Reassembly problem

I have a 17" late 2006 2.0 GHz intel core duo EMC No.: 2114 iMac lol. The optical drive said November 2006 if that makes any difference. I took apart the RAM err bay thingy (sorry) and lost the metal springs. They look like a paper clip. I didn't see a guide with pictures for how to do that. I tried myself and gave up after a while lol. I also have a few screws missing (who doesn't? lol) I might need to replace I guess. I replaced the RVRAM battery, tried the "control+option+p+r" reset but no luck. I went ahead and put the RAM cards back in with the cover holding the cards in hoping it would still work lol :P. I've never had anything done to the computer since I bought it that was good, bad or otherwise till now. I'm also brand spankin' new to this stuff. I haven't checked any of the diodes you menctioned earlier so that may be my next step? Could it be a power supply issue? I want to replace my optical drive, replace my old HHD with either a SSD or a new higher storage HHD, put in 3 GB of RAM and Lord help me I guess replace whatever else. It's been both frustrating and interesting. If nothing else I'm learning something new and becoming a more informed consumer, so I think I'll go ahead and see this through. I also have some original music I'd like to recover from the original hard drive. Maybe i can bring it to my church and record our band there as well! Great site, thanks again.