Intel iMac 24" spinning cursor

[Fairfield]

Recently, the cursor has begun to spin on the desktop locking up all functionality. This seems to happen when the computer has been idle for a while. A restart sometimes doesn’t get past the grey screen and spinning icon and yet other times it boots up ok. I have rebooted from the Leopard system disk and run Disk Utility which returns no problems. Reinstalling Leopard still does not cure this problem. Is this a hardware fault?

[Hellhammer]

Looks like RAM problem. Try Apple hardware test, press D during boot. Also, do you have 3rd party RAM? If you do, change original back

[Fairfield]

Thanks for the suggestion. I ran the extended hardware test but it found no problems. It has 2Gb RAM installed from new and no other memory. Tonight it wouldn't start at all and only on the fifth attempt at pressing the start button did it boot up correctly!

[spinnerlys]

Do you have still warranty?

If so, why not go to the Buchanan Apple Store and see, how they can help.

It sounds more like a hardware error, maybe the logic board or something else, so we can't help you with that.