EFI Update, 2 hrs later, dead Kingston RAM

[kylos]

In preparation for iOS 5, I just ran all available updates for my 2011 Mac Mini. After the Mac OS, EFI, and iTunes updates had run, I started downloading iOS 5. Near the end, the Mac Mini kernel panicked and wouldn't restart until I installed the original RAM. So it seems my RAM is shot (model is Kingston KVR1333D3SOK2/8GR 4GBx2). If anyone has experience with this RAM and Kingston in general, I'd love to hear it.

However, I'm suspicious that the EFI updates can be hard on Mac's. Last year, my sister's Macbook started kernel panicking almost daily after a firmware update, her hard drive failing soon after, with the kp continuing for a while even after replacing the hard drive. Anybody else see issues following an EFI update or am I reading too much into this?

 

[surroundfan]

Rocking Kingston ValueRAM on my new mini, including application of the EFI update, without the computer missing a beat. You've probably just got a dodgy stick of RAM...

 

[shortcut3d]

Have both Kingston Value RAM 8GB sticks and Kingston Hyper X 1866MHz and ran EFI updates last week with no issues. 10.7.2 worked yesterday with no issues so far.

All these sticks were tested with 4 loops of Rember and 20 stress tests on Geekbench at initial install.

 

[fa8362]

An update can't kill RAM or a hard drive.

 

[Edge]

G-Skill RAM also failed after EFI update

I updated the software in my 2.5GHz i5 with 6630M discrete graphics. The next time I booted I got kernel panics, and three beeps from the mini indicating failed RAM. The RAM was 8GB of G-Skill 10666 RAM, which is now non-functioning. I also had to remove my SSD (Vertex 2) and a 1TB hard drive in the second bay. I put it down to heat from 2 HDs, but seeing this post makes me wonder whether the EFI update may have been a factor.

I had subsequent kernel panics at various stages of booting, or recovery, or at the desktop. I have since reset the PRAM, reverted to original RAM and 500GB hard drive, and have had no kernel panics.

I will attempt to RMA the RAM, but I suspect this problem may not be specific to any brand of RAM.

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An update can't kill RAM or a hard drive.

Prove it.

EFI settings include things like RAM speed and voltage settings. Something changed in my mini after weeks of successful use, causing my RAM to fail, and it occurred after the EFI update. Therefore I'm prepared to entertain the possibility the EFI update caused or contributed to some sort of problem.

 

[MJL]

In the days of 486 CPU's there were settings in the BIOS for wait states of the memory. If you tried to go to a too low of a wait state then the memory could not keep up and was reported as "faulty".

Apparently the 2010 Mac mini was rather picky about choice of memory and it would not suprise me one bit if an EFI update did some changes under the hood that results in previous (marginally working) hardware to be reported at the next boot as a fail.

This does not mean that the hardware is broken by the update, it just means that the hardware was only marginally suitable and in fact should not even have been in the machine in the first place. Extra heat could have made the computer report it as a fail also, perhaps in the middle of some important work. I've learned a long time ago that you get what you pay for and the cheapest third party parts are not always the most suitable. Stick to the recommended parts or otherwise get from a reputable firm that has done extensive testing with those parts in the gear you are having (e.g. OWC)

 

[davegoody]

Updates CAN kill compatibility !

An update can't kill RAM or a hard drive.

EFI or other firmware updates can, under certain circumstances, cause 3rd Party RAM or HDDs to fail. If your RAM is borderline compatible, or the HDD firmware is of a specific version, it is not outside the bounds of likelyhood for KPs to happen as a result of tightened compliance rules, or the machine requiring higher specs after an update. Don't be quick to discount this. It used to happen with alarming regularity back in the day.