17 R1, 32 GB ram

Hello, The 17 definitely takes up to 32gb of 1600, 1866 and 2133 DDR3L SODIMM memory. Just make sure that all the sticks are DDR3L and not DDR3. You may see something like PC3L or PC3. The L means Low Voltage and the 17 can't take the 1.5V memory, only 1.35V. If you have mixed memory then this could be the reason.

If they are all the same then maybe you need to update the BIOS, if it is out of date. Best practice is to update each BIOS revision one at a time rather than skip ahead. 

You could also have issues with one or more of the memory sticks. Try one at a time and in different slots just to be sure.

I have a fair bit of experience with these laptops so feel free to ask anything.

EDIT; I also have a number of parts for these but unfortunately I'm in Australia so shipping overseas makes things less cost effective. Check out www.parts-people.com 

The 1617 980M is an MSI card, I think, so hopefully you have GPU fan control. If not, you will have to flash another vBIOS. Hopefully not though. 

So, what you need to do is this.

1. Go to Nvidia and punch in your 980M into their driver search bar. Download the 512.15 driver but don't install it.

https://www.nvidia.com/download/index.aspx

2. If you have an old Nvidia driver in the system then download and run DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller). I save and extract it onto the Desktop so it's easy to find. You need to run this in Safe Mode.

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

 - To run Safe Mode hold SHIFT while clicking on restart from the Windows start button. Troubleshoot - Advanced Options - Startup Settings. Click the Restart tab on the screen. Select Option 4 when it restarts. Then run DDU and restart.

3. Go to your downloads and run the Nvidia driver. Let it fail but do not close it. Go to your C: drive and find the NVIDIA folder. Copy this folder and then paste it in the same C: drive. It will auto-name itself NVIDIA - Copy. Close the failed installer. The original NVIDIA folder will usually disappear and you'll be left with the NVIDIA - Copy folder

4. Go into this folder and click through the folders until you go into the International folder. Go into the Display.Driver folder at the top and scroll down until you find the file names nvdmig.inf

5. Delete this file and insert this one

https://www.dropbox.com/s/owj716jquivh9m2/nvdmig.inf?dl=0

6. Save and exit the NVIDIA - Copy folder

7. Restart the PC with Disable Driver Signature Enforcement. To do this, follow the same instructions as Safe Mode but select option 7.

8. Go back to the NVIDIA - Copy folder and into the International Folder. Find the Setup.exe and double click. The driver should start installing and if I did the mod correctly then it should work.

If it did work then you will get a red/white warning message pop up. You just need to accept it and the driver will install. 

If you just have the 60hz matte display then it's fine to install the driver first and then test to see if the fan is working. Just get the driver installed and then run a game or a benchmarking program and keep an eye on the fan. Also download GPU temp to keep track of the temps, or HWInfo.

If you have the 120hz glossy display then the card will heat up really quickly if the fan isn't working as there is no Intel graphics. 

When I'm testing to see if the fan is working I will keep the bottom panel off the laptop and angle the screen down, then rock the laptop back until it's sitting on the bench in a V shape. It sits perfectly like this and you can view the fan while the benchmark is running. You can give the heatsink a quick touch to see how hot it is. Plugging in an external monitor with GPU-Temp running is also helpful. I have a bit of a workbench setup in my garage which makes it a little easier. 

EDIT: Download and run GPU-Z to check what the current vBIOS is. This will help if you do need to flash it later.

Thinking it was a corruption in the W10 upgrade from 8. It was the only thing different.I really appreciate your help on this and can't thank you enough