Bad Ram Slot
Is it possible to fix laptop memory slot failure with a guitar pick? Yes, it is. You will not fix the memory slot itself, but you can work around the problem. đ
Today I received a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 laptop with the following complaint:
I shut the machine down, re-seated the new RAM (and verified that I had, in fact, put the new sticks in). One of the new sticks must be bad, I thought. So I swapped them. So it isnât the sticks. Must be one of the slots. So I booted up with a stick in only one of the 2 slots. Physical abuse- trying to push the wrong size ram into the wrong slot, pushing the ram inn the wrong way, using a physical device like s screw driver in the shots, letting some metal touch the electrodes whilst the power in on, pushing in our removing the ram from their slots whilst the power is on. Random Access Memory (RAM) wears out over time. If your PC frequently freezes, reboots, or brings up a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death), bad RAM just might be the problem. Corrupt files can be another.
The laptop starts and works properly, but recognizes only one of the two memory modules installed. The laptop has two 256MB RAM modules installed, but registers only 256MB.
First of all, I removed the memory cover to find out if both memory modules are installed correctly. The laptop had two 256MB Kingston modules installed and they were seated properly.
When I started the laptop and entered the BIOS setup menu, I found that only one of the two memory modules is detected and the laptop registers only 256MB (262144KB) of RAM instead of 512MB (524288KB).
Just a side note. In the computer world 1MB=1024KB. Thatâs why 256MB=262144KB and 512MB=524288KB.
I tried reseating both memory modules but it didnât help.
After that I tried installing both memory modules in both memory slots one by one and hereâs what I found. The laptop worked absolutely fine when both memory modules were installed into the slot A, but failed to boot with both memory modules installed into the slot B.
Apparently, there is nothing wrong with the memory modules and the laptop has a faulty memory slot B. The memory slot is permanently soldered on the motherboard. If one of the slots fails youâll have to replace the whole motherboard or use the laptop with only one working slot.
Buying a new motherboard for this older laptop wouldnât make any sense because itâs too expensive, but the laptop is still in a good working condition except the faulty memory slot B, so I continued playing with that trying to find the solution.
I noticed that the laptop start normally with the memory module installed into the faulty slot if I slightly press on the module with my thumb. And this gave me an idea.
This guitar pick is going to fix my laptop. đ
I installed both RAM modules back into the slots and then placed the guitar pick over the module in the slot B as it shown on the picture.
I thought if I close the RAM door it will press on the guitar pick/memory module and it will have the same effect as pressing on the module with my thumb. And it worked!
Both memory modules were detected properly and the laptop registered all 512MB. After âthe fixâ I tested memory with Memtest86+ and the laptop passed the test.
I wouldnât call it the best solution for fixing a faulty memory slot but in some cases it will work.
Macbook Pro Bad Ram Slot
By the way, I didnât charge the customer for this ârepairâ, he knows what is going on and how I âfixedâ his problem.