Brown gooey substance on ram

[lolithan1994]

Hi, was trying to fix an hp 15 beats series laptop. The caps lock was flashing thrice on it so thought it could be a memory issue as described on their website. While reseating the memory I saw the ram and surrounding areas had this brown gooey substance on it. It has never had liquid damage. Any idea what this could be? It didn't work after reseating the memory anyways. Don't want to order new ram if this brown gooey substance indicates something else.

 

[terry4536]

Probably residue from cola as you thought. But it could be most anything.

Be sure to clean the dimm slots of the residue. Q-tips with Iso-propyl alcohol should do the trick. The old RAM may work as well if you clean the contacts.

 

[lolithan1994]

It has never had liquid damage though? The ram for this laptop is located underneath the motherboard. There are no signs of liquid damage anywhere on the board apart from this.

 

[terry4536]

It has never had liquid damage though? The ram for this laptop is located underneath the motherboard. There are no signs of liquid damage anywhere on the board apart from this.

It doesn't necessarily mean liquid damage that you would notice it. Simply that it was exposed to a spill and it dried out.

 

[lolithan1994]

I've put some pictures too for clarity.

 

[terry4536]

I've put some pictures too for clarity.

I just noticed those.

It does look like splatters of liquid that has dried out. It could even be coffee or cocoa.

 

[lolithan1994]

Yea, I think you might be right mate. It has got to be some fizzy drink. I've opened up so many computers but have never come across something like this. My friend does like his cola

 

[boju]

That looks like something else. Did ya give it a sniff ?

 

[terry4536]

Yea, I think you might be right mate. It has got be be some fizzy drink. I've opened up so many computer but have never come across something like this. My friend does like his cola

Once I was reaching for my wireless mouse. And there was this large glass of diet coke nearby. Nothing odd or unusual about that, but as you probably guessed the mouse ended up submerged in ice cold diet coke. I thought that expensive mouse was surely toast. But I dumped it out took the batteries out and hosed it down with iso-propyl inside and out. Then used a hair dryer to evaporate the alcohol. And long story short, I'm using that mouse right now.

 

[terry4536]

That looks like something else. Did ya give it a sniff ?

Hmmmm???

 

[boju]

Lol. I'm being silly

 

[lolithan1994]

Will give it a go with the isopropyl alcohol. Just annoyed at people telling me It's not liquid damaged when it is. Why can't people keep liquid away from computers

 

[lolithan1994]

Cleaned the board off with alcohol, couldn't clean the ram as the gooey stuff was stuck under the chips on ram too. Tried it with a spare ram i had it seems to run fine. Not worth investing in an ultrasonic cleaner lol. I think the residue is from chocolate. The laptop was placed on a chocolate bar and it had melted through the vents on the back. This has to be one weird case

 

[terry4536]

I suppose it is possible. I would guess cola that has dried. And it appeared to be splattered liquid. I think chocolate would have left more of an oil residue than what was in the picture. But who knows.

In either case, the most you can do is clean it off.