Just got my Imac 2.8 from Fedex....Nightmare ensued!!

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

I ordered a 2.8 Imac with 1GB of ram and the 500GB HD on Friday of last week and received it yesterday. Also, I purchased 4GB of ram (2 x 2GB sticks) from good old OWC like many of you have recommended. This is where the nightmare began. First off, I was a bit peeved that my computer only came in with a Leopard Drop-in with Tiger installed as the current OS. I mean, shouldn't the packers be installing this for us? Sheesh, I should get paid for having to do their dirty work...anyways, that's a tirade I will leave to a different thread.

So here is the nightmare part. I take off the ram cage on the bottom of the imac, pop out the hynex 1GB stick that Apple had in there by using the black tab. Simple. Easy. This will be a breeze, I thought. No. I go to put in the first 2GB module and it is not a smooth fit. It takes a lot of pushing, nudging, teetering, and squeezing to get it fit in there. I compared the fit of the hynex, which was so smooth to put in (just fit perfect with little effort), and my 2GB module which was a lot less fitting. There was just something off, but alas I moved on to the second 2GB stick and started nudging it into the empty slot and let me tell you it was hell, I could not for the life of me get it in all the way...It wouldn't "click" like the other stick (even though that was a pain to get in too). I was pushing with all my strength and wobbling it back and forth until i felt it had a decent fit. My thumbs hurt so bad from all the pushing, but I sucked it up, closed the cage, booted the Mac and thats when I went bat**** insane.

I was presented with the Tiger Setup screens on boot and made my way to the section where you Select a wireless network to attach to. I selected mine, entered the password and press continue. Then this beachball started spinning and the message "Configuring your computer..." just sat there for at least 5 minutes before the screen went a shade of black and this black dialog box with 5 different languages saying "Restart your computer" appeareed. I was pissed! Freezing on setup? Did I get a freezing Imac and have to endure this crap before I even get started on the desktop? I had a suspicion though that it was that blasted ram stick that couldn't fit right and still had my thumbs on fire. I tried restarting just to see if it was a random occurrence, but it kept freezing during the Tiger Setup at random places. So I ended up restarting the mac while holding 'D' down and running the hardware test. Sure enough it failed after a minute into the test with a message of "4MEM/40000..." which i assumed was a corrupt memory module or at least an improperly seated one.

SO I took that stick of ram out and restarted. I was able to get through all the screens and set up Tiger fine. I even was able to get Leopard installed with no problem in about 30 minutes. But I was still upset, my first Imac experience didn't go as smoothly as I hoped. But, I blame this more on OWC than anything else. Their ram is just shaped a little too thick or something for the Imacs. Fitting in the stock ram for the mac is just a breeze compared to what OWC gave me. I have a suspicion that the RAM is so cheap for a reason and it really isn't tailored to fit perfectly in the new IMacs like the stock Apple hynex memory is.

Anyways, I already requested an RMA to get this ram replaced but I can't help but feel a little sad inside because I didn't get a smooth ride. I have been lurking these forums for months now and this is my first post and I would just like to say that I feel for everyone that has had issues with ram or even the Imac freezing. It's not your fault and it does happen. My Imac hasn't frozen since I took out the RAM, so hopefully I have a good one. Anyways, that was my story, it was a nightmare espcially since I was up till about 3 am fiddling with that stupid RAM. Feel free to ask me questions about the setup.

topgunn · Nov 1, 2007

I tried to read this. I really did.

Try using paragraphs in the future.

Mindflux · Nov 1, 2007

1) It takes a while get get Leopard drive images. The "packers" don't load crap. The drives are pre-loaded with OS images and the drives are just stuck in machines.

2) Why didn't you fire up your mac and get it working before you fiddled with the RAM? All of your current problems are related to your memory, then don't blame apple. The poor fit for the ram is LIKELY just a miss-cut ram module.

Bolteh · Nov 1, 2007

Wall of Text crits you for 1337.

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

topgunn said:
I tried to read this. I really did.

Try using paragraphs in the future.

There you go

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

Mindflux said:
1) It takes a while get get Leopard drive images. The "packers" don't load crap. The drives are pre-loaded with OS images and the drives are just stuck in machines.

2) Why didn't you fire up your mac and get it working before you fiddled with the RAM? All of your current problems are related to your memory, then don't blame apple. The poor fit for the ram is LIKELY just a miss-cut ram module.

1...Packers, Warehouse Techs...whatever. I think that they have had plenty of time to at least to the upgrade on existing drives that have Tiger on them. I can't figure out why the consumer has to do this. If I am getting a BTO machine, I would think it is even more reason for them to at least install Leopard on the OS.

2...Why would I have to fire up my Mac first? I also specifically didn't blame Apple, I blamed OWC. And yes I already stated that it is due to a poor cut ram module. Installing memory before the first boot should not make a difference, I even reseted the PRAM too.

Mindflux · Nov 1, 2007

ba07 said:
1...Packers, Warehouse Techs...whatever. I think that they have had plenty of time to at least to the upgrade on existing drives that have Tiger on them. I can't figure out why the consumer has to do this. If I am getting a BTO machine, I would think it is even more reason for them to at least install Leopard on the OS.

2...Why would I have to fire up my Mac first? I also specifically didn't blame Apple, I blamed OWC. And yes I already stated that it is due to a poor cut ram module. Installing memory before the first boot should not make a difference, I even reseted the PRAM too.

1) When you buy a PC close to Vista launch, you don't get Vista.. even for weeks after Vista has been out. You get an upgrade disc from Microsoft. Why is apple any different?

2) Get your memory replaced, problem solved.

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

Mindflux said:
1) When you buy a PC close to Vista launch, you don't get Vista.. even for weeks after Vista has been out. You get an upgrade disc from Microsoft. Why is apple any different?

2) Get your memory replaced, problem solved.

1) I don't buy PC's, I build them from scratch

. Yes I am being a bit picky here, but I still think it's my right as a consumer to expect these things especially when plopping down so much money for this machine.

2) It is already RMA'd. Let's hope they don't screw me again!

QuarterSwede · Nov 1, 2007

I feel your pain man. I bought bad 1GB stick for my PB from someone on the forum and RMA'd it to the RAM maker. What I got back was another bad stick (I think it was the same one). So I had to resend it in after telling them they sent me back the same bad RAM stick. What I got back a week or so later was a good RAM stick finally. This was Patriot memory not OWC so you shouldn't have to worry. It put me out a month but was worth it since I got the bad RAM stick for dirt cheap.

Mindflux · Nov 1, 2007

ba07 said:
1) I don't buy PC's, I build them from scratch . Yes I am being a bit picky here, but I still think it's my right as a consumer to expect these things especially when plopping down so much money for this machine.

So do I. but you dont' see me bitching that Western digital or Seagate don't know by divine intervention that I want XP SP2 on my drive before I buy it.

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

Mindflux said:
So do I. but you dont' see me bitching that Western digital or Seagate don't know by divine intervention that I want XP SP2 on my drive before I buy it.

Does Western Digital or Seagate make Windows Xp? No. Apple doesn't make the drives either, but they do build the PC's. So, that means they install whatever current OS they have out on those drives themselves. Why would it be so hard for them to install leopard on these drives once it became public on the 26th? My guess is they are not updating old drives like some salesreps told me they would, they are waiting till the Tiger drives phase out and then when the new inventory of drives come in, they will do fresh leopard installs.

kixsand · Nov 1, 2007

I think everyone just gets a little tired of seeing posts that seem to be blaming Apple for something that is really out of their control.

You buy 3rd party RAM...you accept a certain amount of risk for which you are compensated by way of reduced prices.

Had your post been titled something like:

"Beware RAM from OWC"

or

"Don't let bad ram get ewe too." (ba ha ha ha ... I kill me)

Had you proceeded down this path I think everyone would be a bit more empathetic to your situation.

Good luck with that Ram thing.

darren

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

kixsand said:
I think everyone just gets a little tired of seeing posts that seem to be blaming Apple for something that is really out of their control.

You buy 3rd party RAM...you accept a certain amount of risk for which you are compensated by way of reduced prices.

Had your post been titled something like:

"Beware RAM from OWC"

or

"Don't let bad ram get ewe too." (ba ha ha ha ... I kill me)

Had you proceeded down this path I think everyone would be a bit more empathetic to your situation.

Good luck with that Ram thing.

darren

I don't expect empathy. I just came here to tell a story I thought might be of interest. I'm sure many potential buyers will appreciate me writing about my experience so they no what to expect or to be aware of when installing ram on a never booted new imac. Man some of you guy's just love to tell other people that they are the problem not the computer, when really I am just stating what happened with no blame other than OWC for making bad fitting ram.

dejo · Nov 1, 2007

ba07 said:
Yes I am being a bit picky here, but I still think it's my right as a consumer to expect these things especially when plopping down so much money for this machine.

kkat69 · Nov 1, 2007

Apple has posted and it has been stated even here in the forums that Leopard will not be shipping pre-installed until after a certain date. If I'm not mistaken it might even be on the "Intro" video as well on the Apple home page.

That m00t issue is the only gripe I see regarding Apple you have.

The memory, well, that's a different story, fortunately not Apple related.

In the instructions on replacing memory I know it reads something to the effect of "use force." which you will need to do, according to the instructions, they claim you won't hurt anything, but for me, if it doesn't go in somewhat smooth (a little force is ok) I'm not tempting fate by using more force than necessary.

Definitely RMA the ram back. Sorry it wasn't as smooth as it probably should be.

Wait until it actually is running and locks up on you, freezes, and your wireless drops. Just remember there are already posts on that so hopefully we won't see a huge wall of text again on that experience.

Lartymarf · Nov 1, 2007

kixsand said:
I think everyone just gets a little tired of seeing posts that seem to be blaming Apple for something that is really out of their control.

You buy 3rd party RAM...you accept a certain amount of risk for which you are compensated by way of reduced prices.

Had your post been titled something like:

"Beware RAM from OWC"

or

"Don't let bad ram get ewe too." (ba ha ha ha ... I kill me)

Had you proceeded down this path I think everyone would be a bit more empathetic to your situation.

Good luck with that Ram thing.

darren

2nd this.

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

kkat69 said:
Apple has posted and it has been stated even here in the forums that Leopard will not be shipping pre-installed until after a certain date. If I'm not mistaken it might even be on the "Intro" video as well on the Apple home page.

That m00t issue is the only gripe I see regarding Apple you have.

That's not true at all. I have spoken to at least 3 phone reps that said it would be either preinstalled or dropped in. I have also chatted with numerous reps on Apple's site who have said the same thing. I also have read at least one thread on this board where a chat rep said that he guarantees it will be preinstalled (Read here: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/4419561/). The intro vid says all new macs ship with leopard. That makes no explicit mention it will be preinstalled or not so your facts are made up.

Mindflux · Nov 1, 2007

ba07 said:
That's not true at all. I have spoken to at least 3 phone reps that said it would be either preinstalled or dropped in. I have also chatted with numerous reps on Apple's site who have said the same thing. I also have read at least one thread on this board where a chat rep said that he guarantees it will be preinstalled (Read here: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/4419561/). The intro vid says all new macs ship with leopard. That makes no explicit mention it will be preinstalled or not so your facts are made up.

Ok, "dropped in" means they dropped in a a DVD installer in the box. So, there you have it.

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

Mindflux said:
Ok, "dropped in" means they dropped in a a DVD installer in the box. So, there you have it.

what? I know what that means.

Mindflux · Nov 1, 2007

ba07 said:
what? I know what that means.

So the problem is what? They said it would EITHER be preinstalled or a drop in. You got one of the options they gave.

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

Mindflux said:
So the problem is what? They said it would EITHER be preinstalled or a drop in. You got one of the options they gave.

The problem is that i HOPED it would be preinstalled like some of the apple reps told me it would.

jerry1 · Nov 1, 2007

I happen to agree that Leapard should be installed on BTO machines but I also know they aren't so I wouldn't be surprised. I just don't agree with the situation.

You asked why you should start it first and then upgrade RAM. Answer: Common sense. Sorry, I'm not trying to be harsh but you have a brand new machine that you have never even turned on. Make sure all is well before you break out the screwdriver. So, you were angry and now you are hopefully calming down....BUT, the question is "Did you learn a lesson?".

aquajet · Nov 1, 2007

The Leopard thing is a silly thing to get in knots over. Common sense tells me there will be a portion of unsold stock with Tiger installed. How many machines, I don't know. But it's probably unreasonable to think each individual machine will be unboxed, manually upgraded, and repackaged. That's a lot of labor. During transition times such as this, these types of minor inconveniences are to be expected. In fact, you could consider yourself lucky because you have the option of running either Tiger or Leopard. Your choice. Most of us don't have that choice out of the box.

brn2ski00 · Nov 1, 2007

ba07 said:
I ordered a 2.8 Imac with 1GB of ram and the 500GB HD on Friday of last week and received it yesterday. Also, I purchased 4GB of ram (2 x 2GB sticks) from good old OWC like many of you have recommended. This is where the nightmare began. First off, I was a bit peeved that my computer only came in with a Leopard Drop-in with Tiger installed as the current OS. I mean, shouldn't the packers be installing this for us? Sheesh, I should get paid for having to do their dirty work...anyways, that's a tirade I will leave to a different thread.

So here is the nightmare part. I take off the ram cage on the bottom of the imac, pop out the hynex 1GB stick that Apple had in there by using the black tab. Simple. Easy. This will be a breeze, I thought. No. I go to put in the first 2GB module and it is not a smooth fit. It takes a lot of pushing, nudging, teetering, and squeezing to get it fit in there. I compared the fit of the hynex, which was so smooth to put in (just fit perfect with little effort), and my 2GB module which was a lot less fitting. There was just something off, but alas I moved on to the second 2GB stick and started nudging it into the empty slot and let me tell you it was hell, I could not for the life of me get it in all the way...It wouldn't "click" like the other stick (even though that was a pain to get in too). I was pushing with all my strength and wobbling it back and forth until i felt it had a decent fit. My thumbs hurt so bad from all the pushing, but I sucked it up, closed the cage, booted the Mac and thats when I went bat**** insane.

I was presented with the Tiger Setup screens on boot and made my way to the section where you Select a wireless network to attach to. I selected mine, entered the password and press continue. Then this beachball started spinning and the message "Configuring your computer..." just sat there for at least 5 minutes before the screen went a shade of black and this black dialog box with 5 different languages saying "Restart your computer" appeareed. I was pissed! Freezing on setup? Did I get a freezing Imac and have to endure this crap before I even get started on the desktop? I had a suspicion though that it was that blasted ram stick that couldn't fit right and still had my thumbs on fire. I tried restarting just to see if it was a random occurrence, but it kept freezing during the Tiger Setup at random places. So I ended up restarting the mac while holding 'D' down and running the hardware test. Sure enough it failed after a minute into the test with a message of "4MEM/40000..." which i assumed was a corrupt memory module or at least an improperly seated one.

SO I took that stick of ram out and restarted. I was able to get through all the screens and set up Tiger fine. I even was able to get Leopard installed with no problem in about 30 minutes. But I was still upset, my first Imac experience didn't go as smoothly as I hoped. But, I blame this more on OWC than anything else. Their ram is just shaped a little too thick or something for the Imacs. Fitting in the stock ram for the mac is just a breeze compared to what OWC gave me. I have a suspicion that the RAM is so cheap for a reason and it really isn't tailored to fit perfectly in the new IMacs like the stock Apple hynex memory is.

Anyways, I already requested an RMA to get this ram replaced but I can't help but feel a little sad inside because I didn't get a smooth ride. I have been lurking these forums for months now and this is my first post and I would just like to say that I feel for everyone that has had issues with ram or even the Imac freezing. It's not your fault and it does happen. My Imac hasn't frozen since I took out the RAM, so hopefully I have a good one. Anyways, that was my story, it was a nightmare espcially since I was up till about 3 am fiddling with that stupid RAM. Feel free to ask me questions about the setup.

I feel your pain, I bought a new iMac less than 2 weeks ago and had a knock-down-dragout with installing an extra gig. It finally went, but was not easy. The iGB stick I ordered was from Crucial.

ba07 · Nov 1, 2007

jerry1 said:
I happen to agree that Leapard should be installed on BTO machines but I also know they aren't so I wouldn't be surprised. I just don't agree with the situation.

You asked why you should start it first and then upgrade RAM. Answer: Common sense. Sorry, I'm not trying to be harsh but you have a brand new machine that you have never even turned on. Make sure all is well before you break out the screwdriver. So, you were angry and now you are hopefully calming down....BUT, the question is "Did you learn a lesson?".

Assume that I am an idiot and now explain to me why it is so common sense. I bet that you can't come up with a valid reason why installing ram first makes ANY difference.

Just got my Imac 2.8 from Fedex....Nightmare ensued!!

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