Can u fry ur memory chip if you lap to gets too hot?

Question

i just got a brand new lap top.... it worked fine untill on day i was using it for homework and it started tripping..... i called my technical support and they sent me a new ram chip...... did this happen becuase my lap top got to hot? it was 103 degrees that day... or was it just a bad chip. but i think it would have happened sooner right?

Answer 1

Yes excess heat can destroy many types of chips including memory.  Unless you have a hardened laptop most notebooks should not be operated above 100 degrees since they use outside air to cool down.

Answer 2

It is possible to damage a memory chip if it is exposed to too much heat, but then, you can damage anything if you heat it up too much! However, it is highly unlikely that your memory chip overheated, since most of the heat inside a computer is generated by the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the hard disk drive.

So, it is possible that your computer started "tripping" because it was hot, but it is more likely that this effect was caused by the CPU overheating than the memory chip overheating.

To help avoid this from happening again, you should always use your laptop on a hard surface like a table, so that the air can get in underneath it. If you use it on your bed for example, or even on your knees, you may block the air vents which means that the cooling system inside will not be able to keep things cool, and you will be in trip city.

Answer 3

Laptops have a poor cooling system. A small fan on the bottom that sucks up air, and a small tube to push it through. Add to this, that a laptops hardware components are crammed into a small box, and that the cooling fan can be accidentally blocked by the users clothing, bed coverings, and sitting on furniture.

103 degrees? It's a wonder the processor didn't get too hot, and the BIOS program shut it down! I guess ram 'sticks' can get too hot, never had this problem before. (Processor usually shuts down before this!)

Bad stick of ram? Sure! Perhaps if you have time, 'google' the 'net for bad reviews on your laptop, and see if a ram issue is in any of the reviews.

Answer 4

Heat is one of the main killers of laptops or pc's in general, only usually bested by user error and bad handling.

so the short answer

yes memory can go the way of the junk pile because of heat . but as one poster above said, "your processor usually quits and shuts everything down first" .

invest in a laptop cooling pad usually $20 at any office depot or  staples. better safe than pissed you have a really expensive paper weight.