Can Ram be tested if the Mac doesn't boot? Sounds like a funny joke, but please read on....

Thank You HW tech and everyone for ALL your help! Unfortunately I will need to postpone this or maybe get to it if I can squeeze it in. Mom's health is the priority right now. I'll try all your suggestions when I can get the chance!

Hi Halliday and everyone! Yes, Halliday family first! Thank You! If I can get to the mac after using it I would like to know how long to let it cool before using compressed air. We are keeping a watch on mom and with the holidays and the impending weather and I work at a church I may need to be with her more than I thought, so it has to be done in small steps.

TWTech or anybody that can answer this question I would really appreciate it. I am in the process of getting my old mac to do basic things incase I need to use it for work or something? Hopefully this will be enough until this issue is resolved. By the way, I did get an email from the ram company that they will make an exception and honor their warranty , so I am totally relieved about that! I just hope that what you guys were seeing was dust and not permanent damage. However, it probably is permanent damage as one of the two apple chips in the first slot used to work, but now doesn't. I even tried that chip in the third working slot and it didn't work! The thing is a few of the videos I watched on youtube said "you really need to press down on them, so I did. Didn't really notice a click everytime, but the apple chips worked with little pressure so I used pressure on the new chips which must have bent the pins or other damage?

If I'm not back for a while I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

THANKS TO ALL!

YIKES! I was feeling luck so I decided to do it tonight. I shut off my mac and thought I would do a practice spray and nothing is coming out. LOL. It seems very straight forward as I have used aerosol sprays before, but I can't figure it out. Maybe something needs to be turned on? This making me LOL so much at myself. First time out of the package do I do anything different? I do not want to mention the names of the product , because it's me I'm sure, but I'm puzzled. LOL.....luckily their were two in a package. The other one works! LOL....I'm keeping this post in full because I don't know how to delete it, so I added to it. LOL. The mac has been shut off for almost an hour so I am going to try after I can get some good lighting. Hopefully.

Well, as mentioned it appears after testing one of the apple chips either doesn't work anymore or the slot doesn't. I trued the suspected bad slot and the suspected chip gone bad tother with the good chip in their original positions and the mac didn't start up. I realize I should try the good chip in slot one or the suspected bad chip in slot 3, but I remember trying it before and it didn't work. I might revisit it, but now I plan to take the working chip and try the working chip in the remaining slots. i'm starting to believe that even though the picture wasn't very good that your eyes were spot on. i've got my old mac working so I won't be in as much of a hurry this time giving the mac the rest it might need or doing smc resets to see it if they work or not. The tricky part is that the working chip doesn't always work the first time, which is why I am the definition of insanity. LOL.

As far as I know or have read my i7 Imac 5k retina 2017 ram slots don't need to be in order right?

Thanks.

Good news everybody! I have to double check (I'm not sure, because when I look into the memory within about this mac it says I have one chip in the first slot, but I know it's not in slot #1 for sure) , but now I have two working ram slots. #2&3. I haven't checked 4 yet. However, it appears that the other apple installed chip I might have damaged. I don't know. These things are so complicated everything may still work? When I discovered a new working slot it wasn't until I did an SMC reset after, because it didn't work the first time until the reset of the 2nd time! If I am correct I stand to at least be able to double the ram I started out with when I get the replacement chips from OWC. I started out with 16gb from apple and when the new chips come in I should be able to use 32gb. It may be all that I need to have? The icing on the cake would be to add another 16gb. if slot #4 is working properly for a total of 48gb. which would make me ecstatic! I'll let you know when I am able to try slot #4.

One other thing. Perhaps the possibly bent pins that you saw without a clean picture were involving slot #1. Perhaps this is the reason I seem to be having a problem with it? I may get daring and test it again before I get the replacement chips, but as mentioned having at least two working slots are going to do me good!

Also, I thought I read/ saw somewhere that you don't need to install ram in any order on the more current macs. If this is true then I should be good. The initial plan is to install them in pairs or maybe the last two or three slots will be all 16gb. for each slot from the same company.

Again, Thank You to ALL!!!

Uh Oh! New question...mac randomly shuts down. This time that white round circle with a slash going across it came up and alternated with the apple start up logo. It is now still goin after a while. Would it be a bad ram slot or chip or both? It was fine last night.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Well, HWTech, It shutdown for the last time it seems. I got as far as copying the errors to let you know and everything froze!It turns out I thought I had the chip in the 2nd slot as per trying to discover an additional slot, but it was in the working slot. It puzzles me. It worked great last night. I used it today and it was fine until it shutdown on it's own. I restarted it to troubleshoot and then it went down for good it appears. The error included SEL at the end of one of the top sentences. Whatever that means?

I have to give lessons in a few so I unplugged it and will try again just to see if I could salvage something from the hard drive. It appears that the known working slot and chip are gone to. Like you said it could be memory issues? Time to bring it in? Or, do you think I could get it going so I could once again have at least 8gb.? I know you wanted a clearer picture, but not sure if I could get one.

Thanks so much! I'll keep you posted. Later tonight.

Hi HWTech, I'm sure you're right, but when it rains it pours. Mom is on her way out. I need to replace my 4 wheel drive because it didn't pass inspection and the weather is not good out here. Taking it in might be a major problem right now.

i know that you're right on with your diagnosis, but when did the new bent pins happen? I gently put this one working chip back into the one working slot this last time. It worked for the rest of the night last night. I did no changes today. It should have worked in my opinion. I can also be having a problem with the multi outlet that I plug it into. I have an older mac that is plugged into it with no problems, but my internet seems to be in and out until I secure the cord. Coincidence, probably? It might also be due to other things?

Well, I plan to try it again and if it doesn't work I'll set up an appointment with an apple authorized dealer. Unless that short meant that the mac is gone? Oh, well! Having the new ram was supposed to help relieve stress, but I tried so many times I probably damaged it!....pay the extra money is what I should have done!

Thanks.

Hi HWTech, It appears it's back! I reseated the chip and made sure that the AC cord was securely plugged into the multi outlet plug. Probably not the problem, but the other macs internet was acting funny by losing it's connection and it's plugged into the same multi outlet, so my guess is that was the problem. It probably isn't but I'm going with that now as I have to many other things going on at this time. I know I should probably start backing things up, but don't have the time.......Although "an ounce of prevention is a worth a pound of a cure" is what I have heard.

The replacement chips are supposed to arrive on Wednesday. I may or may not be able to get to it with my mom's health condition. However, if I do have any more issues I'll be back here.

On another note. For some reason I can only use two usb ports on my I5 iMac 21.5 inch mid 2011. I did Zap the Pram, but didn't do an SMC reset though. I've heard dust can get in the way. It's tricky, because I have an external boot drive on one port and the corded mouse on the other, so I don't have a working usb port to charge my iPhone.

Thanks for everything and I'll keep you posted.

I would like to add that their is nothing wrong with the outlet I think that when I plugged and unplugged the troubleshooted mac that I loosened something and maybe the mac also. The first thing before turning it on tomorrow is I will make sure it is still plugged in. I hope/ Pray this solved my problem. Thanks!

Sorry to just keep posting, but maybe someone else can learn from it, but I had remembered that I got an error that the usb connection was taking too much power when charging the iPhone ! Faulty cable I'm sure. Didn't see that again so I forgot about it. It makes me wonder if that could be the cause so I am planning on going for the rest of the night with this on without charging my iPhone or anything else .....unless it depends on how hot the mac gets? I also remember going an entire night after I installed that working chip without a hitch. Hopefully this fixes the problem! Well, wish me luck! Thanks

Ok. So the mac was on for a few hours with no problem. I go upstairs to eat. 45 min. to an hour. I come back and their is a white symbol with a slash going through it indicating I need to reinstall the OS. Could my issue be that simple or do you think I get that error due to bad ram? I am typing from it right now. It gave me error report Anonymous UUID: B86FC8FA-56DA-8BB8-D8AA-CEE6A340B28A

.

Thanks.

Hi Everyone ,

I plan to go in tomorrow (today) to an Apple certified specialist. I was wondering what price window I should be looking at to know what is too much that I should just look for a new one. It’s a 2017 27in. 5k i7. I’m hoping it is what some have said to be bent pins or I didn’t install the chips properly or something that could keep within the budget. I would think 2-300 would be about right. I would also ask that they install the new chips if they are allowed to do that and understand that is a separate cost.

I would certainly love to hear what you guys think. It sounds like some of you are either in the field or have retired, so please let me know.

Thanks

Well, I talked to someone there and it sounded encouraging that I could keep repair costs down. Not the lead person on the repair so this is what I understand. One slot is so bad they would have to replace the logic board, but one is working fine. They are not finished trying different combinations, but if they can get one 16gb chip in this is what I started with. If they can find one more slot that works then I could double what I started out with to 32gb. This may be enough for now. If they can find three slots working I will be ecstatic, but maybe not possible due to ram needing to be configured a certain way. I probably won’t know until next week. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for all of your input.