Any 2011 i7 Owners Having RAM Issues

[tsugaru]

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I just had my 2011 i7 boot up with the infamous 3 beeps (ie bad RAM, according to the Mac.) It's weird as the computer and RAM had been working nicely since Thursday.

The RAM was pulled from my 09 iMac. Yes it is proper 1333MHz RAM. Worked flawlessly in there since May 2010 when I installed it.

Here's the thing. I've run memtest from single user mode, 3 passes, all good. I'm on my 6th extended looped pass of AHT and no errors so far.

I can have the iMac boot with the beeps at will though by resetting the PRAM three times in a row.

First reset - bong
Second reset - bong
Third attempt to reset - beep beep beep

It won't boot again properly until I unplug the power cord and reconnect that (effectively resetting the SMC.) I have reseated and rotated my RAM three times now to no avail.

Not sure what to do. Any idea why it is sporadically saying my RAM is bunk? Any other troubleshooting suggestions?

 

[harcosparky]

Does it work with the original RAM configuration it shipped with?

If so, then the RAM from the 2009 iMac is the issue.

Now if you go back to the original config and still have the issue, it's with the iMac. This is unlikely though unless a RAM socket was damaged in all the changing.

 

[cube]

I don't know how it is on the new iMac, but the Cube would get the timings from the first populated slot, so you had to put the slowest RAM there.

 

[philo23]

Something similar has happened to my iMac except I haven't changed the RAM.

Did you happen to apply the iMac 1.6 EFI update? That seems to be the cause for my iMac. I took it into the apple store yesterday and one of their geniuses told me the motherboard has died and it needed to be replaced.

I'd recommend taking it in with the original ram and seeing what they say, unless it works fine with the original ram, in which case its a different problem.

Good luck!

 

[tsugaru]

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It's a bad ram slot or logic board.
If I put my original RAM in the bad slot it will intermittently boot.
My 2009 iMac RAM worked fine in that machine and my 2011 MacBook Pro.

RAM socket isnt damaged. If it was it would never boot with RAM in the socket. I can have RAM in that slot an sometimes boot up the machine. If thats the case, I can trigger the 3 beeps by resetting the PRAM 3G consecutively, like clockwork.

Efi update was done by Apple before I received it (which was odd as it still came with 10.6.6, and you needed the 10.6.7 iMac edition to install that efi update. External perhaps?)

I wish the RAM was bad, as that's a 15 minute return drive insted of another week of waiting for the new iMac and dealing with restoring and reinstalling stuff.