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2011 Mac min ddr

I installed 2 4GB ddr and it is only showing one . giving me this in "about this Mac" 1 memory slot in use, 1 available any ideas why?

Mac mini, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jun 14, 2020 8:40 AM

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Posted on Jun 14, 2020 9:52 AM

There are a couple possibilities - in order of likelyhood: 1) It is very easy to insert a DIMM without it completely seating. You should feel a “snap” when the DIMM correctly seats. 2) one of the DIMMs may be defective. 3) the DIMM socket may be damaged.


In cases like this I remove both DIMMs and reinstall them switching slots. If after doing so everything is good you know one of the DIMMs wasn’t seated the first time. If there’s still a failure you can use the diagnostic to see which socket is ‘empty’ and determine if it is the same as before or different. If it is different you’ll know the DIMM is defective. If the same the socket might be damaged. If the same I’d try removing and reinstalling that slot one more time. Some slots can fool you into thinking you’ve installed the DIMM when you haven’t.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 14, 2020 9:52 AM in response to Snopy886

There are a couple possibilities - in order of likelyhood: 1) It is very easy to insert a DIMM without it completely seating. You should feel a “snap” when the DIMM correctly seats. 2) one of the DIMMs may be defective. 3) the DIMM socket may be damaged.


In cases like this I remove both DIMMs and reinstall them switching slots. If after doing so everything is good you know one of the DIMMs wasn’t seated the first time. If there’s still a failure you can use the diagnostic to see which socket is ‘empty’ and determine if it is the same as before or different. If it is different you’ll know the DIMM is defective. If the same the socket might be damaged. If the same I’d try removing and reinstalling that slot one more time. Some slots can fool you into thinking you’ve installed the DIMM when you haven’t.

Jun 14, 2020 10:49 AM in response to Snopy886

In addition to excellent advise dwb has provided, you also might check to make sure that a dust-bunny didn't get pushed into one of the RAM slots.


Plus Mac's are very RAM sensitive and it is imperative that you purchase RAM modules from suppliers that specialize in Mac compatible RAM.


With that in mind, what are the RAM spec's and where did you purchase those modules from?


For more info on the spec's and installing RAM, see > Upgrade or install memory in your Mac mini - Apple Support

2011 Mac min ddr

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