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How can I check if I fried a memory chip?

post #1 of 5
11/27/03 at 6:40pm
Thread Starter 
A while ago it seems as though i accidently put my laptop in my backpack and didn't shut it it down. When I took it out it was HOT and almost had a burny smell to it. I can't tell 100% but I think I am noticing it going a bit slower when doing a lot of things and my friend has mentioned that I could have fried a memory chip. I had one gig and my bios still says 1 gig but my friend told me it wouldn't say otherwise because one gig is what is installed. I don't want to void my warranty but I really want to know If I am running on 512 mb rather then one gig. I thought these laptops were supposed to shut down automatically when they got to hot? Odd that it didn't shut down when it was in my bag. Mind you it wasn't in there for a extrodianary long time.
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post #2 of 5
11/27/03 at 6:48pm
I think if your memory chip is fried, you wouldn't have a laptop that functioned for very long. Lots of things can cause a general slow down of the system including installing all of Microsoft's updates, installing any software (that will add to your registry and eat resources), general fragmentation of your hard drive, or even viruses.

If your system is not crashing, there's a good chance you don't have a hardware problem. But keep the system clean software-wise, and defrag somewhat regularly, and get a decent virus scanner.

-Peter
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post #3 of 5
11/27/03 at 7:49pm
Thread Starter 
Yes but I have 2 512's so its possible one is burnt and I only have 512. Isn't it?

I hope your right
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post #4 of 5
11/27/03 at 7:54pm
My guess is that if the system recognizes that 1gig of RAM is installed, it will assume it can access all 1gig of that ram. If any part of your 512 stick is fried, once the system tries to access that area, you will get a crash.

Now if your system only reported 512megs, then you may be in trouble...

-Peter
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post #5 of 5
11/27/03 at 8:13pm
psyang is right.

Besides that, you're not very likely to have fried the RAM, but the CPU or the video card. Or perhaps the hard drive. Or the screen. The screen is probably the most sensitive to heat out of them all.

Just because you have 1Gig of RAM doesn't mean it will be faster than if it had 512MB. That would only be the case if you were using apps which used more than 512MB. If you're not, there is no benefit.

The whole speed boost thing comes from the days when RAM was EXPENSIVE, and computers wrote memory to the HDD which were SLOW. Trust me, a 5680/8890 with 1 Gig of RAM won't swap to the disk unless you are doing some VERY heavy stuff.
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