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iBook G4 doesn't recognize RAM stick after reboot

kb3wmh

Well-known member
I've recently picked up a 14 inch mid-2005 iBook G4 (1.42 GHz) that has a bit of an unusual problem. I've got a 1 gigabyte RAM stick installed in it, and when I boot up the computer it recognizes it perfectly. However, if I reboot it it goes back to only recognizing the soldered 512 MB on the motherboard. If I shut down the computer and unplug it (the battery is shot), it recognizes the RAM again after I plug it back in and start it up. When it doesn't recognize the RAM, it still boots, but it only uses 512 megabytes. Has anyone seen this problem? Its completely new to me.

This problem persisted after a fresh install of Leopard (upgrading from Tiger).

 

kb3wmh

Well-known member
Ok it actually gets a little weirder. I realized I don't even need to unplug it to make it re-recognize the RAM stick. It is enough to just shut the computer down and start it back up again and I'm back at 1.5 gigabytes. Its just restarting that causes the problem to happen.

 

Byrd

Well-known member
I'd be resetting power manager, NVRAM, PRAM, and cleaning the RAM and RAM socket itself

 

kb3wmh

Well-known member
The problem ended up being quite simple--I had a stick of PC2100 RAM in it when the 1.42 GHz iBook needs a PC2700 stick. Its weird that it manifested in the way it did (I would have expected it to not boot or not recognize it ever), but now that I have the correct stick in it it recognizes the full 1.5 GB on cold boots as well as on reboots.

 
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