On Friday 11/23 I installed 2 1GB sticks from OWC ao now I'm up to 3GB total and everything worked fine until the next day I noticed 19 correctable errors showing up in the ram. I restarted my machine to clear the count, and ran rember and everything came back fine. Later that day I noticed 1 error again so I ran rember again this time with more passes and all tests again came back good. I have been trying to tax the memory by running extra programs and have been watching the memory temp and have never seen it above 160 F. Is this worth returning the ram for? I have read other threads and the only standard for errors I could find was 1 in 48 hrs, I am at now but what could have caused the first set of 19 after about 20hrs of operation? Now that I have seen only one in 20 some hrs does that mean I'm in the clear or does this seem like buggy ram I should return before it really takes a dive? I have the 2 1GB sticks on the first riser and the 2 512MB sticks on the second riser.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Another Ram ECC errors question
- Thread starter piltupso
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
OWC has 15 day money back and Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty.
I have gone thru this once and it all turned out fine. I recommend you contact OWC, you can start an RMA on their website. Tell them exactly as you've stated here and I expect they will get two new sticks headed your way.
As an aside, the "netlist tested" ram modules with the flat heat spreaders seem to run hotter in my system than the "qualified" ram. I prefer the cheaper variant.
Good luck!
I have gone thru this once and it all turned out fine. I recommend you contact OWC, you can start an RMA on their website. Tell them exactly as you've stated here and I expect they will get two new sticks headed your way.
As an aside, the "netlist tested" ram modules with the flat heat spreaders seem to run hotter in my system than the "qualified" ram. I prefer the cheaper variant.
Good luck!
Apple's standard is 4 correctable ECC errors in 48 hours
Rember isn't finding a problem, because the ECC RAM is doing what it is supposed to do, correcting the ECC errors before they get back to the CPU as errors.
However your 19 errors initially is worrisome and worth a call to OWC
Have you re-seated the RAM in the sockets and re-seated the risers?
Rember isn't finding a problem, because the ECC RAM is doing what it is supposed to do, correcting the ECC errors before they get back to the CPU as errors.
However your 19 errors initially is worrisome and worth a call to OWC
Have you re-seated the RAM in the sockets and re-seated the risers?
Interesting CanadaRam!
Would "Apple Hardware Test" diags (memory test) result in the same "masking of correctible/corrected ECC errors"?
I bought ram from OWC recently as well and I would like to test them as well. Could someone tell me which application you are using to test and verify the ram?
I just run Apple Hardware Test on new memory, then occasionally check in Apple System Profiler in the Memory section. If ASP shows "OK" next to each module, no problems. If there have been any "correctable ECC Errors", they will be reported by System Profiler.
The original poster was using "Rember"... google for info.
FWIW, IMHO... it's overkill. YMMV and IMBW
TTFN
Sorry I missed "rember" I didn't think that was the name of the testing app my mistake. Thank you for clearing that up. I would like to feel confident in my memory purchase so I like to test things. In system profieler all memory says "OK" and the Apple Diagnostics disk Tests all good as well.
In system profiler under status is where it will tell you if its had ECC errors. But remember ECC errors means the ECC part of the ram did what its supposed to do.
Thanks for the input all. I know the ECC function of the Ram is working and my machine has not had any performance hiccups since installation. I am just a bit wary after spending a couple months reading about RAM upgrades and seeing all the other problems people have had. I don't want to put bum or even mostly good components into my machine as its been running great and I hope to keep it that way. I just wanted to know if I was being too wrapped up in an unproblem. I will try reseat the RAM and thanks CanadaRAM, for the correction 4 in 48 hrs I think I saw that in one of your other posts in a older thread and just confused it. I think I may check out OWC customer service and definitely if I see errors in the next day or so.
I had the same problem with 2 sets of the Netlist RAM from OWC. I think some systems are just sensitive to the type of RAM put into them. Some people have great luck with the OWC....I didn't. OWC was great though....no problems returning the RAM.
I went with Crucial RAM (with the Apple type heatspeaders) and they are working fine.
-Kevin
PS. And personally, I'd return the RAM. Tons of RAM out there that will give NO ECC errors....that's what you're looking for.
I went with Crucial RAM (with the Apple type heatspeaders) and they are working fine.
-Kevin
PS. And personally, I'd return the RAM. Tons of RAM out there that will give NO ECC errors....that's what you're looking for.
Well I replaced the original set with another from OWC and their service was great. It ran fine for a week or so and then Last night I really cranked up the ram usage while working on a project and I noticed 5 errors popped up. I started the next day from a cold restart the machine just had light use during the day and by 5:00 there was 200 errors by the time I restarted to reset the counter. Been watching and no errors in the last 5 hours but well see. Even when I load the system down all the errors show on the first module. Could something else be going on? I never noticed any problems when I was running the factory 1 GB but I course I wasn't really looking either. what else can I do short of getting another replacement? I have the 2 1gb modules in the top card 1st 2 slots and the 512 MB modules in the bottom card 1st 2 slots.
Return them and go with Crucial or try Omni Technologies OPTIVAL through ramseeker.com.
http://www.ramseeker.com/memory/Mac_Pro/
I know forum user Multimedia uses Omni Tech ram. The prices if used through ramseeker are really low. I'm probably going to get some through them.
The tech at OWC for me said....my machine just might have been picky with the OWC RAM.
I'd keep returning until you get a set that doesn't give errors....and that has the same Apple style heatsink.
-Kevin
http://www.ramseeker.com/memory/Mac_Pro/
I know forum user Multimedia uses Omni Tech ram. The prices if used through ramseeker are really low. I'm probably going to get some through them.
The tech at OWC for me said....my machine just might have been picky with the OWC RAM.
I'd keep returning until you get a set that doesn't give errors....and that has the same Apple style heatsink.
-Kevin
^ I can vouch for Omni ram. Have 6 GB of it installed in my mac pro and it works a treat and never has reported any ECC errors.
Glad to hear 2 good reports for Omni Tech. I was reading some reports of bad business practices and bad RAM.
Although, I think OWC and Omni are very close in price now.
-Kevin
Although, I think OWC and Omni are very close in price now.
-Kevin