Raspberry Pi firmware, updated around 2024, now locks RAM by size and manufacturer. Swap the module and your board either ignores the extra capacity or refuses to boot. Jeff Geerling documented this on video, and a GitHub ticket on the rpi-eeprom project confirms the failure modes are real and varied.
Each Pi board carries a code identifying its model, RAM size, and RAM vendor. Geekworm published a breakdown of this marking system earlier in 2025. A workaround exists: roll back to an older EEPROM image. That is not a solution, it is damage control.
The full piece is worth reading for the ownership argument, not just the technical one. Geerling points out that GPUs and Apple Silicon Macs allow RAM swaps, but a board that markets itself on open hardware credentials does not. The comparison to Apple's hardware pairing, the practice that drew widespread criticism, is explicit and intentional.
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