More ram adds to boot-up time - why? - IIci

[Instow]

I’m just finishing off a IIci restoration and thought it would be nice to max the ram out at 128mb. The board has been re-capped and it’s running System 7.6.1.

I bought x8 16mb sticks from 18004Memory here.

The machine chimes and the disc spins up … and then a long wait of just under two and a half minutes before I see a happy mac face and it starts to boot up!

I’m not meaning to be impatient, but it was previously running on x8 1mb sticks and booted far, far quicker at 30 seconds (with a Daystar P33 card installed).

I have good ‘known’ 1mb and 4mb sticks removed from IIci and IIcx machines so decided to do some tests … All this really surprised me:

(All times are from pressing the on button to when the happy mac face appears at the start of loading).

10 seconds: x4 known 1mb sticks - no daystar card

14 seconds: x4 known 1mb sticks - with daystar card

35 seconds: x8 known 4mb sticks - no daystar card

43 seconds: x8 known 4mb sticks - with daystar card

1 minute: x4 new 16mb sticks - no daystar card

1 minute 17 seconds: x4 new 16mb sticks - with daystar card

1 minute 5 seconds: x4 known 1mb sticks, x4 new 16mb sticks - no daystar card

1 minute 20 seconds: x4 known 1mb sticks, x4 new 16mb sticks - with daystar card

1 minute 55 seconds: x8 new 16mb sticks - no daystar card

2 minutes 25 seconds: x8 new 16mb sticks - with daystar card

So … obviously the Daystar card adds to the boot up time, and the more ram added leads to longer boot-up times, but I find it hard to wait 2.5 minutes every time!

Does all this seem normal to people?

 

[tanuki65]

64MB is plenty under 7.6.1. RAM tests take  the extra time

 

[commodorejohn]

Yep, this is normal. PCs, Macs, even my PDP-11 slowed waaay down in its boot time when I kicked it up to the full 4MB.

 

[Danamania]

That's normal going by my experience. Around 128MB in my old Q950 took 60-90 seconds on a cold boot for the RAM check. Subsequent warm-boots bypassed the check though, and booted far more quickly.

 

[uniserver]

if you buy a Dougg3 simm, and have the hacked IIsi image put on it.  your wait time will be zero even with 128 megs of ram installed.

 

[unity]

Or just disable the startup tests. I think command-opton when opening the memory control panel. Then the option appears to disable. Of course if PRAM is reset, the tests are turned back on. Also I am not sure when this was added to the system. I know 9 has it, but I seem to recall it was there for a few systems. Cant say about 7 and dont have a system to check out right now.

 

[Elfen]

Something is wrong as your Accelerator is not accelerating the RAM test. Check the control panel and see if it is on during boot time. With my DayStar 040 @ 50MHz in my IIci the RAM Test for 20MB of RAM (4 - 4MB sticks in Bank A and 4 - 1MB sticks in Bank B. ) takes about 10 seconds. But it takes over a minute without the accelerator.

But yes, more RAM means longer RAM test time. I prefer to wait because it tells me that all my RAM is OK. If you bypass the test and one of your sticks is flakey in mid RAM, you will end up with system crashes and wonder why it is happening.

 

[Elfen]

You posted about your Card on the Peripheral section, right? Then its a 50MHz 030 on your DayStar PowerCache card acclerator. The RAM Test should be 1/2 the time on the IIci if it is on during boot. You checked the links I posted there for software control of your accelerator? Here is the link for the thread with the links to the software:

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/26631-daystar-p33-cache-card-question/&do=findComment&comment=284322

 

[Instow]

Disable startup tests doesn't work on system 7 ... just checked that one, looks like the option appeared in system 8.

​Elfen you are right, it is the same Daystar PowerCache 50Mhz 68030 mentioned in that thread, and thanks for the links. Out of the 3 download links, only one was for the IIci and this card, called PowerCental Control Panel. It loads fine and shows the cache is on, with the PowerMath option greyed out as the math chip is not present on the card.

I've cut it back to 64MB which takes about a minute and a half to boot ... I can live with that.

Guess I had forgotten the switch on wait 'back in the day' ... life is now such much faster 

 

[CC_333]

I don't know about later machines, but on the Plus, you can hold down the mouse button while powering on to bypass the RAM check.

Give that a try and see what happens.

Of course, should you get one of dougG3's Custom ROM SIMMs, it won't be a problem, and you can even have a bootable ROM disk!

c

 

[Instow]

CC_333 - just tried it and it didn't bypass the ram checks.

No worries ... at a minute and a half to boot from cold, ironically its FASTER than my Apple Watch  :O

I'll have a look at Dougg3's Rom, but I'm 'trying' to be a purist with this machine, although it does have a SCSI2SD drive in it for obvious reasons.

 

[Elfen]

​Elfen you are right, it is the same Daystar PowerCache 50Mhz 68030 mentioned in that thread, and thanks for the links. Out of the 3 download links, only one was for the IIci and this card, called PowerCental Control Panel. It loads fine and shows the cache is on, with the PowerMath option greyed out as the math chip is not present on the card.

Great to hear you got it working. Now to step it up a notch... by going to ebay and getting a 50MHz 68882 FPU for your card so you can get all the options on the software for is. It should be less then $25. Keyword is "Should."

 

[Instow]

Lol, I was already thinking in that direction ... trouble is at 50Mhz they look a rare find, but there are finds in the US, shipping to the UK only adds to the price.

Maybe a long wait to find one over here ....