El Capitan Install Issue - Third party or OEM RAM 2009 iMac i7

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El Capitan Install Issue - Third party or OEM RAM 2009 iMac i7

I have an installation issue with El Capitan. I get pretty close to a complete install but then it crashes on me and starts over. Through days of searching the net I may have found a possible solution. I have third party RAM in my iMac and according to a discussion I found they suggest third party RAM has caused others issues with loading up El Capitan. Once they put back in their OEM RAM the install was successful.

So my issue is... I can not find my OEM RAM!!! I took the chips out and put Crucial in when I first got the machine and now Im without the original RAM. Does anyone know where or how I can purchase 2 Apple OEM RAM chips? Ive been searching all day and cant find what manufacturer to look for to make sure its the OEM chips.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

Frank

27" iMac i7 | 17" MBP, iOS 4

Posted on Oct 7, 2015 7:51 AM

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Answer 1

Ralph9430

Level 7

21,732 points

Oct 7, 2015 7:58 AM in response to iMerlin

If you purchased RAM from Crucial or Other World Computing (OWC) your ram is guaranteed. I have 3rd party ram in my iMac 5K and experienced no problems with the installation of El Capitan.

To answer your original question, you might contact Crucial or OWC to find out if they have OEM Apple RAM for your computer. OWC usually offered a trade in program for pulled RAM and they may be able to sell you the modules you are looking for.

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Answer 2

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Oct 7, 2015 8:23 AM in response to iMerlin

FWIW, I've never heard that one must have OEM RAM in order to upgrade to a new OS. Now, there may be a problem with the RAM, but other than that, I don't believe it. There could also be a problem with your current system/added apps/etc which the new OS is having a problem with. El Capitan includes some new features including SIP:

About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support

Have you tried a clean install onto an external partition?

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Answer 3

iMerlin Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 7, 2015 9:34 AM in response to Ralph9430

Ok thanks Ralph, I will give Crucial a call and see what they think!

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Answer 4

iMerlin Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 7, 2015 9:40 AM in response to babowa

Thanks for the suggestion babowa...

Ive tried creating a bootable USB drive with El Capitan on it. That failed at the same point my normal install fails. I have not tried a clean install onto an external partition though.

I also tried downgrading back to Yosemite by booting to Cmd-R and selecting my bootable Yosemite USB. However the install button is greyed out and tells me I cant install Yosemite because a newer OS is already installed.

Safe mode doesn't work either.

Of course I don't have a good backup. I was running Time Machine to my 1st gen Drobo and ran into issues with Drobo firmware compatibility so my backups were not functioning like I thought they were. Needless to say this is a valuable life lesson.

So going back to your external partition suggestion... are you just recommending that I start the upgrade and when it asks what disk I would like to install on, I should select an external USB and install the OS on the external drive, right? Would that give me access to my current files?

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Answer 5

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Oct 7, 2015 9:46 AM in response to iMerlin

I also tried downgrading back to Yosemite by booting to Cmd-R and selecting my bootable Yosemite USB. However the install button is greyed out and tells me I cant install Yosemite because a newer OS is already installed.

You can only 'downgrade' if you erase your disk first. Do that while in internet recovery (Command + Option + R - hold down until you see a progress bar; it will take up to 15 minutes to connect to Apple's servers). When you see a Utilities screen, choose Disk Utility to erase the drive, then choose to reinstall OS X. It will reinstall the original OS.

If you format your external to OS X extended and GUID partition scheme, it should be bootable. Direct the installer to that drive. Installing it there is simply a test to see if it installs correctly/at all. You'll have access to your current OS and files on your internal - nothing changes there. If the install works there, then there is something amiss on your internal system/configuration which is not compatible with the new OS.

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