Where'd all the RAM go?

[TechnoMage2016]

I recently took a service call, on an HP Mini desktop PC. It was intermittently crashing. The built in diagnostics said "Memory Failure". In short, I set out across town to track down some new RAM.
Every store I went to, I got the same story, "we don't carry that any more". Grrr!

So I took the little HP to my home shop, to see what I might have that would work. Well, the only ram I had that would work, is in another little PC that I use, so that was not a good solution.

What to do? I went back to something that I wrote about years ago, in a forum post, titled "Wash That Ram".

I got out the Denatured Alcohol and an old toothbrush and a clean rag.

I then cleaned each stick (DIMM) of ram concentrating mainly on the Gold Plated edge connector.

Once the RAM was clean and dry, I put it back in the Mini PC, and it booted up and ran GREAT!
Then I threw every program I could at that PC to work the RAM and test its integrity.

Today that little PC is back home and still running, with NO errors. And, NO expense for new RAM.

The only RAM that I've ever thrown out due to errors, was "Kingston".

May all your RAM errors be so easily fixed.

Cheers Mates,

 

[file3456]

I actually wonder if just reseating the RAM would have worked? I had a boot issue with a laptop once and all I did was reseat the RAM and it then booted normally.