I was swapping drives and memory around in my Mac minis to get the best, low-powered, silent operating, Leopard Mac to suit my music production DAW, VSTs and other Leopard-era software, with the intent to replace a failed Power Mac G5.
I have 3 macmini3,1 models from 2009 and there was one in particular which just refused to boot after swapping RAM around. I tried all combinations of PC3-8500 SO-DIMMs which I had on hand. The only luck I had was booting with an empty lower RAM slot (BANK0). anything in that lower slot just refused to boot and resulted in 3 beeps, pause, 3 beeps, pause, and so on.
I did some research and came across some reports of people adding pressure to the modules (in later model minis), which could improve the module contacts. So, I tried padding the RAM out with a couple of off-cuts of 2mm thick thermal padding between the sticks of RAM, ensuring a snug fit when the top module is pushed into place. Sure enough, the mini fired up with a happy boot chime again.
Any module in this lower bank (BANK0/DIMM0) resulted in 3 beeps, and no boot.
I added some 2mm thick thermal pads on top of the lower module.
With the pads, the top module now applies a little pressure to the lower slot once it clicks in.
We now have a happy mini with plenty of RAM, tons of performance (for Leopard) and lots of software to enjoy.
The "failed" slot reminded me of the issue of the PowerBook G4 15" and 17" series which would often have lower memory slot failure. It will be worth testing this technique on some of my PowerPC laptops next.
-AphoticD
I have 3 macmini3,1 models from 2009 and there was one in particular which just refused to boot after swapping RAM around. I tried all combinations of PC3-8500 SO-DIMMs which I had on hand. The only luck I had was booting with an empty lower RAM slot (BANK0). anything in that lower slot just refused to boot and resulted in 3 beeps, pause, 3 beeps, pause, and so on.
I did some research and came across some reports of people adding pressure to the modules (in later model minis), which could improve the module contacts. So, I tried padding the RAM out with a couple of off-cuts of 2mm thick thermal padding between the sticks of RAM, ensuring a snug fit when the top module is pushed into place. Sure enough, the mini fired up with a happy boot chime again.
Any module in this lower bank (BANK0/DIMM0) resulted in 3 beeps, and no boot.
I added some 2mm thick thermal pads on top of the lower module.
With the pads, the top module now applies a little pressure to the lower slot once it clicks in.
We now have a happy mini with plenty of RAM, tons of performance (for Leopard) and lots of software to enjoy.
-AphoticD
