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surfimp · Nov 15, 2003, 12:10 AM

Just wanted to say that I got some bunk RAM today from Other World Computing, which is unfortunate because I'd heard really good things about them.

It's a 512MB PC2100 chip for a 12" PowerBook 1Ghz. Installed it this evening and had two crashes where the grey screen comes down and says "You must restart your system now by holding down the power button." Not cool! Just had a web browser open at the time.

Anyways, I guess OWC has a pretty decent RMA/replacement policy so I hope this works out well. Anyone else have recent experience with OWC RAM and OSX 10.3?

Timo · Nov 15, 2003, 12:25 AM

I got botched Pismo RAM from OWC maybe two years ago, which they promptly replaced. Panther's running fine with the replaced RAM today.

dialo · Nov 15, 2003, 12:35 AM

I buy everything I can from OWC and have had no problems. Just call them and get a new one.

Guy Kuo · Nov 15, 2003, 01:06 AM

Had the same problem with RAM from OWC for my PB 12 inch 1 GHz. The only difference is that mine was a PC2700 512 MB card. This was after a PC2100 from TransIntl proved problematic.

I ended up diagnosing and solving my problems by swapping in an Apple 512 MB card. My kernel panics and crashes upon awakening problems went away. I kept the Apple RAM because I needed an operating machine ASAP.

TransIntl cheerfully accepted return of their bad module.

OWC did eventually issue an RMA but insists on charging a 15% restocking fee despite my pointing out their RAM being incompatible but recommended by their web site.

Other people have reported good luck with Crucial RAM modules. A little more than OWC's but less than Apple's in cost.

stilltron · Nov 15, 2003, 01:19 AM

Originally posted by Guy Kuo:
Other people have reported good luck with Crucial RAM modules. A little more than OWC's but less than Apple's in cost.

I had the same problem with OWC when i ordered from them. I ordered two 512 sticks about a year ago for my pismo... one of them was bad. They replaced it and everything, and my Pismo hasn't had any problems since, but considering all I've heard about OWC on this board, shipping bad RAM sticks doesn't seem to be too rare for them.

I ordered two 512 sticks of Crucial RAM for my 15", because I heard that Apple uses Micron RAM as the stock RAM in the powerbooks, and Micron owns Crucial. So I figured it would be a safe purchase even though it's a little more expensive. Plus the shipping was free.

It turned out to be a pretty good purchase.

Podolsky · Nov 15, 2003, 02:01 AM

I have read many posts of folks with the full suite of problems and all they have is Apple installed ram? So, what gives? I have had 5 or so panics I have half apple and half owc ram....who do I blame?

Tomster · Nov 15, 2003, 04:57 AM

Originally posted by Podolsky:
I have read many posts of folks with the full suite of problems and all they have is Apple installed ram? So, what gives? I have had 5 or so panics I have half apple and half owc ram....who do I blame?

Easiest way to check is to run the hardware test. If it is a timing issue with the ram and Panther, it will not show up as the hardware test has not been updated to test this. If it is fried ram, then it will show up.

Otherwise, yank one dimm and go with that for some time. If no problems, swap it out for the other one. Blame the one that causes the panics. I have a personal opinion as to what is causing it, but to be fair, do the tests.

nagromme · Nov 15, 2003, 06:06 AM

Happy OWC customer here. (RAM and some accessories.) Get the bad RAM replaced on warranty--and don't judge frequency of problems from a forum. Why would anyone post about their RAM UNLESS they had a problem?

I've also been happy with transintl.com.

ewiser · Nov 15, 2003, 08:40 AM

Just bought a 12" powerbook this past monday and had 512 meg of ram installed by the dealer. I started having to restart my computer the next day. Took it into the shop Thursday and the ram was bad and the other stick of ram they had was bad also. They ran the hardware check disk several times before they got a consistant failure of the ram.
The 12" powerbook is real pick about the ram it uses. When they get more ram in stock I will take the powerbook back and an let them run the hardware test over night with the new ram. You can set the hardware disk to cycle over and over.

Podolsky · Nov 15, 2003, 09:00 AM

Originally posted by Tomster:
Easiest way to check is to run the hardware test. If it is a timing issue with the ram and Panther, it will not show up as the hardware test has not been updated to test this. If it is fried ram, then it will show up.

Otherwise, yank one dimm and go with that for some time. If no problems, swap it out for the other one. Blame the one that causes the panics. I have a personal opinion as to what is causing it, but to be fair, do the tests.

I have heard the HW test doesn't even do the critical ram test that underpins these problems. This is starting to get to me. I am going to RMA the OWC ram and send my book into Apple under Applecare or a thorough check of the installed ram and than to have them install Apple ram and check that out. We spent to much on these computers to have them not working at a high level. My machine was dead on wake from sleep this morning for the 4th or 5th time!

terrancew_hod · Nov 15, 2003, 01:47 PM

Actually I have 2 ram sticks to return; one was for 133MHz that was supposed to be spec'd for a Gigabit ethernet based powermac; was crashing like crazy; eventually had to swap out all the modules for PC100 and put them into PCs--one was totally bad.

The other was for my new Powerbook; it runs fine for light applications (maybe I wasn't using the full ram for just checking email and chatting). But when I started playing games, I had problems from games crashing in the middle of a level to games not installing at all. Once I replaced the original ram back in, everything was fine.

I also have to return a firewire 800/USB 2.0 external case (got it open box); can only connect via USB 2.0. I think the firewire chip is dead.

Normally I don't have problems with any purchases; maybe now that they have grown, they are having some growing pains with the quality of some of their products.

Terrance

surfimp · 04:51 PM

I just called OWC's Sales line and got an RMA for my memory card. The man I spoke to was very friendly and professional. He suggested I try resetting the PRAM, which I will do, but I insisted (politely) that I wanted to start the RMA anyways, as I felt that if PRAM needed to be reset for memory to be installed, then it would be part of the instructions for RAM installation (and it isn't). Whether or not I gave a convincing argument I'll let others decide, but the OWC guy was satisfied, and agreed to start the RMA, saying that they would also be sending me out, in advance of having received the defective RAM, my replacement on Monday. I certainly can't argue with that kind of service, very nice indeed.

I will of course try re-installing the RAM and resetting the PRAM, seeing if this "fixes" the problem, but honestly I don't see why it would. I'm no Mac pro though; maybe someone else has an opinion? Either way, while it's a bit frustrating the RAM didn't "just work", I can't fault the service so far. Hopefully the replacement card works.

Tomster · Nov 16, 2003, 04:58 AM

Originally posted by surfimp:
I will of course try re-installing the RAM and resetting the PRAM, seeing if this "fixes" the problem, but honestly I don't see why it would.

Reset the PMU and set the energy savings to highest only and you should temporarily avoid the problem. The trouble is that there is some variability in the timing that happens when the processor slows down or speeds up. If your setting is on automatic, unplugging the adapter can cause a crash. Some ram can take it, some can't. Theirs can't. I had a thread on this earlier.

They know about the issue and telling you to zap the pram confirms it. If they replace it with decent stock, then all should be well. Don't let them weasel out of giving you working ram.

As for service, they refused to replace my ram as I bought it too early. No idea what it has to do with a lifetime warrantee. Crap weasels!

surfimp · 09:50 PM

Wow Tomster, that totally sucks. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience...hope they don't screw around with me. My replacement RAM is set to arrive Wednesday so hopefully they'll pick a piece out of the "good pile" for me.

I did end up resetting the PRAM with the OWC RAM installed, but the problem was the same. I didn't do the PMU because honestly, I was done fooling around with my system to try to get some flunky RAM to work. It's worthless to me unless it allows me to use the computer however I want (i.e. on Automatic energy settings or whatever). I'm sure anyone would agree; that's what one pays for, after all!

I had a similar problem with "free upgrade memory" that came with an Indigo iMac from MacMall. I picked the iMac up off eBay, new-in-box and never opened but out of warranty. The MacMall memory did not jive with OS X at all...though I guess it might have worked OK with an older system, or with OS 9 only. In any event I replaced it with Apple RAM from the local reseller (at an outrageous price) and it's worked fine ever since. Thought I'd give OWC a try but now I'm starting to suspect that OS X's predilictions regarding RAM are so persnickety that you almost "have" to buy Apple or other premium RAM to assure yourself of not having a problem (though of course there are no guarantees). I'm sure that's not accidental on Apple's part, either

surfimp · Nov 20, 2003, 01:58 AM

Just wanted to follow up with this thread. I received my replacement RAM from OWC today and so far everything seems good. No crashes yet, and I've tried "pressure testing" it by having a number of apps open and running full-bore at the same time. So far seems good. The computer is not much more Snappy(tm) in terms of how fast applications launch, but the multitasking seems better. So long as it doesn't crash I'm reasonably content!

Podolsky · Nov 20, 2003, 12:33 PM

Originally posted by surfimp:
Just wanted to follow up with this thread. I received my replacement RAM from OWC today and so far everything seems good. No crashes yet, and I've tried "pressure testing" it by having a number of apps open and running full-bore at the same time. So far seems good. The computer is not much more Snappy(tm) in terms of how fast applications launch, but the multitasking seems better. So long as it doesn't crash I'm reasonably content!

Yes, me to. OWC took back the ram and are sending me Techworks stick. They are charging me $10 but I could care less. They say it was apples fault. blah, blah, blah. I only bought cheap ram because I really want a 1 gb stick when the price drops.....great idea but it turned into an example of you get what you pay for....ouch!

I actually don't think this will solve the wake from sleep issue but I am trying to be optimistic!

AC Rempt · Nov 23, 2003, 04:05 PM

I also have some bad RAM from OWC, but to their credit, they are shipping me new RAM right now, before they get the old RAM back.

Took care of everything over email. Painless as possible.

I have a Rev. B 12" running 10.3, by the way.

surfimp · Nov 29, 2003, 03:08 PM

Another follow up...

I shut down my PowerBook the other night and when I tried to reboot the next morning, I got a "grey screen of death/mandatory reboot" screen before the grey Apple-logo loading screen went away. I tried rebooting three consecutive times and had the same result. As it was Thanksgiving Day and I had plans, I set the machine aside until yesterday when I tried to boot up again. Same result, numerous times. Today I removed the OWC RAM and tried booting up. Voila, works perfect. I am on hold with OWC now, this RAM is going back and I am getting a refund--I had a couple of other crashes in the past week, so this RAM wasn't as bad as the first but still totally unacceptable, especially when I can't boot my machine. I use the laptop in my studies as a graduate student and I require absolute dependability from it. Flakiness of this sort is not going to work. I hope they don't give me any hassles.

surfimp · Nov 29, 2003, 07:49 PM

I'm happy to report that OWC took my RAM back without problem. I've simply gotten a refund rather than do another round of cross-shipping. I stated that my conclusion was that their RAM wasn't working so great with Panther, perhaps as a result of Apple tightening up their specs even further. The guy I spoke to didn't disagree, but maybe other people will have better luck.

neutrino23 · Nov 30, 2003, 03:19 AM

I bought a 512MB stick for my wife's 17 inch FP iMac to replace a 256MB stick of Apple RAM. Immediately we started getting kernel panics. I sent the RAM back for a replacement (they were nice about it). They said that they tested the returned part and it was good. The new part also caused kernel panics. Their tech had me reset the PRAM and such. I ran the Techworks RAM test successfully for about an hour without a single error. However, running OS X we got kernel panics again within a day. Replacing the 256MB stick removed the kernel panics. At this point we waiting for a chance to wipe the drive and install Panther.