MBP 3 beeps and freezes

[mdgm]

Hi,

I recently had a SSD and 16GB RAM installed in a MBP. After each was installed, the Apple Hardware Test was run and no errors were found.

A few times now, though the MBP has crashed with 3 beeps.

Reading around it sounds like this could be a logic board issue? Am I correct? The AppleCare runs out in 3 days so I need to take it in for service ASAP if this is the case.

 

[GGJstudios]

Hi,

I recently had a SSD and 16GB RAM installed in a MBP. After each was installed, the Apple Hardware Test was run and no errors were found.

A few times now, though the MBP has crashed with 3 beeps.

Reading around it sounds like this could be a logic board issue? Am I correct? The AppleCare runs out in 3 days so I need to take it in for service ASAP if this is the case.

3 beeps on startup usually indicates a RAM issue. Make sure your RAM modules are properly seated.

 

[mdgm]

3 beeps on startup usually indicates a RAM issue. Make sure your RAM modules are properly seated.

The guy who installed them assured me they were. It is not on startup. The Mac is operating fine, then all of a sudden out of nowhere 3 beeps and it crashes.

No errors were found doing the Apple Hardware Test so I suspect a problem with the logic board.

 

[DeltaMac]

The 3 beeps are indicative of a memory problem.
If you did not have that problem before the memory was upgraded, then either the memory is NOT seated properly - or one or both of the cards have a problem. You would want to run a memory test more extensive than the simple test that is the hardware test - download and run Rember, from single-user mode running overnight, at least 6 hours. http://www.kelleycomputing.net/rember/
Or, even better, get your friend, who is convinced that the RAM is seated OK, to run the test for you…

 

[mdgm]

Running Rember now.

The command I found was

# Applications/Rember.app/Contents/Resources/memtest

Should I be specifying any options?

 

[Chancha]

A memtest can only fully check your RAM if you run it off OS X, since booting into OS X you inevitably occupy a few GBs of RAM where the test cannot be run on.

Also a typical reason for 3 beeps is RAM not properly seated. The technician may be correct that he did this proper and seated them tightly, but that does not mean the RAM would never get loose. In fact in my Early 2011 MBP the plastic tabs that hold the RAMs in place got softened by heat throughout the 2+ years of high usage, that they lose their grip onto the RAM where I am getting kernel panics every time I pick up the MBP (with some force).

I found out this issue the hard way by opening the bottom case of the MBP to check, which I am reluctant to recommend you to do the same if you are not confident into doing this, but this can at least eliminate one probable cause of failure. Also I am guessing that the RAM and SSD upgrades were done by 3rd party not Apple, if the issue is not logic board related, sending this in back for Applecare will just get you a reply of Apple not supporting 3rd party aftermarket upgrades. You can to put together the old RAM and HDD back to the MBP before sending in, but this is not so meaningful as the problem probably isn't there with this old, working setup.

 

[mdgm]

The whole point of the upgrades was to extend the useful life of the machine.

4GB RAM isn't enough any more and the old 5400rpm hard drive was slow too.

I'm convinced the problem isn't with the RAM as it passed the Apple Hardware Test and running memtest now through single user mode hasn't found a problem so far.

 

[dwest73]

The whole point of the upgrades was to extend the useful life of the machine.

4GB RAM isn't enough any more and the old 5400rpm hard drive was slow too.

I'm convinced the problem isn't with the RAM as it passed the Apple Hardware Test and running memtest now through single user mode hasn't found a problem so far.

I had the exact same problem. Ran all the tests, nothing came up and the problems persisted until I just got new ram-sticks. Problem gone. It IS the memory modules. One or both are faulty, or they're not seated properly. In my case it was the former.