8GB RAM upgrade problem on Macbook Pro mid 2010

[nikicampos]

Hi, I hope any of you guys can help me with this kind of weird problem.. I can't return the item 'cause I left the country.

About 10 days ago, I upgraded from 4GB to 8GB of RAM in my MacBook Pro mid 2010, I bought a PNY DDR3 PC-3 8500 1066MHz, just like the one Apple recommends.

When I put it in, the system recognized the new 8GB just perfect, everything works just fine, the improvement was noticeable.

The computer works great, I can use it for about 6 to 8 hours non stop without a problem, Safari, iTunes and Excel open.

But, about 4 or 5 times the screen goes into lines of colors (pic) and I had to shut it down with the I/O button, nothing else works, this has happened more or less when I'm using Firefox with about 20 tabs opened, and also tried Chrome and the same thing happened.

I have switched the RAM positions, in and out 3 or 4 times, at first works perfect, but when I have so many tabs opened it's usually when the screen freezes.

So, my question, is this problem related to the RAM upgrade or something else? I have put my old 4GB RAM back and this problem is not happening.

Thanks.

 

[DeltaMac]

You said you don't see the video issue with the old RAM, so I think you have verified that your new RAM is faulty - maybe not quite in spec, perhaps.
Return it (if possible), then get your RAM from another trusted Mac source, such as OWC or Crucial, or DMS.

 

[nikicampos]

You said you don't see the video issue with the old RAM, so I think you have verified that your new RAM is faulty - maybe not quite in spec, perhaps.
Return it (if possible), then get your RAM from another trusted Mac source, such as OWC or Crucial, or DMS.

I used memtest for mac and it didn't find anything wrong with the RAM, the thing is I'm not going back to the States in about 4 months, so returning it is not an option.

 

[iizmoo]

How many tests did you ran? Sometimes it take a number of cycles to show a ram error, just once is not enough. I normally do at least 12-48 hours and 10+ runs to test a stick.

 

[nikicampos]

How many tests did you ran? Sometimes it take a number of cycles to show a ram error, just once is not enough. I normally do at least 12-48 hours and 10+ runs to test a stick.

2

Maybe that wasn't enough.

 

[simonsi]

Forget the tests, they may eventually tell you what you already know - with the 3rd party RAM you get the issue, ergo the 3rd party RAM is to blame.

If it is badged at the correct spec for your MBP then it is either out of spec or has some fault - probably a hard fault on an area, whether, how often and when you get the symptom depends on how often that memory area is used.

 

[simon48]

Try running with only one of the new RAM chips and then switch to the other one to see if just one of them is bad.

 

[maflynn]

Did you put the old memory back in and see of the issue returned?

Don't replace all the memory out a new chip in with the old and test it, repeat with the other to isolate the issue.

 

[nikicampos]

Did you put the old memory back in and see of the issue returned?

Don't replace all the memory out a new chip in with the old and test it, repeat with the other to isolate the issue.

Try running with only one of the new RAM chips and then switch to the other one to see if just one of them is bad.

Yes, I put the old memory and the problem didn't return.

I'll will try both ideas to see what can I find.

Also, yesterday I was able to use the computer for about 8 hours, normal stuff, Safari, Excel, iTunes, about 3 or 4 hours of playing Zelda in OpenEmu, and the computer worked just fine with no issues.

I guess as long as I don't open 20+ tabs in Chrome/Firefox I'm ok.

Thanks all for your help.

 

[nikicampos]

I found one more thing, about the time that I changed the RAM, my battery started to give me problems, the battery would expand to the point that the physical "click" on the track pad wouldn't work, no space for a "click".

So, am I wrong to think that maybe the problem is not the RAM upgrade but the battery that is causing the computer to freeze from time to time.

Anyone know about the battery causing this kind of problem??

 

[nikicampos]

Anyone?

 

[disasterdrone]

Anyone?

Well it's possible that you have an additional battery problem, but it seems pretty clear to me that your ram is faulty.