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baypharm

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2007
1,951
973
Sorry to borrow the thread.

I chance upon a deal on 2010 17 inches MacBook Pro. Is there a common problem, eg gpu or widespread failure similar to what the 2011 suffers?

I can’t speak for all of them but mine is functioning as it was when new. No problems at all.
 

bass2yang

macrumors newbie
Jun 27, 2019
2
2
Missouri, USA
Here is what I can confirm so far, so if you are thinking about doing this - I did it for you:

I have a MacBook Pro 6,1 (i5 2.53GHz, 17"). I went ahead and bought 16GB of RAM, thinking it was going to work (unfortunately, I misread the website because I was so excited to see 16GB for MacBook Pro). Only the 7,1 model can do it and NOT the 6,1.

When I installed the RAM, the computer was able to "see" that I had 16GB. I ran into issues about a minute or so. Kernel Panic. Restarted the computer several times. No fix to this. I booted it up in Safe Mode and it lasted longer - performance suffered greatly, however. I tried to load a program and it restarted my computer again.

The pictures you see are indeed correct. What the ebay person did not tell you was that your computer will immediately go into kernel panic mode and restart.

I contacted Apple and they confirmed that while the computer will see 16GB of RAM, the moment it tries to access certain parts of the RAM (which happens a few moments after you log in), it crashes.

Not worth your time and Apple is not going to fix it - they would have already but they are making an OS that does not work/will no longer support old hardware. Saved you $80, hopefully.

EDIT: I tried booting up the computer with Linux and it crashed as well. The computer lasts long enough for a person to check the specs and display that it can handle 16GB. What really happens is that there are major performance issues. This is most likely a hardware issue.
 
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innovathorr

macrumors newbie
Aug 23, 2023
2
0
I have MBPro6,1 17", Intel i7 core duo 2.66Ghz upgraded with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM (Timetec 16GB KIT(2x8GB) DDR3 1067MHz / 1066MHz PC3-8500 RAM). System integrity test on boot is OK, High Sierra loads in 10 sec but keeps crushing while used on various tasks. I reversed to original 8GB (2x4GB) and it works like a breeze since then. Wonder if somebody did an upgrade to 16GB RAM that actually worked out - pls advise on RAM specs. Thank you!
 

innovathorr

macrumors newbie
Aug 23, 2023
2
0
Here is what I can confirm so far, so if you are thinking about doing this - I did it for you:

I have a MacBook Pro 6,1 (i5 2.53GHz, 17"). I went ahead and bought 16GB of RAM, thinking it was going to work (unfortunately, I misread the website because I was so excited to see 16GB for MacBook Pro). Only the 7,1 model can do it and NOT the 6,1.

When I installed the RAM, the computer was able to "see" that I had 16GB. I ran into issues about a minute or so. Kernel Panic. Restarted the computer several times. No fix to this. I booted it up in Safe Mode and it lasted longer - performance suffered greatly, however. I tried to load a program and it restarted my computer again.

The pictures you see are indeed correct. What the ebay person did not tell you was that your computer will immediately go into kernel panic mode and restart.

I contacted Apple and they confirmed that while the computer will see 16GB of RAM, the moment it tries to access certain parts of the RAM (which happens a few moments after you log in), it crashes.

Not worth your time and Apple is not going to fix it - they would have already but they are making an OS that does not work/will no longer support old hardware. Saved you $80, hopefully.

EDIT: I tried booting up the computer with Linux and it crashed as well. The computer lasts long enough for a person to check the specs and display that it can handle 16GB. What really happens is that there are major performance issues. This is most likely a hardware issue.
...this actually confirms my experiment as well. Thank you for sharing! Out of curiosity - when you spoke with Apple - did they say it's a hardware issue (e.g. CPU/RAM compatibility) or software/OS (e.g. High Sierra) they are not going to fix? In any case has anybody tried to natively load Win10-11 on BMP 2010 with 16GB? Please share your results. thanks!
 
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