New MacBook Pro won't boot up with New RAM

[amk285nyu]

Hey guys,

Just bought this bundle of sweetness from MacMall:
17" Hi-Res 2.5 GHz MacBook Pro

I also bought two 2GB RAM cards to upgrade the factory default 2x1GB SODIMMs to 2x2GB. Well, the computer came in today. It started up perfectly out of the box. So then I decided to install the 2GB cards I purchased from MacMall with the computer (this is what it says on the box):

EDGE
PE208233
2GB PC25300 S.O. DIMM

The computer won't boot. Instead, the light underneath the touchpad just keeps lighting up as it makes this loud medium-tone beeping sound in clusters of three beeps (kind of like a car backing up, but with a lower tone). I didn't have to hear the sound before to know it meant, "Something is broken." It just wouldn't boot up. So I put the factory cards back in: it boots up perfectly again. I repeated this- just to make sure I didn't screw up the installation of the Edge cards the first time. But I got the same result for the second round.

These cards were actually recommended to me by an intern at MacMall. My agent had just left when called to finaliz the order, so I got this kid who said, "Oh, the Edge cards are way better than what he's got you getting." They were actually cheaper, but I said, "Look man, cheaper, more expensive, I don't care, I want the best." He said Edge cards are the best, so I told him to give me those.

But they don't work. MacMall doesn't sell PC stuff, so I can't imagine even an intern could recommend me RAM cards that aren't compatible?


In any case, I'm going to call my agent there tomorrow to resolve this (I'm going to upgrade to 4GB one way or the other- even if I have to pay $50 for a 2-minute install). I have two questions for the TS community:

1) What do you think is the most likely reason these Edge cards didn't work?
2) If I end up choosing a refund- what RAM cards would you recommend?

[Paddy]

Edge definitely sells RAM for MacBook Pros - and guarantees compatibility. On their own web site they have this 4GB kit listed:

http://www.edgetechcorp.com/store/productd...product_id=6979

Check the part number - see if it's the same. It's possible that you either got a slightly different kit with slightly different specs or maybe you got some bad RAM. BTW - MacMall is part of PCMall - they do indeed sell lots of PCs! On their web site, I cannot find any Edge RAM PC5300 RAM.

If you pick the refund, have a look here:

http://dealnews.com/memory/prices/systems/...1495/2GBx2.html

I've purchased RAM from DMS many times (before I moved back to Canada, that is!) and also from http://www.OtherworldComputing.com . Bought from 18004memory.com too - no issues with any of them. I'm not particularly convinced that brand makes a big difference either - there are only about 7 RAM manufacturers in the world - and they manufacture for many different brands.

[Mayo]

Not that I would ever disagree with Paddy about anything   but I got two bad RAM sticks in separate orders from 1-800-4MEMORY. I did a little trolling on the Internet at the time and found more reports of bad RAM from them than the other well-known RAM distributors; on the other hand, 1-800-4MEMORY was often the least expensive in those days, so I guess that it really is true that you get what you pay for...    They did exchange the RAM quickly and without a hassle, but it was still a PITA.

Since then I have stuck with Otherworld Computing: reasonable prices and good service too.

At any rate, your evidence points to Bad RAM. Send it back.

[Paddy]

I only dealt with 1800 once - almost all my RAM came from DMS or OWC. I too was aware that there were some complaints about 1800, but I guess I was lucky. I would imagine they do a tremendous volume of business, since they're often the best price on generic RAM. Hence, it's possible that you'll just get a few more complaints surfacing because of larger number of customers overall. Just a theory though - no inside info! I also bought RAM from NewEgg - making sure that other Mac users had also bought it & reviewed it - with no issues. That was Kingston RAM - which I've also bought here in Canada for my G5.

[tacit]

Three beeps means "bad memory."

There are one of two possibilities. Either the RAM is defective (return it for a replacement), or it is not installed correctly. The Mac Pro is very fussy about exactly which sticks you install and in exactly which order. You must have the DIMMs in te proper slots and you must install them in pairs grouped according to the instructions or they won't work.

[Paddy]

It's a MacBOOK Pro that amk285nyu bought, not a Mac Pro, and matched pairs are not required. Generally, MORE RAM is more important for performance than matched RAM in the MB & MBP - see tests at MacSales.com on the MacBook.

The Mac Pro is a different beast and its RAM requirements are indeed pickier.

For a very good explanation of RAM requirements for the entire Mac line:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Understanding_Intel_Mac_RAM

[krissel]

Thought this was interesting from Macrumors (the bolded text is mine):

QUOTE

Crucial - good place to buy RAM from all over over the world. They also have an excellent memory selector that allows you to choose memory based on your computer's model, rather than having to remember terms like PC133, PC3200, PC5300, 184-pin, 200-pin, DIMM, and SO-DIMM. Guarantees compatiblity and quality. Make sure to refresh the page a couple of times before you buy and clear your cookies as crucial uses different prices based on the operating system and browser being used (just to be sure, check the prices with different browsers like Safari, Camino, Firefox). Crucial's prices are variable - while they have a stellar quality reputation, you may consider looking elsewhere for a better deal.

[Paddy]

Now that's just plain weird. Do they have some sort of secret demographic info indicating that Camino users are willing to pay more than say...Safari users?

I'm actually not entirely convinced that this issue is still an issue with Crucial, having tried with several browsers and various configurations that use the same RAM, but interesting nonetheless!

It was the case in 2006, though, according to this discussion:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=218162

At any rate, I've never found Crucial competitive on pricing. They want $103.99 for the 4GB kit.

1800 has the Micron 4 GB kit for $88 with free shipping and OWC has the next best deal on the 4GB RAM kit - $94. The DMS stuff at $92 only has a one year warranty (they have RAM with a lifetime warranty for $98). Don't buy RAM without a lifetime warranty.

NewEgg has Kingston RAM for $89.99 and Patriot RAM for $76.99 - the Kingston RAM has 27 "5 egg" reviews - the Patriot RAM had a couple of people with DOA/RAM not recognized problems, otherwise all 5 egg reviews. I've bought Patriot RAM for my G5 with no issues.

[krissel]

I could understand higher prices for Safari, Camino, FF or other Mac related browsers since "we" are supposedly more affluent if we have Macs. IE users would of course be less educated and not earn as much, yadda, yadda.

Catalog sales are notorious for this by sending different priced issues to various zip codes.

But the online price differential was started by Amazon many years ago according to Consumer Reports:

http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/e-...mic-pricing.cfm

Amazon in the UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/914691.stm


And if you purchase Turbo Tax online, take a look at your various prices. Next time I'm using Opera.  

http://robert.accettura.com/blog/2007/02/18/browser-tax/

[Paddy]

Re: the first link - the pricing differences cited for merchandise online were days apart in most cases - and yes, prices on books etc. do go up occasionally. Or down. Something falls off the NYT bestseller list...price goes up. Etc. As for the travel sites - as one person noted, there are so many variables at work AND you will note that there was no discernible pattern with any browser or cookies on/cookies off, that it is pretty hard to jump to the conclusion that any sort of dynamic pricing is going on. Much more likely is constant price changes from the airlines, combined with server caching differences making for differences in the fares. I've conducted many an online search for air fares, using two different browsers at a time and every travel site and the airline sites themselves and haven't noticed any huge differences in prices. Slight - sure. From day to day - or sometimes even half a day - absolutely. (Booking a popular destination for the beginning of a school vacation is always a bit of a hair-raising experience! Does one book the first day the tickets are available - 330 days in advance - and risk paying more if lower fares appear later or does one risk waiting and either not getting tickets at all or paying even more? Right now, unless something pretty monumental happens to oil prices, I figure the sooner the better, but in the past it was a real crap shoot.)

Not sure about Robert Accettura's experiences: at first I thought maybe TurboTax cleaned up their act after he published that blog entry, since if you go to TurboTax.com now in all three of the browsers I tried, all of the prices were identical and offered the free option. Tried Safari, Firefox and Opera.

However, something was still going on last fall:
http://digg.com/apple/TurboTax_Online_Char...fari_Users_More - and the explanation may be in this forum response:

QUOTE

I used to work for Turbo's competition. I'm sure they're doing something similar to what we did.

They're trying to figure out what price points will get the highest conversion ratio. Nothing more. We called it A/B testing. You have a control and then a number of variations of the control. Each version gets a percentage of the traffic. Numbers are crunched and the "winner" is chosen.

Has nothing to do with browser/OS and everything to do with them trying to make the most money.

Perhaps they've now chosen the "winner" (Gee...ya think FREE was the one that got the most votes??)

[krissel]

I've also noticed a variation of this in some ads sent to my email from some online companies. An item is in the ad at a particular price but when I click to go to the site it may be listed as 5 or 10 dollars more. I go back to check the ad to see if there is some sort of code needed or a rebate involved but nope.  It dawned on me that they are bumping up the price intentionally to see if I'll bite and buy at the higher price anyway. I don't.  What they base the increase on is unknown, browser, IP number, who knows?

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

I've also noticed a variation of this in some ads sent to my email from some online companies.

Yeah! And besides that, not many of those 'drugs' work as advertised, at least I've not seen any growth in areas they were supposed to 'enhance'! It's getting' to the point that you can't trust e-mail at all!

As for as airline fairs, I'd stop worrying about missing a cheaper fair, ever.

[kbeartx]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Jun 24 2008, 10:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As for as airline fairs, I'd stop worrying about missing a cheaper fair, ever.

Are these airline fairs anything like renaissance fairs?
 

 

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

Are these airline fairs anything like renaissance fairs?

Yes but with more 'attitude indicators' or is that altitude... I'm still looking for a gude gramer chequer!