[mkuehn]

Well, I bought an Apple 600i internal SCSI drive to use in my Performa 630, but the connector in the 630 is way messed up...instead of the usual 3 or four cables you simply connect, there is a large piece of plastic with all the connectors embedded, which must fit exactly into the back of the CD-ROM drive you're installing. This "molded connector" did not fit in any way onto the back of the CD-ROM drive.

I'm just wondering if there is a certain model or something that only fits this machine.

Please help if you can; I've only got ten days to figure this out or return the drive.

Thanks,
Matthew

No, these machines use standard SCSI drives. There is a shim like connector that goes between the connector you are seeing in the back of the CD-ROM drive bay and the 50-pin SCSI port & 12volt power connector on the CD-ROM drive. This part was specific to the 630 series form factor (6200, 6300, etc) and also the 5X00 series Performa's/PowerMac's.

Not sure where you can pick up one of these, but you might try searching Sun Remarketing for this part.

Officially these parts are known as the CD Connector Adaptor (part # 922-1820) and the CD Audio/Power Adaptor (part # 922-1822)

Let us know if you find one. I'm looking for both of these parts for my Quadra 630.

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Eliott Wolfe
Winnetka, Calif

[This message has been edited by The Wolfe (edited 10-04-2000).]

[mkuehn]

Sun Remarketing has one of these parts, the CD Connector, for $5.54: http://www2.sunrem.com/sun02.w?pt=922-1820

Unfortunately, they don't have the other part. Are these the only two parts I'd need to connect the CD-ROM drive? It seems like there was another cable that needed to connect to the back of the drive, (perhaps for audio?) and I'm not sure how that works into the equation.

Thanks for the pointer on this one, I'll let you know if I can find the other part!

[mkuehn]

Just for the record, I think this is a screwed-up way to connect a standard CD-ROM drive. Would it have been so hard to make that gray piece of plastic fit the normal SCSI/power/audio connectors?

And the case design for this model (probably the whole series) does NOT in any way make it easy and/or convenient to get inside, although I suppose you can replace almost everything without going inside. (But I only realized that after I had the whole damn thing taken apart!)

Glad I got that off of my chest. I'm feeling better now.

[mkuehn]

I will check my "sources" here in Minneapolis. If I can find these parts, I'll let the forum know and I'll take orders for whoever wants them.

Keep your fingers crossed.

[mkuehn]

OK, I've found one source so far that has both parts, however, they seem to be expensive:

922-1820 US$10.00 (Sun Remarketing is $5.54)
922-1822 US$ 9.00

That doesn't include shipping, etc. I'll see what else I can find.

Wolfe, I can order parts for both of us, so if you want to hash out order details, drop me an e-mail.

After taking a survey of my other systems, I actually think I'm going to cannibalize my Performa 5200 for the two parts since the CD-ROM drive in that machine died recently. Thanks for the offer, however.

I bought the Quadra cheap a year ago sans the CD drive, and apparently somebody smart took out the adapter parts too. I agree that requiring adapters for use with standard components is a very crooked design practice - but what can you say about Apple designs 6 years ago. :-)


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Eliott Wolfe
Winnetka, Calif

[mkuehn]

OK, I found a source, and the price is good, too.

You can order *both* of the aforementioned pieces from Midwest Mac Parts http://www.midwestmac.com/ for $10/set. So, for $5 each piece, that's not a bad deal: it's cheaper than anywhere else.

Call 1-888-356-1104 (local 612-537-5000) to order. I dealt with Dennis. They accept V/MC/D/AMEX.

Woo-hoo, I'm gonna have some CD-ROM sweetness tonight!

[This message has been edited by mkuehn (edited 10-05-2000).]

[mkuehn]

Wolfe,

There's a street around here called "Winnetka Avenue". I wonder if they named it after your city?

When I was younger, I always thought when places are given similar names non-intentionally, there should be a way to open a wormhole between the two places (kind of like "Back to the Future"), since they're already "linked" by name. Now, everytime I see something like this, it makes me think of the whole wormhole idea.

If only...

Actually, I live one block from Winnetka Ave. as well! As far as I know, Winnetka is an Indian name from a tribe that was in the area of present day Illinois. There is a rather big city Winnetka in Illinois too, and people sometimes get our town mixed up with that one.

There seem to be quite a few references to Indian words or names in my area, I live on Keokuk street, which is from a tribe somewhere in the Illinois area too, amoung other examples that I can't think of now.

Intresting!

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Eliott Wolfe
Winnetka, Calif

[mkuehn]

Well, I got the parts, installed them on the CD-ROM drive, and tried to insert it into the P630. Doh! It doesn't fit! Man, I hate that feeling when you think you've come so far, only to be stopped dead in your tracks by something you should have seen in the first place. (Preferably before you bought any hardware!) The drive wouldn't slide in; it was blocked by a piece of metal on the left-hand side. "Well," I thought, "I'll just use this pliers to perform a little extraction surgery." A few back and forth motions, and the offending piece of metal was removed. (It was too easy; it must have been meant to be removed and I just *thought* I was a cool solution-master.) So I try to insert the drive again. Doh! It still won't fit; it's being blocked by another piece of metal on the right side! Now paying more attention, I see that that piece of metal is the same piece of metal that covers the hard drive bay. So I unscrew it, slip the CD-ROM drive in, reattach the metal plate, and power it up...

CDs don't mount! Aargh! All that work for a defective drive! But wait; why would CD-ROM software have been installed on a computer with no CD-ROM drive? Bingo, all the appropriate extensions are disabled. Enable and restart, and we're good to go. CD-ROM fun land.

Any questions, drop me a line.
Matthew