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Startup Behavior Question

adh1197

Member
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

Well-known member
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

Member
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.

 
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