MacBook Pro 15'' Mid 2010 Memory

[apcrompton]

Hi guys,

I have recently diagnosed my MacbookPro 6,2 with a fauly lower memory slot (it was locking up and beeping 3 times when I tried to move it). I originally had 4GB of RAM in the machine and I've had to remove one of the 2GB sticks (from the lower memory slot). I was wondering if it is possible to upgrade my machine to 8GB of RAM using just the upper slot (only 1 stick of memory). I've seen this product on MacFixIt:
https://www.macfixit.com.au/8-0gb-1-x-8-0gb-owc-pc8500-ddr3-1066mhz-so-dimm-204-pin-ram.html

It's a single stick of OWC 8GB 1066mhz PC8500 memory, the same spec as any other memory that is compatible with my laptop, however the website states that the memory is only compatible with MacBookPro 7,1, MacBook 7,1 and MacMini 4,1. Is there any reason other than slightly decreased performance (compared to having 2 sticks of 4GB) that this memory would be incompatible with my machine? Has anyone else tried this product in a machine other than the above machines? Also, is anyone aware of any other single stick of 8GB memory that would work for my machine?

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post.

Alex Crompton

 

[Samuelsan2001]

it should work

If I remember correctly apple only officially support 8gb on that configuration but 16gb was fine so 1 8gb stick should be fine...

 

[saturnotaku]

The 15-inch 2010 MacBook Pro only supports a maximum of 8 GB of RAM. That being the case, you should buy it in a 2x4 GB pack so it will run in dual-channel mode, which offers the best performance.

Only the 13-inch 2010 MBP was capable of supporting 16 GB.

 

[apcrompton]

The 15-inch 2010 MacBook Pro only supports a maximum of 8 GB of RAM. That being the case, you should buy it in a 2x4 GB pack so it will run in dual-channel mode, which offers the best performance.

Only the 13-inch 2010 MBP was capable of supporting 16 GB.

The problem with buying 2x 4gb sticks is that my lower memory slot is failing and is causing the machine to crash and is pretty much unusable with ram in the lower slot.

 

[NavySEAL6]

The problem with buying 2x 4gb sticks is that my lower memory slot is failing and is causing the machine to crash and is pretty much unusable with ram in the lower slot.

Are you sure that's the problem? Try running it with just a ram module in that slot to see if there's an issue. If there is, swap the memory chip into the same slot and see if there's another issue. I would think that it would be more likely for the RAM to fail rather than the board

 

[apcrompton]

Are you sure that's the problem? Try running it with just a ram module in that slot to see if there's an issue. If there is, swap the memory chip into the same slot and see if there's another issue. I would think that it would be more likely for the RAM to fail rather than the board

Yeah, I did that. I ran with a module in the lower slot and it was very unstable (crashed within 2 seconds of me moving the laptop with the 3 beeps). I then put the same module in the other slot and I can't get the machine to crash now, no matter how much I move the laptop. It's just really slow at the moment because I've only got 2gb of ram installed and that's really not enough to run OS X Yosemite, although it is running better than I thought it would with just 2gb of ram, but it's still really slow.

 

[NavySEAL6]

Yeah, I did that. I ran with a module in the lower slot and it was very unstable (crashed within 2 seconds of me moving the laptop with the 3 beeps). I then put the same module in the other slot and I can't get the machine to crash now, no matter how much I move the laptop. It's just really slow at the moment because I've only got 2gb of ram installed and that's really not enough to run OS X Yosemite, although it is running better than I thought it would with just 2gb of ram, but it's still really slow.

I see so there's definitely an issue with the slot then. It's probably not worth a logic board repair at this point. I would check crucial and pick up a 4GB card and just use the one slot, that should be fine.