iMac problems

jcandrada · Mar 13, 2008

Ok... I'll try to explain all the problems i'm having with my iMac. First, my iMac is a Intel Core Duo 20" iMac with 1 GB of Memory. I bought this iMac in July 2006. This problem started in September 2007, so the computer wasn't under warranty anymore.
The problem started when lines started to appear in the screen, as you can see in one of the pictures (1.jpg) i'm attaching. Then all sort of weird graphics and colors started to appear as you can see in some of the other pictures attached. But that's not all, the computer freezes all the time, 5+ a day, so I did a clean Tiger install, and still the same problem, then I bought Leopard, doing a erase all and install and still the same problem. I live in Paraguay and took the computer to the authorized service and it seems they don't have a clue, they said it MIGHT be the screen, (over $800 fixing) but I don't see any relation between the computer freezing all the time and the screen. any clues?? I really need HELP with this computer! It is unusable!

flopticalcube · Mar 13, 2008

Looks to me like your graphics card is hosed.

jcandrada · Mar 13, 2008

flopticalcube said:
Looks to me like your graphics card is hosed.

Same here! I think it is the graphic card, I said that to them, and they told me that you can't change the graphic card in this model without changing the whole mother board, is this true?

flopticalcube · Mar 13, 2008

jcandrada said:
Same here! I think it is the graphic card, I said that to them, and they told me that you can't change the graphic card in this model without changing the whole mother board, is this true?

Not sure how Apple does it. I thought the cards were on separate boards but I don't know if Apple will supply just the graphics card or force you/the repairman to order the entire motherboard+graphics card.

Sir Tony · Mar 13, 2008

On your iMac, the graphics card is part of the logic board. The current generation iMac have a replaceable graphics card, but not on yours.

jcandrada · Mar 14, 2008

Sir Tony said:
On your iMac, the graphics card is part of the logic board. The current generation iMac have a replaceable graphics card, but not on yours.

So basically if this is the problem, I have to replace the logic board, right? how much does a logic board usually cost?

clyde2801 · Mar 14, 2008

dang! i don't know how much it will cost, except for that it will make the 169 for applecare seem like a genuine bargain.

SaSaSushi · Mar 14, 2008

Oh man, those pictures of yours really brought me back. I had the exact same machine: Intel Core Duo (Yonah) 20" and the EXACT same symptoms. The same lines, the same freezing that got worse and worse.

It was probably a failed GPU but as someone else mentioned above the GPU is connected to the logic board and Apple only does one repair in this situation: logic board replacement. That was about $500.00 US for me here in Japan but I've heard it is more expensive in other parts of the world.

Mine was only 6 weeks out of the one year warranty. I didn't buy AppleCare on that machine. I made SURE to buy it for my current 24" alu iMac though.

Good luck with yours.

shango · Mar 15, 2008

I've been having a similar problem, although my problem only seems to surface when I'm running a 3D game such as World of Warcraft. While I'm running it, I get graphical glitches, which I've heard are called corruptions(?).

This started happening about 3 or 4 months ago, but recently it's gotten a bit worse.

Many people have told me that this problem is often caused by graphics cards overheating. I downloaded a program that controls fan speed, but I don't really know if there is a specific fan on the graphics card that can be controled this way. At first, ramping up all fan speeds seemed to have an effect. A second time it didn't work so well. I'm also worried I could burn out the fans if I run them too hard.

Friends (who own PCs) have also told me to open the computer case and see if there is dust on the graphics card's fan. I don't know if my graphics card has a dedicated fan or not, or whether dust is really a problem in iMacs.

Any advice here? I am not getting the corruption when I'm not playing a 3D game.

clyde2801 · Mar 15, 2008

shango said:
I've been having a similar problem, although my problem only seems to surface when I'm running a 3D game such as World of Warcraft. While I'm running it, I get graphical glitches, which I've heard are called corruptions(?).

This started happening about 3 or 4 months ago, but recently it's gotten a bit worse.

Many people have told me that this problem is often caused by graphics cards overheating. I downloaded a program that controls fan speed, but I don't really know if there is a specific fan on the graphics card that can be controled this way. At first, ramping up all fan speeds seemed to have an effect. A second time it didn't work so well. I'm also worried I could burn out the fans if I run them too hard.

Friends (who own PCs) have also told me to open the computer case and see if there is dust on the graphics card's fan. I don't know if my graphics card has a dedicated fan or not, or whether dust is really a problem in iMacs.

Any advice here? I am not getting the corruption when I'm not playing a 3D game.

If you're rich, take it to the apple store or 3rd party provider, and pay them to check it out. If you're brave, do it yourself.

Myself, I'm not rich, but I'm certainly not THAT brave. The guides to disassemble an imac make it look like a b#$ch..

jcandrada · Mar 15, 2008

SaSaSushi said:
Oh man, those pictures of yours really brought me back. I had the exact same machine: Intel Core Duo (Yonah) 20" and the EXACT same symptoms. The same lines, the same freezing that got worse and worse.

It was probably a failed GPU but as someone else mentioned above the GPU is connected to the logic board and Apple only does one repair in this situation: logic board replacement. That was about $500.00 US for me here in Japan but I've heard it is more expensive in other parts of the world.

Mine was only 6 weeks out of the one year warranty. I didn't buy AppleCare on that machine. I made SURE to buy it for my current 24" alu iMac though.

Good luck with yours.

Thanks for the info SaSaSushi! Looks like it is the same problem. Fixing it here in Paraguay will cost over between $800 and $900, so I guess it's not worth it for a almost two years old computer... that's almost the price of a new one... I'll guess I will have to live with it and maybe try to convert my mac into a Lamp or something

clyde2801 · Mar 15, 2008

Have you tried plugging an external montior into it?

jcandrada · Mar 15, 2008

clyde2801 said:
Have you tried plugging an external montior into it?

No, I haven't... is there a way to use a macbook as an external monitor??

SaSaSushi · Mar 15, 2008

jcandrada said:
No, I haven't... is there a way to use a macbook as an external monitor??

If you're experiencing the same freezing as I did, jcandrada this will not be a solution for you. At first I just had some lines on the screen. It got worse and worse, looking like your pictures until finally it started locking up so bad I couldn't even complete booting up.

Strangely though, even at the worst condition I had no problems booting into my Windows XP Boot Camp partition. That had no freezing nor artifacts. It was only in OS X, at that time Tiger.

I really hope it turns out you don't have the same deal. There are a few third party places in the USA where you can get a logic board replacement for about $450 but since you're in Paraguay I guess that wouldn't help.

Best of luck to you.

jcandrada · Mar 15, 2008

SaSaSushi said:
If you're experiencing the same freezing as I did, jcandrada this will not be a solution for you. At first I just had some lines on the screen. It got worse and worse, looking like your pictures until finally it started locking up so bad I couldn't even complete booting up.

Strangely though, even at the worst condition I had no problems booting into my Windows XP Boot Camp partition. That had no freezing nor artifacts. It was only in OS X, at that time Tiger.

I really hope it turns out you don't have the same deal. There are a few third party places in the USA where you can get a logic board replacement for about $450 but since you're in Paraguay I guess that wouldn't help.

Best of luck to you.

Wow! I can say we're having the EXACT SAME PROBLEM! I have no problems at all booting into Windows XP Boot Camp partition, it doesn't freeze at all... Isn't it ironic? Windows works better than OSX in my iMac

indg · Jul 30, 2009

it's most likely the logic board design flaw exasperated by heat. it's a widespread problem with the late 2006 intel imac that apple is refusing to acknowledge. instead they are charging $900 to replace the logic board, which makes no sense for a computer that isn't even worth that much on today's open market.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1467276&tstart=0
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/imacrecall

fhall1 · Jul 31, 2009

you do realize you replied to a thread that's over a year old?

farmermac · Jul 31, 2009

hes been spamming every thread with any hardware issue with that reply.

indg · Aug 1, 2009

my reply is still relevant, year old or not. this problem arises after the one year warranty ends, so many people who bought an imac in 2007 or 2008 have started experiencing issues like this.

thanks for bumping it again though.

byke · Aug 30, 2009

indg said:
my reply is still relevant, year old or not. this problem arises after the one year warranty ends, so many people who bought an imac in 2007 or 2008 have started experiencing issues like this.

thanks for bumping it again though.

I have it also

Clint H · Jan 14, 2010

Graphics Card issues

I've got to be steaming about now. I have bought about 15 macs for our office. Two of the macbook pros which cost over 2K are down with the same graphics card issue. Of course we upgraded hard drives and now Mac wont take them back to fix their defect. Ok.. I bite my cheek and went on with business. Now I have two 20 inch Imacs with the same problem. Unfortunately, they are over a year old and mac wont fix them. I'm a bit more pissed now. Wondering why I bought macs instead of the throw away PC for the office.

scroto · Jan 14, 2010

Clint H said:
I've got to be steaming about now. I have bought about 15 macs for our office. Two of the macbook pros which cost over 2K are down with the same graphics card issue. Of course we upgraded hard drives and now Mac wont take them back to fix their defect. Ok.. I bite my cheek and went on with business. Now I have two 20 inch Imacs with the same problem. Unfortunately, they are over a year old and mac wont fix them. I'm a bit more pissed now. Wondering why I bought macs instead of the throw away PC for the office.

Because "Mac's Just Work" LOL! Do yourself a favor and forget about all the stupid marketing and stupid fanboy BS and buy a cheap machine that does the job. If you really want a Mac that bad then buy one for the home. Work is too important to be screwing around with Apples BS.

SaSaSushi · Jan 14, 2010

scroto said:
Because "Mac's Just Work" LOL! Do yourself a favor and forget about all the stupid marketing and stupid fanboy BS and buy a cheap machine that does the job. If you really want a Mac that bad then buy one for the home. Work is too important to be screwing around with Apples BS.

Some trolls never die, they just go away for a while and make you really hopeful.

If you think your problems are due to a design flaw with the logic board on that iMac as some have suggested you should sign the petition noted above and check out the threads at Apple's own discussion forums. There is no excuse for Apple not to repair/replace the faulty parts if that is the case.

If not, then like most computer manufacturers (including the makers of "cheap machines") Apple has a one year warranty on their products. Applecare extends that to a full 3 years and happens to be an excellent deal if you purchase it from a third party vendor like L.A. Computer (like $5 per month). I've only actually used it once when the hard disk on my 24" iMac died. The other times I had problems with my Macs it was always within the one year warranty period. It's still worth it for me for the peace of mind alone.

You can purchase it at any time within the one year limited warranty period. I am going to get it for my i7 as well before the one year is up.

Ismelito · Nov 28, 2012

They removed my message at the Apple Community Discussion Forums so let's spread this around here:

http://wh.gov/IoBJ

A new petition. I'm tired of fighting via telephone with Apple to try to solve this problem. Let's see if this time they do something right.

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