weirdness after Genius Bar logic board swap

[tuc]

hey there,

On Thursday I took my uncle's macMini to the local Genius Bar because it would no longer boot. The next day they returned it with the non-Apple 2GB SO-DIMM removed from the top slot and said my third-party RAM was bad.

Well, no. It turns out it won't boot with any SO-DIMM in the top slot. So I took it back for a "quick drop" on Sunday. On Monday they tell me that they have ordered a replacement logic board. On Wednesday (today) I get the machine back.

It does boot even though the top RAM slot is filled, however
(1) I see white-on-black boot text when booting and shutting down, and
(2) clicking the "Turn AirPort On" button has no effect--it continues to say "Status: Off".

Any ideas on these? For the first, I notice lots of unexpected stuff returned by "nvram -p":

Last login: Wed Sep 2 21:08:55 on console
mini:~ guy$ nvram -p
SystemAudioVolume s
efi-boot-device-data %02%01%0c%00%d0A%03%0a%00%00%00%00%01%01%06%00%02%1f%03%12%0a%00%02%00%00%00%00%00%04%01*%00%02%00%00%00(@%06%00%00%00%00%00`%b8F%09%00%00%00%00%16%04%85C&MxD%97%9a%9aU%12tS%e5%02%02%7f%ff%04%00
prev-lang:kbd en:0
platform-uuid %00%00%00%00%00%00%10%00%80%00%00%1f%f3D%a4%9b
boot-args -v
efi-boot-device <array><dict><key>IOMatch</key><dict><key>IOProviderClass</key><string>IOMedia</string><key>IOPropertyMatch</key><dict><key>UUID</key><string>43850416-4D26-4478-979A-9A55127453E5</string></dict></dict><key>BLLastBSDName</key><string>disk0s2</string></dict></array>%00
mini:~ guy$

Compare this to my machine, which has only

scule:~ dude$ nvram -p
SystemAudioVolume 0
EFIBluetoothDelay %b8%0b
scule:~ dude$

I figure that could exlpain item (1), but could it also explain item (2)?

Suggestions for how to proceed, anyone?

 

[tuc]

The AirPort thing is resolved (seemed to be a configuration issue) so I guess I'm only worried about the white-on-black text at startup and shutdown.

Can I play tricks with "sudo nvram" to solve that one without having to trek back to the Genius Bar?