Memory arrangements in iMac i5 quad core (mid 2010)

I used to run 8 GB of ram in 4 modules. The upper two slots were occupied with the 2 samsung 2GB modules that came with the computer. The lower two slots I filled with 2 more 2 GB ram modules from corsair. These 8 Gb of RAM worked fine until one of these corsair modules failed: after several crashes I identified the culprit module by elimination using memtest.
A good time to upgrade: I left the upper slots as is and filled the two lower slots 4 GB modules, also from corsair so that I now have 12 GB. When booting up the machine, the system profiler indicated that the machine only recognised 6 GB, one of each size module. When removing the two 4 GB modules, the imac recognised the remaining two 2 GB module. Turns out that one of the 4 GB modules is doa. It was identified again by elimination: Using only one of the 4Gb modules in the mac in the same upper left slot, the imac booted up with the good one, but not with the faulty one.
Question: why did the imac not recognise one working memory module in the upper slot when one in the lower slot was faulty, but recognised it again, once the faulty one was removed.
Apple says the i5 quad-core imac does not start up if only one of the lower slots is occupied - which is not true. Apple also says that the imac does not work properly when the memory access door is not re-installed, which is also not true.
Does it matter whether I install two 2 GB modules in the upper slots and two 4 GB modules in the lower, or would it be better the other way round. What if I installed the 4 GB modules above each other the the same with the 2 Gb modules?
Any experience would be appreciated.

Apple says the i5 quad-core imac does not start up if only one of the lower slots is occupied - which is not true.
If you look at the Apple instructions online (I believe the exact article you mentioned), I understood that Apple and I had a different idea of what top and bottom were supposed to be. Both you and I feel that the original RAM are in the top slots, but the instructions are such that it sounds as though they are in the bottom.
In any case, I've read of another case where someone moved the original RAM to the bottom and installed the added RAM in the top slots - supposedly it will result in slightly faster performance because those are the RAM that will be addressed first. However, the RAM needs to be in pairs horizontally: 2 x 4 GB in the top (or bottom) slots and 2 x 2 GB horizontally in the other banks. I do not have any idea as to why a top slot would not work if the bottom was not occupied.

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