I guess it was 1997 when I got a ThunderCachePro accelerator for CC1, from MicroMac. I wanted to make CC1 run faster; more memory and more processing power. I confess that at that time I couldn't notice any significant improvements, and because it was such a hassle, getting CC1 to boot, 32-bit access, installing, removing, install the card again and all, I put it away after some time.
It was sitting among my other cards at home for years, years. Now I decided to give it another try.
Mine came with two SIMMs of 4MB each, 70 ns, installed at the back of the card. The requirements:
1. Macintosh Colour Classic with max RAM installed (10 MB)
2. 32-bit addressing on (Memory Control Panel)
3. The extension MM TCP v1.0 installed in the extensions folder.
4. System 7.1 to 7.6 for the Colour Classic
It also supports other models: Macintosh LC, LCII (Performa 400/405/410/430)
When I first installed it, at boot, the screen turned black and nothing would happen. After some research I found out that 24-bit mode was on and because CC3 didn't have a PRAM battery, 32-bit mode was not sticking after being setup. So I borrowed CC1's battery and installed in CC3.
The problem is that I had to remove the MOBO, remove the card, boot the machine in 24-bit mode (the default mode), change it to 32-bit, shutdown, remove the MOBO again, reinstall the ThunderCachePro, reinstall the MOBO, plug cables in, reboot, to finally get that ONE BEEP that sounds when the card is properly in place. BTW, the sound on CC3 is not working via the speakers, only with the earphones.
Then, going to "About This Macintosh" would not show the RAM installed in the card, only the usual 10MB on the MOBO. That meant CC3 was not recognizing the extra RAM. Also, speedometer was not showing big improvements as well. Weird, I thought.
I installed more RAM to fill the extra two banks, but the result was the same.
32-bit mode needs to be on for the card to access the RAM on the MOBO. But it was on!
So I started a very good topic at "68k macintosh Liberation Army". Check it out here.
The people there are very friendly and gave me very good advice. Thank you all!!
At some point after installing and removing the card a few times, installing System 7.1 and other initiatives, I finally turned to the SIMM modules. Could they be the problem? They came with the card!!
I removed all sticks and installed two 4MB 60ns SIMMs. It worked!! The original SIMMs were the problem all along!! Could have never imagined.
Then I installed another two SIMMs, 1MB 70 ns each. The final configuration of the RAM in the ThunderCachePro:
bank 0: 4 MB 60 ns
bank 1: 4 MB 60 ns
bank 2: 1 MB 70 ns
bank 3: 1 MB 70 ns
Now, CC3 is happily running with 20 MegaBytes of RAM. :)
I'm running some benchmarks with Speedometer 3.06 now; comparing the performance of CC3 with the ThunderCachePro on System 7.1, 7.5.3 and MacOS 7.6.1. I'll soon display the results.
Now CC3 is the fastest of the Colour Classic TRIO.
Long live CC3.
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