SE startup delay?

[Concorde105]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a dual floppy Macintosh SE off eBay for a mere $20!

I'd been really wanting to mess around with some old Macs earlier. Then I found out about the 800k drives... xx( On the upside, though, I bought a PB 540c as the middle man, so to speak.

ANYWAY, my question is this: When I cold boot my SE, it takes, oh, about 20 seconds to prompt me for my boot floppy. I think that this is the computer checking the RAM, because I've read that it can take a while to do so, and that it does it every time there's a cold boot. However, I've also read that it's an early symptom of SimasiMac. I'm not getting any of the other early symptoms though. Any answers would be appreciated. Oh, and yes, I did search the forums.

I don't mind the extra time though, just worried about my little baby.

It has a bare minimum install of 6.0.8 on a floppy, just a little extra info, but I don't think that would matters.

Thanks for any help!

 

[JDW]

Your Mac is checking RAM. The more you have, the longer it will take. It takes almost an eternity on my SE/30 with 128MB RAM.

The startup delay is not indicative of SimasiMac. However, you often can determine if you have SimasiMac by viewing the screen content during the cold boot delay. If you see horizontal stripes, you have SimasiMac. And if you see some unusual artifacts instead of a solid gray screen, it could be a precursor to SimasiMac.

 

[Concorde105]

Thanks a lot! I feel relieved now. Hopefully my SE won't need a cap job anytime soon!

 

[Gary_W]

Didn't I read somewhere one could install the Turbo040 control panel even if one didn't have a Turbo040 installed, and check a box in the preferences to skip the memory check at startup? Not sure if that applies to an SE.

Gary

 

[Mac128]

Hopefully my SE won't need a cap job anytime soon!

It is already overdue for one. :beige: Best to start planning for it now, it's only a matter of time.

 

[tomlee59]

When I cold boot my SE, it takes, oh, about 20 seconds to prompt me for my boot floppy. I think that this is the computer checking the RAM, {snip}

If the delay annoys you, you may bypass the ram test by holding down the mouse button as the machine powers up and boots.