Late 2007 Macbook won't boot with matched ram

[PawKena]

Hi,

Haven't posted in awhile and I have been trying to find a solution for a few hours.I just bought PNY 4gb(2x2gb) DDR2 PC2-5300 memory and tried to install it into a late 2007 Macbook(MB062LL/B) and it won't boot up. I've been searching other threads that had the same problem with solutions like resetting PRAM NVRAM and SMC. The mac will boot with combination of one 2gb stick and one stock 512mb stick. I read in the other forums that the problem could be mislabeling and the speed could be actually 800MHz. Any suggestions? Here are some more details:


Memory Slots:

ECC: Disabled

BANK 0/DIMM0:

Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK

 

[session101]

first things first

are you sure you have a late 2007 macbook, a mid-2007 macbook will only support 3GB RAM so there's some food for thought

2nd have you tried each stick of the new RAM that you bought to see if either stick was bad? also did you switch slots too to rule out that they might be bad also

 

[PawKena]

first things first

are you sure you have a late 2007 macbook, a mid-2007 macbook will only support 3GB RAM so there's some food for thought

2nd have you tried each stick of the new RAM that you bought to see if either stick was bad? also did you switch slots too to rule out that they might be bad also

thanks for the response.

the macbook says that its a macbook3,1. I checked both 2gb sticks in different slots and it didn't work. Both 2gb sticks with both stock 512mb sticks interchangeably and it booted up.

 

[JohnPhamlore]

Everyone needs to stop using shortcuts for ram upgrades

first things first

are you sure you have a late 2007 macbook, a mid-2007 macbook will only support 3GB RAM so there's some food for thought

2nd have you tried each stick of the new RAM that you bought to see if either stick was bad? also did you switch slots too to rule out that they might be bad also

We live in a glorious world where for ram upgrades for older Mac systems, one can buy the best for almost the same price as less than the best.

3GB is irrelevant. I have 4GB in a mid-2007 Macbook that uses on 3GB .

The original poster already described the Macbook as late 2007. The identification phase of the system is presumably over. The only thing the original poster needed to do was find another post in some forum describing an exact maker and part number of ram that works with that particular system, late 2007 Macbook. Nothing else is important.

As the original poster discovered after the purchase, others have reported the particular part chosen may have problems with similar systems. The frequency is not compatible. It's not going to help to randomly swap slots or parts. That's just useless voodoo.

Ram from top-rated makers such as Crucial for many systems are priced at basically the same as ram from other brands. Everyone on these forums who is wasting time over a relatively cheap item for no reason could have saved all the hassle simply by buying from Crucial and following their recommendations and recommendations from their users.

Here was the right procedure for upgrading ram on a mid 2007 Macbook:

1) Identify machine, mid 2007 Macbook
2) Find someone who posted about successfully using a particular part on that particular machine. I choose by default to go to Crucial first because their stuff just works, supposedly the advantage of Macs. For me that part turned out to be
CT2KIT25664AC667
3) If the ram doesn't work stop screwing around and just send it back. That's why one buys from reputable makers and sellers like Crucial from their own web site.

 

[PawKena]

We live in a glorious world where for ram upgrades for older Mac systems, one can buy the best for almost the same price as less than the best.

3GB is irrelevant. I have 4GB in a mid-2007 Macbook that uses on 3GB .

The original poster already described the Macbook as late 2007. The identification phase of the system is presumably over. The only thing the original poster needed to do was find another post in some forum describing an exact maker and part number of ram that works with that particular system, late 2007 Macbook. Nothing else is important.

As the original poster discovered after the purchase, others have reported the particular part chosen may have problems with similar systems. The frequency is not compatible. It's not going to help to randomly swap slots or parts. That's just useless voodoo.

Ram from top-rated makers such as Crucial for many systems are priced at basically the same as ram from other brands. Everyone on these forums who is wasting time over a relatively cheap item for no reason could have saved all the hassle simply by buying from Crucial and following their recommendations and recommendations from their users.

Here was the right procedure for upgrading ram on a mid 2007 Macbook:

1) Identify machine, mid 2007 Macbook
2) Find someone who posted about successfully using a particular part on that particular machine. I choose by default to go to Crucial first because their stuff just works, supposedly the advantage of Macs. For me that part turned out to be
CT2KIT25664AC667
3) If the ram doesn't work stop screwing around and just send it back. That's why one buys from reputable makers and sellers like Crucial from their own web site.

You hit the nail on the head. Finding that posting in another forum(https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2714365?start=0&tstart=0) took awhile, but I'm just glad it worked out the same way. I should've gone with Crucial the first time but of course at micro center I figured hey, I'll get the slightly more expensive brand cause its got all this perfectly placed lettering and was aesthetically appealing and figured it must be good, but don't be fooled by pretty packaging.

Don't buy PNY for older Gen Macs...they're mislabeled as 667MHz when they're really 800MHz.