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Bought Ram, Now have to flash BIOS & clear CMOS, WTF!? HELP

akutad

akutad

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
150
0
London, Ontario, Canada
I bought 4 gb of ram for my MacBook Pro version 4,1. I bought 4GB of 667MHz of Kinsington. The ebay vendor that I had purchased it from has said to flash the bios. Have you ever had to do this? I have never done this before but am kinda leery in trying. I'm not sure what the bios does as the last time I ran into this was over 15 years ago when I owned a 286 PC. I am not new to computers. I have upgraded the hard drive on this computer which is not user recommended by apple. Below I've copied the vendors instructions. In your opinion what would be the best thing to do. Thank you, I appreciate your help.

Below are the emails.

Hello, The memory is compatible. Please try flashing the BIOS (clearing the CMOS). If the does not work please return the memory.
Please copy and paste this message into your future messages to us so we have it for our reference.

Thank you,
Customer Service
S2


Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 8:39 PM
Subject: Re: You've received an answer to your question about item KINGSTON 4GB DDR2 PC2 5300 667 MHZ 2X 2 GB SODIMM 4GB G


I'm okay with the free tech support for now as I would like this to
work with the ram I recieved. Below is my MacBook Pro's information.
Thanks.



On 27-May-09, at 11:35 AM, eBay Member: fastflashstore wrote:


Your registered name is included to show this message originated
from eBay. Learn more.
Seller has responded to your question about this item
Do not respond to the sender if this message requests that you
complete the transaction outside of eBay. This type of offer is
against eBay policy, may be fraudulent, and is not covered by buyer
protection programs. Learn More.

Hello,

We are sorry to hear that you are having problems with your order.
(merchandise not physically damaged) Item was tested and working
upon shipment.

We can offer you free tech support (please keep in mind that this is
a 2- way exchange of emails...please be prepared for this to take
time.).
We offer this so that if there is a possibility of resolving your
problem before asking you to return the item, we would like to be
able to do this for you.

There are a number of reasons why products don't work including
density issue (high vs low density), Cas Latency, BIOS, SDHC vs SD,
UDMA vs DMA , etc.

If you wish to seek tech support - please reply back with the make
and model of your hardware (Computer - motherboard) Mobile device/
Camera/etc.

Please note that even though you might have a lot of knowledge about
the item - there is always a possibility that there is something we
can share with you which might help you resolve the problem before
sending it back.
In any case, if you wish to just send it back - here are the details:

We have sent an RMA form to akutad@me.com to return with your order.
Instructions and return address is in the RMA form..

Once your return is received, it will be processed and given to our
returns department. They will then email you with your options or
the action that is being taken.

If you have any questions concerning your return, please email our
returns department directly at fastflashauctions@gmail.com and put
RMA RETURNS in the subject line.

Please copy and paste this message into your future messages to us
so we have it for our reference.

Thank you,
Customer Service
S4

- fastflashstore
Did this answer your question? If not, let the seller know.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,481
43,406
Personally, I stay away from anything with word "value" in it when it comes to my MBP. Ram is one of those things, that I'll buy from Crucial or OWC because Macs have a long history of being very picky with ram. I also see a lot of threads in various mac forums where people bought the cheapest ram they could find, only to run into problems.

My recommendation is to return the ram if its not functioning (and it does not appear to be) and go buy some modules over at OWC.
 
Bill Gates

Bill Gates

macrumors 68030
Jun 21, 2006
2,500
14
127.0.0.1
Macs are very, very picky about what memory they will accept and what they will not. Occasionally a certain brand will work for some, but not for others. I installed Corsair low-latency DDR2 memory (advertised as Mac-compatible) in my old MacBook Pro, and it would only work if I had the modules installed in a specific order. Meaning, if I had one SODIMM in slot A and the other in slot B, it wouldn't boot until I switched the modules to the opposite respective slots. Try that, but if it doesn't work I'm afraid you'll have you return the memory and try memory from another vendor that is guaranteed to be Mac-compatible. You may still have problems due to the picky nature of Apple machines, but at least you have a much higher chance of success.
 
akutad

akutad

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
150
0
London, Ontario, Canada
Bill Gates said:
Macs are very, very picky about what memory they will accept and what they will not. Occasionally a certain brand will work for some, but not for others. I installed Corsair low-latency DDR2 memory (advertised as Mac-compatible) in my old MacBook Pro, and it would only work if I had the modules installed in a specific order. Meaning, if I had one SODIMM in slot A and the other in slot B, it wouldn't boot until I switched the modules to the opposite respective slots. Try that, but if it doesn't work I'm afraid you'll have you return the memory and try memory from another vendor that is guaranteed to be Mac-compatible. You may still have problems due to the picky nature of Apple machines, but at least you have a much higher chance of success.
Click to expand...

I'll try that tonight.
 
A

Apple Corps

macrumors 68030
Apr 26, 2003
2,575
542
California
One risk of continuing to muck about with this ram is damaging your ram slots or the modules = big problem not likely covered by warranty.

Return it and go with Crucial/Micron or OWC or SAMSUNG.
 
D

dmmcintyre3

macrumors 68020
Mar 4, 2007
2,131
3
Apple Corps said:
One risk of continuing to muck about with this ram is damaging your ram slots or the modules = big problem not likely covered by warranty.

Return it and go with Crucial/Micron or OWC or SAMSUNG.
Click to expand...

I have had 0 problems with OWC (macsales.com) RAM except the whine but it is only apparent when the Mac is asleep because the HD is louder than the RAM.
 
akutad

akutad

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
150
0
London, Ontario, Canada
Bill Gates said:
Macs are very, very picky about what memory they will accept and what they will not. Occasionally a certain brand will work for some, but not for others. I installed Corsair low-latency DDR2 memory (advertised as Mac-compatible) in my old MacBook Pro, and it would only work if I had the modules installed in a specific order. Meaning, if I had one SODIMM in slot A and the other in slot B, it wouldn't boot until I switched the modules to the opposite respective slots. Try that, but if it doesn't work I'm afraid you'll have you return the memory and try memory from another vendor that is guaranteed to be Mac-compatible. You may still have problems due to the picky nature of Apple machines, but at least you have a much higher chance of success.
Click to expand...

That didn't work. I'm returning the ram. Man that sucks.
 
alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
akutad said:
That didn't work either. Not buying kinsington again. I thought they're a great brand!??
Click to expand...

I had Kingston RAM on an older MBP; it worked just fine; it's possible the particular set your got had the wrong chips on them—yes Macs are picky like that.
 
thiagos

thiagos

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2007
371
0
NYC (Manhattan)
akutad said:
That didn't work either. Not buying kinsington again. I thought they're a great brand!??
Click to expand...

Although I am not the biggest fan of the Kingston brand, I wouldn't hold it against the brand. Never ever buy any computer products from eBay (especially hard drives) even if the seller has a good feedback and/or they state it is brand new, although it could turn out to be a good experience, it is a gamble with your time and money.
I know an ex-seller on eBay who taught me all the tricks they use to sell their items for a lower price including repackaging used/defective items as brand new instead of sending it back to the manufacturer. Why? Because most of these sellers who sell for less are not authorized dealers.
When you buy cheaper you most likely will have to buy twice so spend a little more and have peace of mind. I buy everything from newegg because I know they don't resell used items, if it is used they sell it as open box. Amazon is pretty good as well, as long as it is shipped by Amazon (not the Amazon's marketplace).
 
Bill Gates

Bill Gates

macrumors 68030
Jun 21, 2006
2,500
14
127.0.0.1
akutad said:
That didn't work either. Not buying kinsington again. I thought they're a great brand!??
Click to expand...
They are, but for some reason, there seems to be a disproportionate number of people who experience issues with Kingston memory on Apple machines. Kingston is fine for PC-related purchases. I have bought memory from them in the past for a PC of mine and was completely satisfied. With that said, for a Macintosh, I would only consider memory that is advertised as being :apple:-compatible.
 
bartelby

bartelby

macrumors Core
Jun 16, 2004
19,795
34
Weren't Kingston the recommended brand for Mac RAM at one point?


EDIT: This may have been a few years back mind...
 
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