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MacBook Pro Mid 2012 13" 16GB RAM + 256GB SSD -- Screen glitch

V

vinhdzn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2012
11
0
Sup guys I recently bought the new Mid 2012 Macbook 13. I've been having issues with with screen glitching at random times. I thought it might be the video card but the Apple 'Genius' says its might be my 16GB ram since they say it only supports 8GB, but I've see many have their 16GB systems work just fine. Thoughts??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxoMhBOyx8E

Specs:
MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2012
Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory Corsair 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SODIMM Memory Kit (CMSO16GX3M2A1333C9)
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB
Crucial 256 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT256M4SSD2
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E2617)


*bonus - non related*
my observant friend noticed at the Apple store the white customer got a white genius, the black customer got a black one and I of course got an Asian genius hahah
 
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vinhdzn said:
Sup guys I recently bought the new Mid 2012 Macbook 2013. I've been having issues with with screen glitching at random times. I thought it might be the video card but the Apple 'Genius' says its might be my 16GB ram since they say it only supports 8GB, but I've see many have their 16GB systems work just fine. Thoughts??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxoMhBOyx8E

Specs:
MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2012
Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB
Crucial 256 GB SSD
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E2617)


*bonus - non related*
my observant friend noticed at the Apple store the white customer got a white genius, the black customer got a black one and I of course got an Asian genius hahah
Click to expand...

That doesn't look like a RAM problem to me. I'd guess GPU related. If your laptop is new, Apple should definitely fix it. You may have to put the original RAM that was in it when you first bought the machine back in again. It may even be worth running the machine for a day or two like that just to double check that the fault is persistent in the state it was sold to you as.

I have 16GB in my late 2011 MBP and it runs perfectly well.
 
Gomff said:
That doesn't look like a RAM problem to me. I'd guess GPU related. If your laptop is new, Apple should definitely fix it. You may have to put the original RAM that was in it when you first bought the machine back in again. It may even be worth running the machine for a day or two like that just to double check that the fault is persistent in the state it was sold to you as.

I have 16GB in my late 2011 MBP and it runs perfectly well.
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice, they also said the same thing about going back to stock to check it.
 
Have you run the extended apple hardware test? As the integrated graphics uses shared memory perhaps a ram issue could be causing some problems, (although the youtube video doesn't cry out memory corruption to me) alternately if you still have the sticks you could put the stock ram back in for a bit to see if the problems stop.
 
vinhdzn said:
Sup guys I recently bought the new Mid 2012 Macbook 2013. I've been having issues with with screen glitching at random times. I thought it might be the video card but the Apple 'Genius' says its might be my 16GB ram since they say it only supports 8GB, but I've see many have their 16GB systems work just fine. Thoughts??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxoMhBOyx8E

Specs:
MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2012
Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB
Crucial 256 GB SSD
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E2617)


*bonus - non related*
my observant friend noticed at the Apple store the white customer got a white genius, the black customer got a black one and I of course got an Asian genius hahah
Click to expand...

What kind of RAM is? Where did you get it from? Do you know what voltage it runs at?

The RAM in the 2012 13" MacBook Pro's is specified to run at 1.35v, so I'm assuming that anything higher than that can have side effects, especially considering the fact that another user had 16GB of Corsair RAM in their 2012 MBP running at 1.5v and it caused a lot of problems for them.

Another possibility is that its giving you problems because it's running at 1333MHz, instead of the 1600MHz that the stock RAM runs at. I doubt this is the cause, but you never know.

Lastly, you may just have bad RAM that may be messing with the rest of your system. Have you ran memtest? If you don't know how just do a google search and download Rember. It's a free program that does what memtest does and will check your RAM for any errors and will let you know if you should return it or keep it.

Good luck finding out what's wrong! :)
 
katmeef said:
Have you run the extended apple hardware test? As the integrated graphics uses shared memory perhaps a ram issue could be causing some problems, (although the youtube video doesn't cry out memory corruption to me) alternately if you still have the sticks you could put the stock ram back in for a bit to see if the problems stop.
Click to expand...

They makes sense, I will have to see if the issue persists. For now I am running with my 16GB until it glitches again and then I will switch over to stock 8GB. BTW I also ran MEMTEST and it passed all of it. So no problem with the ram itself from what I saw. IS the extended hardware test the one they did at the Apple store?

SR71 said:
What kind of RAM is? Where did you get it from? Do you know what voltage it runs at?

The RAM in the 2012 13" MacBook Pro's is specified to run at 1.35v, so I'm assuming that anything higher than that can have side effects, especially considering the fact that another user had 16GB of Corsair RAM in their 2012 MBP running at 1.5v and it caused a lot of problems for them.

Another possibility is that its giving you problems because it's running at 1333MHz, instead of the 1600MHz that the stock RAM runs at. I doubt this is the cause, but you never know.

Lastly, you may just have bad RAM that may be messing with the rest of your system. Have you ran memtest? If you don't know how just do a google search and download Rember. It's a free program that does what memtest does and will check your RAM for any errors and will let you know if you should return it or keep it.

Good luck finding out what's wrong! :)
Click to expand...

HMM well my RAM is in fact Corsair (Corsair 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SODIMM Memory Kit (CMSO16GX3M2A1333C9)) that I got from amazon. I read ratings and it seemed to work great on other mbp's

So if that may be the problem what 1.35v and 1600MHz third party ram do you guys suggest?

And yes as mentioned above I did run memtest
ahhBc.png


thanks again more input guys
 
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vinhdzn said:
They makes sense, I will have to see if the issue persists. For now I am running with my 16GB until it glitches again and then I will switch over to stock 8GB. BTW I also ran MEMTEST and it passed all of it. So no problem with the ram itself from what I saw. IS the extended hardware test the one they did at the Apple store?
Click to expand...
Depends how long did it take at the store? There's the normal apple hardware test which I'd imagine they ran at minimum; however, before starting the test you can check the extended test option, which will probably take a few hours to complete with 16gb ram

Personally i would trust the extended apple hardware test more than a third party app as OSX is not running during the AHT as it is with the memtest app.
 
Do you have the Crucial M4? If so, that's your problem.

The glitches you are talking about is the random freezing right? I had a Crucial M4 256GB and I would get those all the time. It stopped after I upgraded to Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD.

Crucial has done nothing to solve this problem. So I dumped them. Do a search on here and Crucial's forum. You'll get a lot more info.
 
vinhdzn said:
Sup guys I recently bought the new Mid 2012 Macbook 13. I've been having issues with with screen glitching at random times. I thought it might be the video card but the Apple 'Genius' says its might be my 16GB ram since they say it only supports 8GB, but I've see many have their 16GB systems work just fine. Thoughts??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxoMhBOyx8E

Specs:
MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2012
Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB
Crucial 256 GB SSD
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E2617)


*bonus - non related*
my observant friend noticed at the Apple store the white customer got a white genius, the black customer got a black one and I of course got an Asian genius hahah
Click to expand...

she looks like she's doing a dash move on your screen haha
 
Tony N. said:
Do you have the Crucial M4? If so, that's your problem.

The glitches you are talking about is the random freezing right? I had a Crucial M4 256GB and I would get those all the time. It stopped after I upgraded to Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD.

Crucial has done nothing to solve this problem. So I dumped them. Do a search on here and Crucial's forum. You'll get a lot more info.
Click to expand...

So now it might be the SSD? great.. lol. I do have the same 256GB Crucial M4 and it has been working great all this time besides the freezes if what you say is correct. I'll check out more forum posts. If you saw my video, are the freezes the exact same?

I must note that the freezes happen during normal usage but are rare so I will see if it happens again.

SO, should I conclude that it is in fact the SSD and not the RAM?
 
vinhdzn said:
So now it might be the SSD? great.. lol. I do have the same 256GB Crucial M4 and it has been working great all this time besides the freezes if what you say is correct. I'll check out more forum posts. If you saw my video, are the freezes the exact same?

I must note that the freezes happen during normal usage but are rare so I will see if it happens again.

SO, should I conclude that it is in fact the SSD and not the RAM?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't see the video. I was basing my statement on your post only. Now that I saw the video, that does not look like it's an SSD problem. That is most likely the RAM or a defect in the video card itself. I'm guessing it's the RAM because our video card shares the main RAM. But after you fix this problem, you will notice that the laptop does freeze randomly and that problem will be associated with your SSD.

I would install the old ram back into the laptop and see if the problem still exist. If it does, then you have a defective laptop. I think you're still under warranty so you could send it back to Apple (or goto their store).
 
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Tony N. said:
Sorry, I didn't see the video. I was basing my statement on your post only. Now that I saw the video, that does not look like it's an SSD problem. That is most likely the RAM or a defect in the video card itself. I'm guessing it's the RAM because our video card shares the main RAM. But after you fix this problem, you will notice that the laptop does freeze randomly and that problem will be associated with your SSD.

I would install the old ram back into the laptop and see if the problem still exist. If it does, then you have a defective laptop. I think you're still under warranty so you could send it back to Apple (or goto their store).
Click to expand...

Great info, thanks a lot for a clear informative answer
 
Tony N. said:
Do you have the Crucial M4? If so, that's your problem.

The glitches you are talking about is the random freezing right? I had a Crucial M4 256GB and I would get those all the time. It stopped after I upgraded to Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD.

Crucial has done nothing to solve this problem. So I dumped them. Do a search on here and Crucial's forum. You'll get a lot more info.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily true. This used to be an issue, but was fixed in a firmware update.

vinhdzn said:
So now it might be the SSD? great.. lol. I do have the same 256GB Crucial M4 and it has been working great all this time besides the freezes if what you say is correct. I'll check out more forum posts. If you saw my video, are the freezes the exact same?

I must note that the freezes happen during normal usage but are rare so I will see if it happens again.

SO, should I conclude that it is in fact the SSD and not the RAM?
Click to expand...

What firmware are you running on your Crucial M4 SSD?
 
I have the same problem.

new Macbook Pro Mid-2012 13-inch
I purchased 16GB G-Skill F3-1600C11D-16GSQ RAM
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231580)

It freezes with the weird flicker after a random time.

It's not a problem with the particular chip because we ordered several sets and other people have the exact same problem with theirs.

Removing one of the 8GB memory sticks seemed to remove the problem (but of course the point is to use the full 16GB) for me the first time, but that didn't work for my coworker.

This one is also 1.5v. However, the memory chips that originally came with the computer were also 1.5v.

Update: my one memory chip also crapped out after a while.
 
Last edited:
newacct said:
I have the same problem.

new Macbook Pro Mid-2012 13-inch
I purchased 16GB G-Skill F3-1600C11D-16GSQ RAM
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231580)

It freezes with the weird flicker after a random time.

It's not a problem with the particular chip because we ordered several sets and other people have the exact same problem with theirs.

Removing one of the 8GB memory sticks seemed to remove the problem (but of course the point is to use the full 16GB) for me the first time, but that didn't work for my coworker.

This one is also 1.5v. However, the memory chips that originally came with the computer were also 1.5v.
Click to expand...

Actually, the stock RAM chips that come with the mid-2012 13" MBP runs at 1.35v, according to crucial.com. I don't know about the 15" MBP or the rMBP, but the 13" definitely runs at 1.35v.

OP, I'd suggest removing the RAM and using the stock RAM for a few days and see if the video flickering issue pops up.
 
SR71 said:
Actually, the stock RAM chips that come with the mid-2012 13" MBP runs at 1.35v, according to crucial.com. I don't know about the 15" MBP or the rMBP, but the 13" definitely runs at 1.35v.

OP, I'd suggest removing the RAM and using the stock RAM for a few days and see if the video flickering issue pops up.
Click to expand...

will do.. until my screen craps out again with 16GB, I just really want to see how long it will take for it to happen again.

Also update on my ssd, I decided to just go with the samsung 830 256GB and return the crucial for the added reliability and speed people seem to be raving about.



***update***
it froze again a few minutes after I posted this, now I'm back on the stock 8GB. Let the trouble shooting begin.
 
Last edited:
vinhdzn said:
will do.. until my screen craps out again with 16GB, I just really want to see how long it will take for it to happen again.

Also update on my ssd, I decided to just go with the samsung 830 256GB and return the crucial for the added reliability and speed people seem to be raving about.



***update***
it froze again a few minutes after I posted this, now I'm back on the stock 8GB. Let the trouble shooting begin.
Click to expand...

Hmm, that's weird because I've heard that the Crucial M4 is actually more reliable, however the Samsung 830 trumps it in terms of write speed, but the read speeds are pretty much the same (give or take a few MB/s here or there).

I'm really thinking it's the RAM, though, as there are numerous reports of that RAM causing errors, and it all seems to be tracing back to it running at 1.5v.
 
SR71 said:
Actually, the stock RAM chips that come with the mid-2012 13" MBP runs at 1.35v, according to crucial.com. I don't know about the 15" MBP or the rMBP, but the 13" definitely runs at 1.35v.

OP, I'd suggest removing the RAM and using the stock RAM for a few days and see if the video flickering issue pops up.
Click to expand...

The chips that came with my 13" mid-2012 MBP were two Samsung M471B5773DH0-CK0 2GB chips. If you Google this they all say they run at 1.5v. If this is not what we should go on, then I don't know what is.
 
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update: still on stock 8GB and just installed new Samsung 830 255GB. Very stable so far.

I still want 16gb of ram though, I plan on running pretty heavy apps in the future. Any suggestions on ram brand/model?
 
vinhdzn said:
update: still on stock 8GB and just installed new Samsung 830 255GB. Very stable so far.

I still want 16gb of ram though, I plan on running pretty heavy apps in the future. Any suggestions on ram brand/model?
Click to expand...

I was looking at the crucial's site, and they point to the "correct" memory according to the computer model: http://www.crucial.com/apple.

Maybe this is your memory.
 
any link to amazon? also yeah im not sure I want to trial and error again lol i'll have to check more reviews
 
SR71 said:
Not necessarily true. This used to be an issue, but was fixed in a firmware update.



What firmware are you running on your Crucial M4 SSD?
Click to expand...

Sorry, but this remains very true that MBP still have issues with the M4. They did not release a new firmware is 000F will still lock up like crazy. Where's your proof?
 
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