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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Logic Board / RAM Issue

Logic Board / RAM Issue
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vcutag
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Jun 23, 2004, 09:35 AM
 
Since most of the people who have issues of one sort or another with their PowerBooks post them here, I figured I'd do likewise.

A couple of days ago, I was playing Civ III on my 15" 1.25 Albook, when I noticed that it was really starting to lag. So, I quit the program, and on a whim, opened "About This Mac." It said I only had 256 MB of RAM.

"Okay, so, something's seriously Not Right here," I thought.

I opened up the RAM compartment on the back to visually check that all of the RAM was there. Check.

So, my next thought was bad RAM. I pulled both RAM cards, put a purple spot on one of the labels and a black spot on the other (hey, those were the only two sharpies I had at hand) to tell them apart, and swapped them.

I restarted, and I was back up to 512 MB of RAM. This was kinda strange, I thought, but it fixed the problem, so I started Civ III back up.

An hour later, same problem. I cursed, checked the system profiler and saw that it was the lower memory bank, turned the computer off, and opened the RAM compartment again. I swapped the RAM out, started it back up, and everything was fine again. At this point, I was thinking one of the cards wasn't fitting into the memory bank properly, because it worked fine when I took them out and put 'em back in.

About fifteen minutes later, same thing happens, same memory bank and everything, with the other RAM card in it. I curse two or three times, incurring spousal wrath, and call it quits. I'll just soldier through until I can get it into the shop.

So, the next day, I've got it at work, and I mentioned the problem to my boss, who is the IT director for the School of Education here. She suggested pulling the RAM and trying each card in each slot, instead of swapping them, saying that it could be a bad logic board.

I did that, and sure enough, both cards were fine, it was the lower memory bank that was the issue. When I had RAM in the upper memory bank only, it started up at 256 MB. When I had RAM in the lower memory bank only, it didn't start up, I got a beeping tone, and the sleep light came on.

"Aha! A clue," I thought.

So, I went by the local Mac shop that afternoon, Capitol Mac, which is on my way home from campus. I told them everything I'd tried, and they tried a couple of things as well, to no avail. The guy told me I could leave it there, and since it was under warranty, they could send it off to Apple to have it fixed and I'd have it back in 4 to 10 days.

That didn't really appeal to me, since I use my laptop for several hours a day, every day at work (I run two computer labs, and nobody comes in during the summer, so I have to have something to keep occupied.)

I'd heard about another Mac shop out in the 'burbs, MacPro, who usually let you keep the computer while they're waiting on parts, and they do the repairs in-house, so you're without the computer for a day or two instead of a week or two. So, I was doing some errands, and I decided to drop by while I was out there.

My PowerBook is currently with them, they're running the diagnostics on it today, and I should hear back this afternoon what the issue is. If it's the logic board, they'll go ahead and order the part, give me back my laptop, and call me when it's in to have it replaced.

For right now, I'm using a 12" rev. A Albook running 10.2.8, and it's driving me batty.

Further updates will come as events warrant.
     
vcutag  (op)
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Jun 24, 2004, 09:04 AM
 
Found out last night that it was the logic board. MacPro ordered the board, it should be there today, and my AlBook will be ready to be picked up at 1 p.m.

Hopefully, it'll be as easy as that.
     
Detrius
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Jun 27, 2004, 02:59 PM
 
I know this sounds bad coming from me... but I thought the 12" only had one RAM socket. Does it actually have two?
ACSA 10.4/10.3, ACTC 10.3, ACHDS 10.3
     
vcutag  (op)
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Jun 27, 2004, 03:25 PM
 
Originally posted by Detrius:
I know this sounds bad coming from me... but I thought the 12" only had one RAM socket. Does it actually have two?
I have a 15".

It was a good thing it was under warranty, as a new logic board for the 15" 1.25 GHz costs $1054 and some change.
     
tooki
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May 6, 2005, 03:17 PM
 
FYI, my 1.25GHz 15" AlBook is having the same exact problem, also the bottom slot specifically that has failed. (Luckily my RAM is two 512MB modules, so I still have half a gig to work with, but that's still cramped for how I work.)

Once the semester is over, it's off to the Apple Store for fixing...

tooki
     
   
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