RAM slot(s) failing in some PowerBooks
A growing number of readers are reporting an issue where the lower (or less frequently, upper) memory slots in some PowerBooks fail, leaving users with less available RAM than is actually installed.
Some users are not aware of the issue until they check the "About This Mac" pane accessible via the Apple menu or experience significant slow-down in a particular application.
Those affected by this issue are receiving the error message:
- post/0/2048 SODIMM0/J25LOWER
when using Apple's Hardware Test CD (shipped with PowerBooks).
The problem seems to primarily affect newer PowerBooks, including the 12", 15" and 17" 2005 models.
A few readers whose machines are still under warranty report that Apple is servicing the afflicted PowerBooks, and replacing the main logic board (MLB) to resolve the issue.
If you are experiencing a similar problem, please let us know.
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My 15" 1.33 PB has the problem and is getting fixed right now. It shows the
slot 1 as being empty, no matter what working chip I put in it.
There is a secondary sympton to this problem also. Suddenly your startup
chime stops working.
If that happens check about this mac and see if you have all the memory you
should have listed.
Then contact apple and pray you are under warranty or have Apple Care
because it is not a cheap fix. They must replace your logic board to fix it.
me too. they just locked the <a href="http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@542.xah5au7iWax.145689@.68a8e9bb">thread</a> in the apple discussion boards, so I guess someone knows. -chris
Same deal here, I had a recent shipment of eight PowerBook 15" 1.67Mhz
models, and so far three of them have been sent back to apple with upper
slot failure. Same apple repair for all three, replaced motherboard at
applecare facility withing the last month. All 8 had 2GB RAM installed, 2
chips, and only upper 1GB was showing up in System Profiler.
From the now closed apple thread, it seems fairly widespread with a recent
motherboard that was used with these "scrolling trackpad" models.
Same here. I had that problem with my 15" 1.5 GHz PowerBook purchased last May. I had the motherboard replaced under warrantee.
Apple dealer overnighted a new logic board and I was back to 2GB of memory
the following morning. I thought perhaps it was a fluke.
Now I'm paranoid and will be checking the "About this Mac..." box every 20
minutes.
card in the slot on his PowerBook G3 Series "Wall
Street". Apparently an Apple reseller gave the guy the
wrong hard disk, causing his machine to overheat, then
almost immediately his RAM card would not get noticed
intermittently and then quickly failed.
Can anyone confirm whether this is a heat-related
problem?
In other words, are the new aluminium G4 PowerBooks
ata 2005 version) feeling unusually hotter than the
average bunch of older aluminium laptops? Or is this
just a coincidence?
- by jlchee April 8, 2005 7:12 AM PDT
- In my older Titanium PB 400 I am running on the lower slot only. The upper slot fried about a year ago. If I install ram in it I cannot boot up. I started having problems booting up initially. The dead ram slot happened less than one year after I had replaced the MLB at my out of pocket cost of $1030.00. This was the third logic board my computer has seen. The computer works fine on one slot, until the second one smokes.
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