My RAM upgrade (mistake?)

Using a Dell XPS17 laptop for the last 3 years. It's been running pretty stable through all the versions of Cakewalk starting with Home studio xl and then though the X1a,b,c,d X2 version who knows at this point. Anyway, I thought that maybe if I bumped up my ram from 4Gb to the maximum of 16Gb some of my quirky issues might get resolved. I chatted with a Dell rep on their web site and the guy told me that my computer is capable of using 8Gb max. Ok, that's fine.

The next night I decided to call and purchase some ram from Dell. The lady says that my computer is capable of having 16 Gb installed. I thought wow, the guy last night told me 8 Gb was the max. She rechecked my computer specs and assured me that 16 will work fine. So I purchased two 8 Gb ram cards from them about $80 a piece. I finally got them and ran downstairs to get them babies in. Easy.....pop em in, rehook everything back up and turn it on. Black screen white letters saying blah blah Error and my computer is barking out a series of 5 beeps over and over...... ****, what's wrong? Did I not plug them in right? Disconnect everything and retrace my steps. Everything looks good, close it back up, rehook everything up, turn it on...... ****, same thing.

My thoughts went back to the lady was wrong, my computer will only take the 8 Gb of ram. So I call Dell, patiently on hold for 15 minutes I make my way through the channels and finally get a tech, we start the troubleshooting process of reinserting the chips, swapping them back and forth, only inserting one at a time to finally be told that my bios has been corrupted and I need to reinstall my operating system. He tells me to get my operating system disk out and let's reinstall windows. I said to the man.....they never gave me a windows disk with my computer, it came pre-installed. He told me he can send me the necessary disk for a mere $129. WTF!!!!!! I said, knowing I'm being bilked for more cash. This is getting expensive, why did I do this? I should of just let it be.

Now the kicker, I will lose all my programs, plug ins, drivers and need to start from scratch and rebuild my arsenal of goodies from the various web sites. Fortunately, I did a backup to an external drive on my cakewalk projects file before I did any of this. Norton also recently backed up but I'm not sure what that backup will contain.

So, I will wait for Fedex to deliver my disk so I can begin my rebuilding/recuperation process. This should be fun.

I seriously doubt that the OS is corrupted.  A corrupted OS will not cause any diagnostic beeps when you first power on.  When you first power on it is only checking hardware for errors, it hasn't even got to the point of trying to load the OS.  It hasn't even got to the point of loading the BIOS, which it has to do first before accessing the hard drive to load Windows.
 
The reload the OS is standard with many tech supports.  Whether its needed or not they do that first and then mumble and stumble around after it doesn't help.  I've been in computer hardware and support since before PC's and managed a Network and hardware help desk for 23 years (until I retired).  I worked (users helping users) on the Dell forums for 10 years.     
 
 

It shouldn't, but anything is possible.  Did you check the battery as I suggested (assuming you have a voltmeter)?  If not, just get a new CR2032 battery (you can get them almost everywhere) and replace the existing battery and see what happens. 
 
As you were inside the PC, even just to swap memory, something else could have been inadvertently bumped touched or whatever that is causing the problem.  Sadly, if its something other than the CMOS battery I would suspect its going to take a motherboard replacement. 
 
Although you got the new memory from Dell, I've seen cases of them selling or sending incorrect memory.  Don't know if that is the case with yours.  On the Dell forums, all the techies on there recommend Crucial Memory, for non-Dell branded memory as Crucial guarantees their memory to work in Dell's. 

FYI.... The ram is made by Corsair. That's what Dell sent.

Are you using a 64-bit version of Windows?  I don't recall all of the details, but the 32-bit version will probably use only 3 or 4 gig of memory no matter how much you have in the laptop.  Since you're reloading anyway, it might be a good time to upgrade the OS to 64-bit. 
 
Good luck.

Sorry, I overlooked that that part.  Thanks for pointing it out. 
 
Then I'd go back to the original config and see if the beeps continue.  If they don't, I'd swap in the new DIMMs in a minimal config to see if one of them is bad.  Thirdly, I'd make sure that, you're not mixing the DIMMs within each bank--especially since they're different in style and appearance. 
 
Good luck. 

Status update: changed the internal battery and restarted the computer with the new 16 Gb of ram installed......5 beeps with an error code that read, ERROR 210. CPU variable MTRR configure failed.

Removed my new 16Gb memory cards (2x8Gb) and reinstalled the original set of memory chips (2x2Gb) the computer and windows rebooted like nothing ever happened. So what is the problem with my new 16Gb's of memory?

Maybe one of the new DIMMs is bad.  Try putting both of the new DIMMs in the system and see if they work by themselves.  If they do, leave them in and add the original DIMMs to the second bank and see if that works.  If the two new DIMMs fail by themselves, one or both may be bad.  Try putting one of the old(known good DIMMs) in the first bank with a new one.  If it passes, try the second one.  If one them fails, it's bad--send it back to Dell.  If they both fail, it may be a compatibility problem between new and old DIMMs.  Send them both back to Dell. 

The new memory may not be bad and larger chips may be an older model that works the same with/as the newer model that uses smaller chips on the memory board.
 
Perhaps it is just - the wrong memory they sent you and it will not work in your computer and different type memory is needed. I do not know for sure just a thought.
 

It turns out that the Dell XPS17 3D version can take 16Gb.....The non 3D version maxs out @ 8Gb..............Stupid Dell, is'nt that why they put a service tag number on the back?

Wow just read this thread and cringed at the part when they (Dell) wanted you to reinstall your OS, but I kept reading and you could not since you did not have the disk.  And without the correct Ram you would have not been able to anyway. Very irresponsible on Dells part on two counts wrong Ram, worse advice: paid advice no less.
 
Good lesson though come up with a back up-plan!
 
Glad it worked out!! The most important part
John

The original ram cards were manufactured by "Hynix" I just ordered two 4 Gb cards manufactured by Hynix. This time it should go smooth. Dells not involved.

And while you PC is working, make a recovery disk before you do anything else!!

keneds
I recognize everything fireberd has helped me with......Grem

Has he helped you? I don't see where you did anything he suggested! LoL ; )