New IMac Freezing on Shutdown

[bdwpac81]

I purchased a new 2.66 ghz iMac and upon turning it on the for the first time it literally took at least 5 minutes to reach the setup screen. It would show a white screen with a grey Apple logo and a "turning gearbox" below the logo.

I have no prior experiences with iMacs and figured it was excessive but possibly part of the setup process.

I am now concerned because the system locks up when trying to shut down. It goes to a plain blue screen and I have to force it off with the power button.

I have not made any modifications to the computer and the RAM is the standard 2 gb installed by factory.

Has anyone heard of this before? Ironically, I purchased a refurbished 2.4 ghz 20" iMac from Apple Store last week which had the same identical issue and ended up returning it.

Am I just having bad luck?!

Any help will be appreciated.
Brandon

 

[D4F]

I purchased a new 2.66 ghz iMac and upon turning it on the for the first time it literally took at least 5 minutes to reach the setup screen. It would show a white screen with a grey Apple logo and a "turning gearbox" below the logo.

I have no prior experiences with iMacs and figured it was excessive but possibly part of the setup process.

I am now concerned because the system locks up when trying to shut down. It goes to a plain blue screen and I have to force it off with the power button.

I have not made any modifications to the computer and the RAM is the standard 2 gb installed by factory.

Has anyone heard of this before? Ironically, I purchased a refurbished 2.4 ghz 20" iMac from Apple Store last week which had the same identical issue and ended up returning it.

Am I just having bad luck?!

Any help will be appreciated.
Brandon

Try reinstalling the system.
Not sure if it will help but worth a try

 

[JunBug119]

I'm sure its part of the startup setup process. I have an iMac and a macbook and both took about 5 minutes from first power on to end of setup.

 

[bdwpac81]

I'm sure its part of the startup setup process. I have an iMac and a macbook and both took about 5 minutes from first power on to end of setup.

I can understand that it may be slow the first time on startup but I am worried because it is consistently locking up on shutdown now.

I have read about similar issues on previous iMac models and some people have needed to have "Logic Boards" replaced. I am hoping this is not necessary... going to call AppleCare when I get home from work.

 

[danny_w]

What happened when you started it back up? Did it take 5 minutes then too? Did it still hang on shutdown again? The long boot time the first time might just be startup as mentioned, but it is definitely not usual for a brand new system to have problems shutting down.

 

[bdwpac81]

What happened when you started it back up? Did it take 5 minutes then too? Did it still hang on shutdown again? The long boot time the first time might just be startup as mentioned, but it is definitely not usual for a brand new system to have problems shutting down.

Since the initial startup, it seems to be fine turning on. I just cannot get it to shut off properly. I realize that it does not necessarily need to be shut off on a routine basis but am concerned since it is brand new and I have recognized this problem.

I do have a Western Digital "MyBook" USB drive that I have connected and left connected. Does it need to be "ejected" each and every time prior to shut down? This is the only thing I have done with the computer... I have no additional software installed that could be contributing to the problem.

 

[danny_w]

Since the initial startup, it seems to be fine turning on. I just cannot get it to shut off properly. I realize that it does not necessarily need to be shut off on a routine basis but am concerned since it is brand new and I have recognized this problem.

I do have a Western Digital "MyBook" USB drive that I have connected and left connected. Does it need to be "ejected" each and every time prior to shut down? This is the only thing I have done with the computer... I have no additional software installed that could be contributing to the problem.

No, it should automatically unmount the disk when shutting down, but you might try ejecting it and removing the cable to see if it makes a difference. I have a WD MyBook connected via Firewire that I use for Time Machine, SuperDuper! clones, and data (3 partitions), and my Macbook takes about 5-10 minutes to boot if I leave the drive connected, but it boots in <1 minute if I disconnect it first. I haven't had time to troubleshoot it, but other drives that I have don't cause this to happen. I also have a WD MyBook USB at work conencted to my Aluminum iMac and it does not cause any problems (used for Time Machine and SuperDuper! clones).

 

[ewilson6]

if you are using safari, try not letting it be the last application open when shutting down because it slows os X down for some reason.

close safari then open another application before shutting down.

 

[LMorb]

New IMac Freezing on Shutdown

I have had this same problem since purchasing my iMac on 8/16/08. Thus far I have gotten nowhere. Although I have occasional crashes at other times, it almost always crashes on shut down. I've tried disconnecting all peripherals per advice from The Apple Store. (Of course, the computer worked fine when the Apple tech tested it!) I've tried disabling Suitcase and not using Postscript fonts and not using QuarkXPress. I've tried shutting off peripheral devices first and I've tried leaving them all on. I've disabled Time Machine and "My Book" backup drive. I've checked user settings, zapped the PRAM, etc. all to no avail. About the only thing I have left to do is reinstall system software, which I hate to do considering the effort it was to get DSL and ethernet router up and running. BTW, my computer also locked up on initial start-up right out of the box when it was unable to go online (didn't have DSL hooked up yet).

Any ideas?