How to boot up an old Mac?

[atari2600a]

Hey, while you're at it, you can just replace the caps!

[warmachine]

really i could do that .. is that common practice ?

Yep. Check out these links:
http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/macclass/
http://www.macusersforum.com/lofiversio ... t7400.html
http://macfaq.org/hardware/misc.shtml#Q2.8.9

The following links may come in handy, sameguy:
Mac Users Forum
Low-End Mac FAQ

And yeah, you could (and should, if they are leaking) replace the caps, just match them for their values and be very careful not to fry the logic board. But you should wash the board regardless (and whatever you do, DO NOT EVER TOUCH THE FLYBACK TRANSFORMER ON THE CRT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES UNLESS YOU HAVE COMPLETELY DRAINED THE CAPACITOR ATTACHED TO IT! This goes to say, just don't get near the transformer or capacitor as it is, you could kill yourself. Seriously.)

[sameguy]

I believe that it needs a boot disk infact I am almost sure on it.

[atari2600a]

Yeah, discharge the CRT. You should be able to do this by getting a screwdriver, some good wire, & a metal spike. (Or, better yet, a multimeter) Just do some research on discharging Mac CRT's. But whatever you do, be careful, CRT's, even when unplugged for years on end, can still contain enough energy to kill you! Let me repeat: "can still contain enough energy to kill you!" ...& this isn't a crappy 110V you're dealing w/, it's thousands of volts!

EDIT: By the way, CRT's implode.

[bicostp]

I believe that it needs a boot disk infact I am almost sure on it.

Correct.

<b>I doubt you need to do anything mentioned above.</b> Well, aside from making a boot disk...

If you had a hardware problem, you would not see the blinking "?" floppy. You would either see a strange black and white hatch pattern on the screen, nothing at all, or the dreaded sad mac. The "?" is not "dreaded".