Do I have bad RAM?

cosmonutcosmonut
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Since purchasing a 512 stick of RAM for our 800Mhz G4 iMac, I've experienced problems running Avid XPress DV on the machine. The strange thing is that no other apps seem to have any problems. I don't know if that's just how Avid runs (which I'd have a hard time believing), or if the RAM is bad. Since I've never run XDV on any other systems, I can't know for sure. The RAM itself is from Crucial.



Here's the deal. XDV will:
  • Hang when it finishes rendering

  • Not do a digital cut (output to tape) any longer than 8 minutes or so because of a video underrun error.

  • Won't stop playing the composer window when I click on the button. I HAVE to press the space bar to do it.

I think there are a couple others that I can't think of right now.



So my plan of attack is to take out the 512 stick and just let Avid run on the 256 that came with the system to see if there's any difference.



Do any of you have any suggestions or comments? I spent $1200 on this program and would really like for it to work correctly and so far I've been really upset. I'm hoping it's just the RAM. My big question is: If the RAM is bad, could all but one app on the machine still run okay?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    It doesn't sound like bad ram to me.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    Doesn't sound like bad RAM to me either, for two reasons:-



    Crucial have a good rep for quality RAM.



    A bad ram would effect the stability of the entire system. Not just one app.





    G
  • Reply 3 of 6
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,181member
    It COULD be RAM.



    I had a bad ram stick ... it only showed up when I had several apps running (in other words when the system was trying to use lots of ram). Apparently there were no problems if everything could run on only the good ram ... problems only seemed to show up when the "bad" ram was needed.



    HOWEVER ... the problems I had with the ram ALWAYS showed up as a Kernal Panic.



    So ... I would try it without the new ram stick ... stuff will run slower if it has to page out to the HD because of less ram, but if it runs, then you've probably isolated the problem ... THEN you can go get new RAM and hopefully the problem won't resurface.



    Good Luck.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Well, it appears the RAM has *something* to do with it. After I took it out, XDV has been running smoother, and two of the three problems in my original post have been solved. I do notice that the app takes a little more time doing some things, but it overall has been far less of a problem without the new stick in it. I think I'll be calling Crucial first thing tomorrow.



    I'll keep you all posted if anything new develops.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gargoyle

    Doesn't sound like bad RAM to me either, for two reasons:-



    Crucial have a good rep for quality RAM.



    A bad ram would effect the stability of the entire system. Not just one app.





    G



    Yep...a friend bought a bad stick of Ram...whole system went from fast to slow in no time at all..

    As soon as he removed the offending stick ..whey-ho..the system was back up to speed...

    Had the ram checked..but the techs couldn't fault it in any way..maybe it was a seating problem..

    So check the seating to make sure it is " clicked home "



    Also check to see for any cracks...
  • Reply 6 of 6
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I called Crucial today, and when I told her what the deal was and what some of the symptoms were, she *immediately* said, "Yep. Sounds like we need to send you another one." It'll be here Monday and when it comes, the other will go away. Bye bye, royal pain in my ass! \
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