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Non-Apple Memory Won’t Work In The Latest G5’s?
I purchased 4MB of ram from a reputable dealer who I’ve used before without experiencing any problems. I install the ram, everything works fine.
A couple of days later I switch the unit on and the fan goes into overdrive and nothing gets output to the monitor.
I call support. After two hours of fruitlessly trying to solve the problem, I’m told to take the unit into the Apple Store to get fixed.
I take the unit in and get told: You can’t use any memory other than Apple memory in the latest G5’s.
Anyone know anything about this?
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10 Replies
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4MB may not be enough – you might try RAM Doubler – helps me with my Photoshop 3 and Premiere 5.1 files. Make sure you get a 2nd hard drive for media files – Fry’s has 512MB hard drives on sale for $429!
Lance Bachelder
Southern California
Cow Forum Host- Magic Bullet -
Kidding of course – I just bought a Quad G5 that had 2x512MB sticks installed by Apple. Once I put in my own matced pair 1GB sticks – the 512’s disappeared!?! I replaced them with a 2nd pair of matched 1GB’s and all is well – 4GB showing.
Make sure your dealer sold you matched pairs – makes a big differnce – https://www.barefeats.com/imacg5d.html
Lance Bachelder
Southern California
Cow Forum Host- Magic Bullet -
The best thing to do if you buy aftermarket RAM is to take the Apple RAM out and put in let say your 4gig in. Sometimes RAM from different companies have problems with each other. Its possible that only one of your RAM stick is busted, so try booting with only one stick at a time that way you can find the bad one.
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[JoStand] “I take the unit in and get told: You can’t use any memory other than Apple memory in the latest G5’s.”
Where was this Apple store? I doubt that is corporate policy.
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[JoStand] “I take the unit in and get told: You can’t use any memory other than Apple memory in the latest G5’s.
Anyone know anything about this?”
The best aftermarket RAM I’ve used is from Crucial. http://www.crucial.com. In fact, it’s the only RAM I’ve purchased in the past two years. I generally order the full amount that I want, say 4GB, then pull the Apple sticks out and replace all the RAM. Haven’t had any issues here.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Oh Yeah! It unofficial corporate policy. The internet is replete with stories of people taking their computers to The Apple Store for a repair and the only thing EVER found is NON Apple RAM!
This is a crock of crap! Apple RAM is no beter than any other reliable RAM but Apple seems to be trying to intimidate less knowledgable people. with their draconian policies. -
[MrVideo] “This is a crock of crap! Apple RAM is no beter than any other reliable RAM but Apple seems to be trying to intimidate less knowledgable people. with their draconian policies.”
Not completely accurate. If you purchase third party RAM that does not exactly match up to the Apple installed RAM, you can have some problems. Especially if you mix your third party RAM with the originally installed Apple RAM. That’s where the problems really come up.
Apple Store only sells Apple RAM so of course they’re going to tell you to switch over to Apple RAM. But in reality, you can have problems purchasing third party RAM if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. This is especially true in the G5’s from my own personal experience.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Well, I did think it sounded strange.
I do the same as you Walter – take out the pre-installed memory and replace it with my own – in matched pairs.
It’s certainly possible that one of the sticks I was sold was “bad,” the thing of it is: The Apple Store (who are representing the warranty, lest we forget) say that any stick other than the Apple brand can’t be “guaranteed” to function with the voltage being used in these machines.
I know this is the party line, etc, but as spurious as it might sound the fact that the memory failed would lend it some creedence – especially since we’re talking about a very reputable dealer who has been mentioned on this forum many times as the first choice for RAM by a good number of folks hereabouts.
Moreover – so long as the memory we’re using isn’t Apple brand, does this mean that any problem can be reduced to, “Not the right memory”? Effectively making the warranty a bit… Well… Useless.
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[JoStand] “Moreover – so long as the memory we’re using isn’t Apple brand, does this mean that any problem can be reduced to, “Not the right memory”? Effectively making the warranty a bit… Well… Useless.”
I did have a problem last year with applications quitting a bunch on one of our G5’s. Turned out to be a bad RAM stick causing errors. Replaced both RAM sticks in that pair and all was well. Also got a brand new Quad last month with a bad RAM Stick. So it happens. Not often, but it happens.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Last year, I bought a Quad G5 with the stock memory. I did a little research and bought some Geil brand DDR2 memory from Newegg.com. The first 2 gigs worked perfectly first alone, and then with the stock “half gig”. I then ordered another 2 gigs from the same store and I’m sitting pretty with 4.5 GB.
Yes, if there are problems, you should take out the 3rd party memory and do the hardware tests. If the problems persist, and you decide to take the machine to the Apple store, they don’t have to know about the 3rd party memory. If you have done the due diligence and tested without 3rd party memory, I personally think you are in the clear. I’ve not personally heard of a problem where 3rd party memory had damaged a computer. I don’t doubt that it has happened, but I don’t think it is a common problem.
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