RAM has gone bad 4 times now, anyone else have RAM issues?

[bearboykahlo]

I purchased a 17" MBP (Early 2010) the week they were released. In the first 2 months, one stick of RAM would go bad at a time. This happened 3 times. The Apple Store replaced them the first 2 times, but on the third failure (after doing a diagnostic that found nothing) they decided to replace the unit with a new MBP.

It has been just over a month and one stick of RAM has gone bad on my new MBP. This is the 4th RAM failure.

I keep my MBP on my desk 99% of the time. I'm not doing anything crazy with it. It's almost always plugged in to a power source. I've owned many Macs and PCs over the years and never had RAM problems like this.

I got the feeling the genius employee who helped me this time was getting suspicious of the frequent RAM failures on two separate macs. If I were him, I would be too. But I know I'm not doing anything that would cause this (and I'm not opening up the insides of the MBP for fear of voiding warranty).

Has anyone else had an issue like this? Can anyone think of something that could bring about RAM failures this frequent? Was the 1st computer defective and the 2nd one just bad luck with a bad stick of RAM?

If if makes a difference. On the 1st MBP, when booting up I'd get a blank screen, no beeps. With the 2nd MBP, I'm getting a blank screen but 3 beeps/blinking lights that repeat.

 

[BobbyCarbn]

How is the power coming into your house? One of the only things I have seen cause RAM go back like that is a power surge, dirty power or lightning strikes. You could maybe also have a bad voltage regulator on the logic board which is frying the chips as well.

I would ask for the laptop logic board to be replaced at the least if you rule out power issues in your home.

BC

 

[bearboykahlo]

They believed it was something with the logic board, that's why they replaced the whole unit. I also have two Mac Minis, another MBP (2009) and an iMac in the household without issues. Also, doesn't the battery "condition" the power that ultimately gets used by the computer? Its also on a UPS.

One thing I forgot to leave out that may be important (at least for the 4th failure). I accidentally kicked the power brick out of the UPS and the battery had run down completely. That is when I had trouble booting the MBP. Although it could have just been coincidence and I almost never turn the MBP off. The RAM may have been spotty and turning off and on triggered the POST check?