Inconsistent sleep problem and graphical glitches SOLVED

[brummymax]

I have had problems with one of my 2 Probooks running Mountain Lion (ML). Ever since I first installed, it has had the following problems intermittently:

- graphical glitches
- wont wake from sleep
- boots to no keyboard and mouse working
- boots to frozen desktop but with a movable mouse pointer

The majority of the time the system has been usable (except for the sleep issue). It is just the unpredictability of it. In windows and linux, the computer is fine. Here is the spec:

i7 2670qm
Radeon 6490m
2x4Gb 1333MHz PC3 ram
1080p AUO B156HW01 v4 screen

I have been meaning for a while to try and remove one of the 4gb ram cards to see if that impacts the problems at all. Well, running on a single 4gb card, ALL the problems have gone away. I have noticed the graphics memory is now being reported as 384 Mb instead of 512 Mb before. Im not sure if it is the particular memory type, latency or maybe the fact that there are 2 cards installed in my my particular laptop configuration, but attached is a photo showing the top and bottom of the memory that my laptop has. I am going to test with other memory combinations and types to learn more. Has anybody else come across this problem?

One remaining problem is the card reader is not recognised at all in the USB devices or the card reader sections of the System Information. Anybody shed any light on this?

 

[schinkengott]

i also got your exakt problems.. and two bars of ram and several manufacturer

EDIT: is one ram bar infunctional or is it a mac problem?

 

[brummymax]

i also got your exakt problems.. and two bars of ram and several manufacturer

EDIT: is one ram bar infunctional or is it a mac problem?

I believe the ram is good and the problem lies with OSX on my laptop configuration communicating with the ram correctly. I will test this now by swapping the ram cards.

Does your card reader work?

 

[brummymax]

I used memtest on OSX and there are no problems with these ram sticks. I even swapped them about and mixed in another 4gb stick from a different manufacturer. I always get problems when there are 2x4Gb sticks installed and never when there is only 1x4Gb. What I would like to try is 2x4Gb but without using either of the 2 Samsung sticks I have. I will need to borrow or buy a stick to match up with the spare non samsung stick I have.

 

[RehabMan]

Do you use your own patched DSDT? When you add/subtract RAM, are you re-extracting and re-patching your DSDT? Best results are when you use a patched DSDT that matches the configuration you are running.

 

[brummymax]

Do you use your own patched DSDT? When you add/subtract RAM, are you re-extracting and re-patching your DSDT? Best results are when you use a patched DSDT that matches the configuration you are running.

I have always had 8Gb (2x4Gb) installed until tonight. My custom DSDT was patched with the 2x4Gb ram cards in place. The ML install is only smooth and consistent with 1x4Gb installed, irrelevant of what DSDT is present. Focusing on DSDT in this case is a dead end. I would add this to the FAQ even though it is not frequently asked .....

 

[RehabMan]

I have always had 8Gb (2x4Gb) installed until tonight. My custom DSDT was patched with the 2x4Gb ram cards in place. The ML install is only smooth and consistent with 1x4Gb installed, irrelevant of what DSDT is present. Focusing on DSDT in this case is a dead end. I would add this to the FAQ even though it is not frequently asked .....

I asked about the DSDT because you didn't mention it. Using your own DSDT is relevant to having a stable system. Especially with differing amounts of RAM.

Interestingly, my laptop has 2x4GB as well. And each stick is from a different manufacturer. I purchased my laptop as a refurb and it came that way (it was supposed to only have 4GB, but I got a bonus... of sorts... 8GB of mismatched RAM). In general, it is a bad idea (as you clearly know/have discovered) to mix model/vendor when it comes to sticks of RAM. Anyone who has spent any time building or upgrading computers knows this. Also, interesting (surprising even) that I've had no issues with this particular RAM situation. But if I did start to have issues, it would be the first thing I'd fix...

 

[schinkengott]

yes,it works from day one

 

[brummymax]

In general, it is a bad idea (as you clearly know/have discovered) to mix model/vendor when it comes to sticks of RAM.

The original 2x4Gb are an exact matched pair. It is these that have caused the problem all along. The memory has been fully tested and it is not ay fault. There is just the incompatibility with OSX that is the problem. I only have 1 other stick of ram that fits this laptop. Any combination of 2 sticks of ram (from my 3 sticks) cause the problems. I'm watching some on eBay, so once I buy more I can test other matched/mismatched pairs without either of the original 2 sticks present.

I will create a new DSDT with only 1 stick installed and diff it wither the existing DSDT. But the problems in this case are not connected to DSDT.

 

[doncarlos]

I never had any sleep issues, but i had once a no keyboard and mouse working error. But i had massive graphic glitches with all kind of kexts. Last week i swapped my 2x2 gb original rams to 2x4 gb memory from different manufacturers, since than my system is perfect, no glitches or any kind of bugs!