8th gen 13" HP Spectre X360 - Is there a MODS like utility to determine which chip is faulty?

[AJ847.63e]

Hi All,

We've got a 8th gen 13" Spectre X360 which seems to have faulty onboard memory. Windows was bluescreening with Memory_management errors. Running HPs built in memory test brings up memory errors, but it does not tell you which chip. Is there a MODS like program so you can determine this? Memory is on board unfortunately and don't really want to go order 8 chips and replace all 8 if I don't have to.

Lastly do you have to use the exact same chips, or can you use chips with the same specs but from other manufactures?

Thanks for your assistance.

[SMDFlea]

There isn`t any free software at the moment afaik, but there is some paid software if you`ve got $5040 https://www.memtest86.com/tech_DIMM_Decoding.html ,only the site edition can decode individual chips where the error occured . https://www.memtest86.com/pricing.html

[SMDFlea]

There isn`t any free software at the moment afaik, but there is some paid software if you`ve got $5040 https://www.memtest86.com/tech_DIMM_Decoding.html ,only the site edition can decode individual chips where the error occured . https://www.memtest86.com/pricing.html

[mon2]

https://blog.piernov.org/identifying-defective-ram-ic/

[mon2]

Another suggestion but use at your own risk to apply a focused low heat onto each memory IC while the unit is running. The heat should be high enough to make an impact but low enough to not melt the solder. Have seen from experience that faulty memory becomes stable while debugging a VOIP phone we purchased in Taiwan. The SRAM was faulty and eventually replaced with success but the same concept can be used here. For us, as the memory cooled, the phone became faulty.

So consider 100-200 C (only a suggestion) - be confident that the solder is not melting with your tool. Then hover over each IC and test if the issue is resolved. Then you should know within 1-2 memory devices as to which one is defective.

[AJ847.63e]

Thanks for the confirmation. 🤦♂️Just noticed the HP test kinda tells you which memory chip. Says memory module 2 bottom, I assume that means second memory module on the bottom row. I'll try the heat test and see if that confirms it.

If it does I'm tossing up whether I should risk replacing the RAM or just get a new board especially when new boards are 300 or so on ali express and the ram is about 25 bucks a chip plus shipping.
Not to mention the RAM is directly under the CPU so I'm worried about floating it.

[AJ847.63e]

If I remove a chip should the system still POST or is the UEFI smart enough to know how much RAM it has and halts the process? I didn't have the guts to heat individually each chip (plus I don't have any small enough nozzles to di a individual chip, there all too big). So I checked which RAM was running the hottest and the middle 2 on the bottom row were at 69 where the rest were in the low 50s.
I removed one of the middle two on the bottom row and now the board turns on but black screen fans are running at low speed and the boards only drawing .587A and is constant so it seems like its not happy about the missing RAM chip.

[mcplslg123]

Thanks for the confirmation. 🤦♂️Just noticed the HP test kinda tells you which memory chip. Says memory module 2 bottom, I assume that means second memory module on the bottom row. I'll try the heat test and see if that confirms it.

If it does I'm tossing up whether I should risk replacing the RAM or just get a new board especially when new boards are 300 or so on ali express and the ram is about 25 bucks a chip plus shipping.
Not to mention the RAM is directly under the CPU so I'm worried about floating it.

Removing a particular chip wont work as the total memory size will be reduced resulting in mismatch in bios data-so wont post for sure.

[AJ847.63e]

Removing a particular chip wont work as the total memory size will be reduced resulting in mismatch in bios data-so wont post for sure.

Dam thought as much, thank you for the confirmation. I'm just going to order a new board, by the time I order the chips and pop em on costs going to be very similar and way too high a chance of floating the CPU or the new RAM not even solving the problem.