So I made the mistake of assuming upgrading my Mac to the newest OS, Leopard, would be as standard as any other update. Boy, was I ever wrong. Now my Mac is having a slumber party at my local Apple Store in the capable (?) hands of their ‘Geniuses.’ Sadly, I knew the problem going in but only after I totally disabled my laptop. I told my local ‘Genius’ what I’d researched the problem being. Apparently my local Apple Store doesn’t keep test RAM on hand for older machines because, and I quote, ‘We give it away.’ That screws me well and good, doesn’t it?
It would seem that while installing the Leopard OS, it does some very stringent testing on the RAM. I looked at all the specs and my Powerbook PC met them but what Apple doesn’t state on their site is that Leopard has some issues with non-OEM RAM. In other words, if you have non-Apple RAM installed on your machine, you may not be able to install Leopard. The current solution from the ‘Geniuses’ is to use another machine to install Leopard from. So the lesson here is to make sure you have some OEM RAM in case you need it to install Leopard because it’s not very forgiving during installation. Rumor has it once installed, there are no problems. Funny how that works. Unfortunately, it has left me without a work machine for two days (and counting).
I now find myself considering a back-up machine. I have this PC I’m posting from but I’ll be damned if I use it for work other than site testing. If I do decide to get a ‘back-up’ Mac, I don’t know what I’ll get. I like not having a desktop machine and all that goes with that. I like the footprint of working solely from a laptop. So I guess I find myself a second laptop that will gather dust in case an emergency comes up. Of course, I guess if I weren’t so PC-phobic, it would be cheaper to purchase software for that machine. However, typing that sentence made my skin crawl, so I don’t know how that will go over.
Suggestions? Insults? Wanna poke fun???? Oh yeah, another lesson I learned from this whole ordeal is to do more regular client file back-ups. Like, have them on my laptop and my portable HD. *Smacks forehead!*
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8 People Have Bloviated
Nickolas Alvarado | Apr 9
I don’t trust those guys at the Apple Stores. They’re called ‘Geniuses’ but all they know is how to sell a Mac to someone. When I went to buy my MacBook Pro from the Apple Store at the Irvine Spectrum in CA, the guy was trying to sell me other crap I did not want by reading off of the feature sheet he had handy. Luckily they didn’t have one in stock, so I got a brand new one ordered from Apple by getting a gift card.
I am a PC convert and I recently reformatted my computer to turn it into a server of sorts. When I installed XP Pro, I downloaded some updates, and my computer was getting BSoD’d. lol. Then I found out my RAM was damaged. rofl. It’s interesting to hear that RAM problems also plague Macs as well.
Jen | Apr 9
I don’t trust most of the so-called “experts” whether it be Mac or PC. I’ve been using Mac’s for close to ten years now and this is the first RAM issue I’ve had so I wouldn’t say that Macs are plagued with them. I also suppose that it’s good that Leopard won’t install with bad or dodgey RAM, however, I’ve not had any issues with my 2 gigs since I’ve had the machine… I think Leopard’s just being picky and trying to piss me off.
Fortunately, this is also the first real issue I’ve had in all those years as well. So I figure I’m either pretty damn lucky or they’re decent computers. I’ve had my PC laptop for about a year and I’ve already had to slick it once and reinstall the OS.
Michael W. | Apr 10
I’m sorry to hear what happened to your poor poor Mac. Although I love Apple (and the Majority of their products) wholeheartedly, in some areas they seem a small bit lacking. Like in the “odd problems” department. I have an Intel Duo iMac that I bought not too long ago (the aluminum one) and I ran into my first (and worst) problem recently when I accidentally used a Service Pack 1 disc (instead of SP2) of Windows XP to install on Bootcamp. I thought everything was fine at first, but then the XP installation started to look fishy (Only one partition to choose from and it was way too big) I exited installation to avoid problems. But problems are what I got. To make a long story short, I’d turn on the computer, it makes it apple noise, and I see nothing except a white screen. Turns out Bootcamp deleted (or corrupted) the partition map or something. I did end up fixing it after two days complete panic and frustration using a combination of tutorials I found (and no help from Apple unfortunately who does not document a fix to such a problem) and a friend’s computer for target disc mode with FireWire, but when I did fix it, I managed to save everything and go back to like it never happened. Strangely enough, it brought me closer to my Mac I suppose. I definitely appreciate it more now, haha.
Anyways, what I mean to say is that I hope your beloved Mac is returned to its working state. (Leopard is actually quite cool, just watch out for Bootcamp!
)
Best of luck.
Jen | Apr 10
Michael- Fortunately for me, I have an old PowerPC Powerbook Model, so I don’t have to worry about Bootcamp.
But yeah, I hear ya, I think the most frustrating thing about Mac’s is that when they do have a problem, they tend to be obscure one’s.
I’m still waiting on the ’slumber party’ to be over. They told me I’d have it back by morning, it’s now 2pm EST and no call. Me thinks they’re having more issues than they thought they would. Hell, at this point I don’t care if they put Leopard on the damn thing, I just want my Mac back! *sniff, sniff*
Rob C | Apr 11
Hey Jen,
I have an older ibook pre-intel and had some weird problems with my upgrade. For some reason when i upgraded my computer just shut off. I brought it in and they saw the problem once and then tried to replicate it, and couldn’t. He thought it was my ram (which i got separately from Macmall) but after opening it up and ‘rebuilding’ it, it worked fine. I hope your mac is ok! and leopard is great imo
Bill | Apr 22
Funny (well… not really) but I was in the same boat. I was lucky though and stumbled across a warning regarding this very problem prior to beginning installation on my “production” iMac. Long ago, I pulled the OEM ram, sold it on eBay, and then maxed it out with Crucial RAM. I have no OEM ram to use to fool Leopard into installing, so I am now stuck with a brand new copy of Leopard that I can’t use. Regarding installing from a 2nd machine… do you have any info on how exactly to do this? Get your Mac back yet?
Jen | Apr 22
@ Rob C
Yeah got it back and I’m enjoying Leopard though I have noticed some Firefox weirdness since it’s been installed.
@ Bill
I only wish Apple would post these things about their products; I mean, how many people who may be upgrading no longer have OEM RAM, I’d guess tons.
Do some research on “Target Disk Mode.” I recall that being the term the Genius used. And yes got my baby back.
DrunkenTech | Jun 5
It’s not a OEM RAM issue, per se, it’s a crappy RAM issue. More specifically, PowerPC Macs tend to have slightly different timing requirements than “like spec” RAM that you get from Fry’s, et. al. Intel Macs, using more or less off-the-shelf Intel parts, are more forgiving than the older models since good PC RAM would essentially be good Mac RAM.
If you’ve got Crucial sticks, more than likely you’ll be fine (though I have seen a couple of bad ones from them.) If you have free bonus RAM from your purchase a year or two ago, it may be less-than-quality and cause more problems than the better brands.