Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Loud speaker squeal then frozen iMac

A

adammelancon

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 5, 2009
42
0
Here is what just happened...

I just received my refurb 2.8Ghz 24" iMac today.
I have been setting it up and transferring files to it for the last few hours.
I just installed 4GB of RAM from Crucial to upgrade from my 2GB that came preinstalled.
I opened Hulu and started watching a video full screen while I was working on something in the same room.
All of a sudden the playing video froze and there was a loud high pitched squeal coming from the speakers and some crackling, followed by another high pitched squeal from the speakers and then the computer froze. I know it wasn't a fan noise or a hard drive noise, it was definitely a high pitched audio tone and crackling from the speakers when it hung up.
The only way I could make it stop is to hold down the power button and turn it the iMac off.
Has anyone had this problem or heard of this problem before?

EDIT:
I wonder if it could have been my photo collage screensaver kicking in while the hulu video was playing fullscreen that caused something to lock up? It seems like it was in the timeframe from when I walked away from the computer to the time it crashed.
 
It just happened again to me, so I swapped the RAM back to the original sticks from Apple and will see what happens.

It happened while watching Hulu again.

Here is a video of the sound and crash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB0k4hmSeL8
The sound is a bit out of sync on the youtube video, but you can get the idea.
 
adammelancon said:
It just happened again to me, so I swapped the RAM back to the original sticks from Apple and will see what happens.

It happened while watching Hulu again.

Here is a video of the sound and crash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB0k4hmSeL8
The sound is a bit out of sync on the youtube video, but you can get the idea.
Click to expand...


but this can't happen on 'teh Mac' !!!!!

trying to recreate it on my ubuntu box....nothing so far. ;):p
 
Last night I replaced the 4GB of RAM that I upgraded to from Crucial with the original 2GB sticks and have not had the problem since.

I'm going to call Crucial and see if they have had this issue before, and see if it could be a bad set of RAM.
 
Classic bad memory issues.

In fact I had the exact same issues you are/were having. With new Crucial RAM as well. No matter where you get RAM there can always be a bad stick or 2, but Crucial seems to be shipping a pretty large bad batch of Mac RAM lately. There has been plenty of others posting the very same issues with their new Crucial RAM in the last couple weeks (on this and other mac fan sites).

Anyway after returning that Crucial RAM (their customer service is still and always great imho) and dropping in a new Corsair SG Series 4GB kit all has been more than well the last week.
 
Thanks! You sure did put my mind at ease.
I have been running the original 2GB sticks that came in the iMac all day today and have had NO issues.

When I ordered my RAM I had ordered two kits, one for a friend, I think I will try the other pair in the iMac and see if it works just fine. If not, I'll get the same memory that you had purchased.

Where did you get yours from, newegg?
 
I tried the 2nd 4GB kit that i ordered for a friend and could not get it to work either. I tried both sticks and it would not boot. I tried one 2GB stick and it would boot but was sluggish. I then swapped the semi-working 2GB stick for the other 2GB stick in the same slot and it would not boot at all.

I then went back with the original 2GB sticks that came with the iMac and have had NO problems since.

I'm contacting Crucial to get an RMA number.
 
Just wondering if the ram from crucial says Micron. Crucial sometimes will sell other ram from other manufacturers other than their parent company Micron.
 
Here is a pic of the ram
 

Attachments

  • Photo 9.jpg
    Photo 9.jpg
    27 KB · Views: 157
Thanks for the picture.
I guess I wasn't clear. I actually wanted to know was the actual chip on the memory module from Micron. The black chips are they micron?

If crucial is using someone else's chips, other than Micron. I might just order from OWC. Crucial charges more than most suppliers. Thats Ok, with me. If I know their going to send me Micron ram.
 
Strange, That all 4 of the sticks they sent you were bad. I always heard such great things about Crucials quality control. Hope you get a speedy exchange with some good ram this time. Let us know how they work.
 
I have sent two messages through Crucial's return RMA request page and have still not heard anything from them about returning my RAM.
Looks like I will have to call them tomorrow.
 
Okay, I just received my 4GB kit from OWC (Samsung Memory).
I installed it and on the first boot I got a beeping noise.
I reseated the RAM and booted up. I'm now running with the 4GB of RAM.

I will now test it for a while to see how it works... keeping my fingers crossed!
 
Same here

This has just started happening to me.

iMac 2.8GHz 24" with Crucial 4GB upgrade.

Been running fine for months now random crashes preceded by a loud screech from the speakers then a ticking sound from the speakers once it has crashed. Hard reset required.

Does seem to happen when it's under heavy application load, and therefore probably using more memory.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back