Startup Behavior Question

[adh1197]

Hello All,

I had a rather quick question which will hopefully be simple to answer. I recently purchased some RAM for my PowerMac 8100/80 (6 32MB SIMMS to be precise.) After installing the RAM and occasionally after the System Tune-up INIT loads, I get a message telling me "The built-in memory test has detected a problem. Please contact a service technician for assistance." I have a copy of MacTestPro and have used it to do a quick RAM test. No errors were returned. I am planning on doing a "Long" RAM test, but this will take considerable time.

Before I head down that road I had a question concerning performance during system startup. After installing the new RAM and receiving the error described above, I observed somewhat lengthy delays on subsequent startups. This is the question I wanted to put to the forum: Is it normal for a Mac with 192MB of RAM to have a 40 second delay before the screen changes from dark black to a gray background with the "happy mac" icon? I did not observe this behavior when my mac had less RAM. As it has been years since I used different mac models with large amounts of RAM I can't remember if this is normal. My fear is that the RAM I purchased is not fully compatible and as such is causing this delay at system startup time.

I hate to jump the gun before I run the "Long" memory test, but I also hate to run a lengthy test on RAM that might be giving me sporadic issues due to a slight incompatibility. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

P.S. I have attempted to isolate any defective SIMMS by trying different pairs in different slots, etc. I have also confirmed that all RAM is seated properly in the various slots. Also, just as an FYI but I am using an HPV video card.

[Byrd]

The delay is normal, due to the startup memory test - longer for more RAM. You can disable this test (I think you hold down option + command while double clicking on the memory control panel).

Have you tried running only a pair of the 32MB sticks and seeing if any errors at startup result? Money is on the "long" Memory test will show an error.

JB

[adh1197]

Good to know the delay is normal. I will proceed with the long memory test.

I did try running just single pairs of SIMMs to see if I received startup errors. However as the startup error is sporadic, I did not receive any errors when I did this. I do think that I have identified the pair of SIMMs causing the trouble after a trial yesterday evening. I am going to install these SIMMs in a few mins and run the "Long" memory test on them. I will post my findings when I am finished.