17 R4, reseat the memory message?

Unplug the computer, remove the base cover and disconnect the battery from the system board.  Hold the power button for 30 seconds.

Remove and reinstall both memory modules.  Reconnect the battery and replace the base cover.

Power up and see if both modules are detected. 

If one is not detected, try swapping slots.  If it's not detected in the other slot, replace the failed module with a new one.

If both modules fail to work in one of the slots, it's the slot that's bad - which means a mainboard replacement is required.

If the system is under warranty, contact Dell support before going through the procedure above.

Hi @ERidden  welcome to this user to user forum.

The RAM cards are inserted into their slots and secured by clips. If the laptop gets a bang or is subject to vibration in transit, the RAM card can get dislodged. The request to reseat RAM is to put the RAM card back into its slot. Reseating the RAM card is not difficult and you may decide to do this.

Dell expects users to take off the rear cover and change the RAM cards. Reseating the RAM cards is reinstalling the existing RAM cards and this process is described in the Alienware 17 R4 Service Manual. There are also YouTube videos about replacing (reseating) RAM cards in a laptop.

Sometimes just pressing your finger using light pressure and a bit of a wiggle on the exposed long edge of the RAM card is sufficient. If that does not work, take the RAM card out, do not touch the electrical contacts. When the RAM card has been removed, a) check the slot and remove any accumulated dust on the main board surface, being careful not to push the dust into the RAM slot, b) use a dry lint free cloth (no water, no solvents) to clean the electrical contacts on both sides, then insert RAM card at an angle, apply a light forwards / down push to get RAM card captivated in slot. 

Thank you for your response! I will try this tomorrow. Could you please tell me how I know if they're detected or not? 

Hi @ERidden  the original 17 R4 might be supplied with all of its RAM on one card. When the white screen from SupportAssist appeared saying amount of RAM has changed, it would use the RAM that it detected, which could be the other RAM card, and the system would still boot as expected.

Guess this 17 R4 has two RAM Cards, and the white screen should say that slot 1 or 2 does not have the expected RAM card (and needs reseating). When the given slot identity is not noted, the manual method is to reseat both RAM cards (note the amount of RAM GB and use felt tip to put a 1 or 2 on RAM card label).

When system boots, type RAM into Search (in bottom left hand of screen) and open View RAM info. The system should say that all of your noted RAM GB is available. If not, switch off and take out one RAM card, if system boots, that RAM card does not need reseating. If system does not boot, this RAM card requires reseating. If problem persists, put the "numbered" RAM card in a different slot, to see which slot is giving the problem. Remove any dust or debris from the slot using a dry lint free cloth (no water, no solvents). 

Welp, now I have even more issues. I did so, firstly it would turn on, black screen and gave me 2 red flashing lights and I think 4 blue ones. Now it’s giving me 3 red flashing lights and 1 blue light. 

Edit: I switched RAM slots and it now says “Real time clock error. System CMOS checksum bad” and was still flashing red once and blue 3 times. However it is now booting up! I went  into my settings and it says Installed RAM: 16GB (15.9 usable) which I’m pretty sure it’s always said since I’ve had it  

Will edit for other info. 

It sounds like your CMOS/reserve battery is bad.  It's a CR-2032 lithium button cell -- replace that first.

Manual:

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/alienware-17-laptop/alienware-17-r4-servicemanual/procedure?guid=guid-21a7f453-e56e-4ac5-a55e-d4fa930ea335&lang=en-us

Part:

https://www.amazon.com/DBTLAP-CMOS-Battery-Compatible-Alienware/dp/B07PNKH7J1

Replacing that may well clear the other errors.

Hi @ERidden  looking at the RAM card label says how much GB is on the card. (If there are two RAM cards, add these GB values together.)  Looking at system settings should confirm it is using the GB stated on the RAM card(s). If these two values are not identical, the RAM card has a fault. 

Don't think it's a coincidence, I just got the same message. Never had a memory problem. Got the message rebooting after the latest win10 cumulative update. Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB4592438). I have alienware 17r4. I didn't do anything but click on "continue" it finished booting normally and reports the same memory as always. No problems. I have not rebooted again since then. It's getting so i am afraid to update my computer.

Hi @alienware17r4  thank you for sharing update. Microsoft quality control is not what it should be. Window security updates are necessary. Microsoft bloatware is not necessary, and many unwanted extra features just slows the computer down. There is no filter to stop installing Microsoft bloatware other than to stop all updates. However, using the internet with no security updates is not recommended. 

Thankfully I saw this tread. I have the exact same issue after yesterdays WU update (KB4592438).

I pressed F1 and booted normal into windows. But I got the same message after a new reboot and a shutdown and reastart. So I also tried to hit F2 and F10 (Save and Exit) without doing any changes. No error message after the first reboot, but the error message repapered after a new reboot. So I tried to reseat the two 16 gigs memory modules, but that did not help - the error message showed after the third reboot. The strange thing is that I have not made any changes and the pc sits put on a cooling pad on my desk, so no psychical damage is possible.
And when I check the system info it reconice the whole memory, the same for HWinfo, task manager etc. See attached images. I ran the memory test from the Dell support assist with no errors.

I tried all the steps I could think of, even flashed the 1.11.0 bios for the AW17 R3 again.  he error message has not popped up after this, but I haven't tried to reboot more than 3 times. So hopefully the bios flash fixed the issue. If not, I assume this is a software issue from windows (again) and will be fixed down the line...

Hi @ThomasAAT thank you for sharing update. 

Please use F12 Dell ePSA Enhanced Pre-Boot System Assessment to check RAM when possible. 

Power up the system and then press the F12 key during the boot process to get to the BIOS Boot Menu. It may be necessary to repeatedly press the F12 key during the boot process to get the BIOS to recognize the F12 key at the correct time. Use the up and down arrow keys to select Diagnostics on the menu and press the Enter key. 

When diagnostic completed, menu icon appears in bottom right hand corner, click and open the ePSA diagnostic table result. Clicking on left hand device icons should confirm that pre-boot test of these devices passed. 

I agree, but that update wasn't bloatware. No new features, just security and "quality" updates. I did reboot again and everything was normal, no problems. Someone else posted the same problem after several reboots but may have been fixed after bios flash. I had already applied that bios update before the windows update. Hopefully it was a one time glitch here and future reboots will not become a problem. Shame on microsoft!
Have to add .... shame on dell too! Got a pushed update to support assist which triggered 2 security violations. I did not initiate that update, dell just does what it wants. I DO NOT have support assist set to update automatically! I did not apply the security precautions either. Windows set those, and I assume they protect me from "something". Am I to just disable windows security all the time because Dell might update something without prompting me? I think not!! Anyway, the dell support assist update reported as successful and caused no other issues. I'm quite sure dell knows how to get around these security blocks as other installations do. Just an annoyance and maybe some carelessness on the part of dell's coders. And one more gripe... for months I could not apply the SA "os recovery tools" update. All I got here was "run all" run all run all. numerous other people reported the same problem. I recently noticed the file date on that update changed. So, tried again and it finally worked. So "run all" was not the problem. Hey dell.. if you don't know just say so, or say "were working on it or looking into it. Don't just assume operator error. I really cringe every time I do any updates now, especially after reading the other horror stories here.