Unstable after RAM upgrade

Kudos to Apple for taking care of you. They haven't let me down yet. As for my RAMJET 4 gig kit, it's been stable and I've been hitting it with multiple VM's and hardcore Adobe encoding. No heat, no crash. I am content with this choice. Now to send back that OWC memory... Still bothered by why memory tests and AHT didn't catch the incompatibilities with the memory.

gpotts wrote:
I just noticed this. My OWC RAM (brand Elpidem) has 0s for the SN in Apple System Profiler. The Manufacturer info is also 0s.

The manufacturer's info and serial number is located in the serial presence detect (SPD) EEPROM. A lot of assemblers don't program all their SPD fields with meaningful information. My OCZ modules both have a serial number of all zeros. Also - System Profiler doesn't output that much information. I have a manufacturer's number in System Profiler, but the manufacturer's name (OCZ) is available when I ran Apple Hardware Test.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SerialPresenceDetect

A lot of assemblers order chips with their own brand name (even their own model numbers) printed on the packaging. Even if the actual memory chip manufacturer is identifiable, the assembler is the one programming the SPD with all the timing, manufacturer, and serial number info.

Well I have upgraded my mb to 4gb of Kingston ram. No issues so far. System seems to be running much faster than before with the 4gb kit.

Can you check if the Apple System Profiler output the SN for your kingston ram?

I've had problems with Crucial, Patriot, and my friend's OWC. I think ramjet would be safe but I'm also thinking about trying the Mushkin ram at the egg.

I feel like I'm beta testing for apple at this point.

I have had my computer freezing periodically, mostly after it went to sleep on it's own and would then lock up, but sometimes while using it the system would just lock up. Anyway, I had put in 4gb of OWC RAM. Today I pulled out the OWC and had Apple install 4GB. So far it has not frozen which is great, keeping my fingers crossed that the problem is solved. At Apple they said the memory needs to have a high tolerance for heat and not all memory is the same.

The OWC memory did not report a S/N or vendor to System Profile, however the memory from Apple (I believe it's Samsung) does.

HTH.

Yes there is a serial number for the kingston ram. Been running for 4 days now with no issues.

I always buy either Kingston or Corsair for my macs. Probably costs a bit more but worth it. So the ram everybody is having problems with, is it generic ram? That could be why?

Update - with the OWC RAM my computer never made it overnight (left on it was always locked up in the morning and needed a hard reboot).

With the Apple RAM the LED was re-assuringly pulsing this morning, and the computer woke with a tap of the space bar.

So it seems very likely that this instability/hanging is an issue with RAM that isn't quite up to Apple's required spec.

i've been having this memory issue, i am on my second set from owc. applecare told me friday to send it to them for repair, well they got it today, marked it as "no trouble found" and now it is on its way back (1st time i have ever received horrible support by apple btw, the girl i just talked to sounded drunk and was clueless)

so i called owc planning on returning those modules and trying the apple module. owc seems to think that the trackpad update just released fixed this problem...even though nothing is mentioned in the update information. owc thinks that apple bundled the memory fix into the update. can anyone confirm or deny this? i have no way of checking until i get my macbook back...fingers crossed.

Definitely not fixed in the Trackpad update, installed it and kernel panics continued.

The trackpad update did not fix the 4GB problem I have. I am RMA-ing Mushkin 2x2GB memory I purchased from Newegg. I get freezing after about an hour ....

thanks for confirming, i was a bit skeptical about what owc was telling me. i am returning the owc memory, good to know the mushkin brand did it too since i almost bought those from newegg.

tried to buy the 4 gig stick from apple but i get "No memory currently available for that model" error. wonder if they pulled it or are just out of stock.

I bought my memory from MemoryX, installed it last night and worked it for about 4 hours without any issues. Will work it out again tonight after work.

I returned from the Apple store tonight with my MacBook upgraded to 4GB with official Apple Ram. I have had no freezes. There is something definitely different with the Mushkin Ram versus the Apple Ram. My motherboard obviously works fine with the Apple upgrade. The cost ended up being the same as I had paid for the Newegg Mushkin Ram. They are accepting an RMA for refund in my case so I am not out any additional money.

update: after sending my macbook back to apple for this problem it was marked "no trouble found" on monday morning and since then has been in "product return pending" status.

i called apple today to inquire, the rep talked to the repair center who said they were holding it because they were having trouble re-creating the problem, but the good news is that they did in fact get it to freeze up and the repair is in progress. i couldn't get many more details but the repair sumnmary should tell me what they did when i get it back. too bad i already returned the owc memory, now i'll have to order another set to test it.

another thought, the ram that apple was selling on the website was one 4 gig module (not available now), is that what they are installing in the store and factory also? most if not all of the third party ram is 2x 2 gig modules, maybe it is an issue with that 2x2 configuration.

The ram that I had installed in the Apple store was 2x2GB SODIM modules. My receipt says 4GB 2x2GB DDR3 1066MHz SODIMM part number MB786G/A. It is rock solid with the new memory (as it was with the 2x1GB original memory.) It did not like the Newegg Mushkin memory ....

Message was edited by: chloe2