A field technician is troubleshooting a lightweight business laptop that randomly freezes and reboots during normal use. Windows Memory Diagnostic repeatedly reports hardware errors even after the technician powers down the system, removes both 4 GB DDR4-3200 SODIMM modules, re-seats them, and tests again. The laptop has two user-accessible memory slots and the customer needs the least expensive, fastest repair. What should the technician do next?
Flash the latest BIOS firmware and rerun the memory diagnostic before replacing any hardware.
Order and install two brand-new matched SODIMM modules to replace both existing sticks at once.
Replace the laptop's NVMe SSD, then verify whether the freezes and reboots continue.
Install a single known-good SODIMM, retest the system, then replace only the module that fails.
Because the memory test still shows errors after reseating, at least one of the SODIMM modules is likely defective. Swapping in one known-good SODIMM and running the diagnostic isolates the faulty stick while keeping costs low-only the bad module is replaced. Replacing both modules, the motherboard, or the SSD increases expense without first confirming the exact failing part. Updating the BIOS seldom resolves hard memory errors reported by diagnostics.
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What is a SODIMM, and how is it different from a regular DIMM?
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What is the purpose of the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool?
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Why is testing with a single known-good SODIMM important in troubleshooting memory issues?