I've got a flat-panel 800 iMac ... which, understandably, I dearly love. But it's been causing me a little stress lately.
When I bought the machine I supplemented the internal RAM with a 256mb RAM module from Crucial Technologies. It worked great for several months, then one night the system basically collapsed ... applications began unexpectedly quitting one after another, and ultimately the machine wouldn't boot.
Apple's diagnostic CD claimed that the problem was in the Crucial RAM card, and the computer worked fine again after the added RAM was removed. I sent the offending RAM back to Crucial, and received a replacement from them yesterday. It worked fine for a second ... but only a second. For a day, the machine only recognized 128mg of the Crucial chip's 256mb, and then the computer locked up solid. A restart produced only three beeps, and a black screen.
Now the second Crucial chip has been pulled, and the computer is fine again. I can think of three possibilities, none of which seem very probable:
1. I received two bad RAM chips from Crucial in a row; or
2. There's some kind of incompatability between the Crucial chip and my iMac; or
3. There's a defect in the iMac RAM socket, or related connections.
Any thoughts on what might be going on here ... or on a good plan of action? Many thanks.
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