naujoks wrote on 2025-03-02, 22:37:I have a beautiful VAIO PCG-C1XN with lots of RAM error reported by Memtest (see picture).
I was wondering what the best course […]
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I have a beautiful VAIO PCG-C1XN with lots of RAM error reported by Memtest (see picture).
I was wondering what the best course of action would be to try to correct the errors.
I haven't been able to look at the RAM ICs yet, as they are on the underside of the mainboard. I'm expecting four 16MB ICs.
Am I right to assume that one or several faulty RAM chips will be the mos likely culprit? I don't think there's a way to determine which chips is faulty without de-soldering them, so is my only chance to take them out one by one, replace it and hope that I got the right one? Anything else I should try first?
Hmm, I wonder if I've ever done memtest on my C1XD - basically the same picturebook as yours but it's got a Pentium II.
The 64MB of RAM is soldered to the mainboard and consists of 8x very small and unique looking BGA memory chips:
The attachment pcg-c1xd-ram (Custom) (1).JPG is no longer available
The memory test is interesting, that bitmask error value indicates that one bit of the 32-bit memory addressing is giving a bad result. Very odd that it's doing it only past the 8MB range though?
The attachment bitmask.png is no longer available
To see about fixing it, take off the memory door and carefully inspect the area around the memory for any corrosion or dirt. Something else that might make a good difference is use some isopropyl alcohol and a fine brush and gently clean the memory expansion connector, perhaps debris in there is causing a problem.
Looking at how the traces go, it would also be worth looking close up at the resistor arrays which might be hooking up the RAM data lines to the chipset, see if those have any problems.