# help! eject internal G3 zip disk manually



## computerlessonz (Oct 20, 2004)

Has the curse of elderly computers hit my home at last??
I can't get the zip disk out of my internal drive. There is no hole that I can find to poke a paper clip into, And worse, I can't get my G3, OS 8.6 to start from the System CD so I can eject the disk in the normal manner.
I made the mistake (I think it was a mistake) of setting my computer to start up from a zip disk, and then forgot it was set that way, and put in a zip disk containing norton utilities + a forgotton old copy of an old system 7.5 startup.
Now the comuter will not start up from the CD. Even when I try holding down the C key the computer will act like it is going to start, shows the happy MAC,pauses for a long time, then shows the background of the CD system startup screen and then a flashing empty dialog box comes on and the startup gets hung. I wonder if the old system on the zip disk is conflicting with the CD startup?
I've tried holding down the mouse while starting up, -doesn't work
I've tried holding down control-option-shift-delete and that doesn't work either
Help!! Thank you very much for your advice. I have hundreds of lessons on my zip disks which I need to access for my teaching job and I'm desperate!!
-May Potter


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

For ejecting the zip I was going to say hold the mouse button at startup, but since that wont work it's a good thing I have more ideas.

Most zip drives I have worked with have a button on them for ejecting the disk manually. If there is no button and no hole (would be very strange if there were neither), then you should try to zap the PRAM. To zap the PRAM hold the command, option, 'p' and 'r' keys all before the startup chime. Make sure you have heard two or three chimes before letting the keys go.

Have you tried starting up without extentions? This might help in the startup process.

You might also see if another startup disk works. It probably wont work if a system disk doesn't, but it's worth trying.

Once you do get the computer to start up, I recommend running Disk First Aid immediately.


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## computerlessonz (Oct 20, 2004)

thank you very much for your suggestions as quoted below. It does seem unbelieveable that there is no hole. The plastic over the CD opening does have a door covering a ejection hole, and the turquoise plastic around the zip drive looks like it would be hinged to open and reveal a hole or allow me to depress the button, but it doesn't seem to open and there is no hole visible. I'm afraid to force it open.
I did try to start the computer today with another startup disk, it still hung after the startup screen (welcome to OS 8.6).
I held down the C key and the happy mac symbol showed;then after another 2 or three minutes, it said welcome to os8.6 but then I got the Bomb message.
I suspect I should have reinstalled the system long before this. I just hope it is a software and not a hardware problem. When I ran disk first aid the other day, the results were ok, but then I ran Norton Utilities and it reported problems with the blocks and offered to fix them. Unfortunately suddenly the program quit after giving two of those dialog boxes, and that was the beginning of the nightmare.
thanks again-Jan
(my email address: [email protected])
Your advice: "Most zip drives I have worked with have a button on them for ejecting the disk manually. If there is no button and no hole (would be very strange if there were neither), then you should try to zap the PRAM. To zap the PRAM hold the command, option, 'p' and 'r' keys all before the startup chime. Make sure you have heard two or three chimes before letting the keys go.

Have you tried starting up without extentions? This might help in the startup process.


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

If you haven't yet, try zapping the PRAM.

What is in the bomb's message? Sometimes this can help determine causes.


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