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PegEwg12

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2016
6
1
I purchased a new IMAC in January and it randomly reboots daily. We have taken it into the Apple store and uploaded files after files to Apple and they cannot figure out what's wrong and will not replace it. I've wasted $2k. I will never my another Apple. They're supposed to be among the best and can't figure out why by computer won't function properly.
 
MY IMAC KEEPS REBOOTING
Well that's not good.

I bought a new 5K iMac too, I'll mention what I did.

I aggressively sought to remedy any problems as soon as possible. In my case, there was a dead pixel, just one. nope

As soon as I saw it I scheduled an appointment with my local genius bar, and contacted the third party authorized reseller I got it from by phone. Said this unacceptable, you better do something about it.

They did. They took it back and gave me a new one. Free one day shipping (upon my request of course). Apologized. Didn't even ask for the documentation proving the problem that I had ready from my visit to the Apple Store (the primary point of my visit).

If my Mac was rebooting every day on its own I'd be furious.

When you're going to the Apple Store you have to be assertive. I've gotten hundreds of dollars of free stuff from them over the years (chargers, usb cords, etc). They are allowed to give stuff away for free, but will only give it if they feel like they have to.

I could literally walk in tomorrow and get a free phone charger. Maybe it would be dirty and I wouldn't want to do that (also don't need to, I have too many) but I could do it...

I would be so angry in your stated situation that they would do something I sincerely think, let me just tell you.

Also, I would recommend buyers to purchase the extended Apple Care option as well.
 
Well that's not good.

I bought a new 5K iMac too, I'll mention what I did.

I aggressively sought to remedy any problems as soon as possible. In my case, there was a dead pixel, just one. nope

As soon as I saw it I scheduled an appointment with my local genius bar, and contacted the third party authorized reseller I got it from by phone. Said this unacceptable, you better do something about it.

They did. They took it back and gave me a new one. Free one day shipping (upon my request of course). Apologized. Didn't even ask for the documentation proving the problem that I had ready from my visit to the Apple Store (the primary point of my visit).

If my Mac was rebooting every day on its own I'd be furious.

When you're going to the Apple Store you have to be assertive. I've gotten hundreds of dollars of free stuff from them over the years (chargers, usb cords, etc). They are allowed to give stuff away for free, but will only give it if they feel like they have to.

I could literally walk in tomorrow and get a free phone charger. Maybe it would be dirty and I wouldn't want to do that (also don't need to, I have too many) but I could do it...

I would be so angry in your stated situation that they would do something I sincerely think, let me just tell you.

Also, I would recommend buyers to purchase the extended Apple Care option as well.
[doublepost=1462361334][/doublepost]Thank you. What is a "dead pixel"? I purchased mine right from Apple. And I've taken into the genius (alleged) bar! Should I take it back?
 
Should I take it back?
Absolutely. You purchased it in January, yes it is now May, but that is still fairly recent, and if you can reasonably implicate Apple as being the at fault party, and remove the blame from yourself, then you have a case.

In this case I would say whatever is necessary.

[doublepost=1462361334][/doublepost]Thank you. What is a "dead pixel"? I purchased mine right from Apple. And I've taken into the genius (alleged) bar! Should I take it back?
A dead pixel is just a computer error where one of the pixels "dies" and no longer works properly. It will usually just end up staying a permanent black or gray (in my case, it was just a little spot of gray on the screen, didn't look too nice on a new $2K machine).

Having purchased it from Apple, I imagine you would, in terms of the purchase, be subject to their return policy and warranty. I usually buy from the 3rd parties because you end up not paying sales tax (I figure why not).

That may be a factor, but again, dealing with Apple is wholly different than dealing with other stores. They are much more lenient on things (a major plus).

I would go in there refusing to hear 'no', but you never know. There are instances where they simply won't help you.
 
Reboot or shut down?

The error log you sent to Apple can you post it here?
 
Just wondering, did you add any RAM to it (assuming it's a model to which RAM can be added) ?
 
Reboot or shut down?

The error log you sent to Apple can you post it here?
It completely reboots itself. It happened twice this morning. I have the folders but can't seem to get them into my post - how do I get them in here?
[doublepost=1462447415][/doublepost]
Just wondering, did you add any RAM to it (assuming it's a model to which RAM can be added) ?
I haven't. The only thing I've added is the microsoft 2016 products for school. I have a wireless epson scanner and HP printer. They had me unplug my external cd drive (with is by Apple) and remove adobe.
[doublepost=1462447452][/doublepost]I cannot thank you all enough for trying to help me. I don't understand how Apple can't figure this out.
[doublepost=1462447532][/doublepost]
Reboot or shut down?

The error log you sent to Apple can you post it here?
Please tell me how to upload the folders.
[doublepost=1462447986][/doublepost]
It completely reboots itself. It happened twice this morning. I have the folders but can't seem to get them into my post - how do I get them in here?
[doublepost=1462447415][/doublepost]
I haven't. The only thing I've added is the microsoft 2016 products for school. I have a wireless epson scanner and HP printer. They had me unplug my external cd drive (with is by Apple) and remove adobe.
[doublepost=1462447452][/doublepost]I cannot thank you all enough for trying to help me. I don't understand how Apple can't figure this out.
[doublepost=1462447532][/doublepost]
Please tell me how to upload the folders.
I just saw something about "kernel panics". Could it be my scanner? its bluetooth connected.

[doublepost=1462448395][/doublepost]I just got booted out while trying to figure out how to upload files! Twice this morning!
 
Last edited:
It completely reboots itself. It happened twice this morning. I have the folders but can't seem to get them into my post - how do I get them in here?
[doublepost=1462447415][/doublepost]
I haven't. The only thing I've added is the microsoft 2016 products for school. I have a wireless epson scanner and HP printer. They had me unplug my external cd drive (with is by Apple) and remove adobe.
[doublepost=1462447452][/doublepost]I cannot thank you all enough for trying to help me. I don't understand how Apple can't figure this out.
[doublepost=1462447532][/doublepost]
Please tell me how to upload the folders.
[doublepost=1462447986][/doublepost]
I just saw something about "kernel panics". Could it be my scanner? its bluetooth connected.

[doublepost=1462448395][/doublepost]I just got booted out while trying to figure out how to upload files! Twice this morning!
Create a new user account and boot into that. See if your computer exhibits the same behaviour in that account.

As for the file what's in the folder so we can tell you what we need to see.
 
Create a new user account and boot into that. See if your computer exhibits the same behaviour in that account.

As for the file what's in the folder so we can tell you what we need to see.
it has 50 files with various titles:descriptions.txt, diagnosticReports,diagnosticReports-User, ext.hosts.txt, etc.shells.txt, ifconfig.txt and others. When I click on the folders it doesn't give me a copy/paste option. It rebooted a few minutes ago and did not reopen my internet page like usual. Firefox was also updated this morning I'll create a new user today.
[doublepost=1462538999][/doublepost]I've created a temporary user.
[doublepost=1462539085][/doublepost]Other folder names: ioreegReports, Extentions and Startup Services, Mail.app-info, OpenDirectory, SystemConfiguration, User Logs, var.log
 
Can you upload

diagnosticReports,diagnosticReports-User, ext.hosts.txt

Click upload then select that file.

Have you tried using the Mac and using it with the new user account. Does it exhibit the same issue.
 
OP:

If I was in your situation -- with a problem computer that Apple won't take back -- I'd try this:

- Backup to an external drive. I'd suggest using CarbonCopyCloner to create a BOOTABLE backup. The idea here is that while you "work on" your internal drive, you still have all your stuff on the external, can boot from it, use it, etc.

- Boot from the backup (yes, I realize that any problem software from the internal drive may also be on the backup) -- then use Disk Utility to re-initialize the internal drive

- Now, download a completely fresh install of El Capitan to the INTERNAL drive. Create a new account on the internal drive but DO NOT "migrate" anything from the backup yet.

- For a few days, work with the NEW OS installation on the INTERNAL drive. Are you still having the same problems as before? (Aside: you can "switch-boot-back" to the external drive for things like email, etc.)

- IF (when booted from the new software install on the internal) the auto-restart problems disappear, then I would say you had some kind of software problem on your old setup that was "triggering" the reboots.

I would reckon that you need to do the above to attempt to isolate whether the reboots are coming from software or from hardware.

A quick alternative to try (without doing anything from the above):
- Create a new, temporary, "empty" account.
- Give it an easy-to-remember name and password.
- Now, log out of your "regular" account and into the new one.
- Try running like this for a couple of days.
Do you still get spontaneous reboots?
 
I purchased a new IMAC in January and it randomly reboots daily. We have taken it into the Apple store and uploaded files after files to Apple and they cannot figure out what's wrong and will not replace it...

I have a 2015 top-spec iMac 27 running OS X 10.11.4 and have seen this a few times. I had several support calls to Apple and the last action was resetting NVRAM and SMC: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

It still spontaneously rebooted a couple of times after that, roughly once per day, then it quit -- all by itself. When the reboots happened, I was not running anything on the machine at the time -- it was just sitting there idle.

I have seen a few other reports of this with some speculation maybe it's related to 10.11.4, but no proof of that.

I don't know how widespread this is but even if it's just a few cases Apple must know about it through their tracking system. I understand your frustration -- this should not be happening. My suggestion is diplomatically but firmly and persistently follow up with Apple. If escalated to the proper level, they have the ability to analyze your system logs and crash dump files to try and home in on the problem.
 
I have a 2015 top-spec iMac 27 running OS X 10.11.4 and have seen this a few times. I had several support calls to Apple and the last action was resetting NVRAM and SMC: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

It still spontaneously rebooted a couple of times after that, roughly once per day, then it quit -- all by itself. When the reboots happened, I was not running anything on the machine at the time -- it was just sitting there idle.

I have seen a few other reports of this with some speculation maybe it's related to 10.11.4, but no proof of that.

I don't know how widespread this is but even if it's just a few cases Apple must know about it through their tracking system. I understand your frustration -- this should not be happening. My suggestion is diplomatically but firmly and persistently follow up with Apple. If escalated to the proper level, they have the ability to analyze your system logs and crash dump files to try and home in on the problem.
[doublepost=1462566185][/doublepost]Thank you for the feedback. I have about 14 tickets in and have had about 6 file uploads and a 7th currently under review by engineering.
[doublepost=1462566404][/doublepost]
Can you upload

diagnosticReports,diagnosticReports-User, ext.hosts.txt

Click upload then select that file.

Have you tried using the Mac and using it with the new user account. Does it exhibit the same issue.
[doublepost=1462566447][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1462566185][/doublepost]Thank you for the feedback. I have about 14 tickets in and have had about 6 file uploads and a 7th currently under review by engineering.
[doublepost=1462566404][/doublepost]
For some reason it won't let me upload the files from any of the folders.
 
Can you upload

diagnosticReports,diagnosticReports-User, ext.hosts.txt

Click upload then select that file.

Have you tried using the Mac and using it with the new user account. Does it exhibit the same issue.
Hello Gav2k. When all was said and done, it turned out to be a hardware issue (which I suggested from the beginning). They replaced the wireless card and logic board! Go figure. I just brought it home on Sunday, so far so good. Anyone else having this issues should suggest they look at those two components. All of you who attempted to help me - THANK YOU!!
 
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Hello Gav2k. When all was said and done, it turned out to be a hardware issue (which I suggested from the beginning). They replaced the wireless card and logic board! Go figure. I just brought it home on Sunday, so far so good. Anyone else having this issues should suggest they look at those two components. All of you who attempted to help me - THANK YOU!!
Great to hear it's been resolved mate
 
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