Physically disable RGB on my RAM?

[Mark Kaine]

Is this possible, anyone done it?

What tools do i need ?

I like my RAM but after 2 months enough is enough…i want my sleek looking black PC back. Thank you.

 

PS: software isnt a solution, it doesnt work and slows my PC down. 

 

 

[SorryBella]

7 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

What tools do i need ?

...Just turn it off on the app?

[Mark Kaine]

Doesnt recognize my RAM, that was the first thing i tried… 

[Semper]

4 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

...Just turn it off on the app?

It's not a permanent solution, as the LED status is lost on reboot.

 

 

13 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Is this possible, anyone done it?

What tools do i need ?

I like my RAM but after 2 months enough is enough…i want my sleek looking black PC back. Thank you.

 

PS: software isnt a solution, it doesnt work and slows my PC down. 

 

 

Something like OpenRGB is going to be your best bet. It's lightweight, open source RGB control, set your lighting preferences and shut it down, or leave it running in the background.
https://openrgb.org/
 

After that, you're going to be best off replacing your RAM sticks with non RGB options, selling your current sticks on the used market.

[Mark Kaine]

18 minutes ago, Semper said:

Something like OpenRGB is going to be your best bet. It's lightweight, open source RGB control, set your lighting preferences and shut it down, or leave it running in the background.
https://openrgb.org/

yeah, thanks, i might try that…

 

Turning the leds off physically looks harder than i thought - most likely requires desoldering the leds (didnt find any info, but thats what it looks like to me)

I was hoping for some wires, I guess!

 

 

the top thing seems to go off easily, but that wont stop the leds… could only paint it black perhaps.

 

Also are these batteries…? maybe if i remove them… 

 

 

 

 

 

[Semper]

6 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

*snip*

I've absolutely no experience desoldering the LED's on the modules themselves, so I'll be of no help there.

No, they're not batteries - in the direct sense anyway (capacitors have a sililar concept to batteries in that they "store" energy, however it's not the same implementation as a traditional battery). They're either going to be capacitors or resistors. I know next to nothing about integrated circuits, so I won't be able to tell you which of these they are. Educated guess suggests to me resistors, but take my input with a HUGE grain of salt.

[Levent]

• Remove the shroud/heatspreader of your ram very carefully.
• Desolder each LED module with a hot air gun/SMD rework gun.
• Those "batteries" are the LED modules.

You gonna need:

• SMD reworkstation
• Flux (there are different variants of it)
• Solder (if you ever want to solder those back)
• Kapton tape
• Willingness to risk breaking those rams due to lack of experience.

[mariushm]

Desoldering the leds would solve the problem.  A hot air gun will have a hard time desoldering them, unless you also use some liquid flux. Also, there's a significant chance you're gonna damage the lens due to heat.

 

Alternatively (non-destructive and reversible), try using a black permanent marker pen on lens, to make the leds super dim. Can be removed with some good solvents (isopropyl alcohol or others)

 

Alternatively (destructive), grab a tiny screwdriver or a pick or something and break off the tiny resistors below each led .... you could slide the screwdriver on one side and use like a crowbar to break off the resistor, but you risk breaking off the pads as well, making it harder to repair.

The tiny resistors are there to limit the amount of current (energy) going into each color of the led, so without the resistors the circuit is open, energy can't go to the led and the led won't turn on.

[jaslion]

Instead of physically destroying your ram and actually breaking it that it doesn't work any more why not:

 

Sell the memory and buy a cheaper but equally good kit with the money.

Put some black electrical tape over the leds.

 

Then you don't destroy your ram AND you get what you want. Because I just do not see this going well at all.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Semper said:

No, they're not batteries - in the direct sense anyway (capacitors have a sililar concept to batteries in that they "store" energy, however it's not the same implementation

Ah, i see, yeah, i figured those might be to do something with the leds, didnt know they're capacitors (or at least not batteries), thanks again for the info.

 

 

53 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Desoldering the leds would solve the problem.  A hot air gun will have a hard time desoldering them, unless you also use some liquid flux. Also, there's a significant chance you're gonna damage the lens due to heat.

 

Alternatively (non-destructive and reversible), try using a black permanent marker pen on lens, to make the leds super dim. Can be removed with some good solvents (isopropyl alcohol or others)

 

Alternatively (destructive), grab a tiny screwdriver or a pick or something and break off the tiny resistors below each led .... you could slide the screwdriver on one side and use like a crowbar to break off the resistor, but you risk breaking off the pads as well, making it harder to repair.

The tiny resistors are there to limit the amount of current (energy) going into each color of the led, so without the resistors the circuit is open, energy can't go to the led and the led won't turn on.

I mean, im actually pretty good at soldering, but i dont have an iron… however , if i desolder the resistors, it should be a "non destructive" method, i could just solder them back, right?

 

And well, dumb question , but what would happen to the electricity flowing to this part, it wont damage anything? (when the resistors are removed)

 

And thank you so much, great info - just currently scratching my head why not just desolder these resistors - thats super easy, even with a cheap  soldering iron…

 

 

PS: yeah, breaking them off would work too, but as you said thats not a good idea because the pads might break…  i really think desoldering those would be the most "elegant" solution currently, because desoldering leds is nearly impossible and putting tape on the leds likely wouldnt be a permanent solution… 

 

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

35 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Put some black electrical tape over the leds

True, thats even simpler! 

 

35 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Then you don't destroy your ram AND you get what you want.

Right, but actually, unfortunately, the most difficult part is removing the heatspreader, i hate shit like this, looks like they used scotch adhesive tape, not even thermal adhesive… *that* is definitely the critical part of the whole operation, but yes, then i wouldnt need any soldering (hey, its easy, but there is *always* a risk breaking a trace or something) just put some electrical tape... Genius!

 

35 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Because I just do not see this going well at all.

Why thank you! 

 

(me neither but thats mostly because  of the adhesive tape, warming up the RAM a bit with a hairdryer should make it easier to remove  the heatspreader tho)

 

[mariushm]

In this particular application, think of the resistors  like on/off switches but which also slow the electricity flow. If you remove it from circuit, it's like removing the on/off switch in your wall - the electricity can't reach the led color and it won't light up. 

You can remove them and then put them  back later, nothing bad should happen if you remove them. 

 

Even with a soldering iron, you should use some flux - flux attacks the oxides and crap on the solder when it's heated by the soldering iron tip and makes it easier for the solder you introduce to mix with the existing solder and soften it and make it easy to desolder the parts.

Desoldering them with a cheap iron should be easy. Just add a blob of solder on both ends then quickly alternate with your iron tip between the blobs until you can tap the resistor on the side with your iron tip and it goes off the pads.

 

The leds are actually diodes  which produce light when energy goes through them, they're not capacitors or resistors. Diodes are components which let energy flow in just one direction. A resistor lets energy go in either direction, but slows it down .. capacitors soak in energy and give it back as needed, kind of like batteries.

 

[SaleGamin]

Why not just covering your LEDs with black tape ?

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

Even with a soldering iron, you should use some flux - flux attacks the oxides and crap on the solder when it's heated by the soldering iron tip and makes it easier for the solder you introduce to mix with the existing solder and soften it and make it easy to desolder the parts.

oh, right, i think ive never used flux, because its already in the solder , i only used pcb cleaner after the fact, to have a cleaner surface for further soldering and it just looks cleaner, helps to prevent corrosion too, i think.

 

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

Desoldering them with a cheap iron should be easy. Just add a blob of solder on both ends then quickly alternate with your iron tip between the blobs until you can tap the resistor on the side with your iron tip and it goes off the pads.

yup! i soldered (and desoldered) thousands of those , they were always my fav parts to solder (we mostly made prototypes, stuff like "tags" for wafer production… but still thousands of them sometimes, so there was always a lot to solder and desolder lol) better with a pair of ESD safe tweezers tbh (which i also dont have, but should all be relatively  cheap)  

 

 

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

this particular application, think of the resistors  like on/off switches but which also slow the electricity flow. If you remove it from circuit, it's like removing the on/off switch in your wall - the electricity can't reach the led color and it won't light up. 

You can remove them and then put them  back later, nothing bad should happen if you remove them. 

Ah, got it, thanks again!

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

@Semperhey, so im trying out OpenRGB… its not recognizing my RAM!? It sees my GIGABYTE GPU and my SONY Dualshock controller, but not my GSKILL RAM (just like the GSKILL software …)

 

 

Now i read you need SMBus drivers , doesnt look like i have those , but there isnt a "!" in device manager either, and AMD chipset drivers are installed … so this is weird - might be my motherboard (MSI B350M mortar) but then why does it recognize my GPU and dualshock controller?  Any ideas how to fix this?

 

I mean, if i only could turn the RGB off in software, i wouldnt need to do the whole rocket surgery thing with my brandnew RAM, oof… 

 

EDIT: nevermind, i figured it out… i turned off the pc completely (psu) and drained the capacitors (power button) then OpenRGB recognized 1 RAM stick after i open and closed it several times… then i only had to open / close it a couple more times and it recognized the other stick!

 

No more rainbow puke!

 

thanks @mariushm@jaslion@Semper 

I think all of those solutions would have worked, but with software its obviously the easiest solution (if it works) and it doesnt seem to use any resources … i just hope it remembers the settings : o

 

 

ps: we blue now!