[khanselman]

I have a 12" ibook 800mhz. I have the power settings set to never shut off the hard drive and to turn off the display after 30 minutes. I recently upgraded my ram with a new 512mb Kingston stick and since I have noticed that if I let the computer display go to sleep, after about 10 minutes I cannot wake the computer back up. I tried leaving my itunes playing to see what was happening, and when I came back the music was just skipping.

I reset the PMU (shift-ctrl-command-power), upgraded the hard drive (thinking it was something with the drive not starting back up, and because I wanted a newer, cooler, quieter one), and ran the Apple hardware test with 100% pass results. I'm hoping that it isn't something with the ram, but not sure how to tell. Any help is appreciated.

[mduell]

Can you repeat the problem without the RAM?

[uicandrew]

use a program called "ramtest"

it is free and better than apple's hardware test. google for it

[khanselman]

i haven't tried taking the ram out and seeing if I could re-create the problem. I guess I can try that today. Also, "ramtest" doesn't exist.. "memtest" does, which is a x86 program and "memtest os x" is no longer free.. and I can't seem to find anywhere that's hosting the old free version to download.

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

You shouldn't have gotten Kingston RAM. That brand of RAM is notorious for giving Macs problems. The symptoms you describe are exactly what usually happens. Get Crucial RAM. its similar to Apples RAM and less likely to have problems in a Mac

[uicandrew]

Originally Posted by khanselman 

i haven't tried taking the ram out and seeing if I could re-create the problem. I guess I can try that today. Also, "ramtest" doesn't exist.. "memtest" does, which is a x86 program and "memtest os x" is no longer free.. and I can't seem to find anywhere that's hosting the old free version to download.

oops. sorry. it has been a while since i used it. you are right. it is memtest. (i googled for "better than apple hardware test ram"

try this link. it is for a GUI (graphical user interface version) of memtest instead of the command link

http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

your best bet might be to run the "legacy" download since it was free back then.

as for ram reliability, kingston has always worked in my pcs, but i've never had them for my mac. newegg.com has user reviews, which is good because many mac users use them and say "yes, it worked for my powerbook" or whatnot.

i still maintain that crucial is overpriced. one of my friends is a mac nut and he only buys ram from mac-centric vendors because they would be in trouble if their ram couldn't work with macs. he uses macsales.com (aka OWC, very respected in the mac community) and transintl.com, which is where he got ram for his precious macbook pro.

good luck. and don't forget, kingston ram has a lifetime warranty. USE IT!

[mduell]

Originally Posted by C.A.T.S. CEO 

You shouldn't have gotten Kingston RAM. That brand of RAM is notorious for giving Macs problems. The symptoms you describe are exactly what usually happens. Get Critical RAM. its similar to Apples RAM and less likely to have problems in a Mac

(emphasis mine)

ITYM Crucial

[khanselman]

I used remember to test the ram - when I checked the log it said it only tested 130mb of ram.. which is strange because I have 640mb in it. and it took about 2 hrs to do 3 passes, which seems forever if it was only testing 130mb... however everything passed.

I am surprised to hear you say that about Kingston ram, I have used it many of times in my computers (granted all PCs), and have never had a problem with their ram, so it is strange to me to hear something different for a mac.

The other thing I don't understand is, if I close the lid and put the computer to sleep and then open it again and wake it up, everything works great. no problems what so ever. I only get the problem when I let the computer sit and it puts the display to sleep.