RAM Chip question

[OilSheikh]

I have a Corsair Dominator stick and one of the RAM chips have cleanly come off alongwith the heatspreader.

What do I do ? Can I solder it back and the stick will work ?

Thanks.

[zpiders]

I doubt that will work without you getting any errors whilst using it. Most likely you'll need to get another ram stick to replace it, it's the safest option for you..

[OilSheikh]

Damn

[Kumagoro]

As long as the tracks havent been pulled up with it, just line it back up then use a heat gun
to melt the solder. You can use foil to protect the surrounding area too.

[OilSheikh]

As long as the tracks havent been pulled up with it, just line it back up then use a heat gun
to melt the solder. You can use foil to protect the surrounding area too.

Will give that a go. What have I to lose

[PeterStoba]

Will give that a go. What have I to lose

Warranty?

[Kumagoro]

You would have thought a missing chip might invalidate the warranty some what.

[PeterStoba]

If it did genuinely fall off, then no? If he's tried to remove the heatspreaders himself, yes?

[OilSheikh]

If it did genuinely fall off, then no? If he's tried to remove the heatspreaders himself, yes?

Don't think warranty will apply. Bought it USED. And, the chip did come off with the heatspreader by itself

[OilSheikh]

Guys, I still haven't got round to the soldering.
If I do solder the chip, how will the heatsink stick to the remaining chips ?

[Kumagoro]

I think you can buy thermal paste glue which they normally use for gpus,
chilledpc may sell something like that.

Personally I would heat gun the ram chip off the heat spreader and then heat
the old glue and scrap it with a stanley knife blade or similar.

To put the ram chip back on I would wipe a soldering iron over the pads where
it will go adding a little solder to the iron. you dont need to have more than
just a thin layer of solder on the pad. Then line up the chip and heat gun it.

You may want to practice on an old mobo first though

[CooperXS]

Take it to a cell phone repairs shop. These guys should have a BGA soldering station and depending if the price is right they can get it fixed.

[OilSheikh]

I think you can buy thermal paste glue which they normally use for gpus,
chilledpc may sell something like that.

Personally I would heat gun the ram chip off the heat spreader and then heat
the old glue and scrap it with a stanley knife blade or similar.

To put the ram chip back on I would wipe a soldering iron over the pads where
it will go adding a little solder to the iron. you dont need to have more than
just a thin layer of solder on the pad. Then line up the chip and heat gun it.

You may want to practice on an old mobo first though

Btw, ssory to sound noobish but how do you solder? All I have is a solder gun.

[Kumagoro]

I am sure a gun will work just the same as an iron although i have never used a gun type myself.

If I were doing the same thing I would (assuming you dont have solder
wick to suck up old solder) put a bit of solder on the solder gun tip then go
over the contacts/pads where the ram chip was this should clean it up a bit
and deposit a bit more solder on to the pads for when you heat gun it back
on. Because the contacts of the ram chip are so small it only needs a tiny
bit of solder on the pad to actually stick. Also note that the new solder on
the tip will help transfer heat and help melt the old solder as well.

I would also preheat the ram stick in that area using the heat gun as that
makes life easier for the soldering iron/gun to melt the old solder which is
likely lead free and so has a much higher melting point.

You may also need to clean up the ram chip itself doing the same thing.

Then line up the chip as best you can and then using a heat gun (i.e a cheap paint stripper)
heat up that general area.

When the solder has melted it should if close enough align itself, probably
something to do with surface tension of the solder. You should probably
protect the surrounding area using a bit of kitchen foil.

Like I said before find some old broken electronics board and have a go
at heat gunning stuff off and on. That will give you some idea of how long
it takes to heat up the solder and what it look like when it finally gets hot
enough and melts.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

[vinnyT]

You may find these links on Lifehacker useful, http://uk.lifehacker.com/search/solder/

[OilSheikh]

Will defo try fixing this this weekend.