There goes my contingency plan ....

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Oh well, you learn something everyday .... you can't pop your pre-upgraded RAM back into your Mac.

I upgraded the standard 512Mb X 2 that came with my iMac to 1GB X 2, that I bought from Crucial.com.

I just put the 512Mb X 2 back into the slots and my iMac wouldn't boot ... just a flashing power light on the bottom right.

There's my contingency plan blown out of the water ... I was going to put the original RAM back in the machine if and when it needed to go in for repair ....

It does make sense that once the machine starts utilising the 2GB RAM it just can't do operate in the new sense when it only finds 1GB installed.
 
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That should work without any problems. Have you tried each stick individually to see if maybe one of the sticks has gone bad?

And changing the ram doesn't void your warranty
 
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That should work without any problems. Have you tried each stick individually to see if maybe one of the sticks has gone bad?

And changing the ram doesn't void your warranty

What I did do was to swap the 2 X 512MBs around but that still gave me the flashing sleep light.

I will try mixing a 1 X 1Gb with a 1 X 512Mb ... is that what you mean trpn?

I know changing the RAM doesn't void the warranty, it's just here in frontiersville I feel a contingency plan is needed to fend off any blaming of the 3rd party RAM or Software as the culprit of any problems I may have - if the techs put any faults down to the above then there's the chance I could have a fight on my hands, that's all.
 
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Try each 512 stick alone, to see if it boots up with one, but not that other, so you can tell if you have a single stick that has gone bad.
 
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OK, I'm back ... I tried each 512Mb module ... individually, each worked fine but together ... forget it. I tried them in different slots too.

Then I put my 2 X 1GB back in and received the blinking sleep light! I swapped the 1Gb modules around and was able to boot.
 

eric


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have you tried resetting the pram between boots with new memory?

pull power, battery and memory
hold power button for at least 5 seconds
replace memory, battery, power
 
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The RAM wasn't new, it's just my fan is blowin' a gasket and I wondered if I popped the original RAM back in, would that make a diff.

I think I read somewhere about 3rd party RAM and increased fan activity.

I'm not sure if I still need to try your tip, eric?
 

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i guess "new" was the wrong word to use - replace with "different configuration". ;)

it's just a shot in the dark, but perhaps for some reason the system is expecting something it's not seeing from config to config.
 
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This is quite strange, I would think it would boot as normal. Anyone else try this yet?
 
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I tried one of the original 512Mb modules in the top slot only and my iMac C2D booted fine. Then I removed the module and tried the other 512Mb in the bottom slot and it also booted fine. Then I put the 1st 512Mb module back in and tried to boot but recieved a flashing sleep light ...
 
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Well it should work with the original RAM as well, so I'd just stick that in and send it in. Let them know that it won't boot up at all any more and they'll figure it out.

Or just leave the 2 Gigs in there - upgrading your RAM doesn't void your warranty!
 
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Well it should work with the original RAM as well, so I'd just stick that in and send it in. Let them know that it won't boot up at all any more and they'll figure it out.

Or just leave the 2 Gigs in there - upgrading your RAM doesn't void your warranty!

No, but if it's 3rd party it gives them something to blame as the cause of the problem and a possible reason for not fixing it.
 

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