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torop

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 3, 2008
6
0
Toronto, Canada
My Imac freezes up a lot, usually after 10 to 15 minutes of being on. I suspect it has something to do with overheating. I have to get my data off of the drive before I take it into the Apple store for fear that they will will just replace the drive and all will be lost. I have a fan blowing on it now in the back and am copying data onto an external drive little by little until it freezes up. I bought it last fall and have a 3 year warranty on it and this will be my second time bringing it in for repair. The first time it was a problem right out of the box when I brought it home and it was replaced. It's a 3.06 processor, 24 inch screen. I am not impressed by the hardware reliability and the all in one system. I am regretting buying the imac after being a PC user for so long and I am using my Windows PC to write this. I suspect the cooling system could be better on my IMAC given the compressed footprint. Anyone else with similar issues with their IMAC?
 
Apple's cooling on anything short of the Mac Pro has been questionable at best over the past few years.

Check All Messages using Console.app and download the iStat Pro widget to check on the temperatures.
 
Very good idea to have Apple deal with the issue under warranty. While it is unfortunate, I'm sure you'll agree that Sony, Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway, Lenovo, eMachines, Acer . . . well, you know. ;)
 
when i used to have problems with my fans i used smcFanControl and the widget IStatPro, maybe the fans aren't kicking fast enough or they might be defective?
 
off to the apple store

thanks for the posts. Off to the apple store to get my baby back working. I am used to opening up my computers and resolving hardware issues on my own but don't do it with my imac. I made the mistake of not backing up my drive recently but at least i have a three year warranty.
 
opening an iMac is too much trouble anyway especially if you have apple care heh, you need suction cups a vinyl spludger etc.
 
QwertyPants, what other utilities do you run? Can you recommend a systems diagnostics utility. I am going to download the other two utilities you suggested on cooling. One shortfall of the imac for me is the limited USB ports available. Once I plug in the keyboard/mouse, an external drive and printer that's it. I have to remove one to plug in my ipod. I am going to change my home network this weekend and maybe free up a USB port by connecting the printer to my router and give it an IP address.

Thanks for the input. Waiting at the Apple Store. It's busy here.

iMac 24-inch;3.06GHz Intel Core2Duo;NVIDIA 512mb; 30gig iPod Classic; 8gig iPod Touch; Final Cut Pro
 
for cache cleaning and general maintenance i run MainMenu it's really easy to use and you can set it to sit nicely in your menu bar so it doesn't take up space in your dock. If you want to go a step further you can try getting your hands on Drive Genius 2 or Data Rescue II just incase :)

why don't you try getting a usb hub?
 
A usb hub. So logical. I have three computers at home, two Windows systems and my iMac. I bought the iMac to run Final Cut Pro and use it most of the time until recently when it started acting up. I am still a bit lost with my iMac when things go wrong since I am so used to opening things up and swapping parts. Will do some reorganizing this weekend at home and maybe wall mount my iMac next to the second LCD screen and get a usb hub.
 
The Apple Store is replacing my hard drive and I lost files I didn't back up. It was a hard drive failure. I had a great talk with the staff and was told Apple branded their laptops as Powerbooks partly because they run hot and shouldn't be used on your lap. My iMac runs hotter than I am used to. Having the utilities running should help with diagnostics. Now I just need to relink my iMac to my home network running two windows computers. It is recommended to hang them at least 4 inches from the wall when wall mounting.
 
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