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Has the late '08 MacBook RAM issues been resolved?

craigc_

craigc_

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
468
117
I am planning on purchasing 4GB of ram from Newegg to put into my Late 2008 (Aluminum) MacBook. Naturally, I'm wondering if might still experience those ram issues where the system would freeze up or has this been resolved? Thanks.

This is what I plan to purchase, I feel its the best deal as of today: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134827
 
P

polaris20

macrumors 68020
Jul 13, 2008
2,491
753
cc2k4 said:
I am planning on purchasing 4GB of ram from Newegg to put into my Late 2008 (Aluminum) MacBook. Naturally, I'm wondering if might still experience those ram issues where the system would freeze up or has this been resolved? Thanks.

This is what I plan to purchase, I feel its the best deal as of today: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134827
Click to expand...

I haven't heard about any RAM issues with the late 2008 models, however I did happen to purchase Kingston RAM at first for my MBP, and what had been a totally stable machine gave me kernel panics. So I returned it, and bought RAM from OWC. It's been solid as rock since, and it's cheaper.
 
iLog.Genius

iLog.Genius

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2009
4,903
451
Toronto, Ontario
When the late-2008 models were released, some users maxed out their RAM (4GB) and caused instability/performance issues. I haven't heard of any fixes. It could've been just 3rd party not being compatible.
 
fuz10n

fuz10n

macrumors member
Mar 29, 2009
87
0
Charlottesville, VA
i heard that there was a firmware update in january of this year that fixed this problem. But I've been running Crucial sticks for 4-5 days now with now problem whatsoever.
 
craigc_

craigc_

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
468
117
iLog.Genius said:
When the late-2008 models were released, some users maxed out their RAM (4GB) and caused instability/performance issues. I haven't heard of any fixes. It could've been just 3rd party not being compatible.
Click to expand...

Great thanks.
 
KnightWRX

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
fuz10n said:
i heard that there was a firmware update in january of this year that fixed this problem. But I've been running Crucial sticks for 4-5 days now with now problem whatsoever.
Click to expand...

The firmware update didn't fix my problem. Both my crucial kits were installed after the update and never worked properly (waking up from sleep was the major issue each time).
 
VSMacOne

VSMacOne

macrumors 603
Oct 18, 2008
5,760
2,742
I just installed 4GB from OWC and it's been in for a couple of hours with no issues.
I haven't really seen any improvement in boot time or application load time, but I guess it'll be noticeable when running more applications at the same time.
 
M

mpcoder

macrumors newbie
Mar 21, 2009
16
0
Ever since I upgraded my new macbook to 4GB with kingston memory i bought from newegg, it has crashed several times... I thought the memory was defective but I downloaded memtest and ran it several times and it always passed.

So I thought it was that the memory i bought was not as good as the originals and when the laptop became very hot, they would malfunction and the system crashed.

Does anyone know if this problem is in fact software related or it is that the memory i bought is defective?
 
craigc_

craigc_

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
468
117
Those are some good deals but you need to remember I am located in Canada. I feel the the RAM I found from Newegg.ca was the best deal. It seems though that Kingston RAM isn't working to well on these MacBooks. Anyone else have a similar issue? Also does anybody know where I can get OWC RAM in Canada. I would buy from the States but shipping would just be too much.
 
T

TurboFan

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2009
28
0
iLog.Genius said:
When the late-2008 models were released, some users maxed out their RAM (4GB) and caused instability/performance issues. I haven't heard of any fixes. It could've been just 3rd party not being compatible.
Click to expand...

Ok so Im not yet a :apple: official user but from my pretty basic computer knowlade (my play on knowledge) I will make two arguments against the two statements previously made.
1)Ram is physical memory, and is near universal, (except for the obvious port/slot differences). Unless Apple has an added weird thing to their ram there shouldn't be any differences to cause a incapability. Here's where the true problem may lie, Macintosh must have some kind of activator that is telling the operating system; "hey there's a ton of Physical Memory there, USE IT!"
2)Last time I checked the Macbook Alu has a max of 6gb supported even though it has 2x 4gb slots.

I'm Not making ANY personal attacks, nor am trying to raise a bs flag just trying to input what I think, so I apologize if I come across in an Aggressive fashion.
-Turbo :apple:
 
iLog.Genius

iLog.Genius

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2009
4,903
451
Toronto, Ontario
TurboFan said:
Ok so Im not yet a :apple: official user but from my pretty basic computer knowlade (my play on knowledge) I will make two arguments against the two statements previously made.
1)Ram is physical memory, and is near universal, (except for the obvious port/slot differences). Unless Apple has an added weird thing to their ram there shouldn't be any differences to cause a incapability. Here's where the true problem may lie, Macintosh must have some kind of activator that is telling the operating system; "hey there's a ton of Physical Memory there, USE IT!"
2)Last time I checked the Macbook Alu has a max of 6gb supported even though it has 2x 4gb slots.

I'm Not making ANY personal attacks, nor am trying to raise a bs flag just trying to input what I think, so I apologize if I come across in an Aggressive fashion.
-Turbo :apple:
Click to expand...

None taken and I completely understand what you're saying, I share the same opinion: there isn't RAM for Apple and Windows or HDD's for Apple and Windows, RAM is RAM and HDD's are HDD's. Ok you could maybe argue if Apple was still on PPC's but since everything is Intel, RAM should work but they don't all the time. Why? Can't say, Apple hasn't said anything other than "we do not support any 3rd party RAM". I guess the smartest thing to do is research, some companies/websites state "compatible with Mac". Browse through forms such as MR to see others success before going out and then finding out it doesn't work and posting your anger with "Apple sucks! Apple this, that..."
 
fuz10n

fuz10n

macrumors member
Mar 29, 2009
87
0
Charlottesville, VA
iLog.Genius said:
None taken and I completely understand what you're saying, I share the same opinion: there isn't RAM for Apple and Windows or HDD's for Apple and Windows, RAM is RAM and HDD's are HDD's. Ok you could maybe argue if Apple was still on PPC's but since everything is Intel, RAM should work but they don't all the time. Why? Can't say, Apple hasn't said anything other than "we do not support any 3rd party RAM". I guess the smartest thing to do is research, some companies/websites state "compatible with Mac". Browse through forms such as MR to see others success before going out and then finding out it doesn't work and posting your anger with "Apple sucks! Apple this, that..."
Click to expand...

imho, it's the CAS Latency. If the memory is CL8, perhaps the motherboard is trying to run it as CL7 and making it unstable.

But yeah, DDR3 is DDR3.
 
F

flapperdink

macrumors member
Jan 25, 2009
80
0
TurboFan said:
Ok so Im not yet a :apple: official user but from my pretty basic computer knowlade (my play on knowledge) I will make two arguments against the two statements previously made.
1)Ram is physical memory, and is near universal, (except for the obvious port/slot differences). Unless Apple has an added weird thing to their ram there shouldn't be any differences to cause a incapability. Here's where the true problem may lie, Macintosh must have some kind of activator that is telling the operating system; "hey there's a ton of Physical Memory there, USE IT!"
2)Last time I checked the Macbook Alu has a max of 6gb supported even though it has 2x 4gb slots.

I'm Not making ANY personal attacks, nor am trying to raise a bs flag just trying to input what I think, so I apologize if I come across in an Aggressive fashion.
-Turbo :apple:
Click to expand...

I believe RAM should be RAM, but not all RAM is manufactured the same. They may have stated specs of latency, etc., but minor variances in their manufacturing process can make some chips have timing issues that may make them "out of sync" with the macbook motherboard. I only state this because I work in an Instrumentation & Controls Engineering group and we always run across minor timing isssues on our board assemblies. Heck, manufacturers have minor variances from production run to production run. So the A/D chip you bought last year (from same manufacturer...same catalog #) may not perform the same as the chip that is produced this year.

I, as well, am not trying to make any personal attacks...just that I don't believe all RAM chips perform the same even though they may have 100% identical specs. Especially when you're getting up to 1067 MHz range...a timing variance of even a nanosecond may deem a memory chip unusable.

You may ignore my jibber if you wish :)
 
S

Sareth

macrumors member
Jan 5, 2009
83
0
flapperdink said:
I believe RAM should be RAM, but not all RAM is manufactured the same. They may have stated specs of latency, etc., but minor variances in their manufacturing process can make some chips have timing issues that may make them "out of sync" with the macbook motherboard. I only state this because I work in an Instrumentation & Controls Engineering group and we always run across minor timing isssues on our board assemblies. Heck, manufacturers have minor variances from production run to production run. So the A/D chip you bought last year (from same manufacturer...same catalog #) may not perform the same as the chip that is produced this year.

I, as well, am not trying to make any personal attacks...just that I don't believe all RAM chips perform the same even though they may have 100% identical specs. Especially when you're getting up to 1067 MHz range...a timing variance of even a nanosecond may deem a memory chip unusable.

You may ignore my jibber if you wish :)
Click to expand...

I think you are spot on, I've read a couple of accounts where people have been sent a replacement pair and then when they didn't work told to swap the sticks round till they get two that are stable.
 
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