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Late 2008 unibody MacBook Pro + 6GB RAM + Snow Leopard = Kernel Panic

Hi,

I've been trying to install Snow Leopard on my 2.8Ghz MacbookPro unibody (late 2008) with 6GB of RAM (4GB+2GB module).

At first, I did an upgrade of my existing Leopard drive, and when booting back in 10.6, everything was crashing (could not open a single web browser but Safari, for instance), and I was getting kernel panics each 10 minutes.

Then, I erased my boot disk and tried a clean install - I was getting kernel panics when installing! After 5 tries, it finally installed, and then I couldn't get through the welcome wizard the first time it boots.

So I removed the 4GB RAM module, and re-installed a 2GB one, and then everything was fine, not a single problem.

Take into consideration that that 4GB ram module was working perfectly under 10.5.8 (even while using the computer under a lot of stress) and passed all the hardware test.

Has anyone been successful at running Snow Leopard 10.6 on a late 2008 Macbook Pro unibody and 6GB of RAM?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6), Macbook Pro unibody 6GB RAM kernel panic

Posted on Aug 30, 2009 5:29 AM

48 replies

sergeBmp Author

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Dec 17, 2009 11:01 AM in response to nydennis

I got an update for the apple bug report that this issue should be re-validated with EFI Firmware Update 1.8.

Anyone has tried re-installing the 6GB since the EIF update was applied?

sergeBmp Author

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Dec 26, 2009 12:22 PM in response to sergeBmp

Ok, After installing EFI firmware update 1.8, I re-installed the 4GB RAM module, and I can confirm that it works much better now.

Before, with the same RAM module, I could not even boot with Snow Leopard, while now, I've been running for many hours under heavy load without any problems.

So the EFI update 1.8 seem to address the issue when running with 6GB of RAM on late 2008 MacBookPro machines.

Dec 28, 2009 10:06 PM in response to sergeBmp

Interesting as we are still repeating results with factory original Samsung and Micron modules that fail under load in the 6GB limited models while passing with flying colors in Apple 8GB supported models. (Note - these are modules identified previously as being no go in 6GB limited models out of batches with modules that are fine in the quirky 6GB limited, by no means casting negative on Sam and Mic modules and have same experience with Hynix, just none to do this retesting with).

Having said that... the 1.8 EFI may have fixed a different issue with your particular MacBook Pro as we didn't see issues with 'failed 6GB config' modules that ever interfered with the system booting up. With the thousands of 4GB modules we've run through - I'd speculate you have a module that's always been ok for the MacBookPro5,1 rev - and 1.8 fixed a more unique to your system issue. Some of 2008 MacBooks - especially the ones from the first couple weeks - seem to exhibit some interesting quirks, most - if not all - Apple has definitely quashed with the various updates.

Late 2008 unibody MacBook Pro + 6GB RAM + Snow Leopard = Kernel Panic