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iMac Freezing Problems


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Some users are saying that Apple's new aluminum iMac is freezing, making it useless until a reboot. The issue appears to be related to the ATI Radeon HD graphics hardware and its drivers, but has proven somewhat incorrect. While some customers have said they can cause the freeze by running games, iTunes, or other programs that push the video chipset, others have had the lockups occur at seemingly random times or after running the iMac for long intervals of time. Apple is aware of the issue, but hasn't yet responded with a permanent fix. Both the 1.0 and 1.1 iMac Software Update packages released since the iMac's August launch have been for important bug fixes, both of which were centered around video drivers, but none of these included a fix for the freezing issue.

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Maybe Apple needs to change a few things on their "Why You'll Love a Mac" page.

 

1. It just works (except when it doesn't!)

 

2. You can make amazing stuff (while it's still working)

 

7. No hunting for drivers (unless it's a video driver)

 

15. Awesome out of the box (and broken!)

 

It could be a feature to ensure that people don't use their computers too much and get some physical activity in. See, MS has had it right all along...

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I've had bad experiences with Apple computers too,

 

Bought an iMac G3 Summer 2001, refurbished and barely taken out of the box. Less than 1 year went by and the entire board failed and it wouldn't boot.

 

So I guess you can't exactly call an Apple computer problem-free, but theres something I want peoples opinion on:

 

Do you think that the quality of Apple computers are decreasing with every new model?

 

I think so because there are some macs from the 1980s and 1990s that were stashed away that still work fine to this day without any maintenance or repairs.

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I've had bad experiences with Apple computers too,

 

Bought an iMac G3 Summer 2001, refurbished and barely taken out of the box. Less than 1 year went by and the entire board failed and it wouldn't boot.

 

So I guess you can't exactly call an Apple computer problem-free, but theres something I want peoples opinion on:

 

Do you think that the quality of Apple computers are decreasing with every new model?

 

I think so because there are some macs from the 1980s and 1990s that were stashed away that still work fine to this day without any maintenance or repairs.

 

I don't know if we'd really be able to say that, only because of the huge difference in amount of machines sold. I don't think the percentage of machines with problems is that high. If you look at another market, when the Xbox 360 came out there were a bunch of people saying that it suffered from mass heating issues. In reality though it was only like 1-2 percent of the systems.

 

You also have to look at the complexity of the newer systems. They have plenty of more places for things to go wrong. And at least when there are problems Apple's support and repair program rocks.

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I hope that Mac OS 10.4.11 or Leopard will fix the problems. I am planning on getting the aluminum iMac (I already have a MacBook but want another Mac as a secondary computer) with Leopard pre-installed. I just hope the problems would be fixed by then.

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Apples hardware (well not proprietary it is supported directly by Apple) out-performs that of any PC. Take for example the issue Dell had with motherboard capacitors exploding [http://www.news.com/PCs-plagued-by-bad-capacitors/2100-1041_3-5942647.html] that I myself directly delt with because at the time I was doing system repair/management for my school district. A large percentage of the 200+ Dell GX270's we had failed, and that was just our organization.

 

 

Also consider how many people post on various forums giving this and that PC related piece of hardware a bad review, stating that it failed and they had to RMA it. A quick trip to NewEgg.com will yield thousands of reviews of hardware stating that it failed, did not work as intended or had some other issue associated with it.

 

Apple Hardware is much less prone to hardware failure and in my experience their hardware is MUCH more dependable, supported to a higher degree, and much more stable than any PC hardware counterpart.

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Apple Hardware is much less prone to hardware failure and in my experience their hardware is MUCH more dependable, supported to a higher degree, and much more stable than any PC hardware counterpart.

You're kidding? right? Almost all PC and apple parts are made in China. Talk about dependabilty :whistle:

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I have had no problems at all with my new iMac(29th August 2007). I have not had any long gaming sessions on it yet, but I have used it for around 7-8 Hours in iMovie without any problems whatsoever. People just crib too much about every small issue.

 

 

@PCWiz: I have a old Compaq Pentium II 300Mhz from 1998-99 that still works. Many People have old Apples that still work. Infact AFAIK someone here has a working Apple II.

The reason for this is that old hardware was Quality, also which worked at a slow speed. Today we are pushing hardware to its limits, thus putting it under much more pressure and strain. The price we pay today for cutting edge computers is what we used to pay for slightly outdated models 10years back.

 

A new killer gaming PC will cost maybe 3000$ today which is what my 386 cost in 2007. So you really cant compare Quality of then and now.

 

 

My 5 Year old PC has gone through 3 MB Changes, 3 PSU Changes, 1 Harddrive Change and 1 CPU change. In contrast my Pentium II has just worked since the last 8-9 Years

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I hope that Mac OS 10.4.11 or Leopard will fix the problems.

My guess is that this is heat related and Leopard will only make it worse. Seriously, have you ever touched the top of a new iMac on the left hand side after it's been running for around 30 minutes? Some of them get smokin hot and I'm surprised we're not seeing more reports about fires, although more people are starting to now complain about it :star_smile:

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Isn't it odd at all that this problem is occuring with just the new iMacs? I just thought they had upgraded hardware than the plastic ones. Not necessarily "new" hardware.

 

Well, at least it's not a software issue then.

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Great point U.C.

 

Also, I have a Compaq Presario AMD K6 450MHz that has gone through nothing except a RAM upgrade and some OS reinstalls that still works after 9 or 10 years. And aside from the slowness, its running Windows XP Pro fine!

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Leopard is running more processes as it is full 64 bit...
But Leopard is better designed for the Intel Mac Architecture than Tiger. It's actually good that it's 64-bit because the task (whatever the task is) will be finished sooner and the computer will idle sooner.
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I used to have a 6600 which used to crash just like the Macs. Randomly. Got it replaced and it worked fine. I guess the Logic Board willl have to be replaced. This happens either due to heating, or due to some defects. My normal GPU Temp is at 50-60 C, what is the normal temp of the crashing macs??

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I hope that Mac OS 10.4.11 or Leopard will fix the problems. I am planning on getting the aluminum iMac (I already have a MacBook but want another Mac as a secondary computer) with Leopard pre-installed. I just hope the problems would be fixed by then.
That's funny. The problems they describe look a lot like what I endured with my Saphire X1600pro awhile ago. And which was due to a firmware difference (as I predicted).Apple probably had a different ATI HD card in their test-setup than the chinese manufacturer has in stock to build the actual macs.Serves them right.
Apples hardware (well not proprietary it is supported directly by Apple) out-performs that of any PC. Take for example the issue Dell had with motherboard capacitors exploding [http://www.news.com/PCs-plagued-by-bad-capacitors/2100-1041_3-5942647.html] that I myself directly delt with because at the time I was doing system repair/management for my school district. A large percentage of the 200+ Dell GX270's we had failed, and that was just our organization.Also consider how many people post on various forums giving this and that PC related piece of hardware a bad review, stating that it failed and they had to RMA it. A quick trip to NewEgg.com will yield thousands of reviews of hardware stating that it failed, did not work as intended or had some other issue associated with it.
That problem was not with Dell alone. MSI, yes that crappy mainboard manufactorer, still uses those faulty capacitors today. Not to mention the hundred mainboards that I RMA'd to them when I did repair for a PC-parts distributor. In fact a lot of consumer products suffered from this problem (my Goldstar TV had also leaking capacitors all over it's tiny mainboard when it died on me).
Apple Hardware is much less prone to hardware failure and in my experience their hardware is MUCH more dependable, supported to a higher degree, and much more stable than any PC hardware counterpart.
Sorry I have to disagree with this.As it stands today. NOBODY makes quality products anymore. I bought a Nikon D40 dSLR last month, I used it one week... in that week I took that digicam 3 hours outside to take pictures. After that I saw a dustparticle on my sensor (a real plague on dSLR's which has been kept silent for the general public for ages). Even though I never changed lenses (since I only have 1 lense). It went back to nikon for repair (over a month ago) and I still haven't got it returned. In fact IF I get it back I'll probably have to pay for its repair as Nikon claim there was "user damage" (there goes the warranty). I got another problem with my Sony ericson K750i phone 2 years ago that also caused a dispute between me and the shopowner. And my HP Laserprinter (Laserjet 1200) went back 3 times to HP in it's first 6 weeks. The list goes on. I can tell stories from all major names in the consumer market and they are all for the worst. The bigger the name, crappier the products and the crappier their service to solve the problems with their crappy products.We (consumers) are doomed.And then they wonder why we hack their OS and run it on the computers WE build ourselves :-)
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Well, Also think about the external temperature. I have noticed, that the processor gets overheated due to bad fan. My computer runs 24/7 almost. I have never encountered any outages due to over heating. Ok if you encounter such issues why dont you log a call to apple & get it fixed. Not all computers is a victim of manufacturing defect. Closely monitor the temperatue of your box & record it using any software. Upload these logs to apple & get it fixed. Sometimes you will be one of the person to help apple to fix their hardware issues. Intel Processors trun off when over heating problem occurs. AMD burns / bursts. I have seen few incidents like that.

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