Physical signs of memory damage?

[sedm1000]

Have been having a problem with a macbook pro - shutting off randomly, akin to a short somewhere. Took it apart, no obvious sign of melting wires/physical damage to the internals etc.

I did, however, notice a small mark on one of the memory modules. Off white smear in the top corner of one of the chips. I've no recollection of it being there before, and it is not clear where it might have contacted any internal part of the laptop to make this mark. I haven't scratched away at it too much as I don't want to damage the chip further.

The question is: has anybody noticed mark turning up on memory chips as a sign of damage? Its not clear to me where the mark could have originated, other than some reaction on the surface of the chip due to overheating maybe. Has anybody any examples of non-screwdriver induced damage to RAM modules?

Thanks.

 

[JonJ678]

Is the mark soluble in IPA?

I've never seen electronics turn white when damaged. It's always been various shades of brown, copper through to black.

That's all I have to offer I'm afraid, good luck

 

[sedm1000]

Will try the India pale ale when I get home. Can't see that it would tell much...

I've no idea really. I've seen that sort of leakage from a capacitor, but don't believe there should be anything to leak from the chip or surrounds. Haven't had any problems in 12hrs since I've taken it out though, so fingers crossed that it explains the issue. Replacement is pretty cheap.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Big.Wayne]

Have been having a problem with a macbook pro - shutting off randomly, akin to a short somewhere

Sounds like a pain?

How did you link that problem with a white smear on the ram?

I've not experienced faulty memory causing a problem like that, it will either fail to boot or cause a reboot, not seen it cause a computer to shut down?, sounds like an overheating or PSU related issue to me.

 

[sedm1000]

It does sound like overheating or a power issue, but having kept the thing on ice blocks and with various combinations of power source, there was nothing consistent that could explain it. I'm still not convinced it is the RAM, but so far so good. I'll stick the RAM back in if I go a couple of days problem free, see if I can replicate it again. It is possible that I freed something up when poking around too, or that there was some intermittent contact with the 2nd RAM module that triggers a short some times. I've not noticed marks appearing on chips before, that is the only real clue.

Thanks for the input.