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. 🙂
Today I received a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 laptop with the following complaint:
Windows 10 Ram Not Recognized
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.
Oct 21, 2015 RAM in slot 2&4 only = turned on and off repeatedly RAM in slot 3&4 only = turned on and off repeatedly RAM in slot 1,2,3, and 4 = Boot (No display, keyboard and mouse were not lighting) I tried: Update to latest BIOS version Clean slots with Contact cleaner (DeoxIT D5). Aug 11, 2017 I removed the chip and inserted it all the way into the slot and now I have 8GB RAM I'm really not trying to teach anyone to suck eggs, but have a look to see if you have pushed the RAM chip all the way into the slot. Trying to upgrade an Asus Laptop N550JX from 8gb to 16gb by adding a second 8gb memory card. Laptop is running Win 8.1 64. Just received my new e5470 with 4GB RAM, I wanted to upgrade to 16GB (2x8GB) which I have from my previous laptop. I found only one slot underneath, the usual place for the 2nd slot next to it does not have the slot set up and it is blank. I have also removed and checked under the keyboard but it was not.
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. That’s why 256MB=262144KB and 512MB=524288KB.
I tried reseating both memory modules but it didn’t help.
After that I tried installing both memory modules in both memory slots one by one and here’s 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 you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard or use the laptop with only one working slot.
Buying a new motherboard for this older laptop wouldn’t make any sense because it’s 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. 🙂
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.
Ram Slots Not Working
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 “the fix” I tested memory with Memtest86+ and the laptop passed the test.
I wouldn’t call it the best solution for fixing a faulty memory slot but in some cases it will work.
Installed Ram Not Recognized
By the way, I didn’t charge the customer for this “repair”, he knows what is going on and how I “fixed” his problem.
I received my E6400. In short, I like it. It came with 1gb of Ram. So I ordered 4gb of Crucial (2x2gb) ddr2 6400 to put in it.
Well. It's only recognizing one stick of it. The Ram itself is not bad. I've verified this by placing each stick in individually and I get no errors. Would there be any reason the computer would not be recognizing that second stick that isn't hardware?
The bios says the second slot is empty. Which either means that for some reason the software isn't recognizing the ram or the second slot itself is bad?
Ah...specs.
Started out with XP. It did the same thing. only 1 stick was recognized.
I've installed Vista Home Premium 64-bit.
T9800
Bluetooth upgrade was user installed.
What other system info do you need?