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dwl017

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 10, 2007
562
0
Murder Capitol DC
Hey everyone thought I would post a quick note to let everyone know if you are getting Kernel Panics DO NOT RE-FORMAT your machine! the very first thing you should do is check your ram. I bought a new stick of generic 512mb ram this past Friday ran home and stuck in my Powermac G4 DP 1.25Ghz and bam! the Kernel panics started to fly! I ran a memory test and the test would not even run on the stick. I took the new stick out and have been in heaven ever since, not one Kernel panic or restart.

Long story short yes brand new memory can be bad right out of the package no matter where it comes from.
 

crees!

macrumors 68020
Jun 14, 2003
2,017
244
MD/VA/DC
And one should note that if they do an upgrade as such and things start acting up - then whatever the upgrade should be the first place troubleshot. That said, I would go with companies like OWC and Crucial when purchasing RAM.
 

dwl017

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 10, 2007
562
0
Murder Capitol DC
I learn my lesson its Cruical for me from now on! or OWC God only know's where some of this generic memory comes from or the damage it might do to your machine.
 

mjgunn

macrumors member
Sep 7, 2006
81
1
Well, buying from Crucial is no guarantee, I got a bad stick from them for my MP last month, buuuuuut, the difference in support from a lesser known company should be the decider. I called them and told them I had been having kernel panics since I put the ram in, and I had 2 new sticks on my doorstop the next day.
 

comfycoxy

macrumors newbie
Jan 9, 2007
3
0
Well, buying from Crucial is no guarantee, I got a bad stick from them for my MP last month, buuuuuut, the difference in support from a lesser known company should be the decider. I called them and told them I had been having kernel panics since I put the ram in, and I had 2 new sticks on my doorstop the next day.

So you got a free stick of RAM? What size where they? Pretty cool if you did get a free stick of RAM for the old one being broken.
 

netdog

macrumors 603
Feb 6, 2006
5,760
38
London
Hey everyone thought I would post a quick note to let everyone know if you are getting Kernel Panics DO NOT RE-FORMAT your machine! the very first thing you should do is check your ram. I bought a new stick of generic 512mb ram this past Friday ran home and stuck in my Powermac G4 DP 1.25Ghz and bam! the Kernel panics started to fly! I ran a memory test and the test would not even run on the stick. I took the new stick out and have been in heaven ever since, not one Kernel panic or restart.

Long story short yes brand new memory can be bad right out of the package no matter where it comes from.

I love the revelations that spring forth from the lips of newbies. It makes me recall some of my early posts when I first switched.
 

mjgunn

macrumors member
Sep 7, 2006
81
1
So you got a free stick of RAM? What size where they? Pretty cool if you did get a free stick of RAM for the old one being broken.

No, I did have to return the old ones :p

And about the ESD strap, no, I did not use one, but I've been building and upgrading computers for 15 years without one without a problem, the chances of that being a cause are extremely slim.
 

Paco

macrumors newbie
Jan 21, 2007
8
0
Washington, DC
Well, buying from Crucial is no guarantee, I got a bad stick from them for my MP last month, buuuuuut, the difference in support from a lesser known company should be the decider. I called them and told them I had been having kernel panics since I put the ram in, and I had 2 new sticks on my doorstop the next day.

Even Apple RAM is no guarantee. I recently had factory-installed RAM in a new (refurb) MBP cause application crashes and kernel panics. Had to have Apple replace it.
 

vohdoun

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2006
1,035
0
Far away from Earth.
Earth strap? LOL. You mean ESD strap, right.

I had a stick of RAM go bad after 2 years and OWC just replaced it for free.

Same difference, it earth's you, :) but the question still remains. I've heard it so often people installing memory without one and it blows the memory. Thing is there's a difference using one and properly getting earthed, not just hooking the strap up to the case that I've heard so many people do.

Even Apple RAM is no guarantee. I recently had factory-installed RAM in a new (refurb) MBP cause application crashes and kernel panics. Had to have Apple replace it.

Yeah ram is ram. What I don't get is why is Apple's memory twice the price or more, just paying for the brand name?

A compare, a 2GB DDR400 set from Crucial costs £115 as from apple the same kit will cost you £280. I'm glad I don't have a Mac Pro after seeing the prices of memory, 2GB for that is over £400 as 4GB is £1,010. Crazyness.
 
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