[JonoMarshall]

So I managed to get a good deal on a MacBook from eBay which arrived today and is working perfectly.

However..
When I took out the two stock Apple 512mb RAM sticks to replace them with two Crucial 1gb RAM sticks I noticed that the original RAM had lots of white dry residue marks on the pin connectors?
I'm slightly worried as I've only seen a substance like this before on liquid-shorted logic boards (the white powdery corrosion that can appear).
Can anyone out there enlighten me as to what the substance could be? I'm hoping it's nothing and like I said everything seems to be working just fine, guess I might just be freaking out a bit?!

I'll try and post pictures later, the MBs a Black - 2.0ghz - C2D
Any thoughts are much appreciated..!

[yaroldb]

I read about that before but I am not sure where. I looked it up but could not find it. Someone had that on their Macbook and it kept crashing. They took out the Ram and cleaned it, but it back in and everything worked well. He said it was like the thermal compund they use on the processor.

Good luck.

[bradbissell]

My Parents C2D Macbook had the same white paste on the memory pins. I have a feeling this paste is used by apple to ease the installation of memory in the very tight memory slots.

So, don't worry about that being a sign of liquid being poured on the macbook by the previous owner. Just wipe it off and you'll be fine.

[JonoMarshall]

I think it's the substance they must put on the Ram pre-installation, maybe sometimes they put on too much?!?

From Apple (on installing memory):

Note. The new memory module may have some residue on it from a lubricant that makes the memory easier to install. The residue is normal and should not be wiped off.

Currently 8 hours and no crashing, guess everything's aok.. I'll post back here if I encounter any problems!

[skacoreimplore]

you dont want to know

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by skacoreimplore 

you dont want to know

*shudder* I used to work at Solectron repairing IBM laptops. Every now and then we'd get a laptop in a biobag with "foreign substance" written on it.

Well, only one thing comes in a biobag... so we have to raffle to see who has to fix it. I was very lucky to never have to deal with one of those laptops.

[Original Nerd]

I just had the same thing on my new Blackbook. My first thought was that it was that crust that builds up on electronics when moisture hits it. Than I wiped it clean and it feels like a paste more than anything. It worried me at first but now that I see it is on other macbooks it must be a standard way of doing it at the plant.

[gadster]

I think you'll find that white substance is the actual "white macbook crack"

[Original Nerd]

Originally Posted by gadster 

I think you'll find that white substance is the actual "white macbook crack"

That clears it up for me...I have been addicted ever since.

[analogika]

Yep, it's thermal paste, and it's applied to ease the installation of RAM.

Don't ingest it - best not to come into contact with it.

[Turbojugend]

Most likely paste, due to Apples incompident manufacturing. I pulled out a ram stick from my new macbook, and it was covered in it. I took everything apart and cleaned all the thermal paste off, reaplied it and now everything runs a little cooler.