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Macbook Late 2008 (Aluminum) RAM Upgrade

T

teejaysyke

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 5, 2012
170
56
Hello, I just got the 2.0GHz Late 2008 Macbook Unibody, and I want to upgrade the ram to 4GB, from the 2GB it came with. I'm using two 2GB chips from a late 2012 Mac Mini, and it starts up fine, but the second I click on iTunes. I get a kernel panic, and then if I restart I get a kernel panic on boot. The only way to fix this is to reinstall the ram, or put the old ram in, but that defeats the purpose.

I don't know how to get the logs for the kernal panic, but I'm just wondering if that RAM being 1600MHz could cause the panics?
 
The RAM from the Mac mini is completely different than the one in the macbook. In the Mac mini it is PC3-12800 and in the macbook it is PC3-8500. So basically it isn't compatible.
 
Okay, thank you. I was confused because I know they're both DDR3 so I figured it would work.
 
Just for ****ts and giggles I reinstalled the 4GB of ram earlier, and it seems to be working fine, I opened a ton of apps, including iTunes, logged out, logged in, reopened apps. Restarted, etc and no I didn't get any kernal panics.

I think I migh have not installed the top chip perfectly before.
 
teejaysyke said:
Just for ****ts and giggles I reinstalled the 4GB of ram earlier, and it seems to be working fine, I opened a ton of apps, including iTunes, logged out, logged in, reopened apps. Restarted, etc and no I didn't get any kernal panics.

I think I migh have not installed the top chip perfectly before.
Click to expand...

Some pre-2011 MacBooks have been noted for having issues downclocking RAM. To avoid problems, I highly recommend that buyers order the correct specification RAM appropriate for their computer. Technically, faster DDR3 will be downclocked, and slower RAM will run just fine at its given speed, but it can have issues either way.
 
Altemose said:
Some pre-2011 MacBooks have been noted for having issues downclocking RAM. To avoid problems, I highly recommend that buyers order the correct specification RAM appropriate for their computer. Technically, faster DDR3 will be downclocked, and slower RAM will run just fine at its given speed, but it can have issues either way.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I plan on doing that with an 8GB kit from OWC.
 
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