[X4U] Re: (Update) Norton for use on very old Mac

[Mark Des Cotes]

Went last night. The machine in question was a Centris 660AV running  
OS 7.1. The woman who uses it is 92 years old and has very bad  
vision. Her husband (90) has a working Performa that he uses on a  
regular basis as well as a G4 that he uses solely for internet  
access. They have 10 other Mac's not in use around the house. I saw a  
Quadra 700, a IIFx and an LCIII on the shelf next to their Centris.  
When I asked about them the lady told me they were all working but  
she liked her Centris because it was her first Mac. All the others  
were her husbands. The only reason the other computers are not hooked  
up is that they don't have enough monitors. Speaking of which, the  
Monitor hooked up to the Centris was an original Apple 12" colour  
monitor that still looked good.

The computer booted up to a grey screen only. I was able to boot from  
the Norton 3.5 CD but couldn't see the HD. I doubled checked by  
booting with an OS 7.5 install CD I had and found the same thing. No  
HD. I opened up the pizza box, unplugged the HD then plugged it back  
in. Computer rebooted like new. Ran Norton and no problems were  
found. I asked if they had any way to back up important files. The  
gentleman opened up a drawer and produced a Dynatek Syquest drive and  
an 88mb RMD cartridge. That whole house was nostalgia central. They  
were both very happy when I  left that they once again had a working  
Centris and that their important files were safe.

Funny side story... When I arrived at their house, they had a  
detailed report written out of what they were doing when the computer  
failed. The woman kept mentioning that she asked Connie to try things  
but that Connie couldn't get the computer to work either. I didn't  
ask but I presumed that Connie was their daughter or a friend. I  
asked if Connie had tried booting with extensions off or if she had  
tried booting from an CD or a few other things. I was told that no,  
Connie hadn't tried any of those things. Once I got the computer  
started up I was greeted with a voice saying "Starting" and then a  
few seconds later "Ready". Upon hearing this the woman said "Hello  
Connie". Turns out Connie is her voice recognition software.

Mark Des Cotes
Systems Manager/Graphic Designer

Astro Printing Service (Cornwall) Ltd.
3308 Second Street East
Cornwall Ontario Canada  K6H 6J8
T (613) 932-9281 Ext 106,  F (613) 932-1052
www.astroprinting.com




On 13-Sep-06, at 10:34 PM, Spoolman Nancy wrote:

>>>> Here's a question for the old timers on the list. I've been  
>>>> asked to
>>>> go have a look at someone's old Mac that will not boot up. I've  
>>>> been
>>>> told that it's a, get this, a Centris (not sure which model) and  
>>>> that
>>>> it's running OS 7.??.
>>
>> Why in the world is anyone running a Centris now days? Here in  
>> Silicon Valley you can regularly get used CRT iMacs starting at  
>> $30. And Beige/B&W G3's and early G4's are similarly priced.  
>> Haven't they heard of eBay?
>
>
>
> Sheesh... I'm still running my Classic II.  :)  It turns on my  
> lights every night. And I run my MacTV now and then, 8500, etc.  
> It's probably a collector's item. It's fun to boot them all up and  
> play an old game on the Apple IIe, too!
>
> Nanc
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>
> Listmom is trying to clean out his closets! Vintage Mac and random  
> stuff:
>         http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmacguy1984