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Mac iisi ram issue

imactheknife

Well-known member
Just checking to see if this is a common issue? I have a iisi I picked up. Dead PSU. logic board works, but every ram stick seems dead or gives bad chimes. No ram, boots up, well at least turns on and gives me mouse and flashing question mark
 

Bolle

Well-known member
This could be due worn out or corroded SIMM sockets resulting in bad contact which will give you bad chimes because it fails the RAM check.
Replace the sockets or play around with different SIMMs and you might find some that are thicker/thinner/whatever works better with your specific sockets.
 

imactheknife

Well-known member
Yeah, has to be something. Did the recap tonight, board is beautiful and clean. works well, pram resets fine, speaker loud and clear. Ram still fails check. Can't load anything from onboard ram, to little an amount I guess.
 

jajan547

Well-known member
Look between the RAM Simms I've had two iisi boards have the same issue on a beautiful looking board I'm positive there's a trace break or sometimes multiple.
 

imactheknife

Well-known member
hey Jajan, so I learned a lesson today. I guess the iisi needs four ram sticks installed all at once or none at all. I think they even have to be the same size. I had a set of four sticks come in. Thought for some reason to try it this morning. Thing works perfectly lol. I just need a working psu. I recapped the one it came with, but dead still and gave me a shock lol..board is recapped so at least that's done.
 

jajan547

Well-known member
That’s fantastic news! As far as the PSU I wouldn’t bother there’s a thread here I can’t remember where but it’s easy to follow and it describes making a iisi PSU, mind you soft power won’t do anything anymore but it’s wayyyyy more reliable than those Sony PSUs used in the iisi. Don’t get me wrong Sony typically makes great electronic products with excellent build quality but this is one such PSU that’s cursed by evil 90’s capacitors. I’ve had 6 different power supplies for the iisi and after tons of work reconditioning them and recapping them only 2 work.
 
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