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Go to Solution17 R4, reseat the memory message?
Hello! Today after restarting the laptop, I have a white screen from SupportAssist saying:
"The amount of system memory has changed. If you did not change your memory... To resolve this issue, try to reseat the memory.".
I have no idea what this means. I have not touched any RAM or memory and do not touch it or anything of the sorts as I'm a newbie at this kind of stuff. I have no clue what reseating the memory even means. Any help would be appreciated!
11212
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Posted May 5th, 2021 10:00
New version of support assist just released it seems... my 17R4 just prompted me to install it... which is what i am doing... let's hope it's the RIGHT one... (v3.9 this time!)
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Posted May 5th, 2021 13:00
New Support Assist is V3.9 and it fixes the memory error message!
I was just going to make the announcement. I tried on my PC and confirmed its fixed.
For those that completely uninstalled Support Assist, it can be downloaded HERE
Inspiron 16 5630 Laptop and WD22TB4 Docking StationSelf-built desktop for recording studio application38315
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Posted December 3rd, 2020 13:00
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.
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Posted December 3rd, 2020 14:00
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.
[This user does not work for Dell and volunteers their free time. Please remember to say thank you by clicking on my thumb up icon.]38339
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Posted December 3rd, 2020 19:00
Thank you for your response! I will try this tomorrow. Could you please tell me how I know if they're detected or not?
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Posted December 3rd, 2020 20:00
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).
[This user does not work for Dell and volunteers their free time. Please remember to say thank you by clicking on my thumb up icon.]38314
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Posted December 4th, 2020 07:00
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.
38301
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Posted December 4th, 2020 08:00
It sounds like your CMOS/reserve battery is bad. It's a CR-2032 lithium button cell -- replace that first.
Manual:
Part:
https://www.amazon.com/DBTLAP-CMOS-Battery-Compatible-Alienware/dp/B07PNKH7J1
Replacing that may well clear the other errors.
38282
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Posted December 4th, 2020 13:00
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.
[This user does not work for Dell and volunteers their free time. Please remember to say thank you by clicking on my thumb up icon.]
ThomasAAT
2 Intern
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393 Posts
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Posted February 9th, 2021 08:00
@drivel2787 @bekrause @fireberd So to summerise the (differences in the) problem on the affected models:
15R2/17R3: Solves the problem after completely uninstalling all entries of SupportAssist (This models do not have the option to disable SA OS Recovery in BIOS)
15R3/17R4: Solves the problem after disabling SA OS Recovery in BIOS, and the error does not come back even after re-installing SA (as tested by @drivel2787 )
As stated by @fireberd : On the Inspiron 15 5577 the BIOS Support Assist is disabled by factory default BIOS setup. So the reporting memory changed problem would appear to not be Support Assist/BIOS related in the 5577 model. So this is then similar to 15R2/17R3 (missing this option in BIOS). The solution: Completely uninstalling all entries of SupportAssist on these models.
So what have we learned?
This is after my understanding a issue with SA since the reseat memory message appeared "out of the blue" back in December 2020, after SA and Windows was updated. Nothing else regarding drivers or BIOS was updated on my end when the error popped up after the first restart required to finsh the Windows December 2020 update.
Update 5/5/2021 - Per Rockstar Fireberd - the new SA update fixes this. Dell-Admin