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Help! New 24" iMac dead, just Beep - Beep - Beep

mtbdudex

mtbdudex

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 28, 2007
2,974
5,562
SE Michigan
Ordered my new 24" iMac 10/16, delivered to my home on 10/23.

I've used it periodaclly, got the 10.5 upgrade disk, had some of the install problems but thru this board got those solved (archieve and install worked!).

Now, it's DOA, came home from work and it was giving 3 beeps, like beep - beep - beep, then 3-4 seconds silence, then repeat, etc, etc. No screen. Hold on sw until turned off, unplug, let sit 60+ seconds, push on, not even boot within 5 seconds just the DOA beep - beep - beep.

I'm writing this while I'm on AppleCare hold, most likely I'll be returning this to the Novi, Mich store tomorrow.

Sad Sad day for me , I've never had so many problems with an Apple product. How am I supposed to stay loyal??

Any idea on what the 3 beeps mean?

Fried logic board?
Fried video board?

The only non-apple stuff I've loaded are MS Office 2004, Fusion, and then the smcFanControl app when I read about the temp issue. I cranked up the fan speed to around 1800 - 2000 rpm.

This sucks so bad, good thing my MacBook works.

I've downloaded some pictures to iPhoto, hopefully those won't go AWOL when Apple fixes the iMac, due to instability I've not done a back-up just yet, was waiting for the 10.5 patch, guess my iMac decided otherwise.
 
Eidorian said:
My Googles tell me you might want to reseat the RAM.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58442
Click to expand...

That actually happened to me! (20" iMac)

No BS. Family members iMac was doing that, I was about on suicide watch trying to figure out WTF was wrong, when - to humor my friends request - I looked at the RAM. One of the sticks was partially seated. Re-seated, and bam, no problems since.

Also - resetting your PRAM might do it (should it not be ram)
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
That actually happened to me! (20" iMac)

No BS. Family members iMac was doing that, I was about on suicide watch trying to figure out WTF was wrong, when - to humor my friends request - I looked at the RAM. One of the sticks was partially seated. Re-seated, and bam, no problems since.

Also - resetting your PRAM might do it (should it not be ram)
Click to expand...
I left my iMac Core Duo sitting in storage for about a month and it didn't boot up. I reseated the RAM and it worked. :D
 
mtbdudex said:
Ordered my new 24" iMac 10/16, delivered to my home on 10/23.

..was giving 3 beeps, like beep - beep - beep, then 3-4 seconds silence, then repeat, etc, etc. No screen. Hold on sw until turned off, unplug, let sit 60+ seconds, push on, not even boot within 5 seconds just the DOA beep - beep - beep.


Any idea on what the 3 beeps mean?

Fried logic board?
Fried video board?
Click to expand...

In PC's three beeps like this would suggest a BIOS error code signaling a video card error.

Not sure about the intell macs. Have you tried calling apple (still under warrenty?)?
 
Eidorian already provided that info their link. From linked page:

Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2
Products introduced after October, 1999 use a revised set of power on self-test beeps during startup. This article describes each one.

1 beep = no RAM installed
2 beeps = incompatible RAM types
3 beeps = no good banks
4 beeps = no good boot images in the boot ROM (and/or bad sys config block)
5 beeps = processor is not usable

Again, that's the problem I had with my iMac. Hopefully that's it, which should be an easy fix.
 
The apple guy came on after 10 minutes.

He was very helpful and followed script to root cause.

We went thru many things over 20+ minutes.
-3 beeps means bad memory board on computer side.
-tried PRAM reset, never got that far, still 3 beeps
-removed the 2 x 2GB RAM I upgraded and re-installed the Apple OEM 1 GB module, first RH slot then LH slot. changed to 1 beep, still memory board failure, 1 beep means No RAM installed.

bottom line, tomorrow I'm returning my new iMac for a newer iMac, hopefully this one will have no issue.

I mentioned to him I downloaded a few digital rolls to iPhoto and have not done a back-up yet, so can they recover or remove the HD from my current to the replacememt, he was going to look into it.

Also, since I'm having a headache on Apple's issue, I asked as a show of good faith could he give me something. I asked for a Full Install copy of 10.5, I got the $9.95 upgrade, which is a pain in the butt to re-install, you have to load 10.4.x via 2 DVD's then a 3rd DVD for 10.5, well he agreed and included that as good faith! So, I feel little better. :D :D

Side note: at same time I'm downloading 10.4.11 on this MacBook, so hopefully no issues there
 
I had 3 beeps - and in my case it was a partially seated memory module.

I dunno, return if you want, but I'd look into that ram slot nice and hard before going to Apple.

Granted - you've got the motivation not to - but still.

I assume your "new" iMac is the metal version, not the white ones?

B/C the white ones can be a (#*$h to get RAM into with those stupid "levers" hanging around. I'm under the impression they "fixed the glitch" with a ribbon or something. But I have yet to try it on a new iMac.
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
I had 3 beeps - and in my case it was a partially seated memory module.

I dunno, return if you want, but I'd look into that ram slot nice and hard before going to Apple.

Granted - you've got the motivation not to - but still.

I assume your "new" iMac is the metal version, not the white ones?

B/C the white ones can be a (#*$h to get RAM into with those stupid "levers" hanging around. I'm under the impression they "fixed the glitch" with a ribbon or something. But I have yet to try it on a new iMac.
Click to expand...

Thx everyone for quick feedback and info.

I've removed and re-inserted the Apple 1GB module twice in each slot, and made sure seated, still beep.

Something is wrong with the apple board itself.

So, tomorrow I have 4:55pm appt to get new iMac 24" 750GB HD at local store here in Michigan.
What are my chances of having apple do a recovery of my HD and imprint that onto the new Mac?? I'm willing to give them one or two days to do it.
I don't want to lose the precious pictures of my kids (5, 3 and 1 1/2 year old) I've downloaded the past 3 weeks, including Halloween.
 
mtbdudex said:
Thx everyone for quick feedback and info.

I've removed and re-inserted the Apple 1GB module twice in each slot, and made sure seated, still beep.

Something is wrong with the apple board itself.

So, tomorrow I have 4:55pm appt to get new iMac 24" 750GB HD at local store here in Michigan.
What are my chances of having apple do a recovery of my HD and imprint that onto the new Mac?? I'm willing to give them one or two days to do it.
I don't want to lose the precious pictures of my kids (5, 3 and 1 1/2 year old) I've downloaded the past 3 weeks, including Halloween.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about that.

I hope that we were still able to be of some help.
 
Even if your whole logic board went *poof*, odds are good you (they) still can recover the HD. Maybe they might find a ram issue and fix it, maybe the logic can be repaired. They could, at the very least, pull the drive and either install it into a good iMac, or an external enclosure - to recover the data for you.

I even had luck once switching a bad HD logic card with one from a good drive - and recovered the data. And I'm a dolt. So you *should* be o.k.
 
Eidorian said:
Sorry to hear about that.

I hope that we were still able to be of some help.
Click to expand...

The fact that other Mac users offer their own time to help is much appreciated!
It's nice to have a support network.

"Back in the day", circa 1987 - 1995 I was quite involved in the local Detroit area Mac scene, was a member of both MacGroupDetroit (Southfield, Terry White) and MacTechnics (AnnArbor, Cassie St Clair comes to mind, there are others). I even did the newcomers SIG and the MacBasics SIG for MacTechnics 1993 - 1995. Then I got out of the Mac Scene (and did Mountain Bike Racing/Mountain Climbing/etc)

Kinda nice for others to help me "in my old age" (Ha, I'm just 45 now..)

9:10pm now, time to go to bed, again thx everyone.
If you got a minute, check out my other life, new log home I built a few years back.
http://mmrosinski.tripod.com/loghome/
 
mtbdudex said:
So, tomorrow I have 4:55pm appt to get new iMac 24" 750GB HD at local store here in Michigan.
What are my chances of having apple do a recovery of my HD and imprint that onto the new Mac?? I'm willing to give them one or two days to do it.
I don't want to lose the precious pictures of my kids (5, 3 and 1 1/2 year old) I've downloaded the past 3 weeks, including Halloween.
Click to expand...


You know, the same thing just happened to me. I started up my Mac and got the 3 beeps.

I re-seated the memory, even switched the memory slots. Nothing.

And yes, beautiful home indeed. :)
 
Thx for the feedback on our home, everyone should build 2 new homes in their lifetime. The first one you learn all the mistakes to be made (well mostly), then the second hopefully you don't repeat those mistakes.
:D :D

Since we live in Michigan, the only thing that sucked was for 15 months, May 2002 thru July 2003 I made double mortage payments, because the home market here was so soft. Cash flow got so tight towards the end, we were so happy when our old home sold.
Looking back I was lucky to build/sell when I did, the situtation here in SE Michigan has only gotton worse for selling homes. Gosh, it is such a different world post 9/11, but that's a thread for another forum area.



I'll post my experience with the Novi Mich Apple store, hopefully tonight I'll be a happy Mac camper once more. And I'll post pictures of my iMac also, doing it's job in our 2nd floor loft area.
 
mtbdudex said:
Everyone should build 2 new homes in their lifetime. The first one you learn all the mistakes to be made (well mostly), then the second hopefully you don't repeat those mistakes.
Click to expand...

With today's real estate market, people are lucky if they can even afford a small home - let alone build there own. But that's a topic for a different thread. ;) That is seriously a nice looking house though, congrats. :)

Hope your iMac situation gets worked out.
 
Anghammarad said:
Is this helpful?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306396
Click to expand...

iMac (Mid 2007): About new startup tones
iMac (Mid 2007) computers, unlike other Macintosh computers, do not use the power LED to indicate there is an issue. iMac (Mid 2007) computers use tones instead.

The following table lists the new tones and their meaning:

Tone(s) Description
1 tone, a 5-second pause, repeat No RAM installed
3 successive tones, a 5-second pause, 3 successive tones RAM does not pass data integrity check
1 long tone when holding down the power button Firmware upgrade in process. See this article for more details.
3 long tones, 3 short tones, 3 long tones Firmware restoration from CD in process. See this article for more details.
Click to expand...


Hmmmm, how could my 2 1/2 week installed 4GB RAM (via 2 x 2GB RAM) and the original Apple OEM 1GB RAM (which was installed 1 week) both be bad??

The odds are so much against that.
The AppleCare tech came to that conclusion, the RAM was good, or at the least the Apple logic board is bad.

We'll see tonight at 4:55pm!
 
I loaded my iMac and everything into the original box and took it to the Novi, Mich store, was able to get a 2:45pm appt yesterday.

The tech asked me same questions as the AppleCare person did over the phone, we plugged it in, he heard the one beep (with the single Apple OE 1 GB RAM module). He did not want to deal with my 2 x 2GB RAM cards and their 3 beeps.
Next, he said they were going to re-check it in the tech room with known good RAM. I waited 12-14 minutes, I was hoping they would have done the test in front of me.
He came back and said my computer is fine, the Apple RAM is bad (they don't warranty RAM is a customer removes it and installs 3rd party RAM) and most likely my 3rd party RAM is also bad. He did mention that people at the store do buy RAM thru crucial for their personal computers, so if I wanted to buy 3rd party RAM he suggested that as a good source.
I left the store so bummed and frustrated, thinking "crap, now what can I do but spend another $150 for more 2 x 2GB RAM modules".

When I got home just for the heck of it I tried the current 3rd party RAM I have, guess what, they worked fine. I tried each on individually in each slot, then both.

So, what really did he/they do for those 12-14 minutes in the back where I could not see??

Of course once the iMac was working last night I saw here that the updates for 10.5 and iMac freezing was released. I ran software updater and it detected everything and I ran them. Now, no freezing, no beeps, everything 100% fine. I've even turned the smc fan control back to default settings.

Go figure, bottom line my iMac now working is a mystery, but I'm happy none the less.
 
I'm still behind my original re-seating the ram theory. As much as you may not agree. ;)

There could have been some crap in the slot. (say an "QA" or "test" sticker fell off a sub assembly, and was floating inside the chassis - when you inserted your new stick of ram in, it might have pushed it into the slot) Then, with each subsequent stick, it failed to make contact. Feel free to substitute packing material, solder ball, and even plain simple dirt as the FOD.

Maybe thats what they dug up.

I can tell you they didn't get TOO involved in that period of time, so it was likely some FOD or a seating issue. I can't imagine them swapping the logic board. And I know they don't use SMT soldering stations at most legitimate Apple stores. :D

Hey - at least your iMac is working now.
 
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