Jaguar suddenly won't see my memory!!??

[dmayle]

I've got one of the original iBooks (Blueberry, first issue), with 32MB built-in and a 256MB DIMM (non-apple). I traded a Dell for it about a month ago, and have since upgraded the HD to 30GB. I'm running Jaguar, and I love it, but I booted up today, and it was running almost at a standstill. I SSH'ed into the box, and ran top, to see if there was a runaway process. I noticed that it only lists the 32M built-in, where it used to list 288M as in the system (wired). If I boot to my Classic (9.1) CD, it recognizes all of the memory just fine. I did NOT install the Apple firmware upgrade, because I've heard of those problems, but I think I had automatic updates turned on. Have any of you had similar problems, or know what I can do?

 

[macmend]

Bad RAM is common for for OS X users, it can cauase all sorts of problems including the one you have mentioned

You need to ensure all RAM is properly seated in its slot by re-seating it. If that does not help, remove any third-party RAM (even if it worked okay in OS 9) does that make it better? .
If not

Make sure the RAM is the correct type for your Mac...

Some models of Macs seem to need a CUDA reset or PRAM zap to recognize new RAM. Sometimes shutting down and removing the system battery can help reset your mac.

Certain utilties can tst your RAM but some of these test utilities have been known to tell you that your RAM is fine, even when it is not. So the best course is to remove third-party RAM as outlined above.

Some Macs have a Hardware Test CD-ROM that does comprehensive hardware and RAM
testing. See:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58772

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88048

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50140

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50138

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31295

DIMMFirstAid might even be able to repair out-of-spec RAM.

http://www.mactcp.org.nz/dimmfirstaid.html

RAMCheck 2.1 is a an old warhorse that still does good service

http://download.digidesign.com/support/digi/mac/utilities/RAMCheck210.sea.hqx

Note that having RAM DIMM's of two different speeds (e.g. PC100 and PC66) installed together might cause problems also. If this is your situation, remove all DIMM's not of the same speed and see if things get better.

MacMEND is found at

http://www.macmend.com