Issues with RAM in OSX

indigoflow_asindigoflow_as Westerville, OH
edited October 2005 in Science & Tech
This is likely more of a hardware issue, but this is the only place that seems to cater to Apple/Mac/OSX.

The issue:
- I decided to upgrade the RAM on my TiBook. After extensive research i chose a 512mb chip from an outfit that is Apple certified. This chip causes instability on my system, from freezing to a gray screen ordering me to reboot. This has only occured when both the 256mb chip and the 512mb chip are in, which makes me think that the cas latency of the 256 (CL3) does not like the cas latency of the 512 (CL2 or 2.5, dont remember). But it could be anything.
- When the 512mb chip is alone, i get random crashes of usually stable applications such as Illustrator, Safari and some widgets.

If anyone can steer me in the right direction, that would be super. i am not interested in having my computer crap out in an inconvenient time and i really need this RAM boost. if all else fails, point me to a potential resource page/site. thanks in advance.

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    I claim no knowledge of OSX. I've puttered around with Apple computers, just at the desktop and browser levels. OK, that's my disclaimer.

    Does OSX have somewhere in the OS where you can change hardware settings? For instance, if in one of my Windows machines I had the problem you are experiencing, I would manually set the motherboard to read both sticks of RAM as the lowest of the two settings, CL 3. In a Windows machine, that configuration is done in the BIOS. Again, excuse me for not knowing...but I assume Apple architecture must include a BIOS instruction set also, as the hardware setups are nearly the same as Windows boxes.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    You definitely cannot change any of the hardware settings on a mac. There's no configurable bios - since these are "closed boxes" there is no need for one since the hardware config is set at the factory.

    There's also no "memtest86" for mac hardware. There IS TechTool Pro, but honestly it sounds like you just got a bad RAM chip. You sort of confirmed it with the process of elimination - the computer is unstable even with ONLY the new chip installed. It's either bad, or incompatible (even though the shop said it was compatible).

    You could spend the money to buy techtool pro, but honestly just RMA the chip and get a different brand.
  • macdude425macdude425 Mr. Roger's Neighborhood
    edited October 2005
    Nope, there is no memtest86, but there is MemtestOSX, which works just as well IMHO. If you want to take the time to run it, it works very well. If not, just RMA the darned thing and get it over with.

    http://memtestosx.org
Sign In or Register to comment.