Computer Laptop gets hot and turns off after having a 512MB RAM upgrade?
“I have a one year old Toshiba Satellite P30 17″ Laptop, that for all intensive purposes works great. About a month ago, I took it back to Futureshop/Best Buy where I bought it to add a 512mb stick of RAM, to total 1GB.
That took only a few minutes and was relatively painless – but about a week later I noticed when playing a game full-screen (obviously processor and resource-intensive) the computer all of a sudden turned off.
A few qualification points:
I’m running SpeedFan 4.2 and have average startup temperatures of 80-85F, but within minutes I’m at between 90-100F, sometimes as high as 105F.
Obviously I keep the unit in a relatively cool space, no heat sources nearby, with all ventilation unobstructed.
Sidenote: I’ve put the laptop out the window (safely) and watched the temperature drop to high 70’sF and still shuts off.
Is this a virus? Hardware failure? Has anyone ever had this happen from a RAM swap/add?
Any help is great!
Posted in Laptop | 
Tags: 512mb ram, best buy, Computer, computer laptop, Futureshop, intensive purposes, Laptop, month, ram, Satellite, stick, Toshiba, toshiba satellite, Year
4 Responses to “Computer Laptop gets hot and turns off after having a 512MB RAM upgrade?”
RAM is such a tricky thing. Did u upgrade with a stick of RAM that is by the same manufactuer (also the same specs)? If not then there can be some conflict between the 2. Since u took it to the shop for them to install it, I assume u aren’t comfortable with removing/installing the RAM yourself? I ask because u could take out the old RAM and try running the computer with just the new RAM to see if u have the same symptoms. An option to try w/o opening up your computer would be to run a small memory testing program from a CD that can tell u if your new memory is bad. Go to http://www.memtest86.com/ dowload, unzip and burn to a CD
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It could just be coincidence. Remove the new RAM and see if it still happens. My computers are OK for most of the year but some start overheating in the summer.
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First thing to note about notebooks is that they are cramped inside. Very compact and little breathing room.
Add to that an additional heat source, the extra memory chip, and you’re only fueling the fire, so to speak. Memory gets hot just like the CPU or graphics chip. There’s also the possibility of a bad memory chip that is very touchy to extra heat. Might be worth an RMA.
First thing to do would be to clean out the laptop using “canned air”. Be sure to put a stick in the fans so as to not let them spin when blowing them out. Spinning a fan to fast can break it.
Second, check out Newegg for “laptop cooler”s like from the link below.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=laptop+cooler&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
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You have to make sure that the laptop supports that much memory also the brand of the memory has to be supported by your laptop. And if there is still a problem it might be that when putting the memory in something got damaged.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=laptop+cooler&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
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