Memory failure!?!?

I just tried to replace the memory in my early model 2008 MacBook Pro. To male a long story short, I had to reinstert the original memory (2 1gig cards) back into the machine. They were out for no longer than 5 minutes and I don't think they were exposed to any static. When I now power up the machine I get a black screen and a loud beeping noise. What happened?!?!?!? Is there a simple way to resolve?

Thanks for any advice.