[SpookyZalost]

I'm back guys! and today's post is about RAM, specifically RAM for the I-Book G4.

so a few things I've learned from this process, first, G4 15 inch models like the one I have here are known to have a failing lower ram slot.
second, not all ram of the correct type is compatible, this is due to how the mac regulate's power.

so here's my update for the moment.

I started out by installing each of the two 1gb ram sticks.

for the macbook G4 these are PC2700 DDR so dim ram sticks at 333 mhz.



the ram slots were easy enough to get into with my electronics tool kit, it has a microphillips of the correct size.











and after installing the lower then upper ram sticks I placed the cover back on and screwed the whole thing together starting with the top right corner then going diagonal from it, making an X shape as I put them in to ensure even force was placed on the metal plate.

flipping the computer back over it booted up just fine... in fact it booted way faster so already this seems successful, excited I loaded the software utility that displays system information only to find... only 1 GB was detected.





seeing this I immediately shut down the computer, opened the ram panel back up, swapped the two ram sticks, and still only 1GB detected, same slot so I know it's not the ram that's faulty.

I then proceeded to shut down the computer and remove the top ram stick.

doesn't boot, however I had read about some incompatibilities with 3rd party ram so I decided to stick the original 512 mb stick in the lower ram slot, to my surprise it worked!

I then shut the entire thing down again, placed a 1GB stick in the top slot and once again the bottom slot is not detected.

the next thing I did was remove the battery and let it sit a minute.

why? because the main battery is also the PRAM batttery which means if I remove it the bios settings are reset









something silly is going on here and having read up on it more it seems the mac may not be providing power to both ram sticks as the 3rd party ram may be slightly incompatible.

having shut the machine down again I removed the 512 mb stick and left the 1GB stick in the top slot.

I would have to buy the recomended crucial 1gb sticks later, for now though it has double what it started with and runs way faster.

because of this I was finally able to update it to 10.4.11 and have it continue to run smoothly.

man though the difference shows, 10.4.11 is a ram hog compared to 10.4.0



and here I thought microsoft was bloatware! lol 

in the mean time I can take the 1.5gb I do have and place it in another mac I have in my basement, more on that at a later date.

stay tuned, keyboard keys and battery replacement to come in a future post!