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2x1GB recognized as 2x512MB RAM

A

akadmon

Suspended
Original poster
After getting a few beach-balls today, I checked the Activity Monitor and was shocked to see that it was only reporting 3GB RAM instead of 4GB (I have 2x1GB Techworks RAM and 2x2x512MB Apple OEM RAM). I next checked he System Profiler and it was showing that I have six 512MB sticks in there, and that all the RAM is OK. I ran TechTool and it did not find anything wrong with the RAM. I removed the Apple RAM and reseated the two 1GB sticks several times, but they're still being recognized as 512MB. 🙁

Anybody have any idea what could be going on? If the RAM is bad, would it not simply fail to be recognized altogether? 😕
 
I'm no expert in such matters but I think I once heard that server (ECC) ram can run as a lesser size if it detects some of it being faulty. I may be barking up the wrong tree though. It does sound like you're going to have to dig out that warranty though. 🙁
 
Did you ever figure this out? I'm experiencing the exact same thing. I installed four 1 gig sticks from transintl.com, and the two on the bottom riser are showing up correctly as 1 gig, but the two on the top riser show up as 512 meg each.
 
JayHM said:
Did you ever figure this out? I'm experiencing the exact same thing. I installed four 1 gig sticks from transintl.com, and the two on the bottom riser are showing up correctly as 1 gig, but the two on the top riser show up as 512 meg each.
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No answer. I called OWC and the tech immediately told me to send the RAM back for replacement. Unfortunately, I'm 1 day over the 30-day window for advance shipment, so I'll have to make do with only 2 GBs for a while.
 
akadmon said:
No answer. I called OWC and the tech immediately told me to send the RAM back for replacement. Unfortunately, I'm 1 day over the 30-day window for advance shipment, so I'll have to make do with only 2 GBs for a while.
Click to expand...

I'm asssuming it makes no difference, top or bottom riser?
 
I think in my case, it ended up being just bad RAM. When I opened the case, I noticed the little red LED for DIMM 3 was lit (even though it showed up with status "OK" in System Profiler). DIMM 3 was one of the two that showed up with the incorrect size, so I'm sending both back.
 
JayHM said:
I think in my case, it ended up being just bad RAM. When I opened the case, I noticed the little red LED for DIMM 3 was lit (even though it showed up with status "OK" in System Profiler). DIMM 3 was one of the two that showed up with the incorrect size, so I'm sending both back.
Click to expand...

I just took off the side panel with the computer running and sure enough a red LED on riser B is on (I moved the two 1GB sticks to riser B last time).

It sucks that the System Profiler, rember and Techtool are incapable of detecting this failure.
 
I have a pair of 512s that read as 256s

Your RAM is most likely bad if its reading as a lesser amount. I have a couple of 512s in my PM G5 that read is 256s. Tried testing them in my GFs dell and it refused to start up - always locked up at the memory test. Unfortunately I have no clue who made the RAM so I'm having to wait and save up money to replace the poor sticks.

OTOH - with it reduced I really haven't seen much performance loss, aside from having less ram. Only problem I have is WoW freezing if I leave it on the login screen but I think thats more of a software issue than anything else.
 
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