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Resolved iBook not Picking up Ram Stick

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pcfast

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 22, 2013
71
0
I ordered a 1gb Hynix PC2700 200 pin Sodimm Ram sitck via eBay. I installed it onto my iBook G4 last night and the system analyzer said "128mb" of Ram and wasn't showing the upgrade. It said the Ram slot was "Empty."

At first I thought I hadn't placed the Ram stick in correctly so I took it apart again and firmly pressed against it and checked how it was seated. Put it back together, turned it on, same thing.

What's odd to me though is the computer boots a whole lot faster. Is it possibly that the iBook is using the Ram but just not showing it in the system analyzer?

Intell in this thread said it might be a high density stick and PPC Macs only can use low density. How am I supposed to know this though? eBay sellers usually don't have anything about low vs high in descriptions. Even the Crucial ram stick on Amazon doesn't say this.
 
Last edited:
jrsx

jrsx

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2013
1,057
18
Tacoma, Washington
All computers with more RAM should boot slower....the computer has to scan all the RAM to make sure it is in working order. It's strange that your's booted faster. I had an issue like this, my iBook wasn't seeing all my memory either, but I did what you did, and made sure it was in correctly. I pushed it back all the way, and that fixed it. I'm not exactly sure what your problem is-what model and year is your iBook? That might help me.
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
Check the tag for identifying marks. They may look something like 60x4 or some numbers with an X in it. Even check the chips themselves. Once you've found the numbers, do some research and math to find out the density of that ram stick.
 
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pcfast

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 22, 2013
71
0
Here is info off of the original 256mb ram stick that was in the iBook.

Hynix Korea 04
PC2100S-25330
HYMD216M646C6-H AA
128MB DDR 266Mhz CL2.5

Top of Module
D93034703724
 
P

pcfast

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 22, 2013
71
0
@Mnowell69, Why isn't it picking up the Ram stick? Is it possible it wouldn't show it and it would still be utilizing it?
 
Zotaccian

Zotaccian

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2012
645
7
Faster ram should be backwards compatible, meaning that it will slow down it's speed. Sometimes, much more rarely, it works the other way meaning that ram can work faster if it's forced to do so. This is called overclocking when you operate a device at higher clocks what it is desgined for.

But downclocking ram should never be problem. I suspect that the ram stick is faulty, wrong density or just "magically" not compatible.
 
Mnowell69

Mnowell69

macrumors regular
Jul 4, 2013
246
36
Bedford, UK
Faster ram may or may not be downclocked, but mixing memory types usually doesn't work. The computer won't see the memory at all if it is not supported by the bios.
 
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pcfast

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 22, 2013
71
0
I'll probably see if it is incorrectly seated again but I assume it's just bad Ram stick.
 
Zotaccian

Zotaccian

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2012
645
7
Mnowell69 said:
....but mixing memory types usually doesn't work.
Click to expand...

Mixing speeds should work, the slowest RAM determines what speed is used. If the chipset has limitation, like first rev. iMac G5 which needs to run the ram at 400MHz, then putting 333MHz RAM is not the most compatible thing. However, OP's iBook uses 266MHz which is the slowest common speed of DDR so installing 333Mhz or 400Mhz stick should be no problem since they can downclock, unless wrong density or otherwise damaged stick.
 
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pcfast

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 22, 2013
71
0
The Ram was not seated properly in the slot! I opened it up took it out and carefully put it back in. Turn it on and it picked up the Ram! :)
 
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