Blank Screen After adding Ram

[zardari]

I have a dell dimesion 4100 p3 800. I got kingston pc133 Dimm Sdram 256mb from office depot and tried to add it to the 2nd empty slot on my board (the 1st slot had dell 128 mb ram). I think I inserted the ram in the wrong direction and closed the side clips manually. Tried to start the computer but it didnt. So I checked the connections and then it did start but only the hdd light came and not the the power supply light. Removed new ram but didnt help. Changed the slot of old ram, removed all the cards and reinserted them, pulled out all connections and reinserted them but no change. When I remove the old ram (no ram inserted) and start, I can see the power supply light and hdd light and the computer beeps for 2 sec. But since there is no ram, I dont see anything on the screen. If i put the ram back in, once I again i do not see the power light on but hdd light is on and a blank screen. Any ideas on whether the ram died or something got messed up with the board. Dell is sending me free Ram but that will take abt a 10 days and since I do not have any warranty on board if it has died, i would be better off getting a new barebone system now rather than waiting for ram to arrive and then discover. Any ideas. Do you think the Ram or board can die if the ram in other slot is not inserted properly?