BAH RAM YOU

I'm not entirely sure what I'm dealing with here. I'm out of my element... Apple maintenance is not something I'm particularly experienced with, as no Apple computer I've ever dealt with has needed a significant amount of it.

I'm perplexed. Purchasing 4GBs of RAM for my Macbook was a wonderful experience. The price was right, and the specs matched up perfectly with what I needed. The reviews revealed no critical flaws with the product, and I eagerly anticipated their arrival. The day they got here, I ripped the package open and--after tracking down an impossibly small screwdriver--installed the RAM with all of the technical precision attained through my PC maintenance days.

All seemed to go well. The Macbook booted happily, more quickly now, and loaded all of my desktop with speed I'd never seen before. It was wonderful, nearly religious. But then...the world went black--or, green checkered. The whole screen locked-up, green bars checkering the once humming desktop, and shooting through me with a shock. What could the problem be? The RAM was properly seated, and I made sure to minimize my chances of electrostatic discharge. This problem had never happened before. My Macbook was infailible, but troubleshoot as I might I've yet to find a solution to my problem. Removing the battery while on AC power seemed to work until I left it on overnight. Downgrading to just one 2GB stick and one 512MB stick seemed to work too, until just a few minutes ago.

I've got nowhere to turn. Search as I might, nobody on the vast interwebs seems to have experienced this problem at all. Downgrading has slowed the issue and reduced the frequency, but not quenched it entirely. I'm using SMC Fan Control to keep the temperature down and maybe beat back the beast, but I fear I'm only delaying another inevitable lock-up. I may go back to 4GBs and simply enjoy the power while accepting the problems. It beats the hell out of going back to 1GB, at any rate.

-D Haines