has a chance to stick again. But once again, this is just a guess...