• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

4mb ram or more (Mac SE/30)

mc9625

Well-known member
I was looking for a RAM upgrade for my Mac SE/30 (it has 4mb now). Since the RAM is relatively cheap, I guess if I should get 4x1mb or try to get something more. I know that SE/30 normally recognise only 8mb of RAM unless it has a modified ROM or the 32bit software patch. 

The question is: if I get, let's say 4x4mb ram will the SE/30 work anyway (without ROM or PATCH), recognising only 8mb?

 

takimoto

Well-known member
You need Mode32 extension or 32bit clean Rom to use more than 8mb on  SE/30.you can easily find Mode32 on web.but for 32bit clean Roms(IIsi or IIfx),they are hard to find.  As I'm using Japanese version of System 7.5,I need at least 16mb memory but I don't know about using non-Japanese version which needs less memory.Modern memory price is low now.but price of vintage memory is getting higher these days.I think you got to be hurry.

 

mc9625

Well-known member
Thanks Takimoto. Now the point is: if I put 16mb or RAM into a Macintosh SE/30, will it "normally" boot (even using only 8mb of RAM) ? 

 

takimoto

Well-known member
Oh yes,I miss-understand you.sorry!

SE/30 CAN boot even it has more memory.but it can use only 8mb without Mode32 or 32bit clean Rom.

 

Elfen

Well-known member
The SE\30 has 2 banks of RAM to fill with, Bank A and Bank B. Bank A needs to be filled first, filling Bank B and leaving Bank A empty will not work on the SE\30 (and the other Mac II series).

So, using:

256KB SIMMs on Bank A only gives you 1MB, and on both Bank A & B gives you 2MB.

1MB SIMMs on Bank A only gives you 4MB, and on both Bank A & B gives you 8MB.

-- (Up to here you do not need Mode 32 or 32Bit Clean ROMS) --

4MB SIMMs on Bank A only gives you 16MB, and on both Bank A & B gives you 32MB.

-- (This is enough for most people... You will need Mode32 or 32bit Clean ROMs) --

16MB SIMMs on Bank A only gives you 64MB, and on both Bank A & B gives you 128MB.

-- (PROBLEM HERE! They should be EDO 16MB RAM BUT Not all 16MB EDO RAM works in the SE\30 & Mac II Series. You need to test it out to see if it does work or not with your machine.) --

Things to know:

Do not Mix RAM in a Bank. Make sure they are of the same type, maker and speed.

You can mix Banks of RAM to get in between RAM sizes, like 1MB RAM in Bank A and 256KB in Bank B to give you 5MB. But if you do this, use the larger RAM in Bank A first and the smaller RAM in Bank B. And they should be of the same speed RAM.

The More RAM you put into your machine, the longer it takes for it to boot up because the RAM Test takes longer to do. As high as 12 or more minutes for 128MB of RAM.

This answers your questions?

 

mc9625

Well-known member
Well actually the answer from takimoto was already what I was looking for. Anyway, as usual, you gave me a lot of interesting informations. Probably I will go with other 4x1mb now (8mb in total). It Well be enough to start playing. Then will see.

Thanks

 

Gorgonops

Moderator
Staff member
16MB SIMMs on Bank A only gives you 64MB, and on both Bank A & B gives you 128MB.
-- (PROBLEM HERE! They should be EDO 16MB RAM BUT Not all 16MB EDO RAM works in the SE\30 & Mac II Series. You need to test it out to see if it does work or not with your machine.) --
Uhm, what? Where are you buying EDO 30 pin SIMMs? I have never, ever, seen such a thing.

As a general rule you don't want EDO for *any* 68k Mac, or the few PPCs that took 72 pin SIMMs either.

 

Gorgonops

Moderator
Staff member
... Okay, well, I guess they did indeed make 30 pin SIMMs with EDO parts on them, but I have *never* seen a machine that required them, and I remain mystified by the wording of your post which implied that you *needed* them for an SE/30. It was designed for Fast Page Mode memory and that's what you should buy for it.

OWC sells the *correct* 16MB SIMMs for the same price as Random eBay guy's EDO.

EDO being more common/cheaper than FPM is a problem *far* more likely to come up on 72 pin SIMMs (and the DIMMs for early PCI PowerMacs, for that matter) than 30 pin. 30 pin sockets were pretty much going the way of the dodo when EDO even came out. (It was originally supported by early *Pentium* chipsets.) I can only guess that these 30 pin SIMMs with it were made to populate those goofy motherboards they sold during the transition period that had both sorts of socket so you could initially move you old RAM up when upgrading.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

uniserver

Well-known member
i saw these really cute little simms that someone ordered up and wanted me to install in their se/30 mb/test,  they were brand new. the board(with simms poulated) installed good... and the board seemd to like the ram. all of it showed up in 32bit.

http://www.amazon.com/MEMORY-Performa-nonparity-Quadra-Workgroup/dp/B00FAYV3NO

91wM7GmL0FL._SX522_.jpg.51c019a8e4cf464af8f09374ebfc54da.jpg


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Top