iMac G5- uh oh

rdowns · Oct 1, 2004

Had my iMac G5 since Monday and all was fine. Popped in a 512MB Crucial via Newegg stick. System recognized the RAM and then a kernal panic about a half hour later. Could be the RAM but Entourage X has been unexpectedly quitting a lot. Decided to run extended h/w test from Apple CD. Been running for 40 minutes now and fans have been blowing full bore the whole time. Very noisy. Fans have not kicked in all week before this. Kind of frustrated now.

Edit:

test took 49 minutes and it reports all is well. Rebooted and Entourage quits on launch. Went to renew .Mac and kernal panic. Sigh, must be the RAM. Will let it cool down and remove it.

How is newegg with returns?

musicpyrite · Oct 1, 2004

I believe NewEgg charges a 10% restocking fee if you want you money back.

Try and trade in the RAM for a new stick, I don't think there is a charge for that. (maybe shipping though)

Laslo Panaflex · Oct 1, 2004

Try this ram tester called rember:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24508

It is a GUI version of a UNIX command line code that checks your memory.

If you talk to newegg and tell then that the ram is bad, you should be able to trade it for the exact same ram, free of charge. Hopefully the new stick will work. I am interested though if the ram is indeed bad.

rdowns · Oct 1, 2004

Laslo Panaflex said:
Try this ram tester called rember:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24508

It is a GUI version of a UNIX command line code that checks your memory.

If you talk to newegg and tell then that the ram is bad, you should be able to trade it for the exact same ram, free of charge. Hopefully the new stick will work. I am interested though if the ram is indeed bad.

I pulled the RAM and all is fine. The 512 stick Apple put in my machine is from Hynix? Who the hell are they? Never heard of it. Now what?

Elan0204 · Oct 1, 2004

rdowns said:
Now what?

Try contacting Crucial directly to see what they say when you tell them you have defective RAM. Since you just want to exchange it, you may be able to go through them instead of NewEgg. Also contact NewEgg to see how you can get a replacement chip. I've never had to return or replace anything with them, so I don't know how the process goes.

By the way, when you boot off the Apple Hardware Test CD, the fans always run at full speed. The CD does not contain the drivers necessary to regulate the fans, so a a precaution they run at full speed. Loud, isn't it?

Also, the extended test takes a very long time, and gets longer with added memory. I think mine took nearly an hour for 1GB of RAM, and reports on the Apple Discussion Board say that it takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes if you have a full 2GB.

rdowns · Oct 1, 2004

Elan0204 said:
Try contacting Crucial directly to see what they say when you tell them you have defective RAM. Since you just want to exchange it, you may be able to go through them instead of NewEgg. Also contact NewEgg to see how you can get a replacement chip. I've never had to return or replace anything with them, so I don't know how the process goes.

By the way, when you boot off the Apple Hardware Test CD, the fans always run at full speed. The CD does not contain the drivers necessary to regulate the fans, so a a precaution they run at full speed. Loud, isn't it?

Also, the extended test takes a very long time, and gets longer with added memory. I think mine took nearly an hour for 1GB of RAM, and reports on the Apple Discussion Board say that it takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes if you have a full 2GB.

Good idea, I requested ands received an RMA online from Newegg but will also contact Crucial.

Man, those fans were loud. Freaked me out but still let test run its course.

BTW, Apple put a Hynix (who the hell are these guys) stick in as standard RAM. Has me scratching my head.

Dont Hurt Me · Oct 1, 2004

Hey Rdowns sorry to hear about your memory problems you will have to do a review of your machine one of these days. anyways thanks again for the literature. good thing its only memory.

rdowns · Oct 1, 2004

Dont Hurt Me said:
Hey Rdowns sorry to hear about your memory problems you will have to do a review of your machine one of these days. anyways thanks again for the literature. good thing its only memory.

No need for a review, couldn't really add anything to the dozens of others posted. It's gorgeous, fast, screen is amazing and a big step up from my other 2 Macs (a G3/600 iMac was main computer and also have a G3/900 iBook).

Sorry to see you went Alienware but I understand you're a gamer and even if you waited, the video card in the iMac is lacking there.

Elan0204 · Oct 1, 2004

rdowns said:
BTW, Apple put a Hynix (who the hell are these guys) stick in as standard RAM. Has me scratching my head.

Hynix is a company that makes RAM. Here's a link for you.

What is it doing in your RAM slot? You ordered a 512MB stick of RAM from Apple, and that is what they gave you. You have nothing to worry about. Other people have reported getting Hynix RAM, too. And, you should be happy about it too, as people have reported success in getting a 128 bit bus when pairing a Crucial chip with their Hynix chip. Unlike what I got when pairing a Crucial/Micron chip with the Micron chip I got from Apple. Go figure...

Let us know if you call Crucial. I'd be interested to hear how their exchange process works, especially when you buy Crucial memory from someone other than them. I'd be especially interested in whether or not they cross-ship the RAM, and if you are expected to cover shipping costs to return the faulty memory.

Dont Hurt Me · Oct 1, 2004

rdowns said:
No need for a review, couldn't really add anything to the dozens of others posted. It's gorgeous, fast, screen is amazing and a big step up from my other 2 Macs (a G3/600 iMac was main computer and also have a G3/900 iBook).

Sorry to see you went Alienware but I understand you're a gamer and even if you waited, the video card in the iMac is lacking there.

Glad you got a nice machine. Macs do make the experience better but on the gaming side the door is open for PCs. I walked into a local store and bought Doom3 and they had everything you could want. not at all like the Macworld in the SouthEastern US. Mail order,Mail order etc. Nothing like a new machine hey? OH by the way this Aurora has dual channel memory @ 400 mhz. cool eh?

rdowns · Oct 1, 2004

Elan0204 said:
Hynix is a company that makes RAM. Here's a link for you.

What is it doing in your RAM slot? You ordered a 512MB stick of RAM from Apple, and that is what they gave you. You have nothing to worry about. Other people have reported getting Hynix RAM, too. And, you should be happy about it too, as people have reported success in getting a 128 bit bus when pairing a Crucial chip with their Hynix chip. Unlike what I got when pairing a Crucial/Micron chip with the Micron chip I got from Apple. Go figure...

Let us know if you call Crucial. I'd be interested to hear how their exchange process works, especially when you buy Crucial memory from someone other than them. I'd be especially interested in whether or not they cross-ship the RAM, and if you are expected to cover shipping costs to return the faulty memory.

How can you tell if you have a 128 bit bus? I didn't see anything in system profiler.

QCassidy352 · Oct 1, 2004

I don't understand this whole 64 vs. 128 bit bus thing that has come up with the new imac. does it really matter? Is it an issue with the G5 powermacs as well?

Elan0204 · Oct 1, 2004

rdowns said:
How can you tell if you have a 128 bit bus? I didn't see anything in system profiler.

Two ways that I know of:

1) There is something you can type in the terminal which reports back with a string of zereos followed by a 1 or a 2, which tells you if it is 64 or 128 bit. You don't really need to concern yourself with that though, as you can just run the Applescript I have attached to test it for you. I didn't write the script, it came from MacBidouille.

2) The Apple Hardware Test CD has an information section. If you look at the detailed information about your memory you can figure out if you have a 128 bit memory bus. If in the information is says something like "Paired with DIMM..." then you have a 128 bit bus. Each DIMM will report that it is paired with the other, and that is how you know if it 128. If you see no mention of pairing, then it is 64 bit.

Elan0204 · Oct 1, 2004

QCassidy352 said:
I don't understand this whole 64 vs. 128 bit bus thing that has come up with the new imac. does it really matter? Is it an issue with the G5 powermacs as well?

Based on the currently available xbench scores, there is a significant performace boost if the iMac is running with a 128 bit memory bus versus a 64 bit bus. The scores show that an iMac with 1GB of matched memory (128 bit bus) easily beats an iMac with 1.25GB of unmatched memory (64 bit bus). Here is a link to the test results I posted in another thread.

This is not an issue with the PowerMac G5 because the memory bus can only run at 128 bits. All RAM MUST be installed in pairs or it won't run.

mmmdreg · Oct 1, 2004

Slightly off topic but what's the difference between PC100-222S and PC133-333... Because I got 2 sticks of RAM in this old iMac and yeah..

mojohanna · Oct 1, 2004

rdowns,
I had similar problems with my power mac G5. kernal panic, locking up, forcing me to restart, fans blowing at full speed. It finally came down to the computer just not booting up. It turned out to be a bad logic board. Apple replaced it, but sounds very similar to what your problems are. I would venture to guess that the logic boards for the imac and PM are made by the same supplier. They could be producing duds every once in a while.

Elan0204 · Oct 1, 2004

mojohanna said:
rdowns,
I had similar problems with my power mac G5. kernal panic, locking up, forcing me to restart, fans blowing at full speed. It finally came down to the computer just not booting up. It turned out to be a bad logic board. Apple replaced it, but sounds very similar to what your problems are. I would venture to guess that the logic boards for the imac and PM are made by the same supplier. They could be producing duds every once in a while.

I'd say it is pretty clear that the problem was faulty RAM. The kernal panics went away as soon as the RAM was removed, and started after it had been put in. Additionally, the fan issue he mentons is when booting from the Apple Hardware Test CD. When booting from the CD, the iMac G5s' fans run at full speed because it oesn't have the drivers needed to control the fans. When booting from the internal HD, there are no fan problems.

rdowns · Oct 2, 2004

Elan0204 said:
I'd say it is pretty clear that the problem was faulty RAM. The kernal panics went away as soon as the RAM was removed, and started after it had been put in. Additionally, the fan issue he mentons is when booting from the Apple Hardware Test CD. When booting from the CD, the iMac G5s' fans run at full speed because it doesn't have the drivers needed to control the fans. When booting from the internal HD, there are no fan problems.

The RAM was the problem. No issues since removing it.

wrldwzrd89 · Oct 2, 2004

If the Apple Hardware Test CD said everything's fine, then I suspect one of two RAM-related problems as the root cause:

1. The RAM was intermittently faulty - a replacement chip WILL fix the problem if this is the case, and it is the most likely cause.
2. The RAM was somehow not compatible with the RAM already in the iMac - a replacement chip WILL NOT fix the problem in this situation, and my advice would be to check the RAM specs carefully and make sure they match when you get a new chip.

TheGimp · Oct 2, 2004

Laslo Panaflex said:
Try this ram tester called rember:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24508

It is a GUI version of a UNIX command line code that checks your memory.

If you talk to newegg and tell then that the ram is bad, you should be able to trade it for the exact same ram, free of charge. Hopefully the new stick will work. I am interested though if the ram is indeed bad.

I just ran a 1 loop test of most of my REV A Dual 1.8's ram, and got the following message:

Solid Bits : setting 0FAILURE: 0xefffffff != 0xffffffff at offset 0x017463a5.

All other tests reported an "ok". Should I be worried? Are you knowledgeable enough to say so? Of my 2GB total ram, 1.5 GB is Apple, and 0.5GB is "PNY Technologies Optima Memory" which I scarfed at CompUSA once, when I had a late night craving for some RAM.

BTW- Your avatar looks kinda gay - NOT that there's anything wrong with that!

hcuar · Oct 2, 2004

TheGimp said:
\

All other tests reported an "ok". Should I be worried? Are you knowledgeable enough to say so? Of my 2GB total ram, 1.5 GB is Apple, and 0.5GB is "PNY Technologies Optima Memory" which I scarfed at CompUSA once, when I had a late night craving for some RAM.

Ok... Yes... It's bad. RAM should never, ever fail!

Psychic Shopper · Oct 2, 2004

hynix ram

rdowns said:
I pulled the RAM and all is fine. The 512 stick Apple put in my machine is from Hynix? Who the hell are they? Never heard of it. Now what?

I had the exact same problem with my 1.6 G5 tower, I removed the apple supplied hynix ram and filled out the slots with all the same kind of ram and it works fine. DDR ram is very sensitive.

Elan0204 · Oct 5, 2004

rdowns,

How did the echange process go? Did you get a new chip from NewEgg or Crucial? Did you contact Crucial at all, and if so, what did they tell you?

rdowns · Oct 5, 2004

Elan0204 said:
rdowns,

How did the echange process go? Did you get a new chip from NewEgg or Crucial? Did you contact Crucial at all, and if so, what did they tell you?

Never called Crucial. Requested an RMA online form Newegg and shipped it to them Saturday. Hmm...

Just checked the status, they haven't received it yet.

Elan0204 · Oct 5, 2004

rdowns said:
Never called Crucial. Requested an RMA online form Newegg and shipped it to them Saturday. Hmm...

Just checked the status, they haven't received it yet.

Did they require you to cover the cost of the return postage? What about the cost of shipping the replacement to you?

iMac G5- uh oh

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