late '08 unibody mb pro 15" 8gb ram not working...

[agentcooper2001]

so, i just picked up this late '08 macbook pro. it's the 2.8ghz 15" model. it already had 4gb of ram in it, which speeds along pretty well. i wanted to upgrade to 8gb, so i ordered corsair 2 x 4gb kit.

i installed the new ram and it booted up. i check about this mac and it says 8gb ram. well, a few minutes later firefox is open and the computer freezes. so, i restart and it starts the apple screen, then goes to blue screen and stays that way.

i thought maybe the ram wasn't seated properly, so i reseated it and tried that process a few times, even once trying one new 4gb stick with my previous 2gb stick to see if 6gb would work. it didn't. same blue screen.

i put my 2 sticks of original ram back in and it's working fine again. any idea what might be the problem? any help would be great. thanks!

 

[agentcooper2001]

one difference i see is that my corsair memory is 1066MHz ddr3 and my existing samsung memory says its 1067MHz ddr3. could that be the issue?

 

[RKpro]

The late 2008s were never supposed to work with 8GB. So it's kind of a hit and miss. I've tried Muskin kit, and it did not boot. But I've got the Crucial 8GB kit, and it works great, had it for nearly a month now. Most people on these forums have the Crucial kit working.

The 1066 vs 1067 is probably nothing, I'm guessing samsung rounded up.

 

[agentcooper2001]

ok, will get this ram sent back and give crucial a shot.

just to note, the label on the 8gb memory says:

Corsair
CM3X8GSDKIT1066

kind of bummed that it didn't work

 

[tcphoto]

I read a post last week about a firmware update that would allow the use of 8GB of RAM. Do a search, update the firmware and try the memory again.

 

[RKpro]

The firmware/bios updates on macs are done through "Software Update" in OS X. I would assume you already have the latest, because Software Update nags the user periodically, and most people update when asked. You can check anyway, if it says Your software is up to date, than you already have it.

 

[agentcooper2001]

i checked the boot rom...it matched the number it was supposed to be, to handle the 8gb of ram. they're going to order the crucial ram for me, so hopefully that will work.

 

[fyrefly]

The firmware/bios updates on macs are done through "Software Update" in OS X. I would assume you already have the latest, because Software Update nags the user periodically, and most people update when asked. You can check anyway, if it says Your software is up to date, than you already have it.

Not the case in regards to the "secret" firmware update that enables 8GB of RAM in these machines.

You have to separately download it from Apple and apply it.

More here:
http://blog.macsales.com/9102-secret-firmware-lets-late-08-macbooks-use-8gb