Why is the RAM on my laptop getting hot? Why is RAM heating up?

But in any case, this is only a temporary solution to the problem, and either you do not value your data, or you are lazy. Therefore, the most correct solution is to disassemble and clean from dust.
If you do not know how or are afraid, then it is better not to poke your nose. Because after that it may not turn on at all.
From myself I will add only that I recently dismantled and cleaned the laptop. Replaced the thermal paste and cleaned the "passage" in the vents. As a result, the laptop began to heat up much less (earlier, the hand was already “burning” near the “air outlet”) and became almost silent (well, the poor cooler (fan) tried its best to spin faster to push hot air through this layer of dust).

The temperature of RAM, unlike the temperature of a processor or video card, cannot be measured programmatically, since there are no thermal sensors on it. Therefore, this can only be done with a separate thermometer. The most convenient way for such purposes is to use a non-contact digital thermometer gun. You can also use a contact digital thermometer.

If you have neither one nor the other device, you can take up the RAM with your hands. At a temperature of 50 degrees, the bar does not burn the hand. The temperature of 60 degrees does not burn the hand, but it is hard to endure it. Temperature over 60 degrees hand no longer tolerates.

Working temperature range

The normal operating temperature of RAM is 50-60 degrees. A temperature of 70-80 degrees is undesirable, since in this case the service life of the RAM is significantly reduced, but the memory still works stably. When the bar is heated to 80-90 degrees, the system may not work stably. When heated above 90 degrees, the blue screen of death is guaranteed to appear on the monitor.

The above temperatures are approximate, since the critical values ​​for iron are from different manufacturers And different models may differ somewhat. More detailed information can be obtained from the manufacturer.

Thus, if the temperature of the RAM exceeds 50-60 degrees, it is necessary to look for the reasons why it overheats and eliminate them.

Causes of overheating and how to fix the problem

As we said above, there are several reasons for memory overheating:

• Clogging of the ventilation system with dust and debris - solved by dust removal. If the system is “hot” by itself, that is, elements that are very hot are located close to each other, it may be necessary to install an additional cooler in the system unit or use a laptop cooling pad.
• Oxidation of the connector contacts or the bar itself - the memory contacts can be carefully processed with a soft eraser. The connector pins will clean themselves by inserting the bar into the slot a few times and pulling it out.
• The RAM was overclocked - an increase in voltage necessarily leads to increased heating. Therefore, especially for overlockers, there are cooling radiators for RAM.
• Iron marriage or failure - can concern both the brackets and the motherboard. This problem The only solution is to replace the defective part.

When working with RAM, do not forget to wear antistatic gloves or ground the system unit and.

Checking the stability of the RAM

If you do not have the opportunity to check the temperature of the RAM, for example, when buying a computer, you can check the stability of its operation using a stress test. The principle of the latter is based on ensuring the maximum load on a particular computer component.

You can run a stress test in the program. It's called the System Stability Test. As a rule, 20-30 minutes of operation in this mode is enough to detect instability. If during this time the computer did not freeze and did not appear blue screen, we can say with a high degree of probability that RAM works stably.

By the way, with a stress test you can check not only RAM, but also any other PC components - bridges, video chips, etc. In a similar way, it is easy to identify computers and laptops with warm chips, which, if under full load, if they do not fail completely, it shows a blue screen.

Many PC users often turn to the repair shop with the same question: “Why is the computer heating up?”. Let's try to determine the main causes of this phenomenon, and how to eliminate it.

Main problems

A personal computer or laptop is a complex system that operates according to certain laws. If you are interested in why the computer heats up and turns off, we will deal with the main reasons for this deviation. Overheating is often accompanied by a system shutdown. In addition to the termination of work, the following problems may also be observed:

• programs hang, games do not start or turn off after a few minutes from the moment of launch;
• the system stops and turns off;
• permanent after launch everything "hangs".

One of the important elements is the PC processor, so if you figure out why it heats up, it will become clear why the computer turns off. Consider the main components of a personal computer, and for what reasons problems arise.

Breaking the computer apart

It is not difficult to understand why the processor on a computer is heating up. This usually starts when complex programs are turned on, or if the computer is regularly turned off incorrectly. This may lead to degradation of the chip. If measures are not taken in time, it will constantly give errors, and after a while it can simply be thrown away. The same will have to be done if you do not find out why the video card on the computer is very hot. If your personal assistant starts to freeze for a long time while watching a movie, or the image becomes fuzzy during a game, a dark background or other graphical artifacts, your graphics card will soon say goodbye to you.

No less problems will arise if the user does not understand in time why it is heating up HDD on the computer. You need to start worrying if the PC takes a long time to boot, clicks are heard from the side of the system unit. If the system does not boot, then it's too late, it's time to change the hard one. It should be noted that in this case you can return the information that was stored on it, but you need to contact a good service center. It’s impossible to find out why the computer is getting very hot, and the hard drive has flown, but it will be quite possible to return important data.

Many repair shops advise you to find out in advance why the power supply to the computer is heating up. This part can fail very quickly, so at the first malfunction, you should contact the repair shop. Computer repair in Elekstrostal is inexpensive. Troubleshooting will cost significantly less than buying a new system unit. In conclusion, we recall that the chipset on the motherboard is no less important. To the question: "Why is it heated motherboard on the computer?" can be answered very simply. The cooler in the PC does not work well enough, so the keyboard may turn off, the mouse freezes, the USB input does not work, there is no communication with disk drives, hard drives, and other problems. If the computer gets very hot during the game and the main reason is not eliminated, the chipset will break, and the motherboard will have to be purchased new. Repair in such a situation is impractical, because it is too expensive.

There are quite a few reasons why the RAM on the computer and other components are heated, but the main one is that the radiators are not cooled well enough. If you are having problems with normal work PC, it is better to immediately turn to professionals.

In this article, I will talk in detail about how to identify problems with RAM. We will also figure out how to repair and replace RAM on the example of a PC, laptop, and on the examples of Windows and Linux.

I will try to describe everything in detail and clearly. Therefore, beginners will be able to figure it out, and experienced users will find something interesting for themselves.

Terms:
RAM is the official name for random access memory.
A RAM stick is a microcircuit that is RAM.

How RAM can get corrupted

RAM is a microchip inserted into a special slot in your computer or laptop. Naturally, a computer has more RAM, and a laptop has less. A stick of RAM is the most reliable piece of hardware in your computer or laptop. According to statistics, they are the least likely to break, and therefore the warranty period for them is longer (on average - 4 years).

This is due to the simplicity of the microcircuit. It practically does not heat up, and therefore it does not need a cooler (fan). In rare cases, a radiator is put on the operating room for cooling, but this usually occurs on powerful gaming computers. In addition, the heatsink makes the RAM bar structurally stronger.

RAM can only be damaged physically. Those. no virus or software problem so far they can't ruin the RAM. Therefore, the most common causes of failure are:

1) Manufacturing defect.
2) Problems with the power supply.
3) Mechanical damage to the RAM strip or connectors.
4) Static stress.
5) Simple wear.
6) Overheating / hypothermia.

Manufacturing defect is rare. In 1% of cases, and it does not depend much on the manufacturer. This is due to the fact that all microcircuits are tested by the manufacturer. In addition, the warranty period for RAM is long. Therefore, it is enough just to go to the service center and change the RAM bar under warranty.

Problems with the power supply are rare. There are controllers in the power supplies and motherboard that do not allow you to output more voltage than expected. However, there are cases when it is a power failure that spoils the RAM. Unfortunately, this can only be checked with a voltmeter, which most people do not have at home (and in vain). If the problem is in the power supply, then you will have to replace it.

Mechanical damage is the most common case. This usually happens when you try to insert a stick of RAM by force. Sometimes it is not the chip itself that is damaged, but the connector.

Static voltage is extremely rare. In my practice, I have never encountered this. System unit computer and laptop case are always closed, and therefore static electricity is excluded. Moreover, in modern devices there is an antistatic net under motherboard. However, static electricity can be a threat. For example, if you walk on the carpet in rubber slippers, and then climb your hands into the "innards" of the computer.

simple wear happens over time. Nothing in this world lasts forever. The bar of RAM can deteriorate both after 4 years and after 15 years. It all depends on the operating conditions and the manufacturer.

Overheating or hypothermia It can also destroy RAM. But this rarely happens, since absolutely prohibitive temperatures (+ 100C, -45C) are required to ruin the microcircuit. Clean your computer and laptop from dust and everything will be fine.

How to fix corrupted RAM

No way. If the RAM bar is damaged, then it is almost impossible to fix it. If the matter is in the connector or the contacts are worn out, then something else can be done. However, the microcircuit itself cannot be repaired in any way, it can only be replaced. Luckily they are inexpensive. 2GB at 1600Hz cost around 1500 rubles, which is quite a bit, given the warranty period. Just try not to buy RAM with a warranty of less than two years.

However, don't be afraid. Problems can be solved.

What are the signs of a memory defect?

General signs:
1) The system does not start. Or it starts endlessly rebooting itself, trying to start normally.
2) The system does not start at all. Usually accompanied by squeaking. This means that the RAM has not been determined at all. This means either very bad damage to the RAM strip, or damage to the connector.

Windows:
1) The blue screen of death crashes. Blue screen with technical information. The error code is most often different. That is, it makes no sense to google the error, because. the codes are always different and always show a different reason. Sometimes this happens due to the fact that the RAM stick is not fully inserted.
2) Failures in the system. This is usually associated with programs and games that actively use RAM. A vivid example: programs, browser and games crash with system error. Sometimes accompanied by a blue screen crash.

linux:
1) System crashes and program crashes. Sometimes it turns out funny. You go to the browser, it crashes with an error, you try to view the error report, but it also crashes with a system error. Even if you look at the logs, it is still not always immediately clear what the problem is. Common to all debian-derived distributions.
2) The system does not boot. Crashes to the console or writes an error. Although some who use Arch or LFS may have it as intended :)

How to check RAM for defects

The easiest way to check the RAM is to download and install on a USB flash drive or CD (does anyone else use them ?!) special utility memtest86.

There is Memtest86, and there is also Memtest86+. The difference between them is small, so you can download any on the official website: www.memtest.org

This archive contains an automatic installer on a USB flash drive. Those. insert the flash drive, run the program and follow the simple instructions. Then insert this USB flash drive into a computer or laptop, boot from it and check the RAM.

If you're on Linux, then Memtest86 comes bundled with images of Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and a few others. And also the utility can be launched from the grub menu at startup. If you don't know what grub is, then it's too early for you to sit down for Linux :)

But! Before running the program from a flash drive, you need to do the following.

Step 1.
First you need to find the chip. Make it easy. RAM looks like a rectangular chip. On a computer it is longer, on a laptop it is shorter.

The microcircuit is clamped on the sides with clamps (tautology, yes). The clips are easy to open, and then pull out the RAM bar. But before pulling out the chip...

Step 2
Reset BIOS settings. When the system starts, press Del and the BIOS menu exits. Select the Set to Default option (default F9 or F10). Then save and reload.
This step is optional, but the philosophy behind fixing hardware suggests this step. In some cases, resetting the settings helps the system to work.

Step 3
Pull out the RAM chip and look at its condition. If the contacts are dirty, then take an eraser and gently wipe them along.

Step 4
If you have one bar, then put it in the slot and run Memtest from a USB flash drive. If you have several RAM chips, then leave one, and pull out the rest.

Step 5
After running Memtest, it will immediately start checking the RAM. It looks like this:

In the image, I marked the program zones with color.
Green - the characteristics of your processor (CPU).
Purple - the stage of verification and the percentage of verification.
Yellow - the model and characteristics of your RAM. Remember them or write them down, because if you want to buy a new RAM bar, you will rely on these characteristics.

If the program detects errors, it will mark them in red. Even one mistake is already a reason to replace the RAM.

Step 6
After checking, turn off your computer or laptop. Then take the RAM out again and put it in another slot. Run Memtest again.
If errors appear again, then you need to replace the RAM bar, because. it can no longer be repaired.
If there are no errors, then the problem is in the connector.

If you have several RAM chips, then check each one in turn. If the problem is in the connector, then simply do not use it, or take it to the service to fix it.

Problem solving

If Memtest gives red errors, then your RAM can no longer be cured. Buy a new one.

Of course, if there are not many errors, then you can continue to work with this RAM bar. But as soon as some program stumbles upon a damaged sector, glitches and crashes will begin. If you use Linux and can compile the kernel yourself, then relying on the Memtest86 data, you can build a system that would not use the specified memory areas, avoiding errors.

However, remember! If Memtest86 detected errors in the memory, then the wear process has already begun. So, over time, there will be more errors, until the RAM finally deteriorates.

Replacing RAM is easy. You pull out the damaged chip and carefully insert the new one. In laptops, the RAM stick is inserted and pulled out at an upward angle. Those. you insert the RAM diagonally, and then press it from above until it clicks. And if you press the limiters, then the microcircuit itself will “jump” up.

If you have a laptop with non-working RAM, then it is better to immediately take it with you to the store. There you can ask the consultant to install the RAM in your laptop yourself, if you yourself are afraid. In addition, you can immediately test the operation of the new RAM bar by taking a flash drive with Memtest86+.

conclusions

If you do not understand something or have any questions, then leave them in the comments to this article.

But, in general, testing and replacing RAM is not that difficult. It’s just that ignorance scares away, and therefore the main thing is to cope with fear. After all, computers and laptops are arranged as logically and simply as possible, surprisingly.

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Council comments:

Hello. This morning, turning on the computer, he squeaks long and repeating many times. Is it RAM? Thank you

When I start the computer, the blue screen "Eror: 0x0000007E" crashes, I think that this is a problem with RAM, although I installed it half a year ago

Hello, it beeps 3 times at startup .. I believed all the contacts, the video card is working .. the RAM strips 2, turned on one at a time and changed the slots ... Before that, it started normally without problems .. What could be the problem, the screen does not react in any way ..

Hello, the child filled the laptop with liquid soap bubbles, after drying, it knocks out a black screen where it writes phoenix bios 4.0 release 6.1 copyright 1985-2007 phoenix technologies Ltd all Rights reserved model name extensa 5635 z bios version vo.3216 build time 06.09.09. 18.36 cpu =1 processors detected , cores per processors =2 pentium dual core cpu 30006M system ram passed 1024 KB L2 Cache System Bios Shadowed video bios shadowed fixed disk 0 ATAPI CD ROM Mouse initialized ERROR 0200 failure Fixed disk 0, press f 1 to resume f2 setup

Hello, I have such a problem sitting playing in a laptop, it is without a battery and accidentally pulled the power cord out of the socket, it accordingly turned off and does not turn on, the Caps lock key flashes three times, this is a malfunction of the memory module, I replaced the RAM, but there is no sense, everything is the same, tell me what to do ?? ? Thank you very much!!!

The second RAM slot in the lenovo g505 laptop does not work I insert the RAM I turn on the laptop the laptop turns on the screen is black, what kind of problem explain who knows

The text is quite tolerable, only the RAM bar itself is not a microcircuit, but a circuit (or board), and the microcircuits are those square black things on it.

Good day. I have such a problem: Toshiba laptop - when you start games after some time (10-30 minutes. Sometimes more), the system just gets up and does not react to anything. The same problem when you watch movies online. Tell me what could be the reason

Dude, you're awesome, helped out

Good afternoon Such a question is ripe. I have 4 DDR2 sticks, 2 x 1 gig, 2 x 2 gig, despite the fact that one manufacturer and one frequency. if you put them separately (2 by 2/2 by 1), everything plows, but only on the yellow slots of the mother. and when installing in different slots or installing 4 bars at once, some kind of failure occurs, the system manager beeps incessantly and does not load the system. What to do?

Thanks for the answer, the situation just arose, we are doing repairs, people came two months later and claim that we allegedly replaced the RAM) so I'm trying to figure out what's what))))) the laptop was flooded))

Pavel, no, this is hardly possible. The volume cannot change like this, even if the sectors are damaged. It is possible that your hardware reserves some of the memory. Go to Task Manager - Resource Monitor, and see how much is reserved by the hardware.

Hello, such a question, can the RAM partially fail and show 1 gig instead of 4 gigs, for example, is this possible at all ???

Hello! Please tell me, my RAM is correct for sure, as it was checked on other PCs (intel), but when I insert it into my PC (intel), I have a black screen and one long squeak that repeats, which indicates a malfunction of the RAM. I put dice one at a time and different slots, the same 1 long beep. Also on the motherboard there are 2 swollen capacitors near the processor socket above it and on the left, can this be the cause of the malfunction? Or is it the RAM slots? I hope I explained clearly! Thank you in advance!

Oleg, you can check this. Pull out one bar, and if everything is fine, then most likely something is wrong with the compatibility of the motherboard or processor.

RAM card- one of the most reliable components of any computer. Due to the relative simplicity of design and the simple principle of operation in comparison with other components, it rarely fails.

Overheating of the RAM board indicates a number of malfunctions. The normal operating temperature range is usually indicated on the packaging of the board. On average, the normal operating temperature does not exceed 60 0 C. A higher temperature is a sign of a problem.

It is noteworthy that the RAM board, unlike the central or GPU, not equipped with a temperature sensor. Therefore, it will have to be determined using an external thermometer of any type.

Reasons for overheating RAM

The temperature of RAM is relatively rarely outside the operating range. There may be several reasons for this:

• defective board or chips on it;
• violation of power supply parameters;
• excessive amount of dust in the case;
• physical damage to the strap or socket;
• exhausted working resource;
• incompatibility of the RAM strip and the motherboard.

RAM boards with manufacturing defects go on sale in vanishingly rare cases. Quality control in modern factories and many levels of quality control ensure that defective items are effectively weeded out even among consumer products.

After updating the BIOS and for some other reasons, the power settings may go wrong. As a result of a settings failure, a voltage exceeding the normal operating value is applied to the RAM module.

A large amount of dust also leads to an increase in the temperature of all modules and components of the system. Dusty air circulates worse and creates a kind of pillow effect, which leads to overheating of the GPU or RAM.

Troubleshooting

In the vast majority of cases, you will have to replace an overheating RAM module. Such devices cannot be repaired, and if the damage is somewhere in them, then no repair is able to change this.

Another thing is if the cause of the malfunction is in external factors - too high an ambient temperature or a dusty case. In the first case, a special radiator or fans will help, and in the second, only cleaning the case and cooling system.

Thus, problems with the temperature of RAM are extremely rare, and if they do occur, they are quickly resolved by simply replacing the board.