[deviousgelatin]

Okay, this may sound strange, but here goes. As I posted previously on this board, my powerbook crashed incessantly out of the box when I received it yesterday. After speaking to a service manager at MacMall, he suggested that it was bad memory. Following his instructions, I removed the second 512mb (the one that was installed as part of the MacMall promotion). I asked him which one to remove, and he said I'd be able to tell - that it would be obvious which one was the factory installed and which was the cheap stuff.

I popped out he top one, which I assumed was the extra one, and now my powerbook crashes less frequently. But I took a look at the other one, and it was EXACTLY THE SAME. There was no difference.

I guess my question is this - can anyone tell me if there is any marking on the memory that comes with a powerbook from apple - i.e. an apple logo, or a brand name(kingston, viking, etc) so I can tell?

I have this horrible feeling in my gut that the MacMall techs took out the factory equipped RAM module and replaced it with the same cheap crap they installed for the promotion.

Or am I just being paranoid????

[schk]

I remember reading posts where people said Macmall removed the original Apple RAM that came in the powerbooks when they did their upgrades...pretty shady. Are there any stickers whatsoever on the ram with barcode/model number? Usually the stickers say warranty void if removed.

[deviousgelatin]

It has the "void if removed" sticker on it (I'm looking at the "free" one I removed, which is identical to the other installed one).

It has no brand name info whatsoever - it just says "64x64 DDR333 CL2.5" on the left hand side, and "void if removed 10/06/2003", a barcode, and the number"*122100-00005516*"

That's it. And the other one is the exact same.

Any ideas on how I should handle this? Obviously, I raise a stink with MacMall. And I'd like to report it to Apple as well. Any idea who I would contact in Cupertino?

[DUDE 007]

I agree...MacMall is very shady. Heard some similar experiences from another friend.

[ibook_steve]

That does sound shady. Apple branded memory usually has a barcode on it and a little equation of the total memory. Example: a 12" PB has 256 MB on board and you CTO (from Apple) an extra 256 MB for 512 MB. On the SO-DIMM sticker above or below the barcode, you'll see:

256 + 256

or something to that effect. If both the sticks in your machine look identical and neither looks like my example above, that means that Macmall has removed the stock SO-DIMM and replaced it with 2 of its el cheapo sticks. You should get them both replaced.

Steve