Bad ram slot? Ram error? Constant restarting... MBP mid-2012 13in

[balladeno3]

I've been to the Genius Bar multiple times for this issue and their diagnosis was that something is wrong with my ram and I need a ram upgrade. I dropped new ram into it and the problem was not fixed.

History:
- MBP would randomly restart
- frequency of restarts increased
- occasionally the screen would get weird pixels line/rectangle things before freezing, then restarting
- eventually it would restart and not boot giving the 3 beeps 5 seconds apart
- additional random symptom: MBP would not always sleep when shut

Attempts to solve:
- reset PRAM
- fresh install of OS
- reseating ram
- install new ram

I found a video on YouTube that talked about a common problem of bottom ram slots being faulty and one that talked about faulty connections giving similar looking pattern to the screen (see below). I did the testing for the ram slots in the video and found that the freezing and restarting plus a little screen distortion that doesn't look exactly like the attached picture happens when memory is installed in the bottom slot. I could not replicate the screen or restarting with ram installed in the top slot. This leads me to believe that my problem is being caused by a faulty bottom ram slot.

Can this be fixed without replacing the logic board or ram connector? (the video seems to indicate some type of warm up and reflow as a potential solution.) I have seen other recommendations about loosening the screws around the ram slots. I have seen others talking about soldering parts.

Thanks for any help/advice you could provide!

 

[Fishrrman]

You may have tried this already, but my suggestions follow.

First:
Open up, take both RAM DIMMs out.
LABEL the DIMMs (No. 1 and No. 2).

Next:
Take DIMM #1 ONLY, and install it into the topmost slow (with the back cover off).
Put a few screws in to hold the cover in place.
Boot up and run this way for a while.

Do you get any crashes/restarts?

If "yes", open up, swap DIMM #1 for DIMM #2, close back up, try again.

If "no", you might try moving DIMM #1 to the "bottom slot", close up, try again.

As you can see, it becomes a process of elimination using ONLY ONE DIMM at a time.

Keep notes so you don't go around in circles.

My -guess- is that ONE of the DIMM slots has "gone bad on you".
The solution is to just "use the good slot", and leave the bad one empty.
YES, it's "less RAM".
But it's cheaper than a logic board replacement!

 

[balladeno3]

Thanks @Fishrrman ! I'm in that process now, but I actually already had purchased new ram for an upgrade, so I'm using that. Bottom slot gets all the shut downs and errors. I've been running on the top slot for 2 days now with no errors. And you are right - much cheaper than a new logic board! Do you know if there are any long term negative effects of using only one DIMM slot?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Do you know if there are any long term negative effects of using only one DIMM slot?"

None really that I can think of.
Look at it this way -- what works, works.