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New 4850 3.06ghz iMac freezing multiple times a day.

Approximately 3 Freezes

I bought a new 24" iMac (new Mac user) for the first time back in May, 6 weeks later it was on my door step. I love the machine and it runs way better than any PC I've ever had, however, I was under the impression that iMacs weren't supposed to freeze so much. I haven't been running much when it happens either; Safari, Disk Utility (to erase and reformat my former PC notebook's HD as an external HD), iChat. The last freeze only disabled the wireless Mighty Mouse, I was still able to "tab" around with the keyboard. Any suggestion's why this has happened?
 
Freeze - when it happens on my Mac

I have the same issue that most of you are reporting, here is when has been happening on my Mac:

In "Mac"
It has not happened, not while using any application like Safari or MS Office for Mac (haven't tested games yet, just watching video)

In "Boot Camp"
XP runs fine for web surfing. But when I play a game (E.g. Empire: Total War) if I run the graphic settings on high for example, the game will play smoothly for 5 - 25 minutes and then crash (the total freeze with the repeating death chime). Interestingly, if I put the graphic settings on low, then the game may run for hours without a hitch.

So there definitely seems to be a problem with the ATI 4850, just is it hardware or software... hoping for the latter.

I am using wifi for the internet, keyboard and mouse are plugged in.

Spoke with Apple this morning - they immediately said that they were aware that there is a problem and they are trying to figure out what is causing it - at least no denial. They told got my email address and sent a program to me "Capture Data" - start the app, describe problem in words, then time and date that it happened. 1.5 meg saved file that I had to send to Apple, they will get back to me with the results.

I could just demand a new computer, but it may well be a simple fix (software update) and if they can't fix it within a reasonable time, I will be demanding a new one as I let them know of this serious issue within 2 weeks of buying the Mac.

Well, there is my 2 cents. Let's hope they get to the bottom of this soon.
 
Well, I for one have a strong feeling that the freezing is wi-fi related. I just wish I could relate the wi-fi with the graphics card as the cause. A sure-fire way for me to re-create the freeze is by streaming music from iTunes to a speaker while leaving the visualizer on full screen. I just tried playing music in iTunes with the visualizer on & with wi-fi off, and I went through 5 songs without a flaw. Then I tried streaming music with the visualizer on and I think my computer froze within 30 seconds. It also freezes with casual wireless internet use. I have no problem plugging my ethernet cable directly into my Mac but I need to be able to stream movies to my Apple TV.
 
has anyone wrote sjobs@apple.com bout this whole thing yet?

Its not really steve who answers the emails, but atleast it would get their attention.

I'm so pissed right now that this machine has a dead pixel on top of every other problem - i'm going to call tomorrow and request a replacement.

HHM
 
Hard-Hat-Mac said:
has anyone wrote sjobs@apple.com bout this whole thing yet?

Its not really steve who answers the emails, but atleast it would get their attention.

I'm so pissed right now that this machine has a dead pixel on top of every other problem - i'm going to call tomorrow and request a replacement.

HHM
Click to expand...

I sent an email to tcook@apple.com once, just to complain something and they somehow hunted me down and called me in few hours.
Even though I didn't provide any contact method except the name and email address. It's kinda creepy to be honest.
Anyways, if you want to try, emailing Timothy Cook would be a good alternative while Steve Jobs is away. ;)
 
I posted way back on page 3 that I was having the same problem. I hauled mine down to the apple store in Modesto and they took it, tested it, and found the freezing problem repeatable. Their notes say that they replaced the logic board, and they tested it hard for an entire day after that with no freezes.

I unboxed it in the store and played WoW for a half hour on ultra settings with no problem, and I've been using it all weekend every way I can think of with no freezes. I'm considering it fixed, and I'm happy.
 
Kalypso said:
I posted way back on page 3 that I was having the same problem. I hauled mine down to the apple store in Modesto and they took it, tested it, and found the freezing problem repeatable. Their notes say that they replaced the logic board, and they tested it hard for an entire day after that with no freezes.

I unboxed it in the store and played WoW for a half hour on ultra settings with no problem, and I've been using it all weekend every way I can think of with no freezes. I'm considering it fixed, and I'm happy.
Click to expand...

So did you call them and ask exactly what they replaced and why? It sure would help us out here in freeze up Land...:p
 
sirherald said:
Hi there,

What i didn't do is installing any of the updates. (i did before)
I got a feeling there's is some update in there who messes things up.
Of course i have to install them eventually but I really don't want to.
I can't believe that there was something wrong with the original osx install,
so i really really suspect an update. (yet i could be wrong)

What to do now?
And what do guys and girls think?

(there are 14 updates, i do not want to go through them one by one to find out which one crashes the system)
Click to expand...

is one of those updates for the Airport? That one I would not install at this time. It has something to do with WiFi and i would stay away from that one for sure.
 
itommyboy said:
There are numerous answers to this question all over these atiMac threads but it sounds like some people have had good luck disabling wifi and using ethernet to hold them over until it's fixed. Good luck.
Click to expand...

You there is one problem with this, if people use Ethernet until they fix this. The fix may be that you have to take your iMac into the shop and at that time you might be looking at 2-4 weeks or maybe even up to 8 weeks in the shop while they replace these logic boards that are bad. It may not be a software fix. That is what I am worried about. I may be sending mine back to Apple on Tuesday.

I am doing some testing with by Bypassing the airport extreme and hooked up wired straight to the cable modem. If it freezes then I will know it is a logic board in the iMac for sure. (hardware problem) If it doesn't freeze then I will know for sure it has to do with the airport/WiFi circuit. Whether or not it is something WiFi inside the iMac or the airport is another story. I tend to believe that it would be inside the iMac since i was not having lockups with my Mac Mini using the same airport extreme.
 
Assuming that our crop of iMacs are equally broken, I can verify that avoiding the updates will not help. I waited before updating, myself, and still froze.
 
WizardHunt said:
is one of those updates for the Airport? That one I would not install at this time. It has something to do with WiFi and i would stay away from that one for sure.
Click to expand...

My iMac has frozen before and after the Wi-fi update s I had the same feeling as you unfortunately.

Still no freezes using Ethernet though. :confused:
 
i had 4 freezes over the last 12hrs...looks like my imac is getting worse...

today is the 14th day since my imac arrived.
so i decided to return it and see how apple would take care of this problem.
when it gets all cleared, i will reorder for sure.
just talked to the customer relation dep and got the e-mail for the instruction for the return.
no more suffering at least for a little while.
 
WizardHunt said:
is one of those updates for the Airport? That one I would not install at this time. It has something to do with WiFi and i would stay away from that one for sure.
Click to expand...

There are two updates for airport:
An airport client update 2009-001
And a utility or configurationprogram 2009-001 update.
I think i'll skip them for now

Also in reply to other posts with airport probs.
I can stream itunes via wifi and visualizer without problems.
 
WizardHunt said:
So did you call them and ask exactly what they replaced and why? It sure would help us out here in freeze up Land...:p
Click to expand...

Yes, I made an appointment to speak with them about it upon pick-up, and they stated that they replaced the logic board. I don't think they knew exactly why themselves, they weren't working from a "this is a known problem and this is how it is fixed" perspective. They just tried the logic board swap and it worked.
 
I had the same problem with my 4850 3.06 Ghz iMac freezing. I was:

- Using Safari only
- Watching Streaming Video from ABC.com
- Using WiFi Internet, no freezes after switching to Ethernet

I ran software updates, but haven't used it much since.

Kind of disappointing. :(
 
Ambient7 said:
I have the same issue that most of you are reporting, here is when has been happening on my Mac:

In "Mac"
It has not happened, not while using any application like Safari or MS Office for Mac (haven't tested games yet, just watching video)

In "Boot Camp"
XP runs fine for web surfing. But when I play a game (E.g. Empire: Total War) if I run the graphic settings on high for example, the game will play smoothly for 5 - 25 minutes and then crash (the total freeze with the repeating death chime). Interestingly, if I put the graphic settings on low, then the game may run for hours without a hitch.

So there definitely seems to be a problem with the ATI 4850, just is it hardware or software... hoping for the latter.

I am using wifi for the internet, keyboard and mouse are plugged in.

Spoke with Apple this morning - they immediately said that they were aware that there is a problem and they are trying to figure out what is causing it - at least no denial. They told got my email address and sent a program to me "Capture Data" - start the app, describe problem in words, then time and date that it happened. 1.5 meg saved file that I had to send to Apple, they will get back to me with the results.

I could just demand a new computer, but it may well be a simple fix (software update) and if they can't fix it within a reasonable time, I will be demanding a new one as I let them know of this serious issue within 2 weeks of buying the Mac.

Well, there is my 2 cents. Let's hope they get to the bottom of this soon.
Click to expand...

Thats been my experience as well. Everything works until I try maxing out settings in games. I have lockups during Prey in MacOS and L4D under XP.
I havn't tried lowering the video settings though....hard to do when everything looks great maxed out(for a couple minutes at least)

I'll have to try out lowering the video settings for now.

Another thing I noticed were the power supply and northbridge getting extremly hot ie 78 degrees C
 
emailed Messrs Jobs & Cook

I am really in a quandary. My new ATI iMac is coming the day after tomorrow, and I just don't know what to do. My best instinct is to not even accept the delivery, and send it right back to Apple until there is a definitive resolution to this freezing issue. On the other hand, would love to take delivery of my new iMac if had some confidence that a resolution is imminent. Maybe I will get a response to my emails to Cook & Jobs that will help me make a decision.
 
Yep. Just froze up again. That's 2 times in 5 days. Froze in safari again, photoshop was also open. Again, some kind of black rectangle in the upper left. Freezes seem to come at random, playing WoW and CoD4 for hours and not a single freeze, browsing safari - 2 times already.
 
I just now got off the phone with a very nice Lady on one of the highest tiers in their tech support department. She told me that they are aware of this problem with the ATI 4850 chip iMac and that a fix is in the works. She estimated that maybe we will see something in 2 weeks but don't hold her to that. She did say once they are on top of this, they act fast on it. She did suggest that I don't return the iMac though she said I could if I wanted no problem, but that I may get the same problem back again. She said 10.5.7 is almost ready for release and the fix might or might not be with that software update but it should follow soon afterwards if 10.5.7 does not fix the problem.

I felt like she was being honest with me and on the up and up with me. She did offer to exchange it if nothing happens with 14 days even if I am out of my 14 day return period. She gave me her contact information (email and direct line phone number) which I will not display here Sorry... I don't want her getting bombarded with calls about this. She did not say if it was hardware or software related but that they will get on this asap. Not to worry so I will see how my imac runs for the next 14 days and hope that 10.5.7 will help it or that the fix is out by then otherwise I will return it at that time if I think it will benefit me at that time. So at this time I will wait to send mine back to Apple for now. I will give it another 14 days.
 
Just thought i'll add a little wood to the fire here, but maybe the Imac issues are from the hard drives, i got mine, before i even started it up, i replaced the harddrive with a VelociRaptor 300gb WD, and if anything it's too fast and stable, makes me feel Stupid for not switching too mac sooner, :)
had it for almost a week and working FLAWLESS!!!!
 
WizardHunt said:
I just now got off the phone with a very nice Lady on one of the highest tiers in their tech support department. She told me that they are aware of this problem with the ATI 4850 chip iMac and that a fix is in the works. She estimated that maybe we will see something in 2 weeks but don't hold her to that. She did say once they are on top of this, they act fast on it. She did suggest that I don't return the iMac though she said I could if I wanted no problem, but that I may get the same problem back again. She said 10.5.7 is almost ready for release and the fix might or might not be with that software update but it should follow soon afterwards if 10.5.7 does not fix the problem.

I felt like she was being honest with me and on the up and up with me. She did offer to exchange it if nothing happens with 14 days even if I am out of my 14 day return period. She gave me her contact information (email and direct line phone number) which I will not display here Sorry... I don't want her getting bombarded with calls about this. She did not say if it was hardware or software related but that they will get on this asap. Not to worry so I will see how my imac runs for the next 14 days and hope that 10.5.7 will help it or that the fix is out by then otherwise I will return it at that time if I think it will benefit me at that time. So at this time I will wait to send mine back to Apple for now. I will give it another 14 days.
Click to expand...




Well thats good to hear.
 
"We don't know how to build a $500 computer that isn't junk. But we can sell a sh*teload of $1,500 computers that are. Ha Ha Ha." Steve Nobs :D
 
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