I'm wondering if some incompatible setting may be getting applied by AWCC after booting into windows.  Do you have a K class processor? and if so, you can try booting into windows with the oem RAM and disabling any oc settings in awcc.

@r72019 

perhaps. previously, i had been doing everything with AWCC overclocking turned off.

this time around, when i initially installed the new ram, i turned off AWCC OC options, and went into bios to turn off overclocking. installed new ram, it worked. went into bios, enabled xmp, ram was showing correct speeds in CPU-z. then i did AWCC OC settings, not sure why, but they were showing off.. even tho bios was showing on.

even after AWCC controls were setup, the machine booted and that is when i was using it.

so, i went in after reading your reply, checked AWCC, OC was turned off, went into bios, OC was on and XMP enabled. i turned off, booted to windows, checked AWCC, was off. shut down, install 1 stick of the new memory (removed OEM memory) and it booted to windows. Great, shut down, install stick 2 of the new memory. boots to windows. perfect. check, CPU-z is showing accurate speeds for not running xmp.

im about to try to boot to bios and enable OC and XMP. see what happens. im so confused, but at least this time around i was able to boot windows with the new memory after it stopped working.

i will let you know how it goes from here, but perhaps the issue the entire time was the AWCC OC software fighting with the bios settings

@r72019 

ok pal, so, i tried going into bios and enabled OC and XMP, and it wouldnt boot, same 4 yellow flashes.

swapped to OEM, disabled OC and XMP in bios, swapped in new ram, and back here i am.

i am going to try different XMP profiles now, but i do have a question for CPU-z, want to make sure i am reading the correct info, under the SPD tab, it reads i am using slot #2 and slot #4, weird, as i am using #1 and #2 on the board, and they are the white tabbed ones.

and there are four columns: JEDEC #8 | JEDEC #9 | XMP-3002 | XMP-2666

im assuming with XMP disabled i would go off the xmp-2666 info? but maybe i am wrong? xmp-2666 reads: 1333mhz and XMP-3002 reads: 1501mhz

but with XMP disabled in the bios what number is my ram speed? is it always the one far right? sorry, and thanks again. going to try xmp2 profile in bios now.

@r72019 

ok... so, it seems that if i swap the memory, it will boot and recognize the memory change. if im running the new ram, it will work, settings are correct in awcc, however here it is showing 1.4v but in cpu-z it says 1.35, not sure if awcc just rounds up or if that is something to be aware of?

new ram in, i can restart the computer no problem. if i shut the power down, and try to start up, it gives me 4 yellow flashes. install the oem ram, it boots, shut down, install the new ram, it boots. restart 4 times, no problems. shut down, turn on, wont boot.

im NOT exactly looking forward to doing that every time i want to turn the machine on, but, what should i be looking at here now??

@GTS81ok, so, i flipped around a bunch and tried a few different configurations and all seems to work as expected.

it appears at the moment, i have been able to boot, with OC enabled and the proper xmp1 profile, showing 2933mhz in task manager, and in alienware OC controls.

it appears the settings between the bios and the settings in AWCC are the same at this time.

I have noticed that i can get it to work with a few configurations, however when i shut down or restart the machine WITHOUT going into the bios, it appears that is when i get the memory error, 4x yellow flashes.

Im hoping that with the settings matched, and everything, that i will be able to restart the computer.

wish me luck

With xmp disabled in BIOS, yes, the one to the far right. 2666

Can you confirm that in task manager?

So if you have XMP disabled in both AWCC and BIOs it is okay.  The problem is as soon as you enable either XMP1 or XMP2 profile, you get issues? 

XMP1 is the XMP profile on the left (3000).  

XMP2 is the XMP profile on the right (2666).  

DRAM frequency will show half of the above number.  The RAM is DDR so you multiple it by 2 to get your effective speed. 

If you have XMP disabled, the computer will pull the default timings, could be 2933, 2666, 2400, etc., that it determines are the best supported by the board.  

If you do any OC, I would recommend doing it in BIOs (after confirming the RAM works with OC off) and not touching anything in AWCC (leave it all disabled there don't touch it).  There are a number of glitches that I've experienced with my R7 using AWCC, and I personally don't use or fully trust the OC tab.  Any time I have touched AWCC/OC, it has done weird stuff with my computer, like applying custom OC profiles that I did not create next time I restart.  I've never experienced the RAM error you noted, it's more an annoyance to me of having to undue everything that gets applied.  So I've learned not to touch anything in the OC tab of AWCC.  You can use XTU or the BIOS to accomplish anything AWCC can do, and better. 

type "power options" in bottom left, additional power settings, "choose what the power buttons do" (top left), and make sure there's no check mark in the "turn on fast startup box".  So it looks like this: 

@r72019 

yeah thats checking out with what i was thinking.

however even with OC and XMP disabled, if I restart, it works, if i shut down and turn on, it doesnt.

it will also boot with the new ram in no xmp, xmp1 or xmp2, xmp or xmp2 show 2666mhz speeds, and xmp1 shows around that 2900mhz point.

but still if i power off, it will not boot ????

"however even with OC and XMP disabled, if I restart, it works, if i shut down and turn on, it doesnt." 

@ZombiePley  OHhh!! Try this.  Disable Windows fast startup. 

@r72019i thought that might solve it too! but nope.

fast start up was enabled, i disabled, and shut it down, same thing.

nobody can tell me at this point that the ram in incompatible with the board... im using it right now to type this reply?????