Problems with newly installed RAM

Question

Please help!
At first, my IMac 2008 wouldn't start...  It was showing grey screen and beeping 3 times in a row.  So I ordered new RAMs (4 GB matching pair) instead of my old 1 GB.  After 'playing' with correct positioning for (seemingly) hours nothing was happening at all.  Then I put back the old memory in along with 1 new one in the other slot and the computer finally turned on.  I went to check if IMac recognized the new memory and it did showing 3 GB of it instead of the 1 GB I originally had.  Anyway, it convinced me that the problem is not in the new RAMs I purchased.  To make the long story short: my IMac worked for about 15 min. and froze again.  I had to turn it off manually.  After that I was back to square one.  When I put old memory in - I get grey screen with 3 beeps.  When I put either one or both new RAMs in - nothing happens.  It was my first time swapping the RAMs so I have no idea what I'm doing wrong or if it's me at all.  I'd appreciate any help anybody could provide.  Thanks in advance!!!

Answer 1

Hi artnsus, I will make this simple for you. I bought 16 gigs of ram from OWC. One stick went bad in a matter of a few days. The grey screen and 3 dong sounds is a a bad stick. The other guy is right, Apple computers are very picky about their ram. I ended up with a kernel panic as well. That's was real fun! Let me say that again. That was not fun! So, here is exactly what OWC emailed me and said I should do after I install ram in my Mac,
Gently clean the memory contacts with a soft pencil eraser and make sure you seat them properly into the slots.
Resetting PRAM and NVRAM (should be done any time you alter the ram configuration)
   1.    Shut down the computer (should already be off from install)
   2.    Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
   3.    Turn on the computer.
   4.    Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
   5.    Hold the keys down until you hear the startup sound ("bong") for the third time.
   6.    Release the keys.
Let me say this, nowhere in Apple's Instuctions of adding or replacing ram does it say anything like this needs to be done! I don't really get this and to be honest I don't trust buying ram from OWC. Oh, let me also say this. OWC also said that my iMac could take up to 32 gigs of ram while Apple specifies only 16. They say they do testing but they failed my test and honestly I don't see myself doing much business with them again. That's not to say they are to a good company, I just don't think I want to by ram from them again.