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Centris 650, mixed emotions
Posted by: MaritimerAbroad on 2014-11-13 14:26:07
Hello everyone! First post here. Today I picked up a Centris 650 with Laser writer for $40. I was ecstatic, so I came home, plugged it in and.. Got the question mark icon. When I start the computer the hard drive starts up, but quickly turns back off again. These drives are Scsi right? I have a few IDE drives kicking around, so is there such thing as an adaptor? Also the lack of a cdrom drive is disappointing, which means I will have to try to find a USB floppy drive and some floppys. Also come to find out it didn't come with the cable for the laser writer. What type of cables are those?

I'm going to post a picture of my conquest below, thanks for your help guys!

Snapchat--2224491069174574746.jpg
Posted by: techstep on 2014-11-13 14:29:58
The hard drives are SCSI 3.5", 50 pin. If I recall someone did make an adapter for IDE drives, but it was pretty expensive. I think you'd be better off just picking up a used SCSI drive somewhere. 

The laser printer cable is likely just an 8 pin serial cable. It will resemble the keyboard cable end, but with 8 pins. Depending on what model the laserwriter is, it might also have a parallel port or AAUI network port. 
Posted by: Superdos on 2014-11-13 14:32:01
it may be worth it to get a 7.5 disk tools floppy image, image it to a floppy, and boot it up via that method. check out the hard drive with disk first aid if possible and see if it even shows up under the SC setup.

Cool find though. a shot of the board wouldn't hurt either... and you'll definitely need to replace the clock battery onboard.

I'm not sure if those had Maxell's or not, but those explode.
Posted by: techknight on 2014-11-13 15:37:13
I bet its quantum. If so the heads are stuck. You can fix the drive if you are careful. ..
Posted by: MaritimerAbroad on 2014-11-13 15:52:02
Yes it is a quantum hard drive techknight, do you have a link on how to unstuck the heads?

Superdos I am going to staples right now to buy some floppy and a USB floppy drive. I just found out this Centris has a 10BaseT nubus card installed too, I am a happy guy 🙂

P.s sorry for the bad quality photos

Snapchat--8612098558572873532.jpg

Snapchat--8424195047996971786.jpg

Snapchat-7740478012892673108.jpg
Posted by: oldmacs on 2014-11-13 20:41:25
I love my Centris 650... Mine had a dead HD as well when I got it 😛  

Its good that yours has a ethernet card. They can get online quite easily (for simple websites) 🙂  
Posted by: feeef on 2014-11-14 00:39:13
I bet its quantum. If so the heads are stuck. You can fix the drive if you are careful. ..
@techknight, I am also interested on how to fix the stuck heads. I have 2 Quantum HD that have the same problem. I thought they were dead but maybe not yet... 🙂

Thanks a lot!

Good catch MaritimerAbroad! It is a great computer!
Posted by: uniserver on 2014-11-14 01:28:25
I've had some level of success fixing quantum's, doing it this way.

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/23871-vintage-hd-stickysolutionlazymans-40mb-80mb-160mb-quantum-prodrive-els/?hl=quantum
Posted by: Juror22 on 2014-11-14 16:57:09
I am going to staples right now to buy some floppy and a USB floppy drive.
We have a Staples nearby - do they still sell floppies?
Posted by: SuperToaster on 2014-11-14 17:26:42
Last time I went to staples I only saw CDs, DVDs, and flash drives but no floppies... Maybe its different where you live...
Posted by: SuperToaster on 2014-11-14 17:41:20
yup, Quantum hard drives are notorious for sticking...
Posted by: MaritimerAbroad on 2014-11-14 20:19:29
Update on the Centris. I followed the directions on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VepkXLCH3bM and I was able to get it to boot! It booted into 8.0. It had FinalDOOM on it and a few other interesting apps. The only thing is that the drive would only work for about 5-10 minutes. After about 5 boots, it stopped working altogether. I've ordered a 2GB drive off ebay, but I need floppies!

We have a Staples nearby - do they still sell floppies?
Unfortunately no 🙁 I've been having the worst time finding floppies anywhere! I live north of Toronto an hour.
Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2014-11-14 21:00:28
There's an eBay seller that sells a USB floppy drive with five floppies based in Canada, you may want to check that out. I bought mine from him, was $17. Drive was branded Toshiba but it was a high quality TEAC manufactured unit.

EDIT: here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Floppy-Drive-Transfer-Between-Latest-Mac-and-Vintage-Mac-/151446673271?pt=US_Vintage_Computing_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2342ecd777
Posted by: finkmac on 2014-11-15 07:40:54
North of Toronto? I'm guessing you bought that Centris 650 that was listed on craigslist… Simcoe, right? 

I sort of had my eye on that one, but it was just too far.

If you're looking for floppies around there, I'd just recommend that you buy them online on ebay or maybe here.

Alternatively, keep an eye out in thrift stores and garage sales.
Posted by: MaritimerAbroad on 2014-11-15 11:56:16
North of Toronto? I'm guessing you bought that Centris 650 that was listed on craigslist… Simcoe, right? 

I sort of had my eye on that one, but it was just too far.

If you're looking for floppies around there, I'd just recommend that you buy them online on ebay or maybe here.

Alternatively, keep an eye out in thrift stores and garage sales.
Yep, thats the one that I bought! It took me 50 minutes to drive there, because I am on the other side of Lake Simcoe, but it was worth it (in my mind at least, haha). Also I might go check out the 400 market today, they usually have good deals there.
Posted by: MaritimerAbroad on 2014-11-15 15:12:13
Hmm, I tried making a System 7.5 Disk Tools disk from my Macbook air, I dd'd the files to a floppy from a box of floppies I got today at the market. $15 for 10 Memorex 1.4MB HD floppies. But they won't boot on my Centris! All I get it a Mac icon with a X after the machine spits out the floppy. 
Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2014-11-15 15:28:48
OS X can't make the floppies for a classic Mac, at least not modern OS X, without serious shenanigans. I downloaded the files on my Mac Pro, but took them to my iBook running OS 9.2 to actually write the floppies.
Posted by: MaritimerAbroad on 2014-11-16 07:56:27
Could I do something similar in Basilisk or vMac?
Posted by: IIfx on 2014-11-16 11:00:59
Do you have access to a PC? I never had a problem writing HFS images on Windows via this trial software:

http://www.acutesystems.com/scrtm.htm
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