Sounds like RAM, but if securing it to the board only made the situation worse, then something's definitely up.
It's likely that you can look up the beep pattern and determine what it is depending on your computer brand/model and/or the motherboard brand/model.
For example, if it's a Dell Model ABC, then doing a Google search for "Dell ABC motherboard beeps 12 times" may provide you with some answers.
If, however, it's a custom-built PC, you'll have to find out the motherboard's brand/model simply by opening it up again and using an eagle-eye to (hopefully) find the brand and model number printed somewhere on the motherboard (the main board that stands vertically inside the computer which has a majority of the chips 'n what-not.)
Then, simply search for the same thing, in Google, but substitute the motherboard's name/model in the query.
Otherwise, if you care enough about the computer, you may have to bring it somewhere where folks can get their hands/eyes on it to test things.