Help With Powerbook 210

paul4990 · Post by **paul4990** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 3:04 pm

i have a powerbook 210 and i set it to boot off ramdisk by accident and now ti wont boot any help?

Post by **bicostp** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 3:10 pm

Hmm if I remember right the 210 is a Duo...

Try holding down Command-Option-Shift-Delete while it boots. This usually bypasses the hard drive and tells it to look for a bootable CD, but maybe it will bypass the RAMdisk and go to the HD.

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 4:38 pm

I think holding down C while booting up will load from the CD drive, that's what it was on my old PowerMac IIRC.

Post by **bicostp** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 4:56 pm

joevennix wrote:I think holding down C while booting up will load from the CD drive, that's what it was on my old PowerMac IIRC.

Unless he's got it on a dock of some sort that has a CD drive attached, that's not gonna happen anytime soon.

http://lowendmac.com/pb/210.shtml

The Duo models were designed to be relatively fast (I think his 210 has a 25 mhz '030), lightweight on the road, but full featured at home. None of the Duo models had removable media devices built in. The only ports they had were serial, the dock connector, power, and an optional modem.

There were a variety of docks:

Duo Dock / Duo Dock II : They looked like a regular desktop Mac, but they had a huge hole in the front you inserted the Duo into. After you pushed it in most of the way, motors would suck it in. I think it had room for 2 NuBus slots and a hard drive. It came with a floppy drive built in.

MiniDock: This was a lot like the laptop docks of today: SCSI, Floppy drive, serial, ADB, audio, power, and monitor connectors on one strip taht attached to the back of the Duo.

MicroDock (?): Even smaller than a Minidock, these plugged onto the back and gave you two ports: ADB and one other, be it for a monitor, SCSI connector, or floppy connector.

The size of a Duo is surprizing; I rarely see PC laptops that are as small. I've got a 280c here: It's 10.5" wide, slightly less than 8.5" front to back, and about 1.5" tall closed. The color models are thicker than their greyscale bretherin, so his 210 is probably shorter (my guess is 1.25" tall).

They're absolutely small if you don't mind carrying around some extra hardware to use a floppy.

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 5:35 pm

Right, forgot about that little part, haha

paul4990 · Post by **paul4990** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:17 pm

i tried it all and it doesnt work, if i opened it up is there like a BIOS battery or button ettc?

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:21 pm

Probably does.

paul4990 · Post by **paul4990** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:32 pm

if i got some memory and switched it maybe it would boot differently?

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:15 pm

Nooo! Don't open your Duo!

There are parts in there that even Apple called "diaposable" because they're so fragile and easily broken / disconnected.

Try this:

Command - Option - P - R

This will nuke the PRAM settings. I'm pretty sure boot device selection is in there. You will just have to fix settings like key repeat rate, the clock, and mouse tracking speed.

Hold down those buttons while the Mac boots. (Make sure you're holding command, NOT Control!) Keep holding them down. You'll hear the startup chime, then the screen will come on, then it will turn off and the process will repeat itself. Let it chime 4 or 5 times and then let go. The Duo should boot off the hard drive, if boot device selection is in the PRAM (it should be). This definitely works for all the classic (pre-G3) Macs except for the 128k, 512k, 512ke, and Plus.

Inside the Duo there is a PRAM button battery that dies, but you'll only know it when your mouse tracking speed reverts to default when you boot the machine. The above process does the same thing as removing and reinserting this battery, but you don't have to open the thing up.

paul4990 · Post by **paul4990** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:23 pm

i did what you said but it only does what it was before

Chime - HDD spinup - Happy Mac - Question mark