Help with a RAM type

[mac2geezer]

There's 512MB of Ram (4 sticks) in the 9600 I just got but I can't find anything on the Chipmunk site that corresponds to the chip markings. They're Sonnet sticks but the Sonnet label only tells me they're 128MB, 168 pin, 60NS. The marking on the chips themselves are:

SMS 8MX8T 0305

At least as far as I can tell; they're pretty faint.

I need to know if it's EDO or FPM Ram, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[phreakout]

Apple didn't start using SDRAM (aka PC66, PC100 and/or PC133) type sticks until the Beige Power Macintosh G3 and G3 All-In-One models; sometime in late 1997 or early 1998. So, that model is most definitely using EDO-type RAM. Most of the Performa/Power Macintoshes of 1995-1997 era used EDO RAM.

I hope that helps.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[mac2geezer]

Thanks for the reply. The information I can find says that the 8600/9600 can use either EDO or FPM, but the Kansas MB's needed 60NS sticks. Of the two 8600's here, the 8600/200 has FPM and the 8600/300 has EDO. I tried moving some FPM into the 9600/300 and it would only boot part of the time (and no, EDO and FPM were not mixed). The FPM came from a 9500 so I suspect it was not 60NS.

Anyway, I'll go on the assumption that the 9600 has EDO until proven otherwise. Thanks for the help.

 

[johnklos]

Most EDO will work, but it's not used on any of the x500 or x600 motherboards from Apple.

The reason that the speed matters is that there were plenty of models which drove the memory bus at speeds around 40 to 45 MHz. When running the bus at 50 MHz, especially with interleaving, the speeds of the memory mattered more. Since there were lots of DIMMs around from the pre-50 MHz bus days, it can get somewhat confusing.

If a machine only boots part of the time with certain memory installed, I'd recommend putting in those DIMMs one at a time to see if it happens with any pattern. If it's caused by one or two DIMMs specifically, exchange them. I believe that Sonnet has a lifetime warranty on their memory. OWC does, as do many places, although you really need to make sure you keep the receipt for some of the places.

I remember having a problem about ten years ago when trying to figure out which DIMM out of twelve in a fully populated 9600 was bad. The machine only crashed once every few days and it was colocated. Talk about a nightmare!

 

[mac2geezer]

I just reinstalled the 4 Sonnet sticks that came in the 9600 and split the pile of FPM ram between the 9500 and the 8600/200 and at this point all is well. It wasn't worth the trouble to try to figure out which of the 12 sticks of FPM wouldn't work in the 9600.