Machintosh Classic II sad mac error

>Does this allow you to gain access to the hard disk?

The hard disk icon may not appear on the Desktop following this key combination, but you may at least be able to verify that the Mac can boot from another disk. The question would also be whether the hard disk can be detected in any other way (for example, via a utility such as Mt. Everything or SCSIProbe on a bootable floppy).

As a last resort, it may be necessary to make an attempt to reformat the hard disk via an appropriate utility (for instance, Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5 or Lido 7.56). This of course provided that the hard disk does not contain important files, or that you have backup copies of such files. Reformatting will erase everything on the hard disk.

One possibility would be a SCSI driver problem.

To begin with, you could try to press and hold the four keys Command(Apple), Option(Alt), Shift and Delete(Backspace) during the startup sequence, when starting from a bootable floppy disk (such as a Disk Tools disk or Network Access Disk 7.5 floppy). Does this allow you to gain access to the hard disk?

Macintosh Classic II: Technical Specifications - Apple Support

This Apple Boot Key Combos:

Bypass startup drive and boot from external (or CD).... CMD-OPT-SHIFT-DELETE

Boot from CD (Most late model Apples) ................. C

Boot from a specific SCSI ID #.(#=SCSI ID number)...... CMD-OPT-SHIFT-DELETE-#

Zap PRAM .............................................. CMD-OPT-P-R

Disable Extensions .................................... SHIFT

Rebuild Desktop ....................................... CMD-OPT

Close finder windows.(hold just before finder starts).. OPT

Boot with Virtual Memory off........................... CMD

Trigger extension manager at boot-up................... SPACE

Force Quadra av machines to use TV as a monitor........ CMD-OPT-T-V

Boot from ROM (Mac Classic only)....................... CMD-OPT-X-O

Force PowerBooks to reset the screen................... R

Force an AV monitor to be recognized as one............ CMD-OPT-A-V

Eject Boot Floppy...................................... Hold Down Mouse Button

Select volume to start from............................ OPT

Start in Firewire drive mode........................... T

Startup in OSX if OS9 and OXS in boot partition........ X or CMD-X

Hold down until the 2nd chime, will boot into 9?....... CMD-OPT

OSX: Watch the status of the system load............... CMD-V

OSX: Enter single-user mode (shell-level mode)......... CMD-S

After startup:

Bring up dialogue for shutdown/sleep/restart........... POWER

Eject a Floppy Disk.................................... CMD-SHIFT-1 or(2) or (0)

Force current app to quit.............................. CMD-OPT-ESC

Unconditionally reboot................................. CTRL-CMD-POWER

Fast Shutdown.......................................... CTRL-CMD-OPT-POWER

Goto the debugger (if MacsBug is installed)............ CMD-POWER

Reset Power Manager on PowerBooks...................... USE THIS LINK

Put late model PowerBooks & Desktops to sleep.......... CMD-OPT-POWER

Application Specific Keys:

Startup key combos to reset the resolution on video boards:

SuperMac (at least some models)press&hold.............. OPT

Imagine 128 Card (reset resolution).................... N

RasterOps (at least some models)press&hold............. CMD-OPT-SHIFT

Radius (Use cable sense pins to set resolution)........ U

Radius (Cycle through available resolutions)........... T

Conflict Catcher:

 Pause Boot........................................... P

 Launch CC at Startup................................. SPACE or CAPS LOCK

 Skip remaining extensions............................ CMD-PERIOD

 Reboot cleanly while loading extensions.............. CMD-R

RAM Doubler:

 Disable at Startup................................... ~ (Tilde) or ESC

Apple System Installer:

 Change custom install to clean install............... CMD-Shift-K

Claris Emailer:

 Bypass specified startup connections................. Hold CMD at launch

 Bring up rebuild options............................. Hold OPT at launchis as far back as my notes go...

Continued...

Seriously Tweaky Startup Modifiers 

Only programmers and the most geeky of users will find these  startup modifiers useful. 

 * Control activates Apple's MacsBug debugger as soon as it  loads. If you rely on this frequently, you may want to redefine  the default key for selecting the Location Manager location at  startup from Control to something else. 

 * Shift-Option disables extensions and virtual memory but still  loads MacsBug, which would otherwise be disabled by the Shift  key. 

 * Command-Option-O-F puts you into Open Firmware mode on  PCI-based Macs and clones. Open Firmware is a cross-platform  firmware standard for controlling hardware that all PCI-based  Macs use. It's mostly of interest to hardware developers, but  it can be a fun way to freak out a new user who's not expecting  to see a command line on the Mac. To exit Open Firmware and  continue booting, type "mac-boot" or "bye" (depending on  Macintosh model) and press Return. For a list of commands you  can enter while in Open Firmware mode, see the  Tech Info Library article. 

Just for Fun 

Although Apple has moved away from relatively frivolous  "Easter Eggs" connected with startup modifiers, there are a few  available for old Macintosh models. 

 * Command-X-O, when held down at startup on a Macintosh Classic  boots the Classic from a built-in ROM disk. 

 * Command-Option-C-I, when held down at startup on a Macintosh  IIci whose date has been set to 20-Sep-89 (the machine's  introduction date), produces some sort of graphical display  that I can't check for lack of a relevant machine. A different  display appears if you hold down Command-Option-F-X at startup  on a Macintosh IIfx with the date set to 19-Mar-90.

Continued...

Controlling the Post-Startup  Environment

 Most Macintosh users know about holding the Shift key down to prevent extensions from  loading, but there are numerous startup modifiers that affect  the state of the system after the boot process finishes. 

 * Shift causes the Mac to boot without extensions, which is  useful for troubleshooting extension conflicts. If you hold  down Shift after all the extensions have loaded but before the  Finder launches, it also prevents any startup items from  launching. 

 * Spacebar launches Apple's Extensions  Manager early in the startup process so you can enable or  disable extensions before they load. Casady & Greene's  Conflict Catcher, if you're using it instead of Extensions  Manager, also launches if it sees you holding down the  spacebar, or, optionally, if Caps Lock is activated. Conflict  Catcher also adds the capability to configure additional  startup keys as ways of specifying that a particular startup  set should be used. Choose Edit Sets from the Sets menu, select  a set in the resulting dialog and click Modify. In the  sub-dialog that appears, you can specify a startup key and  check the checkbox to make it effective. 

 * Option, if held down as the Finder  launches, closes any previously open Finder windows. On stock  older Macs, holding down Option does nothing at startup by  default, although some extensions may deactivate if Option is  held down when they attempt to load; see below for Option's  effect on new Macs and Macs with Zip drives. 

 * Control can cause the Location Manager to prompt you to  select a location. Although Control is the default, you can  redefine it in the Location Manager's Preferences dialog, and  since Control held down at startup also activates Apple's  MacsBug debugger (see below), you may wish to pick a different  key combination. 

 * Command turns virtual memory off until  the next restart. 

 * Shift-Option disables extensions other than Connectix's RAM  Doubler (and MacsBug - see below). To disable RAM Doubler but  no other extensions, hold down the tilde (~) key at startup. 

Choosing Startup Disks 

Not surprisingly, many of the startup modifiers affect the  disk used to boot the Mac. A number of these are specific to  certain models of the Macintosh. 

 * The mouse button causes the Mac to  eject floppy disks and most other forms of removable media,  though not CD-ROMs. 

 * The C key forces the Mac to start up from a  bootable CD-ROM, if one is present, which is useful if  something goes wrong with your startup hard disk. This key  doesn't work with some older Macs or clones that didn't use  Apple CD-ROM drives; they require Command- Shift-Option-Delete  instead (see below). 

 * Option activates the new Startup  Manager on the iBook, Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics), PowerBook  (FireWire), and slot-loading iMacs. The Startup Manager  displays a rather cryptic set of icons indicating available  startup volumes, including any NetBoot volumes that are  available. On some Macs with Iomega Zip drives, holding down  Option at startup when there is a Zip startup disk inserted  will cause the Mac to boot from the Zip disk. 

 * Command-Shift-Option-Delete  bypasses the disk selected in the Startup Disk control panel in  favor of an external device or from CD-ROM (on older Macs).  This is also useful if your main hard disk is having problems  and you need to start up from another device. (On some  PowerBooks, however, this key combination merely ignores the  internal drive, which isn't as useful.) 

 * The D key forces the PowerBook (Bronze Keyboard and FireWire)  to boot from the internal hard disk. 

 * The T key forces the PowerBook (FireWire)  (and reportedly the Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics), though I was  unable to verify that on my machine) to start up in FireWire  Target Disk Mode, which is essentially the modern equivalent of  SCSI Disk Mode and enables a PowerBook (FireWire) to act as a  FireWire-accessible hard disk for another Macintosh.