Macbook 4,1 RAM upgrade, L-Bracket

Question

I just removed the 2 x 1 GB RAM on my early 2008 MacBook 2.4 GHz Intel C2D and replaced it with 2 sticks of Kingston 2 GB RAM for a total of 4 GB.
With the L bracket that runs around the RAM and HDD replaced, the computer starts, gets to the login page but won't allow me to login. The arrow moves around the page but it won't select anything; it seems frozen.
With the L bracket removed, it runs normally and recognizes the 4 GB of RAM. This was discovered by accident with a technician at the store from which I bought the RAM. Initially, I thought it wasn't working at all.
With the old 2 x 1 GB RAM reinstalled and the L bracket replaced, the computer also runs normally.
It seems the only way I can get the computer to run with the new memory is to leave the L bracket out.
Is that risky?
Has anyone ever encountered this before?

Answer 1

The physical size of the Kingston replacement RAM likely is larger than that of the original spec RAM; so the bracket can't be used due to the lack of clearance, given the RAM takes up the space once available.
I have a horror story involving Kingston RAM in an Apple computer under AppleCare where the authorized retail store with trained experts upgraded my new iMac with this stuff, and eventually killed the computer. Yet they could never find anything wrong with it, I could repeatedly get kernal panics and other big problems by simply running five things. The same five things and the computer would tank. But they said it never did anything in their care. I sent along a list of things to do, to recreate the misery, and I know they did nothing to follow it. Miles of long distance driving, to leave the computer for testing, to find it would kernal panic by following the same method I told these experts when I got back home with it. Because of AppleCare, I was forbade to open the computer to access the upper RAM slot. So their monkeys did it. I traveled many 200+ mile road trips (1,200 miles) with the dead imac riding shotgun in its original box... It's still in a coma inside that box. Does it dream? A scary thought.
And I've repaired, upgraded, and restored over 200+ Macs.
{Sad to think I had to rely on inCompUSA & had no real
Apple Store or support here in AK at the time.}
So get a better quality product on the outset and avoid bad RAM whose only guaranty is more of the same. I got replacement Kingston RAM months after I paid to get other brand RAM, in the mail. I gave it away. Junk. About the same quality as the company who worked on my iMac under AppleCare. No support at all.
Good luck & happy computing!