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Niggling issues

K

kendob1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 2, 2013
3
0
Northumberland/Newcastle border - UK
I have a 21" 2010 i5 Model Imac.

Over the past few months I keep having niggling problems for no particular reason. 3 months ago, my screen was stuck white with only the cursor in view. I had to take it to the Apple store for repair. Losing allot of data in the process.

So the helpful guy at the Apple store sold me a "My passport" external hard drive to back up my data. I did this by setting up my time machine.

All was well. Or so I thought. 3 weeks ago my iMac and time machine app stopped reading "my passport". So now Im not even sure if it works. Then this morning, I booted up and was faced with the booting screen with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel. I had to reboot about 15 times before it eventually came on.

Now, my iMac is used very very little. I only ever really use it to surf the internet and watch movies. Its a little disappointing that I'm not sure what performance I'm going to get from one day to the next.

Does anyone know why this is happening?

Although it is the 2010 model, I purchased it from the store in Nov 2011 so its had very limited use.

Other than these issues. Its a great machine. I just expected a bit better quality from apple. (I have an iPad 1 which gets hammered on a daily basis and has never wavered. likewise my iPhone 4)

Kind regards and hello forums.

Kendo
 
mushroomtip

mushroomtip

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2012
354
0
if you have Applecare give em a call, or go back to the Store again . maybe they will have mercy since its only a few months out of warranty . good luck !
 
K

kendob1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 2, 2013
3
0
Northumberland/Newcastle border - UK
Hi,

I was left in quite a predicament.

When I bought it, the sales guy (not from an apple store) didn't tell me it was the previous years model. I though I was buying the 2011 model.

So when I had my first problems, within 12 months of purchase I thought everything would be fine. I rang Apple customer care who told me that it was outside the warranty because it was a 2010. I explained that I had purchased it less than a year previously but this didn't get me anywhere.

Sadly I bought it from comet who have now went bust so I can't prove my purchase date. Im a victim of circumstance. ha. Oh well, these things happen.

Im taking it to the Apple store tomorrow but I'm not sure they will do anything as booting problem is intermittent. Also, on occasion I have no volume at all and all my sound options are greyed out, until I log out and back in. Not a major issue. (I use os lion).

Is there somewhere I can click to see why my mac doesn't always load. i.e.: somewhere that will tell me that my HDD is under performing etc.
 
P

phobos

macrumors 6502
Feb 25, 2008
256
117
Your story is a really scary one and one of the reasons I avoided buying another iMac (I had a second gen iMac a decade or so ago).
It's a computer that is really hard to service and it seems the quality just isn't there.
I'm going to be pushing the 27" (ordered 2 weeks ago) a lot harder than you so I'm wondering if it'll go dead after a couple of months.

The first thing I would do is boot it in safe mode. Hold down the shift key to get in to that mode. It just loads only the necessary extensions it requires. It's a sort of protected environment.
There are things you can't do in that mode but at least it's worth the try to see if it runs a bit stabler there. If it is then there's something misbehaving in the boot process.
The fact that you're missing the sound every once and a while isn't such a good thing. The first thing that comes to mind is that you might be having motherboard issues but it's too hard to tell.
If it's a failing HD then it'll probably be a relatively cheap to replace and service in general. If another component is failing there then it'll be pretty expensive to repair.

Keeping my fingers crossed!
Please do keep us updated

PS: Disk utility also gives you the S.M.A.R.T status of your hard disk. If it gives you a ok on the smart status it doesn't mean the disk is ok. Disk utility has the reputation of not being the greatest hard disk checker. but it's worth the try.
 
Last edited:
C

coolmacoz

macrumors newbie
Apr 14, 2012
18
0
Sydney, Australia
It's more likely a faulty hard drive.
By any chance that your internal hard drive is 1TB Seagate hard Drive ? If yes or even you don't know, go to the following link and type in the serial number of your iMac and you may be eligible for free replacement even it's out of warranty.

http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/

The serial number of your iMac can be found under the feet of the iMac.

Good Luck !
 
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