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    Segmentation error

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by eLJaKo, May 7, 2008.

  1. eLJaKo

    eLJaKo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Anyone ever heard of this? It happens on a friends macbook. I dont know his specs but its about 1-2 years old, 2gb memory and osx leopard. Just figured if mention it here cos I happened to be on the forums.

    The error occurs pretty much when he tries to do anything on his macbook. I figure its something to do with bthe hard drive but it seems to be a hard error to research.

    Thanks
     
    eLJaKo, May 7, 2008
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  2. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

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    Sounds like bad RAM to me. Try running the Apple Hardware test by inserting the Leopard installation disk, shutting down the Mac, holding down the C key, turning on the Mac while still holding down the C key, and then following the wizard.

    If it is bad RAM, replace it (memory is cheap nowadays).
     
    Budding, May 7, 2008
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  3. system_159

    system_159 Notebook Deity

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    Yeah, segmentation faults are usually caused by improper memory allocation, which is a software issue, trying to access a memory address that isn't there. However if it was a software issue we'd all be getting it so it's most likely bad ram causing the machine to result in error codes because it's not providing the correct memory addresses.

    If he's got applecare he should call apple and they'll send replacement ram.

    If not, have him take one stick out(while the computer is off) and see if the problem still happens. If it does swap the sticks and try again. It's highly unlikely that both memory sticks have gone bad so one should work and the other should have errors. Then he can go on newegg.com and buy a replacement stick for cheap
     
    system_159, May 7, 2008
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