SE/30: what slow RAM test on boot?

[dontdoxmeman]

Supposedly the SE/30 takes a while to boot if you have the RAM maxed out (unless you have a Rominator II installed which disables the RAM test). Thing is, I have the original stock Apple ROM in mine, as well as 65MB of RAM installed, and mine gets to the happy Mac screen in just seconds regardless of how much RAM I’ve installed. I’m familiar with how long it takes my Quadra 605 to start booting with its 128MB stick, but my SE30 is quick.

Is this atypical behavior for this Mac, or normal? Everything I’ve read online says with this much ram it should be much slower. (I’ve also tried swapping the ROM simm with my other, not-totally-functional newer revision SE/30 but that didn’t change anything). I’m happy for the fast boot time but I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with the system or if maybe my memory configuration, even though it’s all recognized by Mac OS, confuses the system during boot such that it doesn’t do the full test.

 

[dochilli]

64 MB or 128 MB result in a longer boot process when you switch on the SE/30, but not if you do a reset.

 

[CC_333]

Hmm, I do know that on some (many? Most??) Macs in the 90s, there was actually an option in the Memory control panel to disable the startup RAM test, which I think is invoked by holding down Option while opening it. However, I don't recall if such an option is available on the SE/30, which I'm fairly certain is too early for this feature, which seemed to be more common on the latest 68ks and Power Macs.

c

 

[dontdoxmeman]

64 MB or 128 MB result in a longer boot process when you switch on the SE/30, but not if you do a reset.

For mine, it’s still fast on a cold boot.