Ram snafu

Were the two new ones the same as the old, or a different type/part number?   If you use "unmatched" memory the speed will be the speed of the slowest memory. 

When I did user support at Dell, we found not all non-Dell memory worked in a Dell. Some brands would not work or were iffy. 

I don't know what memory you used, but run the configuration on a site such as Crucial Memory and it will list what memory is compatible for your specific PC model.

Usually, Crucial works without problems.  When I did user support on the Dell forums, Crucial is what I and all the other techies would reccomend for non-Dell memory since Crucial guaranteed their memory to work.

The battery reset method is what Intel (and many other vendors) reccomend to fully reset the BIOS (CMOS Memory).  Some say take out the battery for 10 minutes, Intel says 15 minutes.

I had a system yesterday that I had to use the "battery reset" on.  It was having problems and I reset the BIOS with the BIOS reset switch on the motherboard but was still having problems.  I did the battery reset and it fixed the problem.