SOS beeps: ram error or logic board? (UPDATED, read 3rd post)

[jaqueh]

My computer about 5 months ago had it's first ever kernal panic, then they got more frequent as the months wore by until one time when it panicked, i got the SOS beeps upon restart and would not start up. So I removed the ram and inserted them back into the slots, and then the computer turned on just fine. I brought it to my school's certified repair tech because the nearest Apple store to Davis is too far away for me to bike/ take the bus to. They couldn't find anything wrong with the computer but admitted that their diagnostic was not comprehensive. Fast foward to yesterday, my computer, four times in a row, would freeze up and nothing was movable besides the pointer. The first time this happened I tried to play around with it, tried to sleep the computer, and even waited 15 minutes to see if it would wake up. All to no avail. So I went to a campus computer to read information about this error online, and I discovered that this happens sometimes with the NVIDIAs faulty 9600 chip, so i switched to 9400 but it still happened. I managed to install the latest EFI update, and so far it seems to be fine.

Basically I am telling you all of this because I have an appointment at the apple store on Saturday and I was wondering if you guys think it's prudent to cancel the appointment because it is quite a ways away. Also, I don't even have applecare anymore so anything they tell me to fix I would probably either try myself or simply get a macbook air. So i don't know if it is too worth it, I just want to know if they will be able to find out if my computer has a fault or not, or if this is something that the EFI update can solve.

My macbook is the macbook pro 5,1 or the late-2008 unibody 15" w/ removable battery

 

[Interstella5555]

My computer about 5 months ago had it's first ever kernal panic, then they got more frequent as the months wore by until one time when it panicked, i got the SOS beeps upon restart and would not start up. So I removed the ram and inserted them back into the slots, and then the computer turned on just fine. I brought it to my school's certified repair tech because the nearest Apple store to Davis is too far away for me to bike/ take the bus to. They couldn't find anything wrong with the computer but admitted that their diagnostic was not comprehensive. Fast foward to yesterday, my computer, four times in a row, would freeze up and nothing was movable besides the pointer. The first time this happened I tried to play around with it, tried to sleep the computer, and even waited 15 minutes to see if it would wake up. All to no avail. So I went to a campus computer to read information about this error online, and I discovered that this happens sometimes with the NVIDIAs faulty 9600 chip, so i switched to 9400 but it still happened. I managed to install the latest EFI update, and so far it seems to be fine.

Basically I am telling you all of this because I have an appointment at the apple store on Saturday and I was wondering if you guys think it's prudent to cancel the appointment because it is quite a ways away. Also, I don't even have applecare anymore so anything they tell me to fix I would probably either try myself or simply get a macbook air. So i don't know if it is too worth it, I just want to know if they will be able to find out if my computer has a fault or not, or if this is something that the EFI update can solve.

My macbook is the macbook pro 5,1 or the late-2008 unibody 15" w/ removable battery

How did you do this?

 

[jaqueh]

How did you do this?

because mine is the 15" macbook pro, it has a switchable GPU. But it doesn't matter now because my computer now won't start up and is giving me the SOS (. . . - - - . . .) beeps on startup, so i've asked OWC to send me a new set of ram because i suspect that the ram is faulty, but i'm fearing that it's my logic board.

 

[Interstella5555]

because mine is the 15" macbook pro, it has a switchable GPU. But it doesn't matter now because my computer now won't start up and is giving me the SOS (. . . - - - . . .) beeps on startup, so i've asked OWC to send me a new set of ram because i suspect that the ram is faulty, but i'm fearing that it's my logic board.

Interesting, I didn't realize that. The 3 beeps do indicate a RAM problem, the first set I got for my Rev 1.1 had a bad stick and had to get it replaced. good luck.