I have an issue with my 15" 1.25 GHz PowerBook, and I'd appriciate any advice other members could provide. Last week, I decided to bump my laptop to 2 GB of memory, so I ordered 2 1GB Crucial sticks from mwave.com,
shown here. The specs exactly match what should go into the PowerBook (PC2700, 333MHz, etc...), and are the same specs as an existing 512 MB stick I have been using in my PowerBook. Crucial is generally regarded as very good memory, and I've never had a problem with their RAM working in a Mac.
When the memory arrived, I installed it and immediately got repeated kernel panics at the login screen. I tried both sticks seperately and together in both slots, with the same results each time. I then put just my Crucial 512MB stick back in the machine, and everything works fine. So I'm thinking that both of the memory sticks may be bad (although very improbable). I then put one of the sticks in my girlfriend's 12" 1.0 GHz PowerBook, and it works fine. I then try putting the other stick in a friend's 15" 1.5 GHz PowerBook (one revision newer than mine), and it also works fine and even passes the Apple hardware test. Additionally, this friend also bought the same RAM from mwave, too, and his stick kernel also panics in my machine and works fine in his. Thus, it seems that RAM is actually okay.
So now, I'm beginning to think that my laptop may be at fault. To test this, I put one of the 1 GB sticks into another friend's 15" 1.25 GHz PowerBook (identical version to mine), and his kernel panics at the login screen just like mine. Thus, it seems that it's not just my PowerBook, but the entire revision of PowerBooks with is incompatible with this RAM.
So I take the machine and all of the RAM to my local Apple store. The very helpful techs there put both 1 GB sticks into my machine and run the extended hardware test. It passes. So they take it for the weekend for triage (I have an AppleCare plan). I got a call today saying that they've decided that the 3rd-party memory is causing a problem, and that there's nothing they can do.
So, in one last attempt to resolve the problem, I call AppleCare and explain the problem. My case gets elevated to a Product Support Specialist who says flat-out that this is not Apple's problem and there's nothing they can do since "you should have bought Apple memory".
So I'm now in a situation where I have to return the RAM to mwave and have to pay the 15% restocking fee and return shipping costs, which adds up to around $65. While I understand Apple's position (this is 3rd party RAM, it's not their problem), I feel somewhat shafted as this is good, high quality memory which *should* work with my machine (and in fact does work with every other PowerBook revision I've tested).
What do you think? Should I feel shafted, or should I just view the 300% Apple RAM premium as their compatibility guarantee and any other RAM as gamble at my expense? I was considering calling Apple back one more time to just lodge a complain (not asking for anything, just expressing my displeasure) - do I have a leg to stand on?
Thanks!
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