Question Could RAM not work due to being filthy?

[Dimitri001]

I have a piece of RAM that showed a ton of errors on memtest and I've had almost daily BSODs for a long time and today I opened the case to put in a new piece of RAM and I noticed that the faulty RAM was VERY dusty from one side (completely dust free on the other, go figure). Just covered in filth in some spots. The slot was also a bit dirty.

Is it possible that this stick of RAM was malfunctioning due to being covered in dust or it's slot being dusty?

 

[Deleted member 14196]

probably not, but certainly, there are limits to what ram can take. too much grime and I am not surprised, did you use canned air to blow it clean and test it?

 

[Encryption+]

There is only one way that I could think of that being dusty could possibly affect it, that would be if there is dust in the actual slot that is interfering with the electrical connection.

 

[lynx1021]

Some types of dust can be conductive and cause small shorts on circuit boards.