Memory Slot Utility Dialog On Every Boot?

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Level 1

1 points

Memory Slot Utility Dialog On Every Boot?

Hi all,

So yesterday i upgraded my 2009 Mac Pro from 3GB of RAM (3x 1GB DIMMs) to 12GB (3x 4GB DIMMs), and everytime the computer boots I get a dialog from Memory Slot Utility saying "the memory modules are installed in the recommended slots".

Thus far i've tried:

* Resetting PRAM and NVRAM

* Shifting the DIMMs around in different slots to see if any were faulty but all appears well.

* Checking launchd and friends to ensure there are no wacky launch or login items

* Trawling the console for boot errors or messages; seems to be nothing that stands out.

I'm running as the administrator and the only user on this machine.

This is really bugging me and there appear to be no threads online that really say what the cause of this is. Any help greatly recived.

Cheers, Tim

Mac Pro 2009, 2.8 Quad, 12GB RAM-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 23, 2011 3:53 AM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 23, 2011 4:36 AM in response to timperrett

"the memory modules are installed in the recommended slots".

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macpro_2009_mem_h/

Where or whose memory is this? the diaglogue of course confirms it was installed properly, so no idea why it would keep appearlng.

Have you triesd launch the utility yourself:

System/Library/CoreServices/Memory Slot Utility

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Answer 2

timperrett Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 23, 2011 4:48 AM in response to The hatter

Yeah I exactly installed it like that, and the arms snapped shut. I've replaced the RAM several times to be sure its seated correctly.

The RAM came from Crucial, who usually do pretty good stuff, and its odd that the dialog continually comes up, because it is indeed seated and fitted correctly. I never see varying levels of RAM for example. With this in mind, I googled around and found that a number of other people have also experienced this.

Launching the memory slot utility myself doesnt appear to do anything but present the dialog again. It's like wherever its trying to register the fact that the memory is in place is not accepting that note?

Cheers, Tim

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 23, 2011 5:18 AM in response to timperrett

Did you keep 10.6 handy? There are other issues with 2009's - like even installing Lion!

Also, no matter how well or much testing, there are always going to be bugs that went undetected in a new OS. And rather normal for Mac OS to take a couple updates or more. (Windows 7 had over 10 million people use the Beta/RC for 8 - 10 months, and how many tested the Mac Pro with change in RAM?)

You said you checked Launchd.

What about doing a Safe Boot once?

Also, have you tried Recovery Mode (Command + D) and Disk utility?

Annoying. Never restart, just put it into sleep and hibernate.

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Answer 4

timperrett Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 23, 2011 6:54 AM in response to The hatter

I dont belive this to be a software issue. The memory slot utility is reading values set by firmware and being triggered during a very early phase of boot loading.

What's more curious is that I just removed all the new memory and put the old memory back in, and it didnt even notify of the hardware change. It's like its not properly writing the value of the new memory config to whereever it writes it too (does anyone know?). My expectation was that it would notify me again of the change in hardware and then work like it always did.

Exceedingly odd. I'm going to continute investigating.

Cheers, Tim

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Answer 5

timperrett Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 23, 2011 7:03 AM in response to timperrett

Just tried an EFI reset, but that didn't do anything either. This really is very, very strange.

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Answer 6

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 23, 2011 7:19 AM in response to timperrett

There is no EFI reset.

There was a PCIe slot utility in the past, which changed with the next OS (broke mostly) and wasn't fixed until 10.6.

There are changes in programs. And IF you want help and to troubleshoot, and anyone upgrading a Mac Pro to Lion really needs to keep 10.6.8 around, as well as keep the Lion installer too. There are times when booting from another volume with Lion helps as well as from Lion Recovery mode.

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Answer 7

timperrett Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 23, 2011 7:57 AM in response to The hatter

Hm, sorry the guy at Apple called it an EFI reset; I questioned him on that but he said it was EFI rest. Typical.

I do actually have a multi-boot install with snow lepoard on another drive; and it also moans about the RAM when booting into that OS version, and I have the lion installer on DVD if that helps?

What do you make of the whole situation about putting the origional RAM back in place and it not even reconising that its changed? (i.e. its shown correctly in about this mac, but it doesnt present the memory slot dialog even when it should)

Cheers, Tim

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Answer 8

fenman59

Level 1

10 points

Jul 23, 2011 11:50 AM in response to timperrett

Hi Tim,

Your story sounds very familiar!

I too have an early 2009 Mac Pro (2.66 Quad) running Lion. Upgraded mine this morning to 12GB (3x4GB also from Crucial as it happens), same problem. Memory seems fine and has passed the Apple Hardware Test. As you say, it appears the Mac isn't recording the new memory configuration and therefore runs the Memory Slot Utility each boot. Very annoying!

Cheers,

Pete.

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Answer 9

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Jul 23, 2011 7:03 PM in response to fenman59

This story sounds familiar to me to. If I recall it may have something to do with permissions in that Memory Slot Utility is trying to set some flag somewhere (a plist) but can't. Again, if I recall correctly, the fix was to simply log in as root (admin).

Of course my memory may be failing since if I stop to think about this a bit, I would think that Memory Slot Utility would be run before anyone logs in and should have the appropriate privleges. But it's a simple enough test to give a try.

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Answer 10

fenman59

Level 1

10 points

Jul 24, 2011 2:36 AM in response to X423424X

Thankyou X423424X, you were right!

I'd seen a few people say that you had to log in as an administrator (which I was) but not as root. Guess it should have occurred to me as OS X is based on unix.

Tim, you need to activate and login under the root account. Have a look at the following link which shows you how to activate it. Once logged in and you've closed the Memory Slot Utility, it shouldn't appear again.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1528

The Accounts section is called Users & Groups under Lion but all the other instructions for OS X 10.6 still apply.

Once again, many thanks X423424X.

Cheers,

Pete.

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Answer 11

timperrett Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 24, 2011 6:39 AM in response to fenman59

Awesome; I didnt know it was possible to give the root user a GUI login... neat. Seems to have cleared this issue, great! Thanks very much for responding with your answers :-D

Cheers, Tim

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Answer 12

Jul 24, 2011 6:05 PM in response to timperrett

It is possible that this "fix" is working around a festering Permissions problem (e.g., if you do not have Admin or Wheel Write access to the directory where it wants to write the updated info).

If you have not done a "Repair Permissions" lately, now might be a good time.

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Answer 13

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Jul 24, 2011 7:58 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I don't think this is a general permissions problem. It's just another "quality" apple provided "feature" where the system isn't fully prepared to have user replace the apple-provided dimms. Horrors, no one would ever do that😮

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Answer 14

Jul 24, 2011 8:06 PM in response to X423424X

I disagree.

The instructions for how to replace your own DIMMs and the specifications for them are in your Mac Pro User Manual. They also come up in a knowledgebase search. I think Apple has lightened up considerably on Do It Yourself service for certain items.

The details of how that Utility is supposed to work are also in that manual, and the problem in this thread is NOT normal operation.

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Answer 15

timperrett Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 25, 2011 1:13 AM in response to X423424X

I agree, it's unlikley to be a general permissions issue as this machine had a fresh snow lepoard install not that long ago, and in fact, I even had a vanilla snow lepoard boot partition which I tried it on and the issue persisted. Computers are built by people, and thus subject to falibility just like anything else.

Cheers, Tim

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