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New 4850 3.06ghz iMac freezing multiple times a day.

T

Tymbo

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2009
285
166
I received my iMac yesterday and I have that horrible feeling of paranoia that my Mac has a serious problem.

I was watching ABC.com's full episode player of a show in HD quality.... it froze halfway through.

I played in WoW battlegrounds on max settings. It froze every 5-10 minutes.
I played WoW on "medium" settings and set my max fps to 30. It improved, but froze every 20 minutes.

There's also a dead pixel in the upper right hand corner, next to the Macintosh HD icon, which is an area I click on daily, obviously.

By "freeze" I mean the cursor stops. The screen freezes. And the sound.... it's a rhythmic sound loop that repeats what I've heard directly before the freeze.

It appears to be a direct duplicate of this:
"Mac freezes blamed on graphics woes" - http://www.cnet.com.au/mac-freezes-blamed-on-graphics-woes-339282662.htm

though dated from 2007, that's exactly what it appears to be. In the article, it mentions apple was aware, but never released a fix (as of the publication) . I'm not sure if they actually every did, maybe someone here knows?

Anyways, I was willing to live with the dead pixel (though I know I really shouldn't), but the freezing is frightening me. I'm usually a man about things, but every time my computer freezes, I feel like I want to cry.

I thought it was singled due to WoW, but when the exact same freeze occurred in another graphic-intensive activity, that's when I decided to make this thread.

I feel convinced enough to give Apple a call tomorrow. Anyone know what they might tell me, based on what I've shared with you so far?
 
Sounds like a driver problem. This is why we need more testing and reports from other 4850 users to see if this is truly a software/driver problem or if maybe there are just a few bad cards floating around out there.
 
Not what i wanted to hear as i am waiting a replacement for my 2008 imac that had the very same issue's.
Hope it's just a few bad cards,and hope there will be fixes soon for this and hope 10.4.7 is soon also i hope!!!!
 
No Problems For Me So Far

I've had my 3.06 / 4850 iMac since Friday mid-day. It hasn't frozen yet. I've played WoW (on all-max settings, 2x multi-sampling, 1920x1200) for ten or so hours so far. No battlegrounds (I'm not a PvP'er), but a moderate amount of time in Dalaran (which is very lovely, even with a high population of players -- 25 FPS at worst, 35-40 more typical).

I've also run Capture NX (an image-editing application from Nikon and Nik Software) a lot; no problems there.
 
Received my 3.06 w/4850 yesterday.

One freeze for me today, exactly as described while copying some files across the network. Had a Safari window open, three Finder windows - nothing that should have been taxing the GPU. Screen froze, no beach ball, had to reset using the power button ...

But no problems in the last three hours.
 
I received mine yesterday. To avoid problems from the old systems I didn't use the Migration asst. but have done it manually. However, before bringing anything over mine froze. I thought it was the wireless mouse. However, today it froze again. I was in Safari. Hmm. I can't force quit because when it happens its just totally frozen.
 
For those who had their new iMacs frozen, can you call Apple and let them know what was happening? I have my iMac on order and I hope they would have heard of the problem when I make my call about freezing iMacs...:mad:

Were you guy's iMacs shipped from overseas? In the other thread, some are saying theirs is being assembled in CA. Could that be a quality issue or simply a driver issue? I'd like to know.
 
This seriously leaves me considering cancelling my order, the GT130 iMacs aren't freezing up.
 
Tymbo said:
I received my iMac yesterday and I have that horrible feeling of paranoia that my Mac has a serious problem.

I was watching ABC.com's full episode player of a show in HD quality.... it froze halfway through.

I played in WoW battlegrounds on max settings. It froze every 5-10 minutes.
I played WoW on "medium" settings and set my max fps to 30. It improved, but froze every 20 minutes.

There's also a dead pixel in the upper right hand corner, next to the Macintosh HD icon, which is an area I click on daily, obviously.

By "freeze" I mean the cursor stops. The screen freezes. And the sound.... it's a rhythmic sound loop that repeats what I've heard directly before the freeze.

It appears to be a direct duplicate of this:
"Mac freezes blamed on graphics woes" - http://www.cnet.com.au/mac-freezes-blamed-on-graphics-woes-339282662.htm

though dated from 2007, that's exactly what it appears to be. In the article, it mentions apple was aware, but never released a fix (as of the publication) . I'm not sure if they actually every did, maybe someone here knows?

Anyways, I was willing to live with the dead pixel (though I know I really shouldn't), but the freezing is frightening me. I'm usually a man about things, but every time my computer freezes, I feel like I want to cry.

I thought it was singled due to WoW, but when the exact same freeze occurred in another graphic-intensive activity, that's when I decided to make this thread.

I feel convinced enough to give Apple a call tomorrow. Anyone know what they might tell me, based on what I've shared with you so far?
Click to expand...
dude this is exactly whats happening to my macbook! it keeps freezing even when scrolling the dock? update me when u have the answer please.
thanks and good luck for u and me both
 
Tom Dahl said:
I've had my 3.06 / 4850 iMac since Friday mid-day. It hasn't frozen yet. I've played WoW (on all-max settings, 2x multi-sampling, 1920x1200) for ten or so hours so far. No battlegrounds (I'm not a PvP'er), but a moderate amount of time in Dalaran (which is very lovely, even with a high population of players -- 25 FPS at worst, 35-40 more typical).

I've also run Capture NX (an image-editing application from Nikon and Nik Software) a lot; no problems there.
Click to expand...

Good so it is not a wide problem .
 
jmpage2 said:
This seriously leaves me considering cancelling my order, the GT130 iMacs aren't freezing up.
Click to expand...

I would not jump the gun, it may show that it is not the HD4850 that is causing it. Also Apple could come up with a fix if it is a big problem affecting everyone. So far it appears that it is not affecting everyone only a small percentage.
 
1chocolate1 said:
Would you believe that just after entering my last post the computer froze again??? It's too late to call Apple!
Click to expand...

You know you bought up a good point. I wish that Apple would stay open longer for support on phone. They close at 6 pm PST and that is not much time once you get off work. On the east coast it is 9 pm but still they need 24 hour support or at least 9 pm PST , and midnight on Eastern Time.
 
NewZealandMatt said:
Received my 3.06 w/4850 yesterday.

One freeze for me today, exactly as described while copying some files across the network. Had a Safari window open, three Finder windows - nothing that should have been taxing the GPU. Screen froze, no beach ball, had to reset using the power button ...

But no problems in the last three hours.
Click to expand...

You are not running Safari 4.0 are you?
 
NewZealandMatt said:
Yep - is this a known issue?
Click to expand...

Yes that is why it is freezing up. The beta is not compatible with 10.5.6 They are waiting for 10.5.7 , if you go back to Safari 3.0 it will not lock up anymore I bet you. That is what is holding up the release of 10.5.7 is Safari 4.0 They are working on it now but so far it is not fixed. Stay away from Safari 4.0 for now. I am willing to bet you if you go back to Safari 3.0 it will not lock up any longer. Just a thought.
 
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