iMac acting funny, Graphic card or OSX?

[buyusfear]

So for the first time in over a year since I purchased it, my iMac crashed twice.

The first time was this morning, i went to do something and the screen went black, and my secondary display got black and white lines. I had to restart. And the boot screen with the apple logo hung around for a while.

Then, later on the screen went whacky after trying to wake it from sleep (not full sleep just display sleep) and had a bunch of moving lines and then I couldn't see anything. So luckily I got a picture. After restart, it seems fine.

I'll call apple care in the morning, but thought i'd try my luck here.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[buyusfear]

It happened again. This time I got a restart message on my secondary display...

 

[oneEG6]

Nice kernel panic.

Looks like a bad logic board to me. Does it totally freeze up, not allowing any cursor movement or anything? Does the "snow" move around?

 

[buyusfear]

Nice kernel panic.

Looks like a bad logic board to me. Does it totally freeze up, not allowing any cursor movement or anything? Does the "snow" move around?

The snow does move, and I can move the cursor, but nothing else is responsive. I have the computer off right now and luckily have me MBP. I also have the majority of my stuff on external drives, save for a bunch of iphoto pics that would suck if I were to lose.

What do you think apple care will tell me? (thank god I bought it as i'm almost exactly 1 year a 1 month into owning it)

 

[oneEG6]

They'll probably tell you to bring it into an Apple store. Make an appointment with a Genius, probably a bad logic board. Good thing for Applecare!

editooh, could just be your video card, very likely. Your data should be fine either way.

 

[GlynJones]

My iMac has just come back from the Apple Store with similar symptoms.

I have the 24" iMac with the 7600GS graphics and mine ended up needing a new logic board and graphic board.

Looks like it's a trip to the Apple Store for repair. Remember to back up your iMac before you take it in.

Mine needed nearly £700 of parts so AppleCare really paid for itself on this one.

 

[buyusfear]

My iMac has just come back from the Apple Store with similar symptoms.

I have the 24" iMac with the 7600GS graphics and mine ended up needing a new logic board and graphic board.

Looks like it's a trip to the Apple Store for repair. Remember to back up your iMac before you take it in.

Mine needed nearly £700 of parts so AppleCare really paid for itself on this one.

Apple care was great over the phone, and yes, as of 2 days ago, It is checked into the Applestore for either graphic and/or logic board repair. I never backed it up, just saved most of the important stuff. The rest I can restore off of my notebook.

Thanks for the suggestions all.

 

[GlynJones]

My iMac has just come back from the Apple Store with similar symptoms.

I have the 24" iMac with the 7600GS graphics and mine ended up needing a new logic board and graphic board.

Looks like it's a trip to the Apple Store for repair. Remember to back up your iMac before you take it in.

Mine needed nearly £700 of parts so AppleCare really paid for itself on this one.

Well had the machine back for less than 6 weeks and the graphics have gone again.

Really cheezed off about this as my Macbook Pro is already in for repair so I will be macless for a while.

Trouble is that anyone with the 7600GS graphics have a ticking time bomb in there machines.

 

[Shivetya]

Trouble is that anyone with the 7600GS graphics have a ticking time bomb in there machines.

Yup. I have one, been fixed twice, the second time has been the charm. Can't imagine owning an iMac without an extended warranty.