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Skypat · Sep 11, 2004, 04:28 AM

Hi
I bought a 512 MB RAM module at crucial for my dual G4 MDD. I had some crash problems whith Final Cut Express and other programs. I suspect the new module to be the cause of the crashes. I'de like to test my RAM, I downloaded Rember, ran it but didn't seem to find anything special.

Have you any advice ? Any application I could use ?

Second thing : I removed the memory module, then plugged it again to see the difference. Now I did that, it *seems* the crashes are gone. Could it be possible that just unplug/plug could fix the problem ?

As usual, thanks for your input

d.fine · Sep 11, 2004, 05:28 AM

Originally posted by Skypat:
Second thing : I removed the memory module, then plugged it again to see the difference. Now I did that, it *seems* the crashes are gone. Could it be possible that just unplug/plug could fix the problem ?

As usual, thanks for your input

Could it have been seated incorrectly ? Maybe you seated it right the second time and fixed the problem ...

Big Mac · Sep 11, 2004, 05:53 AM

It is possible Skypat, but usually when RAM is not seated properly it just is not recognized. Do you have your Hardware Test CD that came with your Mac? If so, you can boot from it and perform the extended test to test your RAM. I'm not really sure how thorough the Hardware Test CD is at finding problems, however. You may want to consider TechTool, although I have yet to use it myself and cannot find any recent reviews.

Turnpike · Sep 11, 2004, 06:54 AM

I do not know about third party programs, but I know that the Apple Hardware Test CD will not always find a problem. Neither will the Apple Service Diagnostic CD. I don't know why this is.

Actually, I cannot be absolutely sure about the ASD CD. I have been told about AHT not finding errors. Neither CD finds an error with my RAM, although the problem I am having could also be caused by a bad motherboard.

Yes, reseating the RAM can sometimes fix issues. I have no experience in which issues, exactly, it can fix.

How often are these crashes happening? If they happen frequently, it'd be easy to test by removing the new module and seeing if the crashes remain. If they happen infrequently... well... see if you can find a way to make them frequent. I can get my machine to crash about 20 seconds into the CoD demo, and 1-10 seconds into the UT2k4 demo... just for starters

If you can recreate the problem with consistency, though, it might be easier to track down.

Then again, if the problem is solved... just say reseating fixed it and be happy with it

Skypat · Sep 11, 2004, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by Turnpike:
How often are these crashes happening? If they happen frequently, it'd be easy to test by removing the new module and seeing if the crashes remain. If they happen infrequently... well... see if you can find a way to make them frequent. I can get my machine to crash about 20 seconds into the CoD demo, and 1-10 seconds into the UT2k4 demo... just for starters If you can recreate the problem with consistency, though, it might be easier to track down.

Then again, if the problem is solved... just say reseating fixed it and be happy with it

Hi Turnpike. Well the crashes happens in Final Cut Express about 2 or 3 times per week. I use FCE about every evening at home. But I cannot reproduce precisely the conditions in which the crash happens. It is often when I use many transitions for example. Or when I render a sequence immediately after the autosave.

I used xBench 2 days ago. It could not complete the test because it crashed every time. I removed the new memory module, and the test went fine... and - surprise - when reseated the module, it went fine as well.

By the way, I tries TechTools and it did not find anything wrong with my RAM.

Turnpike · Sep 12, 2004, 01:41 AM

well if it solved the XBench crash, I'd just make sure to be careful and save often, and see if you crash in the next week. If you don't, reseating probably fixed it. If you do (and it happens the same way) then you've gotta look at it again.

Through all the computer troubles I've had over the past month or so, I've found that the best remedy is to not stress out about it. I tried it for a while, and it only made me lose sleep (and give me other medical issues best not discussed here)

OreoCookie · Sep 12, 2004, 08:09 AM

There is a unix tool called memtest.

Leave it running for a day or so and it should discover any memory problems.

Skypat · Sep 13, 2004, 04:12 AM

Originally posted by OreoCookie:
There is a unix tool called memtest.

Leave it running for a day or so and it should discover any memory problems.

Ok Versiontracker.com says that Rember is the GUI version of Memtest. So I guess it is the same. I tried it already but stopped it because it seemed to take forever to check the memory and the interface is not very intuitive.

Now you say I need to let it run for a whole day ... maybe I'll do that

I ran TechTools and it said my RAM is ok ...

Thanks for your advice

Turnpike · Sep 13, 2004, 06:39 AM

large amounts of RAM can take quite a long time to be tested. Be patient with it.