Hello,

A friend with an iMac DV SE (http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/500.shtml) is
wanting to upgrade the memory to 512MB using 2x 256MB sticks. Because PC100
SDRAM is hard to come by I lent her a double sided 256MB PC133 (Legend
brand) stick out of one of my old PCs, which worked a treat with the
existing 128MB stick, so I went and bought 2x 256MB PC133 (Extram brand)
sticks on the assumption that all was well... unfortunately not. When she
installed the RAM into her iMac it booted (light went green like it was all
ok) but didn't make it to the OS.

Is anyone aware of any particular compatibility problems or is there
anything that should be checked/looked out for?

Cheers.


--
Thanks,

Sorge.

The Macs are very picky about their RAM. There was a firmware update a
few years back that made the RAM requirements very stringent. Also, you
may be facing a clock speed setting issue. Don't know, but I think it
only uses 3-2-2 RAM.. Generic RAM for AMD/Intel won't work as a rule..




In article <HnE%c.23878$D7.16001@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
"Sorge" <emjayel@hotDONT****ENSPAMMEmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> A friend with an iMac DV SE (http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/500.shtml) is
> wanting to upgrade the memory to 512MB using 2x 256MB sticks. Because PC100
> SDRAM is hard to come by I lent her a double sided 256MB PC133 (Legend
> brand) stick out of one of my old PCs, which worked a treat with the
> existing 128MB stick, so I went and bought 2x 256MB PC133 (Extram brand)
> sticks on the assumption that all was well... unfortunately not. When she
> installed the RAM into her iMac it booted (light went green like it was all
> ok) but didn't make it to the OS.
>
> Is anyone aware of any particular compatibility problems or is there
> anything that should be checked/looked out for?
>
> Cheers.

In article <HnE%c.23878$D7.16001@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
"Sorge" <emjayel@hotDONT****ENSPAMMEmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> A friend with an iMac DV SE (http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/500.shtml) is
> wanting to upgrade the memory to 512MB using 2x 256MB sticks. Because PC100
> SDRAM is hard to come by I lent her a double sided 256MB PC133 (Legend
> brand) stick out of one of my old PCs, which worked a treat with the
> existing 128MB stick, so I went and bought 2x 256MB PC133 (Extram brand)
> sticks on the assumption that all was well... unfortunately not. When she
> installed the RAM into her iMac it booted (light went green like it was all
> ok) but didn't make it to the OS.
>
> Is anyone aware of any particular compatibility problems or is there
> anything that should be checked/looked out for?

You're within the supported memory limits of the machine, so my guess
would be that one or both of the modules you tried to install in it were
actually compliant with the JEDEC spec as Apple requires in order for
the RAM to be supported.

I'd try them one at a time (and as a sanity check, try the loaner you
gave her before all by itself) and see if you can successfully boot with
any single one of them.

G

--
Standard output is like your butt. Everyone has one. When using a bathroom,
they all default to going into a toilet. However, a person can redirect his
"standard output" to somewhere else, if he so chooses. - Jeremy Nixon

You probably need the ram with 16 chips, which is hard to find.

Look for double sided with 8 chips per side.

Jason

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 14:08:39 GMT, "Sorge"
<emjayel@hotDONT****ENSPAMMEmail.com> wrote:

>Hello,
>
>A friend with an iMac DV SE (http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/500.shtml) is
>wanting to upgrade the memory to 512MB using 2x 256MB sticks. Because PC100
>SDRAM is hard to come by I lent her a double sided 256MB PC133 (Legend
>brand) stick out of one of my old PCs, which worked a treat with the
>existing 128MB stick, so I went and bought 2x 256MB PC133 (Extram brand)
>sticks on the assumption that all was well... unfortunately not. When she
>installed the RAM into her iMac it booted (light went green like it was all
>ok) but didn't make it to the OS.
>
>Is anyone aware of any particular compatibility problems or is there
>anything that should be checked/looked out for?
>
>Cheers.

She tried one stick at a time, and all possible combinations of the original
128, my 256, and the two new 256 sticks.

Do you know how I'd check that the modules are compliant?

--
Thanks,

Sorge.

"Gregory Weston" <gwestonREMOVE@CAPSattbi.com> wrote in message
news:gwestonREMOVE-91B776.20342508092004@netnews.comcast.net...
> In article <HnE%c.23878$D7.16001@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> "Sorge" <emjayel@hotDONT****ENSPAMMEmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > A friend with an iMac DV SE (http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/500.shtml)
is
> > wanting to upgrade the memory to 512MB using 2x 256MB sticks. Because
PC100
> > SDRAM is hard to come by I lent her a double sided 256MB PC133 (Legend
> > brand) stick out of one of my old PCs, which worked a treat with the
> > existing 128MB stick, so I went and bought 2x 256MB PC133 (Extram brand)
> > sticks on the assumption that all was well... unfortunately not. When
she
> > installed the RAM into her iMac it booted (light went green like it was
all
> > ok) but didn't make it to the OS.
> >
> > Is anyone aware of any particular compatibility problems or is there
> > anything that should be checked/looked out for?
>
> You're within the supported memory limits of the machine, so my guess
> would be that one or both of the modules you tried to install in it were
> actually compliant with the JEDEC spec as Apple requires in order for
> the RAM to be supported.
>
> I'd try them one at a time (and as a sanity check, try the loaner you
> gave her before all by itself) and see if you can successfully boot with
> any single one of them.
>
> G
>
> --
> Standard output is like your butt. Everyone has one. When using a
bathroom,
> they all default to going into a toilet. However, a person can redirect
his
> "standard output" to somewhere else, if he so chooses. - Jeremy Nixon

I'd already established that it required double sided SDRAM by lending her a
couple of different sticks from my PCs, and the double sided was the only
one that worked.

Cheers.

--
Thanks,

Sorge.

"Jason" <jasonv1@REMOVDISadelphia.net> wrote in message
news:t7evj0tl1fun2ifc9gfug4k1jp9l8n86lu@4ax.com...
> You probably need the ram with 16 chips, which is hard to find.
>
> Look for double sided with 8 chips per side.
>
> Jason
>
> On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 14:08:39 GMT, "Sorge"
> <emjayel@hotDONT****ENSPAMMEmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >
> >A friend with an iMac DV SE (http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/500.shtml) is
> >wanting to upgrade the memory to 512MB using 2x 256MB sticks. Because
PC100
> >SDRAM is hard to come by I lent her a double sided 256MB PC133 (Legend
> >brand) stick out of one of my old PCs, which worked a treat with the
> >existing 128MB stick, so I went and bought 2x 256MB PC133 (Extram brand)
> >sticks on the assumption that all was well... unfortunately not. When she
> >installed the RAM into her iMac it booted (light went green like it was
all
> >ok) but didn't make it to the OS.
> >
> >Is anyone aware of any particular compatibility problems or is there
> >anything that should be checked/looked out for?
> >
> >Cheers.
>