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Well, It's Sad To Say

F

flipster

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 14, 2010
591
3
Boston
That my 2008 iMac is one of the affected ones of the infamous 8800 GS card failures.

After gaming today, the computer completely locked up. Tried several reboots, but the computer just freezes and the screen flickers a little. The odd thing is though, that the mouse pointer still works.

I'm almost certain this is a gfx card issue because these model iMac's have been known to fail. The HDD was just replaced this year, so it can't be that.

The GPU temperature is around 150F...

Anyway, what do you think Apple will tell me? I bought this computer on December 25, 2009 so I still have one year and a half left on Applecare.
 
Actually It´s a Nice thing to Happen

Since you still have Applecare left, it´s not a sad thing, apart from your data loss on HDD .. this one is quite regrettable :)

You are eligible to grab the new iMac .. with Radeon 6 series GPU!! Why do you sad? Call Apple Store, arrange an appointment, and get your iMac there

Go home and enjoy your new iMac!!

Well the reason is, :apple: don´t want to repair your old iMac either, since they hesitant to do so, they have to prepare their old stock of Nvidia 8800 chip and have to deal with it. I say they won´t try to repair it.


Like I said, It´s a nice thing to happen :)
 
There's a new iMac coming your way in the near future.

They likely don't have any refurb 2008 iMacs fitting the specs of your model, so you'll get a new one. :)

Try to back up that HDD if you can though!
 
I hope so! The thing though is, is that I know they would give me the BTO iMac with the AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512MB and I feel like the performance would be worse than the 8800GS. I like to play at native resolution too.

So 2560x1440 on AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512MB = ?????????


Thanks!
 
The 8800GS in the iMac was a mobile GPU, not a desktop GPU. Even then, the 8800GS was quite a bit behind an 8800GT, never mind an 8800GTS.

A 6770 would be a noticeable upgrade. It's not a 6970, but still a very noticeable upgrade. Though yeah, don't expect to crank at native res on a 27" for new games. Still it's 6 GPU generations ahead of what you had, and the new display has 60% more pixels.

TL;DR: enjoy your upgrade.
 
I called Apple, they said it's most likely a graphics card failing (I agree).

The weird thing is, is that 10-15 in while playing a game, it completely locks up, but the mouse cursor is movable (weird).

You have to hold the power button to get it to work again. But once booted back into OS X, it's slow, and the screen flickers once, and then locks up again.
The TechDoolDeluxe tests came back normal too....

This only happens when gaming for about 10 mintues, and then the lock ups happen. (weird thing is mouse cursor is still movable)

Any thoughts?
 
flipster said:
I called Apple, they said it's most likely a graphics card failing (I agree).

The weird thing is, is that 10-15 in while playing a game, it completely locks up, but the mouse cursor is movable (weird).

You have to hold the power button to get it to work again. But once booted back into OS X, it's slow, and the screen flickers once, and then locks up again.
The TechDoolDeluxe tests came back normal too....

This only happens when gaming for about 10 mintues, and then the lock ups happen. (weird thing is mouse cursor is still movable)

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Mine is doing the same thing. Locks up, the mouse still works but I have to shut every thing down and start it up. This has been going on for the last week or so. A real pain.
 
flipster said:
That my 2008 iMac is one of the affected ones of the infamous 8800 GS card failures.

After gaming today, the computer completely locked up. Tried several reboots, but the computer just freezes and the screen flickers a little. The odd thing is though, that the mouse pointer still works.

I'm almost certain this is a gfx card issue because these model iMac's have been known to fail. The HDD was just replaced this year, so it can't be that.

The GPU temperature is around 150F...

Anyway, what do you think Apple will tell me? I bought this computer on December 25, 2009 so I still have one year and a half left on Applecare.
Click to expand...

Apple fixed my problem a while ago for FREE (8800GS GPU failure especially when gaming), even outside the warranty period...just gather your facts and argumentation, be polite and request due treatment of this issue to what can be regarded as the best customer service out there.
 
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