iMac Software update 1.3

[4God]

What's your ROM/EFI version?







.

[chuckyboy81070]

What's your ROM/EFI version?

here it is:

ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro:

Chipset Model: ATI,RadeonHD2600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9583
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B2250F-212
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.212
Displays:
iMac:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Depth: 32-bit Color
Built-In: Yes
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display Connector:
Status: No display connected

[RRK]

11/2/07 4:17:49 PM kernel System Sleep
11/2/07 4:17:55 PM kernel System Wake
11/2/07 4:17:55 PM kernel EIR is not supported.
11/2/07 4:17:56 PM configd[14] setting hostname to "iMac1.local"
11/2/07 4:17:57 PM Remote Desktop Connection[224] Disconnect code class: 0, main reason:4, error code: 1

11/2/07 4:17:57 PM Remote Desktop Connection[224] Main disconnect reason code is 0x0.
11/2/07 4:17:57 PM Remote Desktop Connection[224] Bad IP address
11/2/07 4:17:59 PM configd[14] setting hostname to "Macintosh"
11/2/07 4:17:59 PM kernel AppleYukon2: 00000000,00000000 sk98osx_dnet - recovering from missed interrupt
11/2/07 4:18:06 PM kernel AppleYukon2: 00000000,00000000 sk98osx_dnet - recovering from missed interrupt

Could this be related to the disk utility error?

"Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent" has been modified and will not be repaired."

[chuckyboy81070]

Could this be related to the disk utility error?

"Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent" has been modified and will not be repaired."

i don't think so. the ARDAgent error is likely related to the Apple Remote Desktop, not the MS client i'm using. that's totally a guess, though.

[l33r0y]

@chuckyboy81070: Are you sending these findings to Apple? They may be useful for an eventual fix... :(

[chuckyboy81070]

@chuckyboy81070: Are you sending these findings to Apple? They may be useful for an eventual fix... :(

i will, yes.

[dsmcclin]

Are any of you running boot camp?

Does your Windows partition ever freeze?

If not, wouldn't that point to a software issue?

I have had both Windows XP and Vista on Bootcamp. I had freezes occur with Windows XP before v.1.1 update when I played either Half-Life 2 or Quake 4 (either freezes or black screens requiring restart). Otherwise it was pretty stable in Win XP (as long as I wasn't playing games, things were ok).

I installed Vista after I repartitioned and reformatted the drive back to original state to install Leopard. With Vista, I had a lot of crashes whenever Vista tried to install a program (Vista liked to point out I was installing a program with its flashy shadowing of the screen and "are you sure you want to install this program" message). After those crashes Vista isolated the problems to the graphics card - I installed the latest Windows drivers, and that made it a little more stable but otherwise was still unusable.

The whole time it has been totally unusable in Leopard (freezes w/in 30 secs of booting).

Overall, my iMac has been more stable with Windows than with OS X (either Tiger or Leopard). That's what's so sad about the whole thing...

[flopticalcube]

The excrement is starting to hit the rotating blades...

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045406

[4God]

Well great, I just ordered a 24" 2.8 Alu. iMac and I'm wondering what the outcome will be.





.

[Marble]

Hopefully Apple won't let us all stew over the weekend without even a response.

[HLdan]

Well great, I just ordered a 24" 2.8 Alu. iMac and I'm wondering what the outcome will be.





.

If you think positive that will be the outcome. :) If you were to follow these forums verbatim in terms of the negative you would never buy a new Mac.

[4God]

If you think positive that will be the outcome. :) If you were to follow these forums verbatim in terms of the negative you would never buy a new Mac.

I think I'll go with think positive. ;)





.

[kmcmcmd]

The excrement is starting to hit the rotating blades...

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045406

the PR person L.Fox contact info:

Lynn Fox
(408) 974-6209
lfox@apple.com

for the anxious ones

[risc]

just because i'm a masochist, i thought i'd see if i could make my imac freeze again. i tried the usual: go to the screen saver prefs and select arabesque then move the window around. sure enough, the screen went black.

Just tried this on my 24" all that happens is a window with a screensaver preview in it moves around...

I've got 1 of the first batches of iMacs, I purchased mine the day they became available in retail stores here in Australia. Pretty much stock standard 24" 2.4 GHz, other than the 4 GB of 3rd party RAM I installed.

[Richard.John]

My system that has been stable for a week decided to lock up when using front row. I am really unsure what to do now so I am waiting for Apple's inevitable response as I don't want to get on the phone until it's official, there is a problem with some iMacs.

[chuckyboy81070]

Just tried this on my 24" all that happens is a window with a screensaver preview in it moves around...

I've got 1 of the first batches of iMacs, I purchased mine the day they became available in retail stores here in Australia. Pretty much stock standard 24" 2.4 GHz, other than the 4 GB of 3rd party RAM I installed.

to be fair, moving the preview window around doesn't always make it freeze. but having the preview window open and rapidly moving the mouse back and forth across the dock does. as does browsing in front row.

[risc]

to be fair, moving the preview window around doesn't always make it freeze. but having the preview window open and rapidly moving the mouse back and forth across the dock does. as does browsing in front row.

I use Front Row all the time. Once again I think this is the vocal minority yelling and screaming, it happens all the time on these forums, and it happens with every single Mac release...

edit: Okay I've tried that dock thing too... nothing...

[Tom Sawyer]

I use Front Row all the time. Once again I think this is the vocal minority yelling and screaming, it happens all the time on these forums, and it happens with every single Mac release...

edit: Okay I've tried that dock thing too... nothing...

Your absolutely right, and though forums are a fantastic resource online for any product they tend to magnify any issues for a given product. I'm experiencing this with my new toy, an HD camcorder (HV20). Sometimes I have to force myself not to read certain threads (especially on a particular car forum I'm on) as sure enough I'll start listening for that sound or scrutinizing an area someone else points out has an issue.

Anyway... keen observation... it's also a bummer for the minority of users who do have issues with a product and of course the forum is a great way to discuss those issues. Two edged sword for sure.... ;)

[chuckyboy81070]

I use Front Row all the time. Once again I think this is the vocal minority yelling and screaming, it happens all the time on these forums, and it happens with every single Mac release...

edit: Okay I've tried that dock thing too... nothing...

i don't think anyone would argue with you regarding the vocal minority, but there seems to be a significantly sized group of people experiencing these issues. :) i wish i wasn't, but i am. :( i'd wager you would make yourself heard on the matter - possibly on these very forums, possibly on the phone with apple, possibly both - if you were experiencing them too. :o

[Spankey]

Okay, I posted this earlier and am posting again. I have not experienced ANY freezing or screen tearing since I first installed the update. I want to say that things seem..fixed?

I really do believe that simply running this patch DOES NOT fix the problem straight away. The system needs time to update. When I first installed the update and the freezes began, I just turned the system down over night in frustration.

This morning, I powered on and browsed the web for awhile. Then a few hours later, I launched WoW. No Problems. No problems ever since. I'm pretty excited now, as I no longer fear a system crash at a moments notice. Things just feel..stable. Much more so than ever before.

Leave your system on, do some mundane things for a few hours. Then see what happens. Oh yeah..I reset the PRAM as well. Good luck!

[Bolteh]

the PR person L.Fox contact info:

Lynn Fox
(408) 974-6209
lfox@apple.com

for the anxious ones

Already mailed her earleir today.. Doubt I'll get an answer though, seeing that Apple doesn't like to communicate when there's bad stuff going on (but they have sold over 2 million copies of Leopard, yay!)

[yamabushi]

The white ones aren't suffering the Screen-Freeze issues.

Mine is. Early 2007 model. Update 1.1 brought graphical errors and occasional freezes. The latest update is for aluminum iMacs and doesn't help my computer. Worked flawlessly before the update. No additional RAM installed. :(

[wakerider017]

I returned my messed up iMac to Apple.


They are hooking me up with a brand spanking new one in 2 weeks!!!

[Bolteh]

I'll probably have to do that as well.. Problem is, I really need this computer for school, and I can't miss it for 2 weeks (or even more, took a month for a friend's PowerBook to get back from repair)

[Marble]

That's good news but... 2 weeks!

[flipshot]

Do these freezing problems affect the 20" 2.0Ghz model as well?

This is my first mac and I have had it since the end of August now and I do find it freezes more than I was expecting it to but I thought maybe its normal. I have installed the update not sure at this stage if it has made any difference but I now have a new problem when it goes to screensaver rather than displaying the screensaver the screen becomes all corrupted and pixelated and it then takes about 30 secs after coming out of this for the machine to become usable again.

[wakerider017]

I'll probably have to do that as well.. Problem is, I really need this computer for school, and I can't miss it for 2 weeks (or even more, took a month for a friend's PowerBook to get back from repair)

I have a spare Dell that is about 5 yrs old. It will work for Word and stuff. (I am a student too)

My computer is not being repaired. I am getting a new one. They have to do some kind of a special return since I bought mine online. Basically I need to return mine first, then they ship a new one to the apple store, then I go pick it up.

That's good news but... 2 weeks!

Ya.

Apple gave my 2 choices...

1. Have the computer fixed in 24hrs. (replaced logic board and GPU)

2. Wait 2 weeks and get a brand new one.


The choice was simple for me

[Bolteh]

Picture of artifacts:
http://users.pandora.be/bolteh/artifacts.jpg

For the witty ones to see that the rollout menu is open and te dock is magnified, hunting the use of 2 magical cursors: I merged 2 screenshots, easier to post 1 image instead of multiple.


And for the curious people, this is what I sent to miss Fox.
Dear Mss. Fox,

I'm only one of the many customers that are having freezing issues with the new aluminum 24" 2.8GHz iMac. I bought this computer about a month ago, and it has been having freezing issues since day one (the very first time I booted, I was asked to take a picture, the computer froze). I have tried everything, I've been rolling with the iMac software update 1.0, 1.1 and now 1.2 on Tiger. I've had freezes with all of them, but update 1.2 also added screen artifacts when using Front Row, iTunes Cover Flow, the Dock, basicly everything that uses some sort of graphical layout. I'm at my wits end here, since I have to use this computer for college (audio, video and image editing), and to be honest, it's nearly impossible to work on this computer, as it can freeze up at any given moment. It doesn't matter what I do, there's no specific step-by-step plan to make this computer freeze, it can happen during browsing, it can happen doing nothing at all, it can happen during work with Final Cut Pro.

Ofcourse, I could've just get the computer exchanged for a new one during the first two weeks, but Apple had announced at the beginning of October that there was an issue with the freezing macs and -promised- a fix by the end of the month. So I just figured that this machine works well when it doesn't freeze, so I waited for a fix to arrive. Well, the fix didn't arrive at the end of the month, but no biggie, the fix still arrived. I eagerly installed it with tears in my eyes due to massive happiness.. Happiness that would soon turn into tears of pure frustration as I was greeted with a freeze after the first reboot.

I'm really beginning to lose hope here.. My last resort is to send the iMac back for repair, since I live in Belgium and there are no Apple Stores near (unless you think Ireland is just around the corner), risking the loss of a computer for several weeks or even months. As I said earlier, I need this computer for school and I really can't live without it, so sending it back will be my very last option.

All I want to hear now is that Apple is indeed still working on a fix for these issues (if it's a software issue at least, something I'm starting to doubt), and that I can expect a fix -very- soon.. I paid over €2000 for this computer, and at the moment it feels like I bought something on the streets for €200. I paid for a stable, working computer, I don't like to see my money going to waste. I expected more of Apple.

Yours sincerely,
Maarten Lenoir


PS: I also tried Leopard and all the updates for Leopard.. The freezing issues are far worse in Leopard than in Tiger, that's why I'm sticking to Tiger at the moment.

[yzp]

I guess apple has had a problem, they have noticed it and now, they are triyng to fix it!

There's actually no problem there for me!

:apple: FTW

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

Okay, I posted this earlier and am posting again. I have not experienced ANY freezing or screen tearing since I first installed the update. I want to say that things seem..fixed?

I really do believe that simply running this patch DOES NOT fix the problem straight away. The system needs time to update. When I first installed the update and the freezes began, I just turned the system down over night in frustration.

This morning, I powered on and browsed the web for awhile. Then a few hours later, I launched WoW. No Problems. No problems ever since. I'm pretty excited now, as I no longer fear a system crash at a moments notice. Things just feel..stable. Much more so than ever before.

Leave your system on, do some mundane things for a few hours. Then see what happens. Oh yeah..I reset the PRAM as well. Good luck!

I saw this post so I thought I'd brave 1.2 on Tiger as well... right after installing I gave the machine 5 consecutive PRAM zaps and.... so far so good.

Just jumped into WoW for about 20 minutes, maxed everything out, and not one freeze! I used to have to turn all shaders off or I would freeze within about 5 seconds of the game running. I had shaders and 6x Multisampling with no problems this time.

I used to be able to always freeze it with Coverflow in the iTunes TV Shows store and nothing there either!

I'm not 100% convinced things are working just yet, so I'll post any updates... but things seem a bit better for me thus far.

[sam10685]

what?

This thread is called 'imac software update' isn't it?

[flopticalcube]

This thread is called 'imac software update' isn't it?

Every Mac has software that is particular to it. Video drivers, trackpad drivers (for laptops), etc.

[Nightline]

I have one of those new WD My Book World Edition II external drives, the 1 Terrabyte model. I have been going back and forth with WD about why it wont work with the MAC, but only PC's. Odly enough, I have not changed anything on my system since yesterday when it was not working, but now after that update, I can read/write files to drive with no problem.

[flopticalcube]

I have one of those new WD My Book World Edition II external drives, the 1 Terrabyte model. I have been going back and forth with WD about why it wont work with the MAC, but only PC's. Odly enough, I have not changed anything on my system since yesterday when it was not working, but now after that update, I can read/write files to drive with no problem.

That's interesting. I was about to buy one today and opted for the Home Edition instead as I was put off the lack of Mac support. May have to make a trip back to Costco...

[wakerider017]

I have one of those new WD My Book World Edition II external drives, the 1 Terrabyte model. I have been going back and forth with WD about why it wont work with the MAC, but only PC's. Odly enough, I have not changed anything on my system since yesterday when it was not working, but now after that update, I can read/write files to drive with no problem.


System Requirements:
Windows® 2000/XP Home/Pro


That's interesting. I was about to buy one today and opted for the Home Edition instead as I was put off the lack of Mac support. May have to make a trip back to Costco...

I just bought this for $180 shipped!

http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=372&language=en

[ascham87]

Strangely, I'd been having horrible problems freezing/artifacting/whatnot on my 24" 2.4ghz 1gb of Apple ram. The machine was purchased on August 7th (literally 20 minutes after announced, I was at the apple store and decided to pick one up). So it's an early unit. Nothing worked, Leopard made it worse, as did 1.1 on Tiger. I was mad and had decided I would buy Applecare today and start on figuring out how to get a new one. I installed the 1.3 update as a last ditch effort not expecting much and originally didn't get much. I installed the update, and it restarted. As it restarted I zapped the PRAM and when it started up I saw some artifacting, tried the Arabesque+Dock thing to get it to freeze and sure enough, right on cue, it froze. I hard reset, then tried Front Row and it froze too.

Obviously now I'm pissed at this so called "Update" so I turn off the machine once more and reset it. I've been now trying everything under the sun to get it to freeze again and CAN'T! I'm overly joyed and just hope this was the thing to fix it. I know this is probably an isolated case, but maybe zapping pram+multiple resets could help something.

[Nightline]

System Requirements:
Windows® 2000/XP Home/Pro



Oddly enough, this is also in the knowledge base when asked about compatibility. I do have to admit, I didn't even check system requirements before I ordered it online. I 'figured" heck, its an external drive, the thought of it working or not with the Mac never even entered my mind... In the future I will always check system requirements, but glad its working.

The WD NetCenter and WD My Book World Edition hard drive uses a proprietary file system and cannot be reformatted as FAT32, NTFS, or a Macintosh File System. The file system on the WD NetCenter and the WD My Book World Edition hard drive supports access from Windows, Macintosh and most Linux based computer systems.

[flopticalcube]

I just bought this for $180 shipped!

http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=372&language=en

I was looking for a NAS solution with a terabyte and the WE II is $380 at Costco. That's not a bad price either.

[Nightline]

I was looking for a NAS solution with a terabyte and the WE II is $380 at Costco. That's not a bad price either.

I would honestly say to give it a try, Costco is good at accepting returns if it doesn't work. A friend of mine also bought one, and he is going to hook it up tomorrow. I will post the results of his install.

[wakerider017]

Oddly enough, this is also in the knowledge base when asked about compatibility. I do have to admit, I didn't even check system requirements before I ordered it online. I 'figured" heck, its an external drive, the thought of it working or not with the Mac never even entered my mind... In the future I will always check system requirements, but glad its working.

The WD NetCenter and WD My Book World Edition hard drive uses a proprietary file system and cannot be reformatted as FAT32, NTFS, or a Macintosh File System. The file system on the WD NetCenter and the WD My Book World Edition hard drive supports access from Windows, Macintosh and most Linux based computer systems.

Ya bro,

I would have thought the same. I always thought an external drive is an external drive.

I was looking for a NAS solution with a terabyte and the WE II is $380 at Costco. That's not a bad price either.

Ahhh looking for NAS.. That makes a big diff.

I am just looking for speed. That's why i forked over the few extra bucks..

A sweet looking enclosure is a big plus too. :)

[Nightline]

Ya bro,

A sweet looking enclosure is a big plus too. :)

And don't forget, that enclosure has 1 drive in it and room for another, so upgradeability is great.

[flopticalcube]

I would honestly say to give it a try, Costco is good at accepting returns if it doesn't work. A friend of mine also bought one, and he is going to hook it up tomorrow. I will post the results of his install.

I'll look forward to it. Maybe start a new thread. Its definitely newsworthy.


Ahhh looking for NAS.. That makes a big diff.

I am just looking for speed. That's why i forked over the few extra bucks..

A sweet looking enclosure is a big plus too. :)

Let's just say that I am less than impressed by the throughput of my AEBS AirDisk (MyBook Premium).

[chadder007]

Exactly. I still believe that the Graphic Card is faulty, and the updates corrupted it even further. I really think it's nothing to do with the RAM.

Still can't understand why wakerider017's iMac got fixed by removing the RAM though.

Does the artifacts get worse the longer the system is up? Could be the graphics core overheating in Leopard more so since the OS uses the GPU more extensively.???

[wakerider017]

Does the artifacts get worse the longer the system is up? Could be the graphics core overheating in Leopard more so since the OS uses the GPU more extensively.???

No.

Sometimes the worst artifacts can be seen in the login menu when the computer has been on for about 15 seconds...

I don't think it has to do with heat.

[compuguy1088]

Ok I was under NDA but after reading the latest email from Apple I'm half tempted to break it because I'm pretty po'd that this was released when the patch was known to NOT fully work.

I will however keep it quite until I hear I am no longer under NDA.

Until then I think I'm gonna go for a swap/exchange on my iMac.

Ok......so your under an NDA, and you may or may not have information towards the real problem? How did you get into this in the first place...it just seems awkward....

[Outcast-au]

Ok I thougt I would post everything ive done to troublesoot the freezing problem.

1st: Base install running 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 Updates for tiger.
2nd: Mac diags for 8 hours. No hardware issues reported.
3rd: Pulled out my 4Gb OWC and installed my 1Gb supplied
4th: Cleared PRAM and went back to step 1.

5th: Installed OSX on an external disk to rule out hard drive issues.

6th: Returned it to a mac store for repair.

At the end of the day as a few people have said. It appears to be a hardware issue with the video card. NO dirver update will fix the problem. Drivers may change how you get the problem as it may address thing differently but at the end of the day TAKE IT BACK.

[ascender]

No freezing for the last couple of days. Installed the update, restarted and the machine froze as soon as the desktop & dock loaded.

I'm loathe to phone Apple support, as what are they going to do? Bearing in mind this fault can disappear for weeks at a time, I'll either be without the machine for a very long time or get it back quickly with "no fault found".

Where do we stand from a legal point of view in the UK about returning the machine for a refund if there's no fix forthcoming? I'm guessing it would be difficult, if only for the above reasons and that its going to end up being much more hassle to us in the long run.

[youyesyou]

Hi around,

i experienced several freezings on my new iMac 24" (no options). I thought that the last update fixed this issue, but sadly it didn't. It freezed in frontrow, itunes..

I tried to call the apple store today but saturday it is closed, so i ve to wait until monday. I think they will tell me to send it to repair, BUT no way i don't want them to open my still very new machine. Do you think they can accept to send me a NEW one, freshly built in china ?

I ve it since October 4th.

I'm desperate
Thanks to all

[flopticalcube]

My wonky iMac is more stable under 1.2 than it was under 1.1 but it still froze in WoW occasionally and in XP (less frequent). I called Apple and they said:

"Have you applied the iMac Software Update 1.2?"

"Yes"

"Then its a hardware issue, bring it in for repair, here is your case number..."

Looks like capitulation to me. Take your iMacs in for repair people and force this recall on Apple if they don't have the morals to do it themselves.

[IzzyJG99]

I don't know if this is just me or maybe just a general 10.5 glitch, but on both my iMac iSights when visiting websites like YouTube with Java based video there is often a lot of popping sounds. I asked my sister and she said she's having it on her iSight iMac as well.

[kkat69]

Ok......so your under an NDA, and you may or may not have information towards the real problem? How did you get into this in the first place...it just seems awkward....

Not awkward at all. I volunteered. They were asking for people to volunteer in the WoW forums and I offered.

I was contacted shortly thereafter by Blizzard then by Apple.

I WILL say that the 1.3/1.2 patch is one I tested and reported did NOT fix any issues. It was released none the less.

Maybe it does and those that still have issues really is Hardware. Perhaps not. I for one am going to take advantage of my warranty and get my machine replaced or at least parts of it. I'm a little pissed they released this patch since it didn't do anything to fix the freezes so I doubt I'll be helping anymore, or at least refusing if contacted.

People here have often b!tched "why don't you test the stuff?" Well I'm here to say that it IS tested, yet it's Apple's call to release it or keep developing. I guess we can all figure out what their decision was. And rather than supress the masses it only enraged them further.

I'm not unhappy with my desicion to move to Apple. I am happy. But those of us that have these new machines will just have to buckle down and pay the price for technology moving on. It is sad that it's taking so long. I would say a recall would be a better choice on Apple's side IF replacements are indeed fixing the problem. A lot of us have posted our System Profiler specs and there still doesn't seem to be a trend.

Since I can't even work on this iMac, waiting for a replacement or repair tech won't hurt me.

Sorry I can't give out more info but that's the downside to signing that bit of paper.

[IzzyJG99]

Not awkward at all. I volunteered. They were asking for people to volunteer in the WoW forums and I offered.

I was contacted shortly thereafter by Blizzard then by Apple.

I WILL say that the 1.3/1.2 patch is one I tested and reported did NOT fix any issues. It was released none the less.

Maybe it does and those that still have issues really is Hardware. Perhaps not. I for one am going to take advantage of my warranty and get my machine replaced or at least parts of it. I'm a little pissed they released this patch since it didn't do anything to fix the freezes so I doubt I'll be helping anymore, or at least refusing if contacted.

People here have often b!tched "why don't you test the stuff?" Well I'm here to say that it IS tested, yet it's Apple's call to release it or keep developing. I guess we can all figure out what their decision was. And rather than supress the masses it only enraged them further.

I'm not unhappy with my desicion to move to Apple. I am happy. But those of us that have these new machines will just have to buckle down and pay the price for technology moving on. It is sad that it's taking so long. I would say a recall would be a better choice on Apple's side IF replacements are indeed fixing the problem. A lot of us have posted our System Profiler specs and there still doesn't seem to be a trend.

Since I can't even work on this iMac, waiting for a replacement or repair tech won't hurt me.

Sorry I can't give out more info but that's the downside to signing that bit of paper.

Speaking of Battle.net/Blizzard. I'm a Diablo 2: LOD player. Ever since I upgraded to 10.5 I've had a lot of problems with the 1.11 Diablo 2: LOD patch. Lots of total system freezes at the character selection page. There also seems to be a problem where it for some reason keeps selecting the Asia Realm. For a whole day I was e-mail Battle.net and wondering why my account had been deleted. Turned out it was 10.5 reverting me to Asia's realm. I suspect Battle.net/Blizzard is gonna have to come out with a stand alone update for the Mac users soon.

[kkat69]

After updating to 1.3 under leopard, it stopped freezing for an entire 4 hours. Then freezing started again with a vengance, about 6 times in a row.

Just a question about warranty. My 90 day phone support expires in 2 weeks, I won't have time to call them until next week. As Apple has 1 year warranty I'm not loosing much if i call apple about freezing AFTER my 90 day phone support is over right??

From my understanding and what was explained to me, the phone warranty is just tech advice/troubleshooting/support over the phone. You can still call and say "it's broke fix it" and although they probably won't help troubleshoot the issue, they will probably give you an RMA number or something to that affect, and assist in sending back, or taking it to the Applestore.

Just no over the phone troubleshooting type of support.

I don't think what I wrote made sense and it's to late for me to rewrite it, so I hope you understand. Others here can also explain it probably better than I just did :( sorry.

Hope this helps a little.

[tubechallenger]

Just installed 1.3 a few hours ago - and the freezing began with a vengeance.

Only had it happen since Leopard was installed though so in my mind definately a software issue... getting rather fed up of the freezing now too :roll:

Tom

[Gerard.]

Grrr. Just installed it, its made my front row movies Fuzzy O.o
And it still freezes.. We asked for a fix, not another bug.

[james77]

:( I really wished I had done a better job searching the forums and found this thread before I ordered my new iMac -- it arrives tomorrow I pray that it doesn't freeze.

[SaSaSushi]

:( I really wished I had done a better job searching the forums and found this thread before I ordered my new iMac -- it arrives tomorrow I pray that it doesn't freeze.

My advice is to read the thread carefully. Note that in fact the freeze-affected iMacs are still a small percentage of the overall number of machines out there. Note that many of us posting to these threads have fully functioning iMacs and are just trying to help those with the issues. Most importantly if you DO happen to get a "freezer" pack it up and send it back for a replacement immediately.

Chances are your Mac will have no problems at all.

[james77]

My advice is to read the thread carefully. Note that in fact the freeze-affected iMacs are still a small percentage of the overall number of machines out there. Note that many of us posting to these threads have fully functioning iMacs and are just trying to help those with the issues. Most importantly if you DO happen to get a "freezer" pack it up and send it back for a replacement immediately.

Chances are your Mac will have no problems at all.

Thank you for your words of encouragement! :)

[wakerider017]

Thank you for your words of encouragement! :)

30 days to return it as a DOA

14 days to just return it...


Just keep those times in mind.

[Ccowboy]

I bought my iMac yesterday and was quite excited if a little sick for spending £1300 on it, Mrs wasn't impressed...

Well then I get home and put Leopard on. Ouch, start noticing the odd drawing problem. No matter I pressed on, tried to install windows, which was reluctant to go on at first, but complied eventually. So then I boot into Windows and oh dear, the screen goes black. I press the power button and hear it power down properly.

No problem I thought, I expect that sort of thing from Windows. I recently built a PC for a customer which I managed to kill by installing some drivers it said it needed. It had nothing but XP on it, so I was quite impressed by that, and not phased when the same sort of thing happened on my iMac.

But then I boot into Leopard and oh what the hell!? Leopard goes five seconds into the desktop. Much swearing and sweating, pressed the power button and tried again. Checked for updates and installed 1.3, hoping that was the fix Apple had sworn to release to fix the freezing issue I felt I was now going to suffer. Kernel Panic? I've heard of those, is that what I saw? You bet. I'm starting to panic myself now, thinking of returning it and going back to my attractive but very loud PC. I wouldn't admit defeat! I let it panic, I let it freeze while searching in spotlight, I let it draw artifacts, whatever the hell it wanted to do!

I let it get all that out of its system, hoping after a few restarts it might get the message that I wasn't going to give up.

All in all, it crashed more times in the first five hours of being in its new home, than all the windows PC's I've built/owned in the last five YEARS put together!

The next five hours though, they were a little better. I didn't push it too far, as I didn't want to see it crash again. I did try some of the things people have reported to freeze their machines, but it didn't happen for me.

If you've read all of that, well done. This alu keyboard is very nice to type on. I can type quicker on this than any keyboard because I just don't make any mistakes. No hitting the odd key I shouldn't, just perfect every time!

So to sum up, I was a little bit cheesed off to begin with, but while its working, I'm happy for sure. Its a sweeeeet system. I hope it continues to work, it will break my heart to start messing around getting it returned/repaired. I just want to use it!

Thanks for reading!

[autumn]

I got my extreme about a month ago. Never applied the 1.1 or 1.2 update. No freeze whatsoever.

Did the 1.3 and still no freeze here. Am I lucky or I just haven't discovered it yet?

I tried frontrow and played Warcraft III. No problems.

Although I do have problem with older games like Tigerwoods 2003 and Rise of Nation Gold.

I can't play TW 03 at all and RON's graphic is really grainny.

What else should I try to see if my iMac freeze or not?

[flopticalcube]

I got my extreme about a month ago. Never applied the 1.1 or 1.2 update. No freeze whatsoever.

Did the 1.3 and still no freeze here. Am I lucky or I just haven't discovered it yet?

I tried frontrow and played Warcraft III. No problems.

Although I do have problem with older games like Tigerwoods 2003 and Rise of Nation Gold.

I can't play TW 03 at all and RON's graphic is really grainny.

What else should I try to see if my iMac freeze or not?

Rest assured you are probably in the majority. Time Machine and running through the various screen savers on the system preferences panel are good ways.

[autumn]

Rest assured you are probably in the majority. Time Machine and running through the various screen savers on the system preferences panel are good ways.

I have never have problem with Time Machine: Launch and browsing through datas. I never restored any data though.

I just tried all the screen savers and no freeze.

Do you mean majority of people with new iMac DON'T have freezing issue?

There is still something wrong with the Video Card though. At least on my machine with older games.

[wakerider017]

I have never have problem with Time Machine: Launch and browsing through datas. I never restored any data though.

I just tried all the screen savers and no freeze.

Do you mean majority of people with new iMac DON'T have freezing issue?

There is still something wrong with the Video Card though. At least on my machine with older games.

Ya most people DON'T have the freeze problem...

People with sick computers tend to post more than people with good computers.

[flopticalcube]

I have never have problem with Time Machine: Launch and browsing through datas. I never restored any data though.

I just tried all the screen savers and no freeze.

Do you mean majority of people with new iMac DON'T have freezing issue?

There is still something wrong with the Video Card though. At least on my machine with older games.

Your problems are probably more related to the driver's newness. Time will mature these no doubt. I have two iMacs and one is rock solid so I think the problem, while widespread, is not omnipresent in every iMac.

[Luap]

Well, 1 or 2 AppleCare staff have fessed up to 5% or so being bad, right?
Polls on this forum suggest nearer 50%.
To be realistic, it has to be somewhere between the 2.. Be it 5% or 50%, its still way too damn many.

[flopticalcube]

Well, 1 or 2 AppleCare staff have fessed up to 5% or so being bad, right?
Polls on this forum suggest nearer 50%.
To be realistic, it has to be somewhere between the 2.. Be it 5% or 50%, its still way too damn many.

Indeed. I think the 5% figure is even far too high a defect rate. Especially since it is one particular defect.

[deydodoe]

I've avoided any of the updates due to the freeze issue but I noticed today that Imac 1.2 update does not appear on software updates.

So I went onto the apple site and it wasn't on the downloads page (only for leopard but not tiger?).

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/

So did a search for it and this is the page for imac Tiger 1.2 update:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imacsoftwareupdate12tiger.html

Looks like the page has been withdrawn???

[wakerider017]

I've avoided any of the updates due to the freeze issue but I noticed today that Imac 1.2 update does not appear on software updates.

So I went onto the apple site and it wasn't on the downloads page (only for leopard but not tiger?).

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/

So did a search for it and this is the page for imac Tiger 1.2 update:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imacsoftwareupdate12tiger.html

Looks like the page has been withdrawn???



Ya your right... 1.2 is GONE

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/

[flopticalcube]

Ya your right... 1.2 is GONE

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/

I actually applaud this move as 1.2 is a piece of poo. They should remove 1.3 as well.

[wakerider017]

I actually applaud this move as 1.2 is a piece of poo. They should remove 1.3 as well.

A piece of poo?

lol, nice word choice.

[flopticalcube]

A piece of poo?

lol, nice word choice.

Any other choice would result in **** :D

[snickelfritz]

This is most likely a case of supplier QC issues, rather than Apple engineering or manufacturing problems.
Some samples of the new GPUs simply do not work as reliably as the reference.

[flopticalcube]

A piece of poo?

lol, nice word choice.

Any other choice would result in **** :D

[mzd]

well, i did the 1.3 update and haven't had any troubles so far. but my iMac doesn't exhibit the freezing problem.

[flopticalcube]

I can confirm that 1.2 is now gone. I did a clean install and it won't show up under software update. All links at Apple have either been removed or point to an error page.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/message/internal.html

[Marble]

That is both troubling and encouraging—troubling, because there can be no question now that 1.2 was a bogus update, and encouraging because it means they'll have to release a separate update to replace it. Maybe that will be the one.

Can you tell I really don't want to have to do the "unhappy customer" schtick?

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

I can confirm that 1.2 is now gone. I did a clean install and it won't show up under software update. All links at Apple have either been removed or point to an error page.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/message/internal.html

Wow... maybe that means we'll be getting some real answers tomorrow.. or at least a better patch.


Also - an update on my machine. Updated to 1.2 w/Tiger, zapped PRAM about 5 times. No freezes for a few hours so I stepped up to Leopard.

Leopard w/o 1.3 froze a lot, making it difficult to get to the patch. Updated to 1.3, PRAM zapped x5 again, NO FREEZES for over 24 hours now! I'm guessing it will freeze again, but at least I know I can zap PRAM a bunch and get it running for a good deal of time at the very least. Just going to save often in the meantime.

Hopefully we'll get some news from Cupertino tomorrow.

[flopticalcube]

The worst part is that if you updated to 1.2 there is no way to roll back save for another install.

[pavelbure]

1.1 update isn't even up there anymore.

[Luap]

1.1 update isn't even up there anymore.

Well, that doesn't surprise me as it was superseded by 1.2
Still, im curious why 1.2 was pulled, as 1.3 is still around. But then 1.2 & 1.3 must have been quite different from each other, as 1.3 was getting on for twice the size of 1.2
Perhaps 1.2 is bundled into 10.4.11, assuming that is, its still going to make an appearance.

Ahh, the Apple guessing game!

[Vanilla]

well, i did the 1.3 update and haven't had any troubles so far. but my iMac doesn't exhibit the freezing problem.

Ditto - just updated with fingers crossed and everything is fine, which in my case means the status quo has been preserved as my machine was fine beforehand. I was scared stiff I'd break what was/is a great machine but all is cool.

- Vanilla

[MacBiscuit]

Haven't been overly plagued by freezes except for a couple when the machine was brand new. However it seems like the latest update has broken my iSight. both iChat and Photobooth now crash if I try to use the camera...

Anyone else with this issue?

(aluminium iMac 2Ghz 20 inch)

[DaiKirai]

I seem to be one of the lucky ones. I had the freezing problem with 1.1 while playing 3D games (never on the desktop), and 1.2 has fixed it completely. Hopefully I'm not in for more grief when I make the jump to Leopard.

[flopticalcube]

I seem to be one of the lucky ones. I had the freezing problem with 1.1 while playing 3D games (never on the desktop), and 1.2 has fixed it completely. Hopefully I'm not in for more grief when I make the jump to Leopard.

I would make a backup of your hard disk as soon as possible.. Both update 1.1 and 1.2 are now gone from the Apple Software Update web site. If you have to reinstall the OS for any reason, you will not get them back.

[4God]

I'm wondering if the 1.3 patch will work better without the 1.1 and 1.2 installed first.

[flopticalcube]

I'm wondering if the 1.3 patch will work better without the 1.1 and 1.2 installed first.

1.3 is Leopard only so you won't have 1.1 or 1.2 if you clean install.

[4God]

1.3 is Leopard only so you won't have 1.1 or 1.2 if you clean install.

Ah, gotcha.

[stevejmartin]

In the past I have seen the occasional lockup on my 24 2.8. In each case there was a corresponding ASIC Hang log. One time I did a double click on the power button to sleep the machine and after waking I had screen corruption until restarting. I have never seen screen corruption in normal use only after doing the sleep/wake.

After installation of leopard i saw a hang or sorts using time machine, I applied the 1.3 patch and did a PRAM zap a couple of times. Since then the machine has been rock solid. I have tried to repeat some of the methods defined in this forum to force a crash, but I can't get the machine to fail.

I'm wondering if there are two issues here, a general funkiness in the ATI drivers that caused ASIC Hang and genuine hardware faults that cause screen corruption and hard crashes.

What do you guys think?

[wakerider017]

Wow... maybe that means we'll be getting some real answers tomorrow.. or at least a better patch.


Also - an update on my machine. Updated to 1.2 w/Tiger, zapped PRAM about 5 times. No freezes for a few hours so I stepped up to Leopard.

Leopard w/o 1.3 froze a lot, making it difficult to get to the patch. Updated to 1.3, PRAM zapped x5 again, NO FREEZES for over 24 hours now! I'm guessing it will freeze again, but at least I know I can zap PRAM a bunch and get it running for a good deal of time at the very least. Just going to save often in the meantime.

Hopefully we'll get some news from Cupertino tomorrow.

Why do you reset the PRAM multiple times?

Resetting it 5X does the same thing as resetting it 1X...

[AidenShaw]

This is most likely a case of supplier QC issues, rather than Apple engineering or manufacturing problems.

Assuming that it's a hardware problem, then it's still an Apple QC issue.

It looks like Apple isn't testing the machines as they come off the line, so problems like this are Apple's fault.

You do realize that Apple doesn't manufacture much of anything in any product that they sell? Everything is either off-the-shelf (Intel CPUs and chipsets, ATI or Nvidia graphics, xxx disks, yyy ethernet cards, zzz memory, ...) or contracted to third parties (power supplies, cabinets, ...).

Apple *is* responsible when a supplier screws up.

[flopticalcube]

I noticed that the mods at Apple discussion have locked the original thread that started the freezing issue. Mind you at 699 replies its a wonder it took them this long to lock it.

[pavelbure]

I noticed that the mods at Apple discussion have locked the original thread that started the freezing issue. Mind you at 699 replies its a wonder it took them this long to lock it.


yeah, that makes me sick. why lock a thread ?

[atthecross]

in the apple store now, they are giving me a new computer. installing leopard on it right now. went around and did the arabesque screen saver on all the machines in the store, no freezing.

that screen saver seems to be the test, mine locked up every time using that saver after leopard.

I have been having lockup issues since the 1.1 update in tiger

[doug in albq]

I have the 20 inch, 2.0 base model (lucky me?!).

must be the 2400 video card, but I have never had any freezing problems. (display quality is a whole other issue!)

I am glad I got the 1.2 update before it was pulled, as it seemed to significantly improve the video performance on my machine.

[flopticalcube]

in the apple store now, they are giving me a new computer. installing leopard on it right now. went around and did the arabesque screen saver on all the machines in the store, no freezing.

that screen saver seems to be the test, mine locked up every time using that saver after leopard.

I have been having lockup issues since the 1.1 update in tiger

They are probably being told to test the machines before they put them out on the floor as people have been going around purposely trying to lock them up.

[atthecross]

They are probably being told to test the machines before they put them out on the floor as people have been going around purposely trying to lock them up.

could be. they didn't have a 24" with leopard installed already, it was a drop in disc. So I'm installing it myself in the store.

This will be my second replacement from this store (my third iMac all told), hopefully it will be a good one.

The serial number range is kinda close to the other two, but hopefully far enough apart to make a difference.

[atthecross]

ok, just finished the install and no freeze. having them hook it up via hardline to do the updates. maybe this is the one!

[atthecross]

all updates installed at apple store. no freezes in store.

I'm home now and still no freezes!!!

Computer 'seems' faster, like I can notice a difference with leopard.

I didn't notice any difference between tiger and leopard speed wise on my freezing iMac.

I'm running this WITHOUT my 4gb upgrade it and it sure seems a lot snappier!!

So far I'm a happy camper with this new machine!!!!

[flopticalcube]

all updates installed at apple store. no freezes in store.

I'm home now and still now freezes!!!

Computer 'seems' faster, like I can notice a difference with leopard.

I didn't notice any difference between tiger and leopard speed wise.

I'm running this WITHOUT my 4gb upgrade it and it sure seems a lot snappier!!

So far I'm a happy camper with this new machine!!!!

Be sure to test out Time Machine and all the screen savers and itunes visualizers. Make sure you have a non-freezer (I'm sure you do). Well done, that was some smart shopping on your part.

[atthecross]

thanks for the tips!

all screen savers work

all itunes visualizers work

will test timemachine next

I'm a happy mac switcher again!!!

[daneoni]

Just got my Leopard UTD 48 hrs ago and have installed it and that includes the 1.3 update. Ran the Arabesque SS for about 5 minutes then Shell SS, ran iTunes visualizer, Dock test and no freeze not even a sign of one. I guess that concludes my iMac isn't affected by this issue.

Hopefully those with this issue get answers from Apple ASAP

EDIT: My iMac is a week 31 model

[atthecross]

Just got my Leopard UTD a 48 hrs ago and have installed it and that includes the 1.3 update. Ran the Arabesque SS for about 5 minutes, ran visualizer, dock test and no freeze not even a sign of one. I guess that concludes my iMac isn't affected by this issue.

Hopefully those with this issue get answers from Apple ASAP

EDIT: My iMac is a week 31 model

which part of the serial number is the week build?

I tried to run a serial number survey on the apple.com forum site but they deleted all reference to it

here are the serial numbers that froze (before they deleted)
W87095YXXXX
W87302XXXXX
W87312YXXXX
W87331FXXXX
W87333HXXXX
W87334HXXXX
W87336HXXXX
W87337PPXXX
W87362AXXXX
W87394HXXXX

my new machine is a w87396qxxxx

I asked people to leave off the 4 characters of their serial numbers for privacy

[Kirk]

which part of the serial number is the week build?

my new machine is a w87396qxxxx



W8: Shanghai China
7: Year
39: Week

[Banjhiyi]

Week 39... is that calendar week or financial week?

[woeye]

Mine is W8729... and my iMac freezes a lot. So I guess week 29 models suffer from this issue?

[ascender]

Week 32 here and I get the problem every few weeks for about a day at a time.

[Bolteh]

W8740XXXXXX

So week 40 for mine, and a freezer.

[Banjhiyi]

W8740XXXXXX

So week 40 for mine, and a freezer.

Week ending 7 October - a worry.

[DreamsPower]

W87321Y...

And is very easy to make it freeze, also check out http://www.frozenimacs.com

[flopticalcube]

Build week doesn't matter. The first lines to roll off the assembly line are freezing as much as ones purchased last week.

OK I'll play the game :rolleyes: Week 40 one freezes the other doesn't...

[darkerside]

W87290J here and a big freezer

[flopticalcube]

Given that the TIger link no longer works on the front page and probably kills your iMac anyway if you try to upgrade to Leopard, the mods should update the news story.

[snickelfritz]

W8733EK

No freezing or other issues in Tiger or Leopard.
Updates 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 worked fine.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

W87311R...

Big freezer *until* 1.3 in Leopard. Has been totally solid since I installed Leopard and the update on Friday.

Would barely run for a few seconds before freezing with 1.1 under Tiger.

No sceen artifacts - freezing only.

[4God]

Well, week 44 (W8744XXXXXX) is on it's way from China via FedEx as we speak. Should be here on friday the 9th. I sure hope it's not a bricked freezer. That's a lot of money for a paper weight.

[CasinoOwl]

iMac 24" 2.4 with 2GB Apple-installed memory, and no freezing at all. Whew.

W87420YXXXX

I am not going to install 1.3 until I hear more about its effect on non-freezing iMacs.

[Mindflux]

iMac 24" 2.4 with 2GB Apple-installed memory, and no freezing at all. Whew.

W87420YXXXX

I am not going to install 1.3 until I hear more about its effect on non-freezing iMacs.

My mac has yet to freeze and I ran Tiger, Tiger w/ 1.1 and Tiger w/ 1.2, then Leopard and now Leopard w/ 1.3

[gattotimo]

Hi to you all, another new iMac user here :).

I read a lot of stuff about this freezing issue, and I'm very scared, so I'd like to post some question for those who know about this subject more than I do. And please forgive my english if something it's unclear.

Up till now the only issue I got with my 20" 2,4ghz (1 GB original ram, I'm planning on adding another 2 GB from Crucial) has been a fair amount of kernel panic, the one when a gray screen appears on boot with the message in 4 languages saying to manual reboot the system. I think those are related to my old usb modem, and since I repaired the disk permissions and replaced the modem it never happened again.

What I wanna ask is: what can I do to test if my iMac is one of the freezing one? I read I should try the arabesque screensaver, but I can't find any screensaver with such a name! What is its exact name? And how can I try to freeze the mac, should I run it in the preview window o it must be set at full screen? Then I read iTunes visual effects can cause the freeze, and I'm now running it in background: it sometime slowdown a bit, but not freeze so far. After how much should the freeze happen? There's some other test I can run to verify if I got a freezer instead of a Mac?

Thanks for reading, and sorry if these questions have already be posted, but as I told you I'm new to the Apple scene.

[flopticalcube]

Arabesque is only in Leopard. If you take a Photobooth photo of yourself, transfer it to iPhoto (via the iPhoto button in PhotoBooth) and then continuously spin the photo around in iPhoto you may get a lockup that way. Also moving the mouse back and forth rapidly over a magnified dock does the trick for some. Good luck.

[fyrfli]

W8741XXXXXX here sans ALL updates.

3 freezes total, one suspect since I was resizing a window with WoW in it ... none since and I have tried to ... tried the WoW window resize again, iTunes visualizer large screen mode with FPS cap removed, fast scan of dock, iPhoto ... it doesn't run Leopard yet (still antsy about upgrading in any form) so no TimeMachine test for me. WoW has been running fine for a week. My wallpaper changes every 30 minutes, my screen saver runs for 15 minutes before the screen goes to sleep ...

Stumped. Why would it freeze 3 times and then never again? Is that even possible?

[Spankey]

Stumped. Why would it freeze 3 times and then never again? Is that even possible?

That's what I observed when I first patched. It froze a few times immediately, then it was as if the system just kinda settled. Is it possible the software continues to update files after restart? I dunno, but I have been fine for days now.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

That's what I observed when I first patched. It froze a few times immediately, then it was as if the system just kinda settled. Is it possible the software continues to update files after restart? I dunno, but I have been fine for days now.

Have you run any graphically intensive stuff, and then rebooted shortly thereafter?

I ask because everything seemed to be going great for me since 1.3, but I played WoW for a bit this morning, then restarted and found the machine froze up right away again. Another reboot - same thing. Zapped the PRAM x6 and it was back up and running.

Wondering if you've found the same to be true, or if you wouldn't mind testing it out :)

[gattotimo]

Arabesque is only in Leopard. If you take a Photobooth photo of yourself, transfer it to iPhoto (via the iPhoto button in PhotoBooth) and then continuously spin the photo around in iPhoto you may get a lockup that way. Also moving the mouse back and forth rapidly over a magnified dock does the trick for some. Good luck.
Thanks for your help :). I tried both methods and maybe I'm lucky, the mac didn't freeze. My sn is W8739DXXXX. I'll try again with iTunes visual effects later, I want to be sure I do not need to return it back in warranty.

[Spankey]

Have you run any graphically intensive stuff, and then rebooted shortly thereafter?

I ask because everything seemed to be going great for me since 1.3, but I played WoW for a bit this morning, then restarted and found the machine froze up right away again. Another reboot - same thing. Zapped the PRAM x6 and it was back up and running.

Wondering if you've found the same to be true, or if you wouldn't mind testing it out :)

Yep. I played WoW all weekend without a hitch. Immediately after the upgrade, I ran WoW. It froze. Restarted. Froze again. Turned the iMac down in frustration and went to bed.

Next morning. Powered it on. Crash. Really Really peeved. One last thing to do. Reset PRAM. I reset it more than once. Usually after the "chime" gets a but louder during the reset.

Didn't want to stress the system as I had email to answer, I worked on the iMac for a bit without running WoW. A few hours later. WoW started. Never looked back. Been good ever since. Weird, I know.

[ryan2385]

That's what I observed when I first patched. It froze a few times immediately, then it was as if the system just kinda settled. Is it possible the software continues to update files after restart? I dunno, but I have been fine for days now.

That's odd. Same is happening to me. My machine never froze as much as others machines (during normal activities) it seems. However, before 1.3 I was able to make my machine freeze using the leopard screen savers while rapidly mousing over the magnified dock. Updated with 1.3 and I still was able to make it freeze. The past couple of days my comp has been flawless (pretty much - safari has started to occasionally crash) though. I have tried the screen saver and mousing "test" and it has passed everytime. I even tried doing this test with WoW and iPhoto in the background---still no freeze. Now, this is either good or bad news --Good if it never freezes again/ Bad if it randomly freezes because I won't be able to reproduce the problem to a genius anymore. I will keep you guys updated.

[Spankey]

The new issue is trying to decide if the freezing is caused by Leopard, Video Card, system board, etc.

Still pretty flawless. I posted earlier about one freeze with Lotsawater screensaver over the weekend, but that happend with the computer coming out of sleep mode. A quick reboot solved all the problems. The screensaver itself may need to be updated, so who can tell. I pretty much have no fears of a random crash now. Before the patch..never could tell.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

OK... I guess I take back everything I've said over the past few days...

1.3 didn't help. In fact I just got graphic corruption for the first time since I got this machine. The machine ran so well over the weekend but it has been lockup-tastic all day today...

I finally cracked over an hour ago and called Apple. One thing I will recommend to anyone planning to do the same, make sure when the first person you speak to gets on the phone starts to mention some trouble shooting he'd like you to do, you just start listing all the things you've already done (SMC,PRAM,Repair Permissions, Hardware Test, etc.)

I pretty much bypassed that guy. After I gave my speech he just said "OK.. well I can't really do anything else for you. Please hold while I get a product specialist." Just remember to be polite. :)


Hour and ten minutes on hold so far :(

Also - I stuck a screenshot of the messed up graphics and a bunch of crashlog info (ASIC Hang) on my .mac page for whoever on the phone to look at. Hopefully that will save some time as well:

Link Here (http://homepage.mac.com/andrew.guzman/FileSharing4.html)

[srichart1]

Well, I have spoken with people 'in the know' at Apple and a software update is coming sometime between 10pm tonight and Wednesday evening. The issue is the video card driver without a doubt.

It is speculated that there is a problem with the timing of the video card driver coming online during boot up. I have noticed that if you get artifacts at the log in screen it will crash.

For all of you who are sending your Imacs back for a video card swap.. Don't do it. Wait until Wednesday. Insiders are confident the next update will fix the problem.

:D

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

Well, I have spoken with people 'in the know' at Apple and a software update is coming sometime between 10pm tonight and Wednesday evening. The issue is the video card driver without a doubt.

It is speculated that there is a problem with the timing of the video card driver coming online during boot up. I have noticed that if you get artifacts at the log in screen it will crash.

For all of you who are sending your Imacs back for a video card swap.. Don't do it. Wait until Wednesday. Insiders are confident the next update will fix the problem.

:D

Oh how I hope you're right... my call just got dropped after being on hold for 1.5 hours! (Likely at&t wireless' fault - not Apple dropping me)

This doesn't really explain why it crashes in Boot Camp... or why it only happens to some machines though.

[wakerider017]

Well, I have spoken with people 'in the know' at Apple and a software update is coming sometime between 10pm tonight and Wednesday evening. The issue is the video card driver without a doubt.

It is speculated that there is a problem with the timing of the video card driver coming online during boot up. I have noticed that if you get artifacts at the log in screen it will crash.

For all of you who are sending your Imacs back for a video card swap.. Don't do it. Wait until Wednesday. Insiders are confident the next update will fix the problem.

:D

As much as I hope you are right, I am reluctant to take your word for it.

Please don't take this the wrong way... I am not trying to be rude..


1. You are new to the forums.
2. You have not told us where you heard this info.

Oh how I hope you're right... my call just got dropped after being on hold for 1.5 hours! (Likely at&t wireless' fault - not Apple dropping me)

This doesn't really explain why it crashes in Boot Camp... or why it only happens to some machines though.

Ha, don't be so quick to let Apple off the hook.

I was on hold for 2 hours (on a land line) and I got dropped.

[samt14]

Well, I have spoken with people 'in the know' at Apple and a software update is coming sometime between 10pm tonight and Wednesday evening. The issue is the video card driver without a doubt.

It is speculated that there is a problem with the timing of the video card driver coming online during boot up. I have noticed that if you get artifacts at the log in screen it will crash.

For all of you who are sending your Imacs back for a video card swap.. Don't do it. Wait until Wednesday. Insiders are confident the next update will fix the problem.

:D

That would be amazing, i'm just wondering though, how come some macs freeze while others don't? I believe u and all, but just wondering if u know from your insiders why this is the case. Thanks

[srichart1]

As much as I hope you are right, I am reluctant to take your word for it.

Please don't take this the wrong way... I am not trying to be rude..


1. You are new to the forums.
2. You have not told us where you heard this info.



Ha, don't be so quick to let Apple off the hook.

I was on hold for 2 hours (on a land line) and I got dropped.
-----

I am not new to this forum, just not so vocal. I heard this from someone who works at Apple who also is involved with solving driver issues.

My message was to keep you guys updated, not to spark a debate. Apple will fix it. They always do.

[samt14]

-----

I am not new to this forum, just not so vocal. I heard this from someone who works at Apple who also is involved with solving driver issues.

My message was to keep you guys updated, not to spark a debate. Apple will fix it. They always do.

Well thanks for the update, i just hope u r right, i was going to take mine in on friday, was about to wipe the drive so i don't get the "oh it could be software installation bs".
If u get a chance to talk to ur apple friend, find out why some work fine and some macs freeze, as a driver issue should affect all systems, no?

[srichart1]

That would be amazing, i'm just wondering though, how come some macs freeze while others don't? I believe u and all, but just wondering if u know from your insiders why this is the case. Thanks

I wish I could say for sure but it involves how (fast) the video card via it's driver interfaces with the bus on the Imac mother board. I believe they will be delaying when the driver 'engine' starts during the bootup process. From what I understand, not all of the data is making it to configure the video card during the initialization process.

Hope that helps.

[wakerider017]

-----

I am not new to this forum, just not so vocal. I heard this from someone who works at Apple who also is involved with solving driver issues.

My message was to keep you guys updated, not to spark a debate. Apple will fix it. They always do.

Cool Cool! I really hope your right!!!

That would be awesome!

[srichart1]

Cool Cool! I really hope your right!!!

That would be awesome!

Yes, it would be awesome. I mean... Who wants a $2300 pile of crap that looks like a picasso painting?

The Imac is an amazing machine. And in a few months this will all be behind us.

I really appreciate this forum where everyone can come together and share about what is going on. Unfortunately, everytime good information is posted on the Apple Discussions Forums about the freezing Imac issue, Apple locks it down... Not here!

Cheers.

[samt14]

I wish I could say for sure but it involves how (fast) the video card via it's driver interfaces with the bus on the Imac mother board. I believe they will be delaying when the driver 'engine' starts during the bootup process. From what I understand, not all of the data is making it to configure the video card during the initialization process.

Hope that helps.

THank you for your response. I think what you are saying makes sense. I guess motherboard bus speeds aren't exactly the same on all systems.
Sounds good though, can't wait for the release.

[Spankey]

It is speculated that there is a problem with the timing of the video card driver coming online during boot up. I have noticed that if you get artifacts at the log in screen it will crash.


That would make sense and explain why the card crashed during the screensaver while coming out of sleep.

Anyone know if there are audio issues as well? I get some audio stuttering in WoW, which could be the video driver, game, etc...

[Marble]

You're really getting my hopes up, mister! They've already been deflated once (1.2 update...), so I really hope you're right or my heart will break! (Or, more likely, my patience.)

[DataChris]

Just noticing apple replaced the 1.2 update with a 1.2.1 update.

Anyone try this one yet?

[Banjhiyi]

Has anyone got a freezer built in week 42 or later (bear in mind we ain't likely to see any week 45's delivered until next week)?

[Samuel88]

Just noticing apple replaced the 1.2 update with a 1.2.1 update.

Anyone try this one yet?

I created a thread to discuss the 1.2.1 http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=382473.

[hallio]

I'm glad to have found this thread and see that I'm not the only one with these problems (far from it in fact!).

I have a week 41 (W87410...) and it has frozen more times in the last 5 days since I bought it than all my windows machines in the past 5 years. It pains me to say that as I was really looking forward to making the switch...

I have Leopard (upgraded from Tiger as the first thing when i got it home) software update 1.3, and an extra 1gb of RAM from Crucial (2gb total).

I bought this machine as a replacement for our aging TV, video, DVD, DVB-T boxes. The idea of just one plug in the wall and all that Mac goodness was too tempting to resist. However the machine is barely up for more than about 20 minutes at a time. Strangely the live TV (Elgato) actually works pretty well - it's just trying to use the Mac as a computer that is causing the problems.

Spaces, screen savers, waking from sleep, Safari and in fact pretty much anything will cause the machine to freeze with just the mouse pointer working.

I'm really hoping that some kind of update appears over the next few days as I'm tearing my hair out here. I've spent weeks convincing myself (and my wife!) that this was the right move and am now beginning to look foolish!!

Here's hoping......

Steve

[jonnyb]

So is there a 1.3.1 update for Leopard or just a 1.2.1 update for Tiger?

[Marble]

So is everyone twice shy about Apple's updates? I want to hear about 1.2.1 but I'm not going to risk my current stability at 1.0 to do it.

[Kirk]

So could this be the update that srichart1 was talking about? Would be interesting to hear from anyone with a freezing iMac if this finally works.


Just noticing apple replaced the 1.2 update with a 1.2.1 update.

Anyone try this one yet?

[agentphish]

I'm here to tell you that it's very likely that More fixes are coming.

[Luap]

So is there a 1.3.1 update for Leopard or just a 1.2.1 update for Tiger?

1.2.1 is to address a bug with tiger +1.2 users trying to upgrade to Leopard.
Given that Leopard users already have Leopard, then there wont be any 1.3.1 update. At least not to address that same bug anyway.

[darkerside]

Hey all
I need my computer for business and wanted to purchase another iMac for the house so I figured let me buy a new one and then I can repair my freezer iMac and put it in my house. Of course this time after buying my iMac i stressed tested it. If it showed a little sign of freezing I would take it back and get another one.
Well the good news is its not a freezer :-)
In fact i am quite surprised how much faster and smother it runs compared to the freezer. I am total satisfied. (now to see about repairing or maybe getting an exchange for my freezer)
From what I can see this definitely has to be a hardware issue.
My advise repair or exchange your freezers. No software update can fix them.

NOTE: I work in tech support and I know a lot of times end users can mistake one problem for another. It is important to note that application crashes/freezes can be mistaken for the graphic hang OS freeze that many of us have experienced. If your iMac freezes from scrolling over the doc, screensaver caused freeze, or some of the other easy ways explained in these forums then you got a freezer and should definitely look to repair or exchange.
It is my belief that the iMac software updates that were released, were aimed at improving the drivers so they run with apps better. Of course those of us with bad hardware experienced freezes.

[atthecross]

In fact i am quite surprised how much faster and smother it runs compared to the freezer....

I am in total agreement!!! After having a 'freezer' since early September and comparing it to my new non-freezer; I too am convinced I had a hardware failure

[ascender]

Am home from work and the freezing has started again with a vengeance.

Is it too late for me to try and get this machine swapped out for a replacement? Its a launch machine and I'm in the UK. How would I go about it if its possible?

[Banjhiyi]

It's clearly been a hardware issue all along and no amount of apologists can change that. The attitude of Apple here is nothing short of despicable; a lack of 'proper' official announcements (not just low-down admin staff talking to obscure tech sites) but also trying to weasle their way out of a recall costing customers time and money waiting for these pathetic 'fixes' that only have a blunderbus effect - churn enough out and someone somewhere may be sorted by it.

Talk about shaft your punters.

[ascender]

I have to phone my local repair agent and drop my machine off to them to be "fixed". The guy didn't seem to know anything about the problem, so it was a waste of 30 minutes on the phone tbh.

If you have the problem, don't bother phoning Apple, just book your machine in to your local Applestore/authorised repair place.

Very annoying.

[Mindflux]

I have to phone my local repair agent and drop my machine off to them to be "fixed". The guy didn't seem to know anything about the problem, so it was a waste of 30 minutes on the phone tbh.

If you have the problem, don't bother phoning Apple, just book your machine in to your local Applestore/authorised repair place.

Very annoying.

Oh, yeah. Because having no prior record of you having this problem by not calling Apple is going to help.

[ascender]

Oh, yeah. Because having no prior record of you having this problem by not calling Apple is going to help.

Its not going to make a blind bit of difference according to the guy on the phone. Apple still haven't made it a major issue on their systems. When I phoned up I was expecting him to say "yip, the freezing issue, we're aware of that. What we can do is.....". But no.

I have to phone the local repair centre myself and make a new appointment to leave my machine with them. The guy has said he's not updated anything on their systems as there's no point until the repair agents have had a look at it.

[Mindflux]

Its not going to make a blind bit of difference according to the guy on the phone. Apple still haven't made it a major issue on their systems. When I phoned up I was expecting him to say "yip, the freezing issue, we're aware of that. What we can do is.....". But no.

I have to phone the local repair centre myself and make a new appointment to leave my machine with them. The guy has said he's not updated anything on their systems as there's no point until the repair agents have had a look at it.


The difference is, eventually Apple can go "Oh I see you've called 4 times on this issue!".. and then of course if enough people log their complaint they may see a pattern.

[Bolteh]

Received Leopard today (UTD). Thought I'd give it a shot (if it locks up all the time, I can actually prove the freezing). Instead of updating, I chose a clean install.

Anyway, during the installation, small artifacts were showing at the menubar, but it didn't freeze. Installation ended after about half an hour, the computer rebooted, showed the funky "welcome" movie (God, I hate that song). After the movie, a window popped up to pick the country, but couldn't actually pick anything since the computer froze. I rebooted, the movie played again (God really must hate me), the movie ended and I saw a faded glimpse of the select-country-window, but the computer had frozen again. I rebooted yet again, the movie played yet again (this time I muted my speakers), window pops up, and by Zeus! It worked.

Anyway, onwards to the desktop, artifatcs were showing here and there, but nothing too major. I installed all the updates (yes, I like russian roulette) but the computer froze when I hovered over the dock right after boot. So I did another reboot, followed by a PRAM reset, got back in Leopard and no artifacts showing!

I played around a bit with Front Row, Fired up Arabesque screensaver for about 2 minutes. Spammed the dock with my cursor (and coverflow as well), Played WoW a bit in fullscreen with all settings max'd (excluding AA), no artifacts or freezing. Now I'm typing here while throwing my mouse around over the dock, still no artifacts nor freezing.

I expected worse tbh, I was preparing myself for a whole night of frustration with a freeze every 5 minutes.

Now, I do know that I still have a freezer, though, and I'll keep waiting for a bit to see if Apple comes up with something.

[ascender]

The difference is, eventually Apple can go "Oh I see you've called 4 times on this issue!".. and then of course if enough people log their complaint they may see a pattern.

He never opened a case though, which was strange. Its hard to know what Apple are thinking about this one though, they're certainly playing their cards close to their chest.

Luckily I'm off on holiday over this weekend so I might drop my iMac in before I leave and see what the verdict is.

[steken]

I had a iMac that until a day ago would freeze and would also give strange scene artifacts. Problems started after it had been running a while, Front Row would cause a definite freeze if scrolling through photo folders quickly. I would also have the same problem running windows through Bootcamp.

Now all of a sudden no problems what so ever and I have been deliberately gone out of my way to try and get the system to crash but to no avail.

Not sure what has happened, had problems right up until I downloaded the updates with regard to Quicktime and some other program. Now my system is just fine (fingers crossed). Did Apple slip some other updates in there or did some update happen that I did not catch?

Anyone else notice the same?

Steken

[flopticalcube]

I had a iMac that until a day ago would freeze and would also give strange scene artifacts. Problems started after it had been running a while, Front Row would cause a definite freeze if scrolling through photo folders quickly. I would also have the same problem running windows through Bootcamp.

Now all of a sudden no problems what so ever and I have been deliberately gone out of my way to try and get the system to crash but to no avail.

Not sure what has happened, had problems right up until I downloaded the updates with regard to Quicktime and some other program. Now my system is just fine (fingers crossed). Did Apple slip some other updates in there or did some update happen that I did not catch?

Anyone else notice the same?

Steken

I had the same. It can go for days with nothing and then it will die every few minutes and then again days with nothing. Update 1.2.1 came out as well but its not been overly successful going by what I have read.

[DFL274]

If it is a driver issue that would explain why I sometimes get random lockups in Mac OS but when I boot into Windows I don't.

I'll never understand why Apple went with ATI. They have a history of buggy drivers.

[snickelfritz]

Actually, ATi has a much longer history on the Mac than nvidia.
I'l agree that ATi Windows video drivers have historically been less stellar.

The video drivers (and hardware) on my 24" alu iMac seem excellent.
Quake3 timedemo at standard HQ settings returns a score 750fps(!)

[nzmc36]

Sorry if this is a repeat, but I loaded the new update (on my August 2.8gHz iMac), ans it seemed a lot faster.... going on this good news I loaded Leopard and the machine is now almost completely unusable. I crashed 9 times in the first 50 minutes of use. It took me 3 attempts to send an email to Applecare.. freezing continously. Getting really pis*ed off here.

[Bolteh]

AppleCare has a mail address? :O

[nzmc36]

AppleCare has a mail address? :O

Well, I bit*hed so much about my two new iMacs freezing they opened an email dialogue with me to help sort it out. Not much use so far tho'. I suspect I'm going to have to reinstall Tiger after all the freezing yesterday evening.... such a pain. I have to teach 3 days a week and this is just killing me trying to get my work done.

[yodamoppet]

Emailed Steve Jobs. He actually replied, get this:

There is an iMac software update coming late this week that should fix the problems. Sorry, and thanks for your patience.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

Thanks, Steve!

:)

[Luap]

Emailed Steve Jobs. He actually replied, get this:

There is an iMac software update coming late this week that should fix the problems. Sorry, and thanks for your patience.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

Thanks, Steve!

:)


Thats quite impressive I guess. As it certainly isn't what happened when I emailed him.
When did you get the reply? Im assuming/hoping hes talking about another update. IE, 1.2.5/1.3.5 for example, and not the ones we got last week.

[yodamoppet]

The email was sent yesterday morning, and I got a reply sometime last night. This would be referring to another update, beyond the 1.2, 1.2.1, or 1.3 (al) updates.

Made my day.

[Luap]

Made my day.

Yeah thats a nice result :) When I emailed him about the issue, I was promptly contacted by a lady from Apple Executive Relations in Ireland. She was infinitely more helpful than those AppleCare chumps however, so I was content enough with that.

[sctsprin]

since installing the 1.3 update on my 2.8ghz imac, the temperature at the top of the imac metal casing has dropped by about 20 degrees celcius, making me think that apple have dropped the clock speeds of the gpu and/or cpu to try and fix the crashes. the fans aren't noticeably running louder or more often, but using temperature monitor, the temps of the cpus and gpus are down around 35-35C instead of the 60C-70C before the udpate.

[wakerider017]

Emailed Steve Jobs. He actually replied, get this:

There is an iMac software update coming late this week that should fix the problems. Sorry, and thanks for your patience.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

Thanks, Steve!

:)

No offense, but this is coming from someone with 2 posts on this website...

Not exactly a "trusted" source.

[imacan]

since installing the 1.3 update on my 2.8ghz imac, the temperature at the top of the imac metal casing has dropped by about 20 degrees celcius, making me think that apple have dropped the clock speeds of the gpu and/or cpu to try and fix the crashes. the fans aren't noticeably running louder or more often, but using temperature monitor, the temps of the cpus and gpus are down around 35-35C instead of the 60C-70C before the udpate.

No change in temperatures on my 2.8 since the updates. Still 40-50 C for CPU, 50-60 for GPU and 60-70 for power supply. All is ok on that side.

[flopticalcube]

Well, I have spoken with people 'in the know' at Apple and a software update is coming sometime between 10pm tonight and Wednesday evening. The issue is the video card driver without a doubt.

It is speculated that there is a problem with the timing of the video card driver coming online during boot up. I have noticed that if you get artifacts at the log in screen it will crash.

For all of you who are sending your Imacs back for a video card swap.. Don't do it. Wait until Wednesday. Insiders are confident the next update will fix the problem.

:D

Well. Its Wednesday evening. Was 1.2.1 the big fix? If it was, it didn't.

[srichart1]

Well. Its Wednesday evening. Was 1.2.1 the big fix? If it was, it didn't.

It is coming, just a little late. The new word is by Friday!

[Bolteh]

I somehow think we're dealing with some jokers here, taking fun in the misery of others.

Let me guess, if it isn't friday, it's monday, if it isn't monday it's wednesday, and so on?

[SaSaSushi]

I somehow think we're dealing with some jokers here, taking fun in the misery of others.

Let me guess, if it isn't friday, it's monday, if it isn't monday it's wednesday, and so on?

This just in from AppleInsider:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/11/08/freezing_imacs_may_be_victims_of_hardware_not_software.html

As I suspected there is now mounting evidence that the iMacs that are experiencing freezing have faulty hardware. I've been thankful ever since I saw the reports of freezing surface that my machine is stable but always said I would send it back to Apple in a second for repair or replacement if it did (or if it DOES from here on).

I'm in Japan though and the AppleCare support seems to be a bit more liberal with such issues than in the US or Europe. They don't generally ask too many questions and just send out a repairman to pick up the machine on their dime when you call with a hardware issue.

Apple may have a humongous global Aluminum iMac recall coming and a whole lot of video cards to replace.

[4God]

Well, week 44 (W8744XXXXXX) is on it's way from China via FedEx as we speak. Should be here on friday the 9th. I sure hope it's not a bricked freezer. That's a lot of money for a paper weight.

Arrived yesterday (a couple of days early) and so far, not a freezer. It came with Tiger pre-installed and a Leopard drop-in, so I just did an erase and install. This baby screams! I know it is probably too early to tell but so far, so good. :D

[snickelfritz]

This just in from AppleInsider:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/11/08/freezing_imacs_may_be_victims_of_hardware_not_software.html

As I suspected there is now mounting evidence that the iMacs that are experiencing freezing have faulty hardware. I've been thankful ever since I saw the reports of freezing surface that my machine is stable but always said I would send it back to Apple in a second for repair or replacement if it did (or if it DOES from here on).

I'm in Japan though and the AppleCare support seems to be a bit more liberal with such issues than in the US or Europe. They don't generally ask too many questions and just send out a repairman to pick up the machine on their dime when you call with a hardware issue.

Apple may have a humongous global Aluminum iMac recall coming and a whole lot of video cards to replace.

Yeah, it's been obvious practically from day one that this problem is hardware-related.
Otherwise, all iMacs would be affected to some degree, since they all run the same software.
The difference between "good" and "bad" iMacs is like night and day.

[wakerider017]

I somehow think we're dealing with some jokers here, taking fun in the misery of others.

Let me guess, if it isn't friday, it's monday, if it isn't monday it's wednesday, and so on?


Ya, Isn't it funny only the "newbies" have the inside info...

I call BS.

Yeah, it's been obvious practically from day one that this problem is hardware-related.
Otherwise, all iMacs would be affected to some degree, since they all run the same software.
The difference between "good" and "bad" iMacs is like night and day.

Well, at this point I am hoping your right and it is hardware.

When I get my new system, I want it to run perfectly!

[imac2007]

I just got my Imac replaced I called last week to tech support about freezing they said they wanted to look at computer and would send out a new one soon. Well it only took 3 days for the exchange to take place my new one is working great so far. I think anyone with a freezing up mac should be screaming to get it replaced because it is not software that is causing this problem this is my opinion only.This is my very first mac and I think they treated me far better than what I got with Dell.

[yodamoppet]

Surprised?!?!

No one was more surprised than me that Steve replied.

The fact is, I have two faulty iMacs which freeze. I called apple and they want me to drive them 1 hour to the nearest apple store. Frustrated, I emailed sjobs@apple.com and got a (albeit short) reply, which I posted.

Take it or leave it.

For those un-bitter, seriously wondering folks, this message was after the 1.2.1 fix for Tiger. So, it would be a 1.2.2 (Tiger) or 1.3.1 (Leopard) or higher patch. The wording from Steve was "late this week".

Best,

D

[srichart1]

Were are just trying to share what we know. You really shouldn't downplay what anyone has to say based on when they joined this forum. If you knew why your IMac was freezing, you wouldn't be trolling this forum.

One way or the other, I believe Apple will fix the problem. Even if we are all wrong about it being a software fix or a hardware repair. It will still get fixed.

[wakerider017]

Were are just trying to share what we know. You really shouldn't downplay what anyone has to say based on when they joined this forum. If you knew why your IMac was freezing, you wouldn't be trolling this forum.

One way or the other, I believe Apple will fix the problem. Even if we are all wrong about it being a software fix or a hardware repair. It will still get fixed.

This is a rumors site...

Believe it or not, people do sign up and purposely spread misinformation.

Not saying you are,

Just saying two members with a low post count are claiming that an update will be released later this week.

Why are they the only ones with the inside info? I don't know..

[srichart1]

This is a rumors site...

Believe it or not, people do sign up and purposely spread misinformation.

Not saying you are,

Just saying two members with a low post count are claiming that an update will be released later this week.

Why are they the only ones with the inside info? I don't know..

Maybe, but from what I have read on this issue, everyone is trying to help and hopefully try to bring a resolution to the issue.

[Marble]

I'm going to wait a little longer, and be all the angrier if this next update falls through.

[wakerider017]

Maybe, but from what I have read on this issue, everyone is trying to help and hopefully try to bring a resolution to the issue.

So that means there is no possibility of some one registering to spread false info for the fun of it?


:rolleyes:

I'll believe it when I see it.

[srichart1]

So that means there is no possibility of some one registering to spread false info for the fun of it?


:rolleyes:

I'll believe it when I see it.

Well, I choose to have a little more faith in my Mac friends.

Remember, were all in the same boat as you. My Imac has been a freezer since day one and I kept listening to my Apple friends to 'just wait a few more days'. Well, guess what, I am now out of the customary return period. So now, if what I have heard about a software fix is incorrect, I am stuck with a repaired machine. Why would anyone make something like that up....

[Marble]

Well, I choose to have a little more faith in my Mac friends.

Remember, were all in the same boat as you. My Imac has been a freezer since day one and I kept listening to my Apple friends to 'just wait a few more days'. Well, guess what, I am now out of the customary return period. So now, if what I have heard about a software fix is incorrect, I am stuck with a repaired machine. Why would anyone make something like that up....


I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, srichart, because it's better to live in hope. :p

[srichart1]

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, srichart, because it's better to live in hope. :p

Thanks, Bro.

[Tom J]

Ya, Isn't it funny only the "newbies" have the inside info...

I call BS.

Comments like this speak volumes about your own credibility.

[hofnar]

They don't generally ask too many questions and just send out a repairman to pick up the machine on their dime when you call with a hardware issue.


Don't you love that!?

[wakerider017]

Comments like this speak volumes about your own credibility.

That doesn't make much sense but okay. I am not the one claiming I have inside info...

And this means a lot coming from another "newbie".

I guess you guys stick together or something...

[wakerider017]

Isn't it funny that the two people (srichart1, yodamoppet) saying they have inside info are:

1. Both new to the site

2. Both use the "title option" when posting a new reply (Most users don't bother with this)

3. Both use the word "bro" (which again is not commonly used on these boards)

4. Both type similarly. (Lots of commas, and both users put their periods outside the quotation marks)



Not saying for sure that we have one guy who is just pulling our chain, But I have forwarded this matter to a moderator so it can be looked at...

[yodamoppet]

5. Both have iMacs that freeze.

:)

I understand your disbelief.

Best,

D

[wakerider017]

Well it is Friday... You have about 18 more hours if you are going by PST

[caseydude]

Leopard still freezes for me with all updates :(
Tiger doesnt so im sticking with Tiger for now.

[srichart1]

If the fix doesn't come today I will be taking mine to the Applestore tomorrow. Can you believe that from a newbie. You can come with me if you wish.

[srichart1]

I wanted to give you all some info on my Imac that freezes. It seems that if I can get a good boot out of mine, it is impossible to crash it. I can always tell when it's going to freeze due to the presence of artifacts during log in.

I have re-booted a few times with no problems and I haven't crashed in a few days. I have been leaving the machine on all of the time, so the temperature theory doesn't hold much water.

I am convinced, at least in my case, that the problem is happening due to the video card not initializing properly during start up. I would bet a steak dinner to whom ever could prove me wrong (one person only).

It is my opinion that the Apple 'insider', as some refer, is correct and software will fix the problem. I just hope they do not slow down something on the video card or bus to compensate.

We'll see. I hope this info helps someone.

[Bolteh]

I wanted to give you all some info on my Imac that freezes. It seems that if I can get a good boot out of mine, it is impossible to crash it. I can always tell when it's going to freeze due to the presence of artifacts during log in.

I have re-booted a few times with no problems and I haven't crashed in a few days. I have been leaving the machine on all of the time, so the temperature theory doesn't hold much water.

I am convinced, at least in my case, that the problem is happening due to the video card not initializing properly during start up. I would bet a steak dinner to whom ever could prove me wrong (one person only).

It is my opinion that the Apple 'insider', as some refer, is correct and software will fix the problem. I just hope they do not slow down something on the video card or bus to compensate.

We'll see. I hope this info helps someone.

Actually, I've been thinking this myself as well.. It depends on boots for me as well.. Last 3 days I was able to boot my computer (after a shutdown for the night) and I couldn't freeze my iMac no matter what I tried. Dock, Arabesque, iTunes, video, gaming, PhotoBooth, iPhote, Photoshop, Final cut Pro.. Nothing would make my iMac freeze..

But alas, today it booted and some artifacts showed in the dock, resulting in a freeze 5 minutes later.. I've been struggling with artifacts and freezes for a few hours now. Il'l shut it down later tonight after I finished something for school, then leave it be for the night and see what tomorrow brings.

[imacan]

This can be read on the Apple forums:

SOME NEWS:
guys, i mentioned before i use to intern at ATI in the apple group. I contacted some people there, they finally answers. They said it has to do with the memory id on the graphics chip. They are NOT the same on all cards, they use different vendors for the memory on the graphics card. The problem occurs at boot, that's why the freezing is random. Look at the MemVendorID for those that are freezing. They should all be the same.

They also told me they working on the fix and it will be released next week.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5805421#5805421

[gvg45]

Leopard still freezes for me with all updates :(
Tiger doesnt so im sticking with Tiger for now.

Yeah, same for me.

My iMac runs perfectly on Tiger. Uptimes of 10+days on iStat, but with Leopard, I'm lucky if I get 3 hours.

I have re-loaded Tiger and will wait it out...

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

They also told me they working on the fix and it will be released next week.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5805421#5805421

:( It's always next week. Remember 2 weeks ago when it was next week? And then it was by this Wednesday, and then by the end of this week... and now next week again.

We just keep getting strung along. I'd be really frustrated if I was within my 14 day return period and had been dragged through it with all of these patch promises.

[Dont Hurt Me]

This can be read on the Apple forums:

SOME NEWS:
guys, i mentioned before i use to intern at ATI in the apple group. I contacted some people there, they finally answers. They said it has to do with the memory id on the graphics chip. They are NOT the same on all cards, they use different vendors for the memory on the graphics card. The problem occurs at boot, that's why the freezing is random. Look at the MemVendorID for those that are freezing. They should all be the same.

They also told me they working on the fix and it will be released next week.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5805421#5805421They fix this and get the 10.5.1 out it just may be time to buy the iMac,,,or perhaps wait for new ProMac.

[imacan]

The command in Terminal to get mem info:

ioreg -l | grep ATY | grep Mem

my results:

"ATY,MemVendorID" = <0600>
"ATY,MemRevisionID" = <0100>

My iMac froze 3 times 3 weeks after I got it at the end of August (twice in Frontrow, once while encoding in iDVD, never froze again since. I applied update 1.3.

[lamemodem]

The command in Terminal to get mem info:

ioreg -l | grep ATY | grep Mem

my results:

"ATY,MemVendorID" = <0600>
"ATY,MemRevisionID" = <0100>



Well, there goes that theory. I have a 24" 2.4 Alu iMac that is NOT freezing. When I enter that command into Terminal I get the exact same result. Well, almost the same: mine came up in reverse order. RevisionID first, then VendorID.

[imacan]

Well, there goes that theory. I have a 24" 2.4 Alu iMac that is NOT freezing. When I enter that command into Terminal I get the exact same result. Well, almost the same: mine came up in reverse order. RevisionID first, then VendorID.

Not too sure, I am not what you would consider a typical freezer since it never froze since those 3 times in a row many weeks ago and the freezes appeared after one of the iMac updates. There is no possible way that I can make it freeze now. So maybe the freezes I experienced are not of the same type as those having chronic ones. :confused:

[srichart1]

It looks as though I was lied to by Apple. I am sorry for the false information about an update by the end of the week. Hello Applestore.

[SaSaSushi]

It looks as though I was lied to by Apple. I am sorry for the false information about an update by the end of the week. Hello Applestore.

Gee, that IS hard to believe considering you had the mail from Steve Jobs himself promising it. Straight from his iPhone. Or was that your alter ego?

[srichart1]

Gee, that IS hard to believe considering you had the mail from Steve Jobs himself promising it. Straight from his iPhone. Or was that your alter ego?

That wasn't me. I never got an email from Jobs.

[Marble]

That week sure did die with a whimper, didn't it?

[srichart1]

That wasn't me. I never got an email from Jobs.

More than you know.... Head tucked between legs..

[neoben]

Howdy...

So, I've given up.

I returned my iMac today, the 3rd time it's gone back to the store (and my 2nd iMac with this problem).

Got a refund, bought a MacMini. Will upgrade it to 2GB and eSATA external HD of 500GB. with a 24 inch monitor, I'm still $400 under what I was spending on the iMac...

Most of my power-computing is done on a MacPro, so I probably won't miss the speed bump too much. At least it won't be freezing on me all the time...

-Ben
---------------------------------------------------------
neo-fight.tv - {The Weekly Technology Podcast}

[evanrousso]

I just wish they would release an update for the none AL intel iMacs.

[jeffzoom91]

I haven't had a hardware related freezing issue from day one, at all. The only two major freezes i've had were: 1) opening like 25 garageband loops at once, with only 1 gig of ram
2) connecting to someone's public iDisk, screensharing with that person, and from his computer making the iDisk public writable as well as adding a password, that freaked out the Finder, but that's it. Heavy rendering goes on all night without the fans making a peep, and in the morning i can do anything without a problem. I can even play Team Fortress 2 in windows for hours on end, and the fans aren't audible. My iMac is god, bow down to it.:apple:

[TheRuggedLion]

The only time my iMac freezes is in Front Row when the album art is rotating through, and when the music is playing and the album cover flips to the other side of the screen.

Well I was able to somehow get out of a frozen front row, and took this picture. I just feel like sharing it with you guys for some odd reason.

[lugesm]

I posted the following in another thread and got no response.
Hope I am not violating any rules by posting again.

I have been running an Al iMac 24 since September 5. Loaded Leopard on October 27. No problem with OS upgrade.

Have experienced NO freezes to date, but the machine is still fairly simple in that I have not loaded many 3rd party apps. I have loaded several hundred pictures to iPhoto and several hundred mp3s to iTunes.

QUESTION: Would it be wise for me to upgrade to iMac 1.3 anyway? Or, could this just cause problems where I don't have any now? Other fixes in 1.3? Or, should I just leave "well enough" alone? :confused:

Thanks for your comments.

[darkerside]

I posted the following in another thread and got no response.
Hope I am not violating any rules by posting again.

I have been running an Al iMac 24 since September 5. Loaded Leopard on October 27. No problem with OS upgrade.

Have experienced NO freezes to date, but the machine is still fairly simple in that I have not loaded many 3rd party apps. I have loaded several hundred pictures to iPhoto and several hundred mp3s to iTunes.

QUESTION: Would it be wise for me to upgrade to iMac 1.3 anyway? Or, could this just cause problems where I don't have any now? Other fixes in 1.3? Or, should I just leave "well enough" alone? :confused:

Thanks for your comments.

If your iMac is not a freezer the update should not effect your computer negatively.


And for the person who posted up above about the memory revisions here is what I get (non freezer)
| | | | "ATY,MemVendorID" = <0100>
| | | | "ATY,MemRevisionID" = <0900>

[srichart1]

Got a phone call today from Apple's Executive Offices on behalf of Steve Jobs. I sent him an email a few days ago. They are very sorry for the trouble I am having with my IMac and will do whatever it takes to make sure I am satisfied. Nice customer service.

A technician will be calling me later to run me through a few tests and if it is still not working to my satisfaction, will be replacing my unit.

I look forward to seeing what happens.

[Marble]

I wonder if the "promised" update is still coming.

[srichart1]

I wonder if the "promised" update is still coming.

Yes, but after talking to the apple technician, they are convinced it's hardware.
I don't know what to believe anymore...

Taking it in this weekend for repair or replacement.

[yodamoppet]

Hello all...

As Steve indicated in his email to me, iMac firmware update 1.0 has been released. It must have been delayed past last week when promised.

I have installed on 1 of my 3 AL iMacs, and it seems to be stable in the affected screen savers/apps. I hope this is the fix for everyone!

Best,

D

[srichart1]

Well, installed the update and I feel somewhat vindicated as to the reliability of information from us NEWBIES. Ha! The firmware update worked! Thanks, Steve!

[Marble]

Joy, joy!

[yodamoppet]

Well, all 3 iMacs are now working great. They absolutely refuse to freeze! Thanks, Steve!

For those of you who didn't believe the "newbies":

pwned.

[SaSaSushi]

Well, all 3 iMacs are now working great. They absolutely refuse to freeze! Thanks, Steve!

For those of you who didn't believe the "newbies":

pwned.

You're clearly a newbie to the game of flamebaiting. Can't you do any better than obviously posting the same nonsense over and over again under two separate nyms, one congratulating the other?

That's so old school.

I did like the personal e-mail from Steve Job's iPhone promising you an iMac update by the end of the week. That was at least a bit inventive.

Anyway, congrats to all those out there who've thawed out their freezers with the new firmware. I imagine it must be a lot like getting a brand new machine with all the headaches you've endured over the past few weeks.

[srichart1]

You're clearly a newbie to the game of flamebaiting. Can't you do any better than obviously posting the same nonsense over and over again under two separate nyms, one congratulating the other?

That's so old school.

I did like the personal e-mail from Steve Job's iPhone promising you an iMac update by the end of the week. That was at least a bit inventive.

Anyway, congrats to all those out there who've thawed out their freezers with the new firmware. I imagine it must be a lot like getting a brand new machine with all the headaches you've endured over the past few weeks.

What.. Do you people sit around all day making up these things.. Flamebaiting... Well, at least you tried.

[wakerider017]

What.. Do you people sit around all day making up these things.. Flamebaiting... Well, at least you tried.

"you people" ???


Lets not get racist...

[srichart1]

"you people" ???


Lets not get racist...

What does someone's race have to do with anything?

[wakerider017]

What does someone's race have to do with anything?

You tell me...

I am not the one who said "you people"

[SaSaSushi]

You tell me...

I am not the one who said "you people"

Yeah on top of everything else he's racially insensitive to balding, middle-aged, Caucasian American expatriates living in Japan.

[sabesh]

I got my BTO iMac 2 days ago (first Mac for a long time Windows user). I click on the apple logo / "Software update" and only saw an entry for iPhoto, which I promptly updated.

How can tell if I'm upto s/w update 1.3 already? Thx.

[srichart1]

I got my BTO iMac 2 days ago (first Mac for a long time Windows user). I click on the apple logo / "Software update" and only saw an entry for iPhoto, which I promptly updated.

How can tell if I'm upto s/w update 1.3 already? Thx.

Go under System Preferences, then Software Update, then click on the tab for Installed Updates. This will give you a good history of what has been installed.

[sabesh]

Go under System Preferences, then Software Update, then click on the tab for Installed Updates. This will give you a good history of what has been installed.
Thx! I don't see any reference to update 1.3. However, there's a "Mac OS X Update 10.5.1". Is that it? Thx.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/sabesh/Apple/screen-capture.png

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/sabesh/Apple/screen-capture-1.png

[srichart1]

Thx! I don't see any reference to update 1.3. However, there's a "Mac OS X Update 10.5.1". Is that it? Thx.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/sabesh/Apple/screen-capture.png

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/sabesh/Apple/screen-capture-1.png

Try going out for an update now, and if nothing else shows up, then your Imac doesn't need the update. It seems to me that the update detects which machines need it or not.

Glad to be of service. Take care!

[sabesh]

Try going out for an update now, and if nothing else shows up, then your Imac doesn't need the update. It seems to me that the update detects which machines need it or not.

Glad to be of service. Take care!

It says that my s/w is up-to-date. Thx!

[blackm]

welcome everyone...

i have an aluminium imac and the OSX 10.5.2...is this imac software update 1.3 needed?

thank's

[SaSaSushi]

welcome everyone...

i have an aluminium imac and the OSX 10.5.2...is this imac software update 1.3 needed?

thank's

Yeesh, I never thought I'd see this thread again.

Yes, you should install every single update that is released for your Mac of course, especially that one.

Just keep running Software Update until nothing pops up anymore. ;)

[blackm]

but i only have saw that update on the apple's site!

my mac doesnt tell me to do that update..that's why i'm asking if i should download it and install from apple's site...or i just leave it???

[bluedoggiant]

but i only have saw that update on the apple's site!

my mac doesnt tell me to do that update..that's why i'm asking if i should download it and install from apple's site...or i just leave it???

If you download it from apple's site and try to install it. it will show an exclamation mark on your HD and if you have, your external HD meaning it can't be installed.



This thread is very old. man, i remember back then... the 1.1 update, either fixed, did nothing, or made it worse, than came along 1.2 and 1.3, same thing, the iMac was vulnerable, and coincendently, 1 day after i ordered my imac, the ole' famous firmware came out. it fixed everything, probably the only heroic day ive seen from apple, i remember it well "OMG!!!! it fixed it", or "IM DUSTING OFF MY IMAC FINALLY, ALL ENGINES FIRE!!!!", haha. Good times, good times.:o.

[SaSaSushi]

but i only have saw that update on the apple's site!

my mac doesnt tell me to do that update..that's why i'm asking if i should download it and install from apple's site...or i just leave it???

When did you buy your iMac? The 1.3 update came out in November of last year. If you bought your Mac more recently and it came with Leopard AND that update does not show up in Software Update then I would assume your machine is already at 1.3 and I wouldn't worry about it. :D

[bluedoggiant]

When did you buy your iMac? The 1.3 update came out in November of last year. If you bought your Mac more recently and it came with Leopard AND that update does not show up in Software Update then I would assume your machine is already at 1.3 and I wouldn't worry about it. :D

who cares about 1.3??? talk firmware!!!

[SaSaSushi]

who cares about 1.3??? talk firmware!!!

Did you read what I wrote? In case you didn't and are not willing to scroll up 3 posts I said keep running Software Update until nothing shows up anymore. I was also responding directly to the poster's questions regarding the 1.3 Software Update but thanks anyway. :rolleyes:

[bluedoggiant]

Did you read what I wrote? In case you didn't and are not willing to scroll up 3 posts I said keep running Software Update until nothing shows up anymore. I was also responding directly to the poster's questions regarding the 1.3 Software Update but thanks anyway. :rolleyes:

I know, ive been following along. But i don't think it will do him good, but w/e.

[SaSaSushi]

I know, ive been following along. But i don't think it will do him good, but w/e.

What won't do him any good? If there are any updates that need to be run for his iMac they will show up in Software Update. If the updates are already installed or not applicable to his machine they won't.

[Washac]

Please close this thread, it is beyond boring.ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[billabong]

my iMac still freezes, so I just installed the 1.3 update. I'm not sure if it as installed before, but I sure hope i fixed it...

Anyone else still freezing after the 1.3 update?