Issue with upgraded RAM?!

[aziatiklover]

I have a late macbook pro 2008 intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz running Yosemite with 2Gb total of ram stock (1Gb+1Gb), and today I upgraded to 4Gb (2Gb+2Gb) all at 1067Mhz DDR3.

However, I keep getting the kernel panic when both 2Gb sticks installed then I switched the ram sticks around 1Gb+2Gb and it works just fine with this set up. Do you guys know what gives this situation?

 

[jbachandouris]

Possibly one of the 2GB sticks is bad?

 

[aziatiklover]

Possibly one of the 2GB sticks is bad?

I tried both with the 1Gb stick and they both seem fine. I pretty much switched all of them around.

 

[jbachandouris]

I tried both with the 1Gb stick and they both seem fine. I pretty much switched all of them around.

Strange. No other ideas.

 

[aziatiklover]

Strange. No other ideas.

Yea I guess I will have to stick with 3Gb until Yosemite final/next betas release and see if it is the OS itself or not. I'm too lazy to reinstall Mavericks to see if it will read 4Gb.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I have a late macbook pro 2008 intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz running Yosemite with 2Gb total of ram stock (1Gb+1Gb), and today I upgraded to 4Gb (2Gb+2Gb) all at 1067Mhz DDR3.

However, I keep getting the kernel panic when both 2Gb sticks installed then I switched the ram sticks around 1Gb+2Gb and it works just fine with this set up. Do you guys know what gives this situation?

What brand and model of RAM?

Both of them working individually with 1 GB sticks, but not working in a pair sounds like the SPD (serial presence detect) values are incorrectly written for Macs. When the original 1 GB are in the machine can validate with the 1 GB stick's SPD.

What happens if you install one 2 GB alone (no 1 GB buddy to help out)?

 

[nicklad]

Boot MemTest up with both sticks installed. I suspect one is faulty.

 

[aziatiklover]

What brand and model of RAM?

Both of them working individually with 1 GB sticks, but not working in a pair sounds like the SPD (serial presence detect) values are incorrectly written for Macs. When the original 1 GB are in the machine can validate with the 1 GB stick's SPD.

What happens if you install one 2 GB alone (no 1 GB buddy to help out)?

Yes both working with 1GB stick, but not working in a pair! I have not tried just the 2 GB alone tho. Brand is ELPIDA got them from a buddy of mine.

Boot MemTest up with both sticks installed. I suspect one is faulty.

I have tried both 2GB sticks with the 1GB stick and they both perform the same, but when I have both 2GB sticks in the mac just freeze, and I can't do anything other than shutting down.

 

[JoelTheSuperior]

I have tried both 2GB sticks with the 1GB stick and they both perform the same, but when I have both 2GB sticks in the mac just freeze, and I can't do anything other than shutting down.

Regardless, test them with Memtest. I've had a similar issue before and I did later discover that despite what I had initially suspected one of the sticks was in fact faulty.

 

[Julien]

You can install DDR3 RAM in a 2008 Mac?????? Shouldn't it be DDR2?

 

[aziatiklover]

You can install DDR3 RAM in a 2008 Mac?????? Shouldn't it be DDR2?

 

[Julien]

Image

Yes

"No it will not work, your computer might boot but it will very soon be plagued by Kernel Panics. Please ensure you install RAM that is specified for your machine."

Did the 2008 Macbook come with DDR3? I have a 2008 Mac Pro and it came with DDR2. I remember trying DDR3 (or faster clock speed) and got kernel panics. Swapped for 800MHz DDR3 and runs fine.

 

[aziatiklover]

Yes

"No it will not work, your computer might boot but it will very soon be plagued by Kernel Panics. Please ensure you install RAM that is specified for your machine."

Did the 2008 Macbook come with DDR3? I have a 2008 Mac Pro and it came with DDR2. I remember trying DDR3 (or faster clock speed) and got kernel panics. Swapped for 800MHz DDR3 and runs fine.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3

http://support.apple.com/kb/sp499

 

[joedec]

Some of the older Core 2 Duo machines only support 3GB. Double check your manual via About This Mac, Memory, Memory Upgrade Instructions.

I saw this note ...

3 GB MacBook Pro (15-inch and 17-inch Core 2 Duo)
Note: These models will support only 3 GB total memory. If you want to maximize the amount of SDRAM in your computer, install a 2 GB SO-DIMM in one slot and a 1GB SO-DIMM in the other.

 

[aziatiklover]

Some of the older Core 2 Duo machines only support 3GB. Double check your manual via About This Mac, Memory, Memory Upgrade Instructions.

I saw this note ...

3 GB MacBook Pro (15-inch and 17-inch Core 2 Duo)
Note: These models will support only 3 GB total memory. If you want to maximize the amount of SDRAM in your computer, install a 2 GB SO-DIMM in one slot and a 1GB SO-DIMM in the other.

I double checked and with my Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B06
I can max out to 8GB of ram.

Plus Apple site says 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 4GB for my macbook pro version.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Some of the older Core 2 Duo machines only support 3GB. Double check your manual via About This Mac, Memory, Memory Upgrade Instructions.
I saw this note ...
3 GB MacBook Pro (15-inch and 17-inch Core 2 Duo)
Note: These models will support only 3 GB total memory. If you want to maximize the amount of SDRAM in your computer, install a 2 GB SO-DIMM in one slot and a 1GB SO-DIMM in the other.

Not relevant to the original poster's late 2008 machine, this only applies to the pre-SantaRosa Macbook Pros (2006 and early 2007) which use DDR2-667. All Macs from the SantaRosa chipset (mid-late 2007) onwards can recognize at least 4 GB RAM.

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Yes
"No it will not work, your computer might boot but it will very soon be plagued by Kernel Panics. Please ensure you install RAM that is specified for your machine."
Did the 2008 Macbook come with DDR3? I have a 2008 Mac Pro and it came with DDR2. I remember trying DDR3 (or faster clock speed) and got kernel panics. Swapped for 800MHz DDR3 and runs fine.

Incorrect on many counts.
You cannot swap DDR2 for DDR3, they will not physically fit.
DDR3 vs DDR2 is not a clock speed issue.
Mac Pro is not the same as MacBook Pro - totally different RAM (FB-DIMMs in the tower vs. SODIMMs in the laptop)
There are no 800 MHz DDR3 modules in existence.

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I double checked and with my Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B06
I can max out to 8GB of ram.

Plus Apple site says 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 4GB for my macbook pro version.

This all looks correct. I will stick with the guess that the random Elpida RAM you got does not have the correct programming (SPD) for the Mac to recognize. Probably worked fine in their Windows laptop, but Apple is pretty serious about checking the RAM for the correct specifications on bootup.

 

[joedec]

Not relevant to the original poster's late 2008 machine, this only applies to the pre-SantaRosa Macbook Pros (2006 and early 2007) which use DDR2-667. All Macs from the SantaRosa chipset (mid-late 2007) onwards can recognize at least 4 GB RAM.

Agreed "if" it really is a Late 2008, seems to fit the symptoms of a 3GB machine. User is checking against Boot ROM, I've never gone down that road.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Agreed "if" it really is a Late 2008, seems to fit the symptoms of a 3GB machine. User is checking against Boot ROM, I've never gone down that road.

Original post is definite on the model. They wouldn't have been able to install DDR3 in an earlier model.
"late macbook pro 2008 intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz ...all at 1067Mhz DDR3. "

 

[aziatiklover]

Not relevant to the original poster's late 2008 machine, this only applies to the pre-SantaRosa Macbook Pros (2006 and early 2007) which use DDR2-667. All Macs from the SantaRosa chipset (mid-late 2007) onwards can recognize at least 4 GB RAM.

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Incorrect on many counts.
You cannot swap DDR2 for DDR3, they will not physically fit.
DDR3 vs DDR2 is not a clock speed issue.
Mac Pro is not the same as MacBook Pro - totally different RAM (FB-DIMMs in the tower vs. SODIMMs in the laptop)
There are no 800 MHz DDR3 modules in existence.

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This all looks correct. I will stick with the guess that the random Elpida RAM you got does not have the correct programming (SPD) for the Mac to recognize. Probably worked fine in their Windows laptop, but Apple is pretty serious about checking the RAM for the correct specifications on bootup.

Yeap! That what I was thinking. That set up might work with Mavericks, but with Yosemite on beta might be picky about rams. Anyway, thanx for your help.