I have a 2009 iMac and wanted to bump up the RAM to it's max capacity.
I did a quick search and found that it is supposed to handle 8GB. I Bought 2 4GB sticks from Crucial (supposedly a good brand) and installed them according to the instructions.
On restart, I got 3 beeps which is supposed to mean that the RAM is bad. I tested various configs of the old RAM with the new RAM and am able to use either of the old 2GB sticks and either of the new 4GB sticks with no issues but can't put 2 new 4GB sticks or even 1 4GB stick by itself.
It has to have an old stick in to be able to boot. When it boots the RAM shows as 6GB and seems to have no issues. So what's the deal and how common is it that the RAM is "just bad" and has to be exchanged? (See attached images for clarification)