new ram issue

[Ultraa]

I have A 13in mid-2009 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo mbp. According to apple's website it supports 8gb of ram so I bought 8gb of PNY ram from best buy. My computer would not boot after I installed it, got it replaced, the new ones worked fine. After about an hour with the new ram my mac froze and restarted itself then starting doing this every 5-10 minutes.

So now I am about to order some crucial or corsair ram from newegg. My question is does my macbook not support 8gb or is PNY just an unreliable company?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Your 2009 MBP does support 8 GB of RAM, I have 8 GB of 1333 MHz RAM in my 2009 MBP, though the brand is a lesser known one called CnMemory. PNY is not recommended that much to call it reputable, Crucial, Corsair and G.Skill are recommended much more often.
Maybe you just got bad modules twice.

Upgrading RAM in MacBooks and MacBook Pros​

 

[Dark Void]

It's probably just bad RAM. RMA it and get different SODIMMs.

 

[Ultraa]

Thanks. This might be a dumb question but does all 204-pin ddr3 ram work or should I be looking for something that is listed as mac compatible?

 

[Dark Void]

Thanks. This might be a dumb question but does all 204-pin ddr3 ram work or should I be looking for something that is listed as mac compatible?

Mac-compatible is a sales gimmick.

Any RAM that is compatible in terms of specs (MHz, etc) will run properly in your Mac.

 

[dubels]

Mac-compatible is a sales gimmick.

Any RAM that is compatible in terms of specs (MHz, etc) will run properly in your Mac.

True but PNY ram is crap! I had my 8GB kit replaced the first time 3 months in. Now my replacement needs a replacement. I am going to get a replacement but I doubt I will even put it in my MBP because I am done with it and I just ordered some Crucial ram.

 

[xxcysxx]

when i buy a new set of rams for my computer, i've always run memtest86 to stress test them for a few hours before i commit to using them on my system. sometime you can install new set of defective ram that appear to be working fine until a certain bad memory block gets written to and when the os tried to access it, and it couldn't, then you get what is called a kernel panic or your system just shutdown from a fatal error, or just a plain red screen error. a more frustrating situation from this can occur when you spend about eight hours writing a set of codes, then suddenly you lost all of your work because of that one bad memory block in the ram that was written to now cant be accessed and you lost all your work! this can suck big time i tell you!
so test the new ram sticks before committing them to your system, it could save you a lot of frustration down the road.

i wonder if the guys who buy the macs with the ram chips soldered on test their rams before commit to keeping them. they're just out looking for dead pixels and ghost on their screens and overlook this one area of testing.

memtest86 is free and it work on mac too.

you can buy the most expensive set of ram and you can still get a defective set, or you can get a decent set of ram and test them to save money.
on ram you either get a bad set or you don't. they don't get bad as you use them.