Responsiveness issues since installing new RAM

2011 13" Macbook running the latest Lion release

I upgraded from 4GB Hynix to 8GB of G-Skill yesterday. It's not the first time I've upgraded RAM in MacBooks, but it has been quite some time (a couple years ago with a 2008 MB) since I last did so. I made no other changes. Just s simple RAM swap.

After installing the RAM I started the MB and it went through what seemed to be an unusual boot process. The screen lit, then went dark more than once. At least twice it displayed the grey screen with the apple logo before going dark again, and it beeped at least 2-3 times during the process.

It finally displayed the login screen and About This Mac correctly displayed that 8GB was installed.

What I have noticed now is that it takes significantly longer to wake up. When I open the lid the desktop displays immediately and the network icon displays that I am connected to the network. However, that's just for show. It actually takes a couple minutes for the pad to work and several minutes before any of my browsers (FF, Safari, Opera, Chrome) acknowledge that the network is available.

Once the network is accessible responsiveness appears to return to normal though I have not confirmed with any tests.

Am I just imagining things? Is the laptop having difficulty using the new RAM?

I wonder if one of the modules is bad. Have you run the Apple Hardware Test?

No, but I will following the holiday. Such strange behavior. I've owned several MBs and a couple MBPs and this is a first for me.

josephmartins said:

No, but I will following the holiday. Such strange behavior. I've owned several MBs and a couple MBPs and this is a first for me.

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Although I've seen their memory before on the market, I've never purchased from G.Skill. I'm very particular about memory brands and I've never had a problem with Crucial (Micron, the parent company actually makes the chips) or OWC's memory. But I have had problems with Kingston in the past, as well as several other lesser known brands.

Just who is making the memory for Apples new Macbook Pro.?

ipadder474 said:

Just who is making the memory for Apples new Macbook Pro.?

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Apple uses a variety of vendors - in my experience it's usually Samsung, Hynix and Micron.

cwa107 said:

Apple uses a variety of vendors - in my experience it's usually Samsung, Hynix and Micron.

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Thank you for the quick reply.

And suggest double checking that memory for Mac compatibility. Go to OWC and select your model and read the specs. From personal experience I hope the memory performs better that their Falcon SSD.


http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3_1333MHz_SDRAM