20" iMac G5 RAM Question

[solidgoldmini]

Hello Mac gurus,

I purchased a 20" iMac G5, and I've had it for about a month. I ordered it from a particular online retailer, which shall remain nameless, other than to say it could be considered a virtual Mall for Macs or PCs. Anyway, I ordered a 20" BTO which included one 512 MB RAM chip from Apple, and the built-in Bluetooth. This online retailer has a promotion where they put in an extra 256 MB RAM "free", but you pay $39.99 for installation. (I originally had an order for the same set-up through Apple, but this way, I saved sales tax and shipping.) When I received my computer, I opened it up, plugged it in, got all excited and flustered, and upon start up, as in the grey apple just before the spinning circle thing, the screen goes dark, and it crashes. I couldn't even start up the computer without yanking the extra chip. After I took it out, everything was fine. So I sent it to the manufacturer and I just got the replacement chip. I put that in, and the computer still crashes. My main question is, has anyone heard of a computer having problems when both RAM slots are filled? I put the Apple chip in the other slot, and everything works fine, so I don't think it's either slot itself. The computer recognizes the memory in About This Mac... when it's in there, but the computer crashes all over the place with the extra chip in. I'm just not sure if I should be taking my iMac to Apple to check out, or if this memory just sucks. (I realize it's like $30 worth of RAM, and you get what you pay for.) Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'm at work right now, but when I get home, I'll post the details of the chip if that would help.

 

[Scottyk9]

I don't have a definitive answer for your question, but I can tell you that I went through 2 1Gb sticks of crucial RAM for my powerbook, both which caused system crashes. The 3rd stick (a different brand) worked no problem. I would suggest thoroughly investigating RAM, as Macs tend to be quite particular, before looking at other problems.

 

[varmit]

Apple computers have always been picky about RAM. Back with X.2, if you upgraded form X.1, and had third party RAM, the install wouldn't work till you took it out. This seems to be the same deal, your Mac just doesn't want to work with the type of third party RAM they are giving you. I suggest going to www.crucial.com and getting some RAM from them.

 

[daveL]

My wife has the same machine. The system has to memory slots. My understanding is that the two slots have to have the same dimension (size) memory sticks AND, if you want to get 128-bit memory accesses instead of 64-bit, the two memory sticks have to be very close to identical. In short, you can't have a 512 MB stick paired with a 256 MB stick.

I also had the problem you describe when I added a like sized 3rd party stick to my wife's machine. It was Crucial memory that was identical to the sticks I bough for my PM G5 2x2.5 GHz machine. Even though this memory worked perfectly in the PM, it crashed the iMac, just as you describe. You really need to talk directly to Crucial or whomever you favorite memory vendor is and get assurances that the memory you buy from them will pair up (128-bit access) with the original Apple memory stick.

HTH

 

[rdowns]

These free RAM deals are not so great. MacMall or whichever one you bought from charge you 40 bucks to install the cheapest RAM they can get. I know 5 people (myself included) who bought from them and three had problems. My iMac G3 never had a problem. They basically charged you 40 bucks for a 512 stick worth maybe $65.

Ask Macmall or whomever to take back the "free" 256 stick and pay the difference for a quality 512 stick.