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

My 4th Logic Board & Power Supply- DOA

not2bright

not2bright

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
15
0
not too far from the Home of Apple
(note my profile name, and respond with kindness, please :rolleyes:) I will try to be concise. I won't chronicle ALL the phone calls and visits.

1) I purchased a 20" iMac in August 2006. It began having serious issues last Fall, including, but not limited to, automatic restart. My local apple-authorized store recommended an upgrade to Adobe CS3 to fix it. $400 out of my bank account. The machine continued to misbehave. Took it out of town 45 miles away to an apple store. When the apple genuises there could not correctly diagnose it, my apple care finally agreed to give me onsite support. The power source and logic board were replaced.

2) Shortly after, the machine began doing quirky things, AND once again the auto shut off and restart. This time, the product specialist I was referred to was highly sympathetic and agreed to arrange for a brand-new imac to be delivered. That was comforting.

3) The new imac ran like a charm for about a month. Then, one or two random restarts. I was in denial. It began happening more frequently. A phone call to apple care and another convo with a product specialist. Another onsite visit, with another new power source and logic board. Same onsite tech guy, who agreed that I have phenomenal bad luck, AND that he's seeing more of this with the increase of parts made in China.

4) The new imac ran like a charm again for five days. Then, auto shut off and restarts again. Another call to apple care. I was moved quickly up the food chain to a manager in Texas Corporate Offices. Two hours on the phone and he agrees to credit me $1399 of my original $1799. I put in another $600 and ordered a macbook pro.

:confused: HERE'S MY QUESTION: Does lightning really strike this many times? Is everyone missing something? Can it be a virus? What the heck is going on? I freely admit I am not tech-savvy (I drive the car, I don't know what's under the hood), but this seems too bizarre to be true. CAN THAT MANY POWER SOURCES AND/OR LOGIC BOARDS BE FAULTY? I'm cynically afraid that my next mac (notebook) will fail me as well.

I earn my living with my computer. I have lost countless hours of income.

Comments, please! Thanks.
 
Bad luck is the best way to describe it. Your mileage may very, I can sit here and tell you that I'm fine but there are people that will go through these kinds of experiences.

If it gets ridiculous...then phone AppleCare or even (if desperate) e-mail sjobs@apple.com and politely complain about the quality of the machines they have given to you.
 
not2bright said:
So, it really could be FOUR faulty hardware parts? I don't have a secret virus lurking somewhere on one of my external hard drives?

Glad I don't buy lottery tickets. :)
Click to expand...

It's most likely to be four faulty hardware parts. Sounds strange but it's the most logical answer.

My next step would be to check if it's an issue with the wiring in your house - maybe you're getting spikes on that outlet and it's frying your machine.

Get the place tested.
 
We have had the house tested. The circuits, the outlets, etc. I have a surge protector. I have swapped plugs with my husband, whose iMac has NEVER crashed.

Nope, it's the machine. ;)

Oh, how I WISH it were the environment. I have control of that.
 
Good point made above me, make sure your computer isn't getting messed up by electricity in your house.

Come to think of it, when a computer auto-restarts, sometimes it is due to a power spike, and that will damage a machine over-time and be downright annoying.

Ignore that...yeah just bad luck at this point.
 
Really REALLY bad luck. Put it this way, if Apple sold about 5 million computers this past year (I'm just guessing), and if only 1 person on average (who bought a computer this year) has 4 major hardware failures, then the single failure rate is about:

10 ^ (log(1/5000000) / 4) = 0.021...

i.e. about 2% of Macs sold per year have a single major failure. And you bought yours a few years ago, they probably didn't sell 5 million that year, and I'm guessing there's more than one person in the entire world with >= 4 failures, so it's even worse. That's extremely bad quality control.

...well, it's not really that bad, since these things aren't actually evenly distributed. Which means that you got a lemon and/or they're not diagnosing the real problem correctly. Convincing Apple of that fact is your mission.
 
not2bright said:
1) I purchased a 20" iMac in August 2006. It began having serious issues last Fall, including, but not limited to, automatic restart. My local apple-authorized store recommended an upgrade to Adobe CS3 to fix it. $400 out of my bank account. The machine continued to misbehave. Took it out of town 45 miles away to an apple store. When the apple genuises there could not correctly diagnose it, my apple care finally agreed to give me onsite support. The power source and logic board were replaced.
Click to expand...

Wait! What?! An Apple authorized re-seller recommended Adobe CS3 as a solution to your automatically restarting computer? You my friend just got screwed without so much as a kiss.
 
Yes, I have always had a surge protector. And, my husband's iMac is plugged into the same circuit, and has NEVER had a auto-restart, or even a flicker. We've traded out power cords, switched plugs, and tested the circuits. Anything you can think of.

Yeah, my local authorized-apple store. A JOKE! They have gotten a bad reputation around our town. To give them a fair shake, they were diagnosing a slow computer at that time, in addition to the restart. Even so.

No one has addressed one of my questions. Is it at all even remotely possible that I have a virus stored on one of my external hard drives (I have 2) that is infecting the imac? I'd sure like to know before I set up my new MBP that is on its way.

If I believed in aliens... :cool:
 
Is there a trick to getting a tech at apple care who doesn't read his script off a card? Not a one has has about the electrical question. You'd think, by now they'd be interested in solving the problem if there is any chance it is environmental. I mean, two onsite visits, tow new power sources, two new logic boards and two new machines on an original apple care warranty! This has got to be a red flag!
 
A virus cannot be damaging these parts. In fact, viruses cannot do damage to hardware, in general.

Even though you've had the electrical systems in your house checked, and you have a "surge protector," I would take it a step further and get a good uninterruptible power supply. The advantage to these units is that they constantly filter "noise" out of your power, making it "cleaner" for the computer to use, and also gives you the advantage of power backup in case of an outage. APC is a good, well-known brand name.

If by some chance thats what you meant by "surge protector," then you and your husband definitely should not have them both plugged into a single unit (unless the unit cost ALOT of money). The UPS units are not designed to have two major electrical components (read: computers) draw off of them at the same time. You may actually be overloading the capacity of the UPS and your computer is failing because its not getting enough power.

Edit: Something like this should fit the bill.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Thanks Eddie. If I'm understanding you right, you are wondering if our two imacs are plugged into the same surge protector? No, separate. Same circuit, though. The maddening thing is that it's always my computer that has issues. Never his.

Do you mean a power conditioner? That has been suggested to me. They are about $300, right?
 
A power conditioner is probably overkill, unless you have really dirty power.

If you want something close, you can get a beefier UPS that is called a "line-interactive" UPS. Basically it always makes power flow through the battery, essentially doing the same thing as a conditioner, but also giving you the UPS benefit, as well as costing less.

Here is a very nice unit from Tripp-Lite, another well-known brand: Link.

That will actually provide enough power for 2 iMacs, if you so desire.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
First of all, thanks to everyone who has answered. I am always in awe of the kindness of others who share their expertise.

So, as I am packing up my Freddie Mac this morning, and preparing to receive my MPB, is there anything specific that I can do to make certain my environment is "clean"? I don't think I could take a 5th failed system.
 
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