PowerBook 1400: Not An HFS Disk And Installation Errors

TECHINFO-0020781

TOPIC

I just got a new PowerBook 1400 series computer. I started up with extensions off. Then I tried to install some software, but it kept crashing and freezing during the installation process. The same installation disks work with my other PowerBook 1400. I ran Disk First Aid on the internal hard drive and it says, "this is not an HFS disk." What could be wrong?

DISCUSSION

A limited number of PowerBook 1400 series computers were shipped out with their hard drives not formatted properly. If you run Disk First Aid on your PowerBook computer and get the message that "this is not an HFS disk", then your computer's hard drive has this formatting problem. Another symptom of not having the hard drive formatted correctly is that software cannot install properly onto the hard drive.

To resolve this issue you will need to do a complete back up of the hard drive and then reinitialize it. You need to do a Low Level format of the hard drive using Apple's Drive Setup utility on the PowerBook 1400 CD-ROM disc.

Step 1

Back up all of the important files you have created or installed from the internal hard drive to floppy disks or some other media.

Step 2

Insert the PowerBook 1400 CD-ROM disc.

Step 3

From the CD open the Drive Setup utility by double-clicking its icon.

Step 4

In the main window, select the internal hard drive by clicking on its icon.

Step 5

Pull down the Functions Menu and select Initialization Options. In the resulting window put a check mark by low level format, and then click OK.

Step 6

In the main window select Initialize and follow the prompts on the screen.

Step 7

Restart the computer and restore all the necessary software from the PowerBook 1400 CD-ROM disc.

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