Beeping sound after upgrading RAM on Mac Mini

I had the same problem as you on my mac mini. It was always slot 0 that had issues of need reading the memory. When i tried the old memory or just slot 1 then everything worked. Read on a thread it was how certain memory gets seated into slot 0 that causes it not to work. I went through 2 brands of memory both had similar problems when seated into slot 0. They both worked in slot 1 alone but nothing when in slot 0.

What i did was what another thread advised to do. Take a small flat head screwdriver and after you put the memory in slot 0, put the screwdriver between the top of the mac mini and the memory then turn the screwdriver a little to exert pressure on the memory into the slot. Do it on both sides of the memory. I did this and tested out both sets of memory and now they both work. When i take out the memory and put it back in normally i get the beeps again. Do the same procedure with the screwdriver and they both work again. Its definitely a hardware issue and the seating of the memory in slot 0.

Hope this helps cause it helped me tremendously after wanting to pull my hair out...

Beeps mean the RAM is an issue. Possible reasons and fixes:

• New RAM is bad, while old RAM worked. Reinstall the old RAM and see if it starts.
• New RAM was not seated correctly -- not a crime or a fault ... I have built 3 systems prior to replacing my MBP RAM and still expect the RAM to need reseated.
• VERY UNLIKELY: You damaged the RAM slots while installing. VERY UNLIKELY.

Try the first 2 before thinking the third.

If the old RAM works but the new RAM does not, you may question the source of the RAM. macsales.com and crucial.com are very Mac-friendly and provide memory tested to be fully compatible with the model/year and have very few issues with bad memory.

New memory is bad or the wrong specifications.

You have reseated so often that if the slots were bad, the old would not work.

Macs are VERY picky. If the new RAM is off by an iota in specifications, then only the presence of the old RAM lets the Mac know RAM speed ... which is what is happening.

Return the new RAM, and go to macsales.com or crucial.com, since they test the memory they offer for sale to be fully compatible.

<edited for "wrong specifications">

solforever suggests mechanical leverage.

That may work but be very careeful of two things:

• Metal objetcs around several "grounded" parts of the internals
• Pushing too hard ... "mechanical advantage" can be overused, and *can* damage

I am not cruel, just naturally cynical

I agree with steve about being careful when you try this and don't exert to much force. The top part of the mac mini is plastic so you won't hurt anything there. Just give the screwdriver a slight turn you will see the memory flex up a little then thats it, do it on both sides of the memory and you should be good. It will look like the memory hasn't moved at all but somehow it seats the memory correctly. Like i said whenever i just put the memory in like normal they don't work. Do the screwdriver trick and it works instantly. The original memory always read when i put them in like normal, just the new memory needed this trick. Good luck....

I had the same thing and know nothing about computers. I read the posts and they were correct - RAM seating issue. I simply removed and re-seated the RAM, but pressed slightly up and down on the sides and back of the RAM instead of using a screwdriver. It worked great - no tools, no worries about breaking anything.

I had the same issue. Tried using a screwdriver and it slid off and scratched one of the modules. I had to apply enormous force and the memory modules only went in slightly, still no resolution. At that moment I didnt know if it was bad memory or I damaged it. Had three iterations, combining old and new, nothing worked.

In the end I figured out you have to apply the force (press the module down) when the module is located under the angle, before it is laid flat in the slot. See the label next to memory slot - it depicts the angle.

The memory i used was Crucial btw, bought brand new on Amazon.

To cut the long story short: place the modules under approx. 45 degrees angle and push them into the socket under this angle. Only when it is fully in the socket, push the module to lay down flat.

Also found this video which specifically shows this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIIs3bplZZA

You got lucky. Sorry to be blunt, but ...

Usually forcing and using screwdrivers that aggresively has more undesirable outcomes. Next time if something that is supposed to go easy does not, you can immediately ask here to be sure your process is correct. No one here (at least of those who matter) will mock you.

I kinda totally know this - I'd said the same to anybody (well im not new to the computers, assembled quite a few of them, and btw upgraded memory in macbook pro unibody before, which is the same socket). Its just that when it didnt boot up the first time, I went to this thread and read about the screwdriver. Yeah, obviously, there has to be a way of doing things without a hammer.

I needed to upgrade my mid-2010 Mac Mini. I took it to PC World and they looked up the RAM on crucial.com and found they no longer stocked the correct RAM in any store. The other assistant said to try the newer RAM and surprisingly it worked. When I got home it then beeped as described. I found this thread, but the pushing and twisting had no effect, so I swapped over the two (identical) sticks of RAM and it worked, I guess that had the same effect. I think the point about the RAM is important as they seem to think the older RAM may be being phased out.

An overall "me too". I wanted to replace the 2 original 1GB Samsung sticks with 2GB sticks from OWC. Either of the new ones in the bottom slot (assuming this has been called slot 0) elicited the beeping sound every 3 seconds or so. Either of the original sticks work in the bottom slot. I tried various combinations of reinsertion and also saw that either new stick in the bottom slot beeped. It seemed that in the bottom slot, I don't get as much insertion resistance as in the top slot. In the top, either original or new card kind of snaps in. In the bottom slot, the original stick has a minimal snap, but the new stick has none. Seems the new sticks are slightly thinner, but comparing the original and new visually doesn't immediately suggest that. Anyway, after various attempts at applying pressure along the bottom stick's long edge by twisting a small screwdriver (which never seemed to move the stick further into the slot), or trying to slide the stick slightly parallel to the long edge (not into the slot) in both directions (it only moved very slightly) got it working (don't remember which direction was the best (up or down)). Since multiple re insertions hadn't fixed it, I don't suspect dirty/corroded contacts, but just the slightest misalignment of contacts on the stick such that stick movement was required to mate with the slot contact. Anyway, it's working, still seeing the 4GB after multiple reboots, so I just hope it stays that way.

If this is a mid-2010 mini (macmini4,1), it will require PC8500 DDR3 1066 Mhz memory.

This is a mid-2010 mini (macmini4,1), and I did use PC8500 DDR3 1066 Mhz memory

The Mini recognizes it as the correct size and speed, and things do run more quickly. I was on 10.7.5, with occasional things running slow, and showing the color wheel. I then upgraded to 10.11.x, and things were a little worse. This kind of confirms my suspicion of excessive swapping, although I couldn't confirm it by seeing explicitly in a Terminal command line 'top' display. On other Unix/Linux's, I'd seen "kswapd" near the top of a 'top' display sorted by cpu percent. Even approaching 1% for kswapd usage had a significant impact on performance.