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Just installed 16 gigs of RAM in my iMac mid 2010, makes POST chime but does not start up

I need help I just installed 16 gigs of RAM and my mid 2010 iMac. It passes the post test but stays on the gray Apple logo screen.


RAM description:

2x8gb= total 16gbs

PC3- 10600

DDR3- 1333

204-pin


I have no idea why it's working please help.

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on May 7, 2013 11:14 PM

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15 replies

May 7, 2013 11:21 PM in response to Brandon

Boot from your Snow Leopard DVD and see if it starts up OK. If it does, then you need to reinstall OS X.


Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive


Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.


Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.


When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.


Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.


Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

May 7, 2013 11:23 PM in response to Brandon

From many threads I've seen on here, it seems can be very picky about the RAM chips that are installed. If you've tried re-seating it and still have the problem but the original chips work I'd suggest returning them for a refund and start again perhaps buying directly from Crucial or Macsales:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac

http://www.crucial.com/

Just installed 16 gigs of RAM in my iMac mid 2010, makes POST chime but does not start up

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