Weird Ram Issue. Pls help!

Hey all,

new to the forum i always hate having to start off my intro post with a "help me im screwed" thread but anyways. Ive been on a mac for the last 5 years, since i got into the video industry through college and such. Ive upgraded ram on macbook pros, and mac pros, so i know the drill. Or so i thought...

Im on a 2011 iMac i5 27". I thought i would add on to the factory 4 gigs with 2 4 gig sticks to bump be up to 12 gigs since i do a lot of graphics and video editing and such at home and at work.

First tried leaving the 2 2 gig sticks in their factory location, then adding in my 4 gig sticks. Booted up no problem. I went to the system profiler and found that the iMac is only recognizing one 2 gig stick, and one 4 gig stick.

Somewhat puzzled ive tried every configuration under the sun. Ive also tried having just the two 4 gig sticks in the "top" position as recommended by the apple site. (two slots closest to the monitor) Which yielded a ****** off beeping imac.

Im at my wits end right now. Not sure where to go from here. The only way i can get the imac to recognize the 4 gig sticks is by having the two 4 gigs "stand side" and the 2 2 gig sticks "screen side" Which gives me the 6 gig total. Here's also a screencap.

pls help!

Where did you buy the 4 GB modules? Since the machine is new it's unlikely the problem is with the slots themselves. I have to think it's the modules. I'm sure you're experienced enough to know that you need to push those modules in place with a fair amount of pressure until they snap in.

Did you try the 2 GB modules in the lower banks with nothing in the upper banks? It should show up as 4 GB.

I got the sticks from canada computers. I basically asked for the 1333 ram for the new imacs. I saw online that they carried it. Everything is pushed in there real good.

I didnt try putting the 2 2 gig sticks in the stand side slots. I did see an apple doc that said that the computer wont boot if the "top" (screenside) slots arent loaded first?

ok really weird. I went back and tried out a ram combo i had earlier today. Works like a charm. I have NO clue what the deal was before. it was quite weird.

Also i feel pretty embarassed i had to post up this thread. For future reference though, here was my final ram positioning.


stand
4gig_ _4gig
2gig_ _2gig
screen

didnt work, then i changed it over to

4gig_ _2gig
4gig_ _2gig

works like a charm. Somewhat confused but oh well! 12 gigs of pure deliciousness. best 80 bucks ive spent so far this week.

If Apple says the upper banks need to be loaded first, then putting the 2 GB modules by themselves in the lower banks is not going to work.

The only thing I can suggest is return the modules or exchange them and try again.

Check out the memory at this LINK According to their specs, your computer can take up to 32 GB of memory.

chscag said:

If Apple says the upper banks need to be loaded first, then putting the 2 GB modules by themselves in the lower banks is not going to work.

The only thing I can suggest is return the modules or exchange them and try again.

Check out the memory at this LINK According to their specs, your computer can take up to 32 GB of memory.

Click to expand...

WOW 32 gigs! i didnt think that the imac could go that high. I got this one thinking i could top out at 16 and be happy.

chscag, i got it to work. here is my system profiler now. You could compare the banks to what they were previously.

Instead of loading the matched ram top to bottom i went side to side. so all my 4 gig sticks are on the left while all my 2 gig sticks are on the right.

I'm glad to hear you got it working. Kind of strange that the modules work best as mixed in the banks. Anyway, it's working and I guess that's what matters. Save your pennies for those 8 GB modules, you'll need four of them to get to 32 GB. Have fun.

i thought it was a little strange also, but works awesome! much snappier! Thanks for the help!