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OWC ram...no go on my new MBP.

G

Gunga Din

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 1, 2008
476
5
Old Trafford
Well I ordered 4GB ram from OWC (first time buyer and first time mac owner). I installed them and my MBP would not start up. A screen kept coming up to tell me to restart. So, put in the apple ram, and everything was ok. Tried the OWC a 2nd time....no good. Put the apple ram in and back to normal.

Has anyone else had this type of problem? I'm gonna return the ram, this is my first Mac, i'm scared to death that i'll mess it up. I think i'll go with Crucial Ram, that the next best thing?

Unless someone can tell me what i did wrong. I just cant think of anything other than them not snapping in well like the Apple ram.
 
OWC makes good RAM, but no vendor has a perfect record when it comes to RAM...every once in a while you do get a bad stick. Fortunately, OWC has a great warranty policy. Have you tried mixing and matching the OWC RAM with the Apple RAM to try to pinpoint where the problem is? Are you sure it's the correct RAM and that you're seating it properly in the slot?

If it definitely turns out to be bad RAM, contact OWC and they'll send out replacements right away.
 
WildCowboy said:
OWC makes good RAM, but no vendor has a perfect record when it comes to RAM...every once in a while you do get a bad stick. Fortunately, OWC has a great warranty policy. Have you tried mixing and matching the OWC RAM with the Apple RAM to try to pinpoint where the problem is? Are you sure it's the correct RAM and that you're seating it properly in the slot?

If it definitely turns out to be bad RAM, contact OWC and they'll send out replacements right away.
Click to expand...

I didnt try mixing the ram, all I know is when I put the Apple ram back in, everything is well. So obviously I know how to put in ram. I get this weird error when I try to use the OWC ram. I'm new to Mac or I would explain it better.

Yes, OWC will give me a full refund. I might just try a company that I know from past purchases. However, OWC support was very good. Maybe I'll try to put the OWC ram in again or mix it to see, but this is my first Mac so .... i'm worried something out of the ordinary will happen.
 
If you decide to try and mix/match please let us know the results. My new MBP is due to my house tomorrow and I have 4GB of OWC RAM coming shortly behind it.
 
Gunga Din said:
I didnt try mixing the ram, all I know is when I put the Apple ram back in, everything is well. So obviously I know how to put in ram. I get this weird error when I try to use the OWC ram. I'm new to Mac or I would explain it better.

Yes, OWC will give me a full refund. I might just try a company that I know from past purchases. However, OWC support was very good. Maybe I'll try to put the OWC ram in again or mix it to see, but this is my first Mac so .... i'm worried something out of the ordinary will happen.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with the G-link RAMs i got from newegg. I just sent them back today for a full refund. Waiting to get my money back then go for the Crucial RAMs

I've tried everything with the Glinks. Swap positions, swap with Apple's, zapped the PRAM, hardware scan with the recovery disk (they passed though). I told newegg that the rams are defective and they waived the restocking fee for me.
 
Me oh Ram

Definitely interested in hearing some more results. I have never had any problem with OWC Ram in the past. And I know a lot of others use it as well.

My 4 GB of OWC are already sitting here beside me, just waiting on my new MBP to arrive very very soon, at least i hope.
 
MascisMan said:
If you decide to try and mix/match please let us know the results. My new MBP is due to my house tomorrow and I have 4GB of OWC RAM coming shortly behind it.
Click to expand...

I tried mixing Kensington ValueRAM (2GB) with whatever came with the MBP a year ago (1GB). That didn't work. I think one is ECC, one is non-ECC. But it seems to work fine with just the $40 2GB ValueRAM stick in there.
 
reply
Michael CM1 said:
I tried mixing Kensington ValueRAM (2GB) with whatever came with the MBP a year ago (1GB). That didn't work. I think one is ECC, one is non-ECC. But it seems to work fine with just the $40 2GB ValueRAM stick in there.
Click to expand...

Yes that's because that MPB can only support 2G of RAM. I have the same one. Doesn't matter how you put it, whether in one slot or two; the total has to be 2G, although parallel slotting is much better.
 
Appler said:
reply
Yes that's because that MPB can only support 2G of RAM. I have the same one. Doesn't matter how you put it, whether in one slot or two; the total has to be 2G, although parallel slotting is much better.
Click to expand...

I don't know where you're getting your information, but the MBP supports 4gb of RAM (per Apple)

"2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB"
 
Area51Tazz said:
I don't know where you're getting your information, but the MBP supports 4gb of RAM (per Apple)

"2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB"
Click to expand...

You're both off track. If you read the poster's sig, that RAM was for a 2.16Ghz MBP. That means it can use 3GB (up to 3.3GB) of RAM.

4GB can be installed, it just won't use all of it.

MacRumors guide to Intel Mac RAM
 
I picked up 4GB off newegg of Kingston ram for my Penryn work machine, no issues here, running fine. Never bought memory from OWC, always from Newegg, either Crucial or Kingston.
 
For what's it's worth, and at the risk of sounding like an OWC corporate shill (which I assure you I am not), I have used OWC in the past for RAM and other products and I swear by the company. They always stand behind their products, they have been around a long time and know the Mac platform backwards and forwards. And they have customer service that is second to none.

I would suggest mixing the RAM (ie, one of the Apple factory and one OWC) as you might be able to pinpoint one bad RAM stick instead of two, and have yourself 3 GB of RAM to use while OWC replaces the bad stick. If both are bad, which is certainly possible though unusual, they will certainly replace both for you without question.
 
I think tolerances for these high density memory chips can be quite low. I have had problems in the past with matching memory to my Apple laptops. This, of course, is not just Apple by any means -- back in my PC-building days I had a problem with a Win 2K install dying in the middle of the installation repeatedly (this was in the context of a motherboard swap) -- took the better part of the day to trace it to a memory stick.

In any case, I just upgraded my new Penryn MBP to 4 GB, as I had noticed that there seemed to be scattered reports of problems (even with Crucial RAM), I bit the bullet and spent the extra $50 on the Samsung RAM from OWC. No problems whatsoever.

My $0.02 .

JT
 
sixth said:
I picked up 4GB off newegg of Kingston ram for my Penryn work machine, no issues here, running fine. Never bought memory from OWC, always from Newegg, either Crucial or Kingston.
Click to expand...

Same here, bought pair 4gb ram made by Kingston from Newegg, and works perfectly. I've never ever had a problem with Kingston.

Kind off subject, but it kind of makes me laugh that people think they need "premium" ram in their "premium" laptop...
 
Achiever said:
For what's it's worth, and at the risk of sounding like an OWC corporate shill (which I assure you I am not), I have used OWC in the past for RAM and other products and I swear by the company. They always stand behind their products, they have been around a long time and know the Mac platform backwards and forwards. And they have customer service that is second to none.

I would suggest mixing the RAM (ie, one of the Apple factory and one OWC) as you might be able to pinpoint one bad RAM stick instead of two, and have yourself 3 GB of RAM to use while OWC replaces the bad stick. If both are bad, which is certainly possible though unusual, they will certainly replace both for you without question.
Click to expand...

I couldn't AGREE more.. OWC is one of the best companies I've dealt with in the tech industry.. I'm no OWC shill either- I'm just a consumer level user who tends to find a lot of this stuff very confusing at times.. OWC has walked me through, RAM installations, HD upgrades, AirPort card installations, external HD solutions and much more over the years.. Never once did they steer me wrong, or make me feel like an idiot for not knowing what the heck I was doing..

On top of that their prices are always fair- usually very good- but never out of line.. Like I said, I'm not an OWC shill, and personally, it doesn't matter who people get their stuff from to me, all I know is that it's rare to find a company in any business, but ESPECIALLY the tech biz, that is willing to do whatever they can in their powers to make the customer not just happy, but comfortable with what they're doing.. Many people aren't comfortable messing around with the insides of their expensive computers.. I'm not totally comfortable with it myself, but at least I know that I'll get the support I need before I start the job, and after if something doesn't go as planned.. That's good enough for me..
 
Well, I ended up just sending the RAM back. Couldnt get it to work. I might try a different RAM Manufacturer from those listed above..

OWC was great, I had no problems getting the RMA to return the memory.

No big deal, just didnt work . I have nothing against OWC, just wanted to bring this to people's attention.
 
Yeah, if it's not working out for you send it back- no doubt.. I wonder if both sticks were bad, or you just ended up with RAM that wasn't compatible somehow.. Either way, good luck with it.. The good thing is that now you know how easy it is to install so you'll be comfortable doing it.. Wherever you get it from just make sure it has a lifetime warranty, and I usually save the original in case something happens, but some people sell theirs.. I usually stick the original back in before sending the computer for repairs as well- lol- I say "usually" like it happens all the time- it's been twice, and I doubt it was even necessary but I did it anyway..
 
No issues with my 4GB of ram from OWC. I got it a week ago and works perfect!
 
that's weird - i got the 4gb of OWC for my Penryn Macbook Pro - works perfectly. I believe they guarantee it so just get them to send you some new ones. Sucks though...
 
installed my owc 4gb in my sr mbp and have had no problems. maybe you killed it or got a bad stick. i'm sure they will have problem replacing it. it happens!
 
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