Performa 450

[marinadeking]

I know it's old. It's been sitting in my closet for a while. A guy I work with needs a computer. He's used to these older ones. This one has 7.something OS. I brought it into work and tested it. It worked fine. He took it home. Guaranteed he didn't bang it, drop it or connect it up wrong, but all he got was the question mark on start-up. He brought it back, I get the same thing. I can't find the disks for it. Any ideas what might have gone wrong and/or some things I might do to correct this issue? I've tried to start up without extensions and tried to rebuild the desktop to no avail. Nothing but that pesky little question mark.

 

[Badger]

This model won't start if the battery has gone away but the usual symptom is a black screen (the battery is involved in initializing the video). When it was working did you notice the date and time? If it was current then the battery was still good. Given the sudden failure it may be that the hard disk picked that moment to die. In any case, you'll need to track down a system floppy or utility disk like Norton's to go further. Try to find a Mac club in your area. There's usually someone in a club that has old software. Otherwise, if you are willing to risk about $10 you could replace the battery to see if that's it.
Badger

 

[marinadeking]

I didn't notice the date on the computer, but it seems to me I have had issues with that in the past. I haven't really used it in a long time. That very well could be the problem if you say it won't work if the battery is dead. But, I get the grey screen with the blinking question mark, which usually means it can't find the system file, I think, which then could point it towards a HD issue. I guess I really need to find the original disks and/or try and have the battery tested. Thanks, Badger.

 

[marinadeking]

Nope. I replaced the battery from my old G4. I know that battery is good. No luck.

 

[Badger]

Good idea, that eliminated one possibility. You can do a quick check of the hard disk by leaving the cover off when you start. You can usually hear the spin up and feel the vibrations as the HD starts. If the HD seems functional then you've pretty much eliminated hardware issues. Then you're back to the system disks.
Badger

 

[marinadeking]

I just checked that, thanks to you. The hard disk winds up fine, and then all of a sudden slows down to a complete stop. When it gets to near the stopping point, the blinking (?) icon appears. I wonder if there's something related to the logic board that's causing the HD to shut down.