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Clamshell RAM?

C

Caleb Hauge

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 20, 2021
36
18
I've got a Clamshell SE (non-FireWire) with the base 64MB of RAM. It uses PC66 SDRAM. I heard you could use PC100 SDRAM in it, so I pulled a 128MB PC100 SO-DIMM from my Dual USB iBook and installed it. Success! It powered on fine, although Tiger still wouldn't boot (to be fair, 192MB of RAM still isn't officially enough to run Tiger). After a few power cycles when I was trying to install an OS on it, it stopped booting reliably. I'd hear the chime and CD drive running, but no display. So, is PC100 RAM actually compatible with the iBook SE (non-FireWire), or do I need to find a PC66 SO-DIMM instead?
Thanks.
 
Caleb Hauge said:
I've got a Clamshell SE (non-FireWire) with the base 64MB of RAM. It uses PC66 SDRAM. I heard you could use PC100 SDRAM in it, so I pulled a 128MB PC100 SO-DIMM from my Dual USB iBook and installed it. Success! It powered on fine, although Tiger still wouldn't boot (to be fair, 192MB of RAM still isn't officially enough to run Tiger). After a few power cycles when I was trying to install an OS on it, it stopped booting reliably. I'd hear the chime and CD drive running, but no display. So, is PC100 RAM actually compatible with the iBook SE (non-FireWire), or do I need to find a PC66 SO-DIMM instead?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
PC100 or PC133 should work fine to my knowledge. I would try re-seating it or just trying a different stick. That one might just be problematic.
Also, Tiger will run fine with 192MB. In fact it'll run fine on 128MB. It will boot with 64MB but, then it'll be real slow.
 
Interesting. Every time I tried to boot Tiger with 64MB (it was already installed when I swapped the SSD into it) the boot picker would refresh and colors would invert.
 
Caleb Hauge said:
Interesting. Every time I tried to boot Tiger with 64MB (it was already installed when I swapped the SSD into it) the boot picker would refresh and colors would invert.
Click to expand...
That.. Sounds like something else is wrong other than the memory amount. If you boot OS X with too little RAM it'll still boot, but it will take forever. I've accidentally booted Leopard on 64MB. I thought I was booting Tiger, walked away and came back like an hour later to find Leopard had booted.

What SSD and adapter did you use? These things are extremely picky with those, and 90% of the adapters are crap.
 
Project Alice said:
That.. Sounds like something else is wrong other than the memory amount. If you boot OS X with too little RAM it'll still boot, but it will take forever. I've accidentally booted Leopard on 64MB. I thought I was booting Tiger, walked away and came back like an hour later to find Leopard had booted.

What SSD and adapter did you use? These things are extremely picky with those, and 90% of the adapters are crap.
Click to expand...
Gosh, I don't remember and I frankly have absolutely zero interest in opening up the iBook again to find out. It worked great in my PB G4 1.67GHz (which unfortunately fell off my bed and cracked the logic board), and OS 9 installed and boots fine from the SSD on the iBook now.
 
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Caleb Hauge said:
Gosh, I don't remember and I frankly have absolutely zero interest in opening up the iBook again to find out. It worked great in my PB G4 1.67GHz (which unfortunately fell off my bed and cracked the logic board), and OS 9 installed and boots fine from the SSD on the iBook now.
Click to expand...
Yeahh. I have two clamshells with their OG HDDs in them for that reason. I don't care enough to open them up right now lmao
 
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