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Why my two new memories have the exactly same serial numbers? :(

B

brotherludi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 28, 2011
7
0
I bought two 2.0GB Samsung memories from OWC for my Macbook. After I installed them, I viewed the System Profiler, and it shows that the two memories have the exactly same serial numbers..How come?? (I am using MacBook6,1; 2.26Ghz; Late 2009)

Memory Slots:

ECC: Disabled

BANK 0/DIMM0:

Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR3
Speed: 1067 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x80CE
Part Number: 0x4D34373142353637334648302D4346382020
Serial Number: 0x843CC56B

BANK 1/DIMM0:

Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR3
Speed: 1067 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x80CE
Part Number: 0x4D34373142353637334648302D4346382020
Serial Number: 0x843CC56B
 
Just to provide you with additional data points.

I have 2x1GB chips in my Macbook. Both have the same part number, but different serial numbers. My memory was from Crucial and bought as a 2GB kit.
 
Identical serial numbers could (and most likely) indicate counterfeit products. Pop out the RAM and see if there are any serial numbers printed on them; if so, see if they match each other. If they do, I'd contact OWC and tell them you believe you may have purchased a counterfeit product.

If the physical serial numbers don't match up, then I'd try another system profiler application and see if that doesn't report different numbers. Could be a glitch on the OS side.
 
johnnyham said:
Identical serial numbers could (and most likely) indicate counterfeit products. Pop out the RAM and see if there are any serial numbers printed on them; if so, see if they match each other. If they do, I'd contact OWC and tell them you believe you may have purchased a counterfeit product.

If the physical serial numbers don't match up, then I'd try another system profiler application and see if that doesn't report different numbers. Could be a glitch on the OS side.
Click to expand...

OWC doesn't mgr RAM. Larry buys in bulk from the cheapest source he can. Sometimes it's great stuff, sometimes it isn't. I'm not at all surprised it is knockoff. And more likely than not, they don't even know the serial #s all match.

That doesn't mean it won't work perfectly. OWC will stand behind if it fails. But if you bought from them and it works ok, I wouldn't sweat it. I've sold to them and bought from them: they're dirt cheap guys but they'll stand behind it.....
 
johnnyham said:
Identical serial numbers could (and most likely) indicate counterfeit products. Pop out the RAM and see if there are any serial numbers printed on them; if so, see if they match each other. If they do, I'd contact OWC and tell them you believe you may have purchased a counterfeit product.

If the physical serial numbers don't match up, then I'd try another system profiler application and see if that doesn't report different numbers. Could be a glitch on the OS side.
Click to expand...

There are 2 stickers on each RAM, one on each side. The Samsung sticker and the OWC sticker. The Samsung stickers looks pretty real because the original RAMs in my Mac are Samsung's. But there are no serial numbers on the Samsung sticker. (The original RAMs doesn't have the serial numbers on them as well). However, the OWC stickers have serial numbers and they are different.
I got two screenshots of the system profiler:
Original Samsung RAM: http://cl.ly/3V441b2l3V3J1d002K3w
OWC Samsung RAM: http://cl.ly/472b282K1K0Z282D371h

As you could see, the manufacturer of the original and the OWC Samsung RAMs are both from 0x80CE..so are you still sure they are counterfeit products?

"wedgeman"..Thanks for the informations...yes, they work find for now..but what I bought was Samsung RAMs from them, not their "OWC" RAMs... do you think they could be counterfeit products as well?... are there any risk of using the counterfeit products?? :( Am I going to lost my data or even my Mac??.. Where could I buy real Samsung RAMs??.... :(

Thanks everyone for your replies!!! I am really appreciate!!! :apple:
 
If it works, I wouldn't worry about it. OWC's customer service is great and they will help you out if the RAM ends up failing.
 
Yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned that even though they're counterfeit, they should work fine. Most of these counterfeit products are of similar quantity to what they're imitating. At the end of the day, it just comes down to a bunch of bits. You just have to live with that guilty conscience of knowing Samsung isn't getting the money they so rightly deserve :p

If you really want to purchase legit Samsung RAM, I would recommend buying from NewEgg. I've bought plenty of stuff from them and never had any problems.
 
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