04-28-2009, 10:23 AM

I own an iMac G5 (ambient light sensor model)
I bought some RAM off eBay - 2x1gb sticks of PC3200 DDR 400 RAM, the right RAM according to everything I found. I received it today, removed the old RAM, installed the new and switched on... there were two loud beeps and my fans/HD went into overdrive. The screen never lit up. So I emailed the eBay store I bought it off to ask them what to do and they send me a rather cryptic message back:

If product is defective we will send exchange or refund - so do not worry. For 128x4 we know that issue could be either older Bios or incompatibly - Not actual Defect.

Did you make sure your system will take 128x4 density Ram modules - which is called High Density Modules. Not every motherboard works with them. 128x8 has more compatibility than 128x4, but it is also high density module.

So first lets do process of elimination. Please go to Bios,make sure Voltage is set at DEFAULT> If it does not work, then update the Bios, as some older Bios versions will not accept high Density memory. Then turn PC on with old memory, then shut it down, remove old memory and put new memory and see what happens.

Still does not work? OK time to check compatibility to be sure.
We will double check for you - Can you please email us back at service@smilentango.com - which MOTHERBOARD or SYSTEM you are using it with.

This is what we see in incompatible scenarios :
1. DUAL Channel does not work ( 1 module works, 1 does not ). What happens,when you put both together, one slot kills 1 memory, so customers feel 1 is bad. In actuality it may be compatibility issue.

2. It will not clock down ( All memory are back ward compatible, example PC400 - works as PC333--> as PC266--> ) because there is some sort of incompatibility. Check the chip config. to be sure.

3. Shows up as half the value (1GB shows up as 512MB) - Here there are only two reason : Density is wrong/Not compatible with what you have OR Bios on Motherboard needs to be updated.

Again, Don't worry we are here to help - so try what i suggested.No matter what, we are here to help and assure you we get you what you need. We will double check for you.

Can you please email us back at service@smilentango.com which SYSTEM (MODEL NUMBER)/ System Board (MODEL NUMBER)you are using it with. Also are you mixing it with other module?

I can see that they're sending instructions for PC users, but that doesn't help. Does anyone know how to "translate" this so I can figure out what to do with the RAM/my Mac? Thanks.

04-28-2009, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by Leukeh

I can see that they're sending instructions for PC users, but that doesn't help. Does anyone know how to "translate" this so I can figure out what to do with the RAM/my Mac? Thanks.

The bottom line is it sounds like the ram you purchased is not compatible with an iMac G5 or the ram is defective.

Your best bet is to try & return it...and purchase the appropriate ram from:

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