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boatcapt

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2011
98
1
Just got my 8 GB ram upgrade for my new Macbook Pro 15". Put them in and nothing, I got the 3 beep no bank message. Tried to reseat them about 7 different times and nothing. Put the original ram back in and she's a working again. This sucks, now I'm going to have to go through the return process. That's my luck I guess.
 
Just got my 8 GB ram upgrade for my new Macbook Pro 15". Put them in and nothing, I got the 3 beep no bank message. Tried to reseat them about 7 different times and nothing. Put the original ram back in and she's a working again. This sucks, now I'm going to have to go through the return process. That's my luck I guess.

What RAM did you use? And are you sure you got the correct type?
 
I got what there website told me I needed. Its DDR3 - 1333 (PC3 1600).
 
Yeah, I'm pretty positive I seated them properly. Did it quite a few times and nothing. As soon as I put the originals in, it booted up properly. Now I'm paranoid, I swear my fans are louder than before! lol
 
Yeah, I'm pretty positive I seated them properly. Did it quite a few times and nothing. As soon as I put the originals in, it booted up properly. Now I'm paranoid, I swear my fans are louder than before! lol

The RAM wouldn't have effected the fans, you are just being paranoid (I know the feeling, don't worry) :p

Just get Crucial to replace the RAM for you, sounds like you got a lemon is all :)
 
I just checked their website, I followed the manual that came with the macbook to a tee. The only thing on Crucial's website about installing them that is different is they say to disconnect the battery.
 
Try looking up tutorials on YouTube... sometimes watching a video is better than looking at manuals. The one by TLDtoday is great.

But if you're absolutely positively sure that you did everything right I would agree with 0dev and send them back. It sucks getting lemons, it always seems to happen with me haha.
 
@OP

Bad luck, get a replacement.

If you want to experiment, you could try putting in just one of the 4 GB bars. At least then you would know if just one bar is dead or if both are dead.
 
There's nothing wrong with Crucial ram. Many here use it with no issues at all. Troll much?

Indeed, Crucial RAM is fine. I'm using it right now without an issue. Every company occasionally sends out defective items, it's an unfortunate byproduct of mass production.
 
Just got my crucial 8gb ram today as well, put it in with no problems and its working flawlessly. sounds like you got a dud, just get it replaced. don't listen to the guy who doesn't know what he's talking about.
 
I don't care what brand of memory it is, there's always a chance that one may get a defective part. It's very rare but it happens.

Ram is mass produced and comes with a warranty just for this purpose.

I specify Crucial for our Macs & PC's at work. Over 800 computers and we've only received one faulty pair of ram simms from Crucial. They replaced it overnight FedEx and the new ones were just fine.
 
If you weren't careful installing it, you might have killed the RAM with ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge). Crucial will replace it anyway, and if you call them and give them a credit card number, they can do an "advanced exchange" where they send you new RAM before they receive the bad RAM.

To avoid ESD, the ideal solution is to get an antistatic mat and wrist strap (I have both, but I usually only get them out for major upgrades or builds). Otherwise, work on a hard surface, don't wear socks, stand on a cement floor, and touch a ground point (Assuming modern construction, a cold water pipe, light switch screw, or even the corner of a wall usually work) before you start. Avoid touching anything but the edges of the RAM modules. RAM is extremely sensitive, and it is possible to kill it even if you don't feel a shock or static discharge. Since it's not designed to interface with anything outside the computer, they don't really do much to protect it from ESD as far as I know. It's also hard to add ESD protection and keep it cheap and fast.

Where I work they do electronics manufacturing, and they go to great lengths to avoid ESD. Everything on the manufacturing floor (carts, plastic bins, bags, most tools, work stations, etc) must be ESD safe. Employees have to wear static dissipating vests at all times and either a wrist strap or shoe strap (the carpet dissipates electricity) any time they are working with a product, and they have to test the straps at the start of each shift. They even issue special ESD-free water bottles.

I'm sure the failure rate leaving the factory approaches zero. Some modules might fail during shipping, and a lot probably fail on installation. Luckily good RAM manufacturers will stand behind their product and replace it without questioning the cause of failure.

I'll add, Crucial (Micron) and Samsung are two companies I know of that actually make their own DRAM chips (there are probably others). A lot of other RAM manufacturers buy generic chips and assemble them onto boards, though that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them. Crucial built up its reputation back in the days when overclocking was more popular because they were known for RAM that could OC well (early days of DDR2). Later on they started to cheap out (about the same time prices fell dramatically) and somewhat fell out of favor with the OC community. I personally had problems on two occasions with Crucial modules failing over time for no reason, though the last replacements I got have been fine since. These days, especially in laptops where everything runs at the stock speed, it doesn't really matter what brand of RAM you buy as long as it comes from a reputable manufacturer that offers a lifetime warranty and it gets good reviews.
 
Interesting... Well they make a lot of their own DRAM chips anyway.

I was surprised as well. I probably should have investigated this further since it's not obvious to me why Micron would buy Samsung chips.
 
I got what there website told me I needed. Its DDR3 - 1333 (PC3 1600).

Eh? Do you mean DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) or DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800), if it's the latter, you need a processor that can support it to run at 1600 MHz, which is a 27xxQM, only found in the top-end MBPs.
 
I was surprised as well. I probably should have investigated this further since it's not obvious to me why Micron would buy Samsung chips.


It's not unusual really for one manufacturer that's not currently set up for fab on a particular product to buy bulk from a competitor and repackage. We really are talking a limited number of chip manufacturers here, rest of the players are just putting them on boards and slapping their name on them.
 
Eh? Do you mean DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) or DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800), if it's the latter, you need a processor that can support it to run at 1600 MHz, which is a 27xxQM, only found in the top-end MBPs.

Any 2011 MBP supports 1600 MHz RAM
 
Any 2011 MBP supports 1600 MHz RAM

That is completely untrue. Any with a 26xxQM processor does not, any with a 27xxQM process does.

Early 2011:
2635QM (2.0 GHz) -> No
2720QM (2.2 GHz) -> Yes
2820QM (2.3 GHz) -> Yes

Late 2011:
2675QM (2.2 GHz) -> No
2760QM (2.4 GHz) -> Yes
2860QM (2.5 GHz) -> Yes

The differences between the 26xxQM and 27xxQM processors are:

Higher Max Turbo Frequency in the 27xxQMs

Max Memory Size
16 GB vs 32 GB

Memory Types
DDR3-1066/1333 vs DDR3-1066/1333/1600

Intel vPro Technology
No vs Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
No vs Yes

Intel Trusted Execution Technology
No vs Yes
 
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