Ok, so remember that Latitude C640 that killed two HDs?

I opened it up to look at its two 256MB RAM sticks --One stick is covered in brown crap in almost every piece of bare metal.

Is the RAM stick only screwed, or is my entire computer screwed because of that?

The corrosion marks left on the plate that covered it suggests that it exploded/leaked like a battery?

Pictures? Is it rust? Was it on the bottom or near a vent - could it have picked it up from the outside? Can you wipe it off? Did it still work? Is it on any other part of the motherboard or laptop?

it might very well be sticky dirt with dust

but it is odd to say the least and it's the first time i ever hear of something like it...

Typically "brown" is due to smoke from burning cigars or cigarettes. If it's just the metal contacts, then they've corroded. In that case, just the surface of the contact would have corroded, which shouldn't affect operation. Pictures?

Here we go. The panel was stuck to the RAM and the edges, too.

So does that stick work?

Does the slot work? Test it by taking out the old ram and putting it in the slot then powering up to see if it works.

If the slot works then you can just pop in a new stick. If the stick seems to work, you can just clean it off and pop it back in (wouldn't recommend).

Anyways, I think it's a type of corrosion called Galvanic Corrosion, which is between metals (in a nutshell).

I lol'd. I was looking up this problem and this topic came up as the second result for google.

Ok, did everything you've told me to do.

Both slots work, and when both RAM sticks are in, it shows 516MB total.
The corrupted RAM didn't even boot the computer.

Btw, the computer REALLY screwed up the HD. [The heads scream and screech louder then my stereos, and woke up my mother on each startup, with using the corrupt RAM only being the worst.]

So the screeching only happened when the corroded RAM was in or it just screeches no matter what?

Are the sticks 512mb each? I'm guessing the corroded one is no good then.

It screeches no matter what now, but it's the worst with the bad RAM.
The RAM is actually 256 each.

The questions now are: can I run the computer with 256MB, is there a possibility that the motherboard is damaged, and can I successfully format another HD without frying it, now that I have removed the bad stick?

Tbh it sounds like the RAM might be the least of your problems.

I wouldn't risk your money on a hard drive that'll probably ruined.

If I could get another hard drive for free, is it worth a shot?

If it's free, go ahead, just know that it may get messed up.