The OFFICIAL Z64 upgrade topic

[Hectic]

What kind of things do you people know about upgrading from 256 to 512? I really don't want to spend a lot of money to pay Harrison to upgrade my Z. What needs to be done to the mainboard, i'm sure not very much but maybe. Right now in my HW 2, there is one 72 pin EDO(i think). I know nothing about memory and different types of memory so don't think i'm a geeber. When you upgrade from 32MB to 64MB, you need 2 32MB chips right? In the Z64 there's only room for one. Can you get one 64MB chip or does it need to be 2? Once again, I don't know shit about memory but I would like to figure it out.

peace

[Mr. GoldenEye]

There are also 64MB EDO Type Drams on the market. Maybe someone could check out if it is possible to replace the 32MB Chip with the 64MB Chip.
I have access to some 64MB EDOs at work, but unfortunately I only got a Jr (and a broken CD64).

It would also be interesting if the CD64 is upgradeable to 64MB, because the early (16MB-) CD64 could easily be upgraded by replacing the Memory Chip.

[jb0395]

Didn't someone say thet talked to Harrison and found out tht there is an extra RAM slot in HW3 that is not in HW2. So maybe HW3 users can just add another 32Meg simm in addition to the one that's already in there instead of getting a 64Meg simm.

[Harrison Electronics]

Due to the horrible earthquake in taiwan, expect the cost of memory to rise,(yikes!)
as the factories are damaged

[Durst]

I got a HW3 and i already opened it several times because i have no zip-drive for my pc.
But i never saw a 2nd slot for a simm, is it on the back-site of the mainboard, cause i haven´t looked there,yet.

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Graffiti :
What an awful description for this beautiful art !

[jb0395]

I found the post about the extra RAM slot, it was posted by racerx in the Ogre battle thread:

>>racerx wrote
"I talked to one of the tech support guys @ harrison and he said they're already on it. They have a way of increasing the capacity of the z64's motherboard to 64megabytes. If u don't believe me just crack open your z and look at that big empty ram slot. They're already working on a new bios and ram upgrade".>>

Is this true Harrison?

[Sweed]

Wont they have to upgrade the size of a zip drive? the 512 games wont be able to fit on a normal 100Meg zip will they?, i mena like they will be 90+ megs (98 i think) and i never got more than 95 on a normal 100 Meg zip.

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----------Sweed----------
SFR

P.S The Rock Rules

[jb0395]

Dude, 512mbits= 64 Megs.

[Gyro]

Umm.. I think that whole thing about having multiple or single simms depends on the cpu. I remember hearing that Intel chips , maybe not these days, had to have pairs of simms.
In my comp (P200,32MB,Intel VX M.B.), I have two 16 MB simms = 32 MB.
A while ago, I tried putting my Z64 32MB simm in my comp, but the bios only read 32MB no matter what combination of memory I had in there. First of all, it didn't work because there were only 3 simms (not multiple of 2).

An interesting thing was that when I had one 16 MB simm, and the Z's 32MB simm together, the bios still only read 32MB, meaning that having EDO, and non-EDO simms paired up didn't matter (I didn't think they were compatible). Maybe I should screw around with the bios settings again, but I hear that's really DANGEROUS! (LOL!)

Anyway, the main point, is that if the Z's CPU can handle one simm, then you're probably able to have 1 64MB simm. Unfortunately, the motherboard will probably have to be upgraded along with the expansion, maybe there's a way to work around that using the bios.

Another interesting thing, is that when I looked at my Z, there was a black slot (looked smaller than a simm slot), on there. I'm not gonna open my Z up again right now, but I know it's there. What's it for?


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"Where'd you get the coconuts?"




[This message has been edited by Gyro (edited 09-21-1999).]

[Sweed]

hehehe oh yeah 256 = 32 X 64 where thehell did i get 90+ from hhehe


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----------Sweed----------
SFR
I will get that voice box take out the batterys turn that son ' bitch sideways and stick it straight up your CANDY ASS!!

[obiwan]

I speak this morning with visoly and people confirm that there are two type of possibly expansion ram
1 is to replace the 32edo ram with 64mb ram
2 use a cart like DS1 with extra ram

but the true problem is that people doesn't know how nintendo use extra path address because the n64 can only path 256mb.

[jb0395]

UUHHHH, 32x64=256 I don't think so. You multiply the Megabyte amount by 8 to get the megabit amount. So Zelda is 32Mbytes x 8 = 256Mbits.

[handy]

So why don't they just use EDO 128meg ram chips? be sure much more futuristic, course, couldn't get a game that size on a zip disk.

[_kid]

> I speak this morning with visoly and people confirm that there are
> two type of possibly expansion ram
> 1 is to replace the 32edo ram with 64mb ram

This was proven to not to work. The Z64 could be designed to take a
custom memory module for 512Mbits, but there are some open issues...

> 2 use a cart like DS1 with extra ram
This is nonsense. the DS1 has nothing to do with the size of the cart,
not to mention that a DS1 (or any SRAM or FLASH) cart is not available
to the N64 unless the Z64 is in "Play Cart" mode.

I think this is either a rumor or Visoly does not know what is
talking about...

[_kid]

Just to clean out things:

1) All the available versions of the Z64 do have ONLY ONE SIMM SLOT.
2) The Z64 is based around an embedded-pc in a chip which is 386 compatible.
3) The Z64 runs a flash based MSDOS OS Called OpenDOS (by CALDERA)
4) The Z64 has 512 KBytes of RAM on board (in a signle chip) and an
empty solder pad for another similar chip, for 1Megabyte of RAM. This
memory is used by the Z64 OS and *IS NOT* connected to the N64 in any
direct way.
5) The "virtual-cartridge" seen by the N64 is done by the SIMM and
some logic: in HW 1.x and 2.x this logic was a PLD from QuickLogic, in
HW 3.x the hardware was icluded in the Z64 CPU itself. The
"virtual-cart" is *NOT* mapped in the main memory of the Z64, but
accessed via some I/O ports.
6) The SIMM in the Z64 is a normal 60/70ns EDO SIMM, but must be a 5V
part, *NOT* a 3.3V/5V tolerant ONE.
7) The hardware that accesses the simm is ONLY the cart
emulation hardware, it has nothing in common with the behavior of a
SIMM in a PC.
8) A 64Megabytes SIMM was proven to not to work. I can't test
personally because I can only find 3.3V/5V parts, that cannot
work, but it sounds reasonable (a 32M simm didn't work on HW1.x after
all...)

[Hectic]

So you can't just replace the memory chip w/64 MB one. So what needs to be done to the mainboard in order to support the extra ram? To me, it seems like you could replace the chip but a bios would have to be written to support the change. Here's the deal, harrison electronics already sells a hw1>hw2 upgrade kit so you can do the upgrade yourself so it can't be all that much work. I just don't want to spend more money than I need to in order to ugrade to 64 MB. Someones got to know what needs to be done. Once again, what needs to be done to the mainboard?

[jb0395]

I don't think anone actually tested a 64 MB simm on an HW3. Even if they did then maybe a simple bios update could make it work.

[Sweed]

sozi left a X2 and = out my fault for not 2X checking

[handy]

kid, a 32 meg chip in a V1 did work. But it could only see half. I assume the same is true for a 64meg chip in a v2.

Anyway, due to that earthquake in Taiwan, the price of 64 meg EDO memory could peak at
$250-300 in a couple of months & then come back down later. Just like it did before.

Makes the Doc Jr 512 @ $200 tempting if Bung doesn't raise the price cause of the quake.

[_kid]

> a 32 meg chip in a V1 did work. But it could only see half. I
> assume the same is true for a 64meg chip in a v2.

This means it DIDN'T work. For "working" I mean having 32Megs...

[_kid]

> I don't think anone actually tested a 64 MB simm on an HW3. Even if
> they did then maybe a simple bios update could make it
> work.

Maybe, but it is unlikely... If it was so they would have done it...

[Onnichiwa]

Well it seems that HW1.0 can only see 16 MB.
HW2.0 can only see 32 MB.

Then a logic conclusion would be that HW3.0 could see a maximum of 64 MB.

Now let's hope that this conclusion is correct.

[This message has been edited by Onnichiwa (edited 09-23-1999).]

[Hectic]

It couldprobably only see however many megs the bios supported at that time.

Maybe...

[handy]

Onnichiwa, no. V3 is a slimmed down V2 made cheaper, mostly. They took three chips in the 2 & crammed them into one chip in that 3...

[milo]

I have an adapter to put two SIMMS in one slot but the sockets are to close to each other to hold two 32MB simms.
So I couldn't try yet. It would be the cheapest upgrade using just an additional 32MB.
If a board upgrade is necessary, it should come with 2 simm sockets and 32MB to keep the costs low.

-milo-

[Gyro]

That's just the same thing as putting in a 64MB simm. I doubt anything good is gonna happen with one of those.



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"Where'd you get the coconuts?"