2017 iMac booting to black screen

[exi]

Brand new, expensive desktop, and I'm already troubleshooting.

2017 iMac, i7-7700k. Installed 32 GB RAM.

On first boot, I got a frozen black screen. I held down power and restarted. Worked. At some point in macOS on first use, the computer went to sleep and wouldn't wake up.

There is no startup chime on this model at all, so that doesn't help.

Took me 30-45 minutes of a combination of attempting unplugging/replugging (e.g., SMC resets) and attempting NVRAM resets with the stock wireless keyboard. I'm not sure why it finally worked, but it did.

Prior to that, option-booting, safe mode booting... nothing.

So I get everything installed, Boot Camp -> Windows, was playing BF1, and the game hard-locked. Press/hold power, and I'm back to booting to a black screen.

I can hear the fan spin up, but I can't get anywhere else.

No USB devices connected.

This is pissing me off. What am I not thinking of doing or trying?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Brand new, expensive desktop, and I'm already troubleshooting.

2017 iMac, i7-7700k. Installed 32 GB RAM.

On first boot, I got a frozen black screen. I held down power and restarted. Worked. At some point in macOS on first use, the computer went to sleep and wouldn't wake up.

There is no startup chime on this model at all, so that doesn't help.

Took me 30-45 minutes of a combination of attempting unplugging/replugging (e.g., SMC resets) and attempting NVRAM resets with the stock wireless keyboard. I'm not sure why it finally worked, but it did.

Prior to that, option-booting, safe mode booting... nothing.

So I get everything installed, Boot Camp -> Windows, was playing BF1, and the game hard-locked. Press/hold power, and I'm back to booting to a black screen.

I can hear the fan spin up, but I can't get anywhere else.

No USB devices connected.

This is pissing me off. What am I not thinking of doing or trying?

Not clear if the computer came with 32GB RAM or you installed 3rd party RAM. If you installed 3rd party RAM, then remove it and reinstall the RAM that Apple provided. If that does not resolve the issue then I suggest giving a call to AppleCare.

 

[Brazilano]

Brand new, expensive desktop, and I'm already troubleshooting.

2017 iMac, i7-7700k. Installed 32 GB RAM.

On first boot, I got a frozen black screen. I held down power and restarted. Worked. At some point in macOS on first use, the computer went to sleep and wouldn't wake up.

There is no startup chime on this model at all, so that doesn't help.

Took me 30-45 minutes of a combination of attempting unplugging/replugging (e.g., SMC resets) and attempting NVRAM resets with the stock wireless keyboard. I'm not sure why it finally worked, but it did.

Prior to that, option-booting, safe mode booting... nothing.

So I get everything installed, Boot Camp -> Windows, was playing BF1, and the game hard-locked. Press/hold power, and I'm back to booting to a black screen.

I can hear the fan spin up, but I can't get anywhere else.

No USB devices connected.

This is pissing me off. What am I not thinking of doing or trying?

It's sound like bad RAM.

 

[exi]

Not bad RAM. Issue persists with both Kingston HyperX installed by me (the 32 GB) as well as the stock 2x4 GB DIMMs.

Will give in and call Apple.
[doublepost=1498242241][/doublepost]Apple rep has nothing else to offer aside from SMC reset, NVRAM reset, and attempted booting into safe mode. When I don't even see the Apple logo, I don't know if I'm actually managing those things or not. I can just hear the fan spinning.

Black screen issue persists. He suggests taking it into an Apple store for repair which is a bit of a drive.

I can see from searching that this isn't exactly an isolated issue. Anyone have any other odd solutions or tricks that may have worked in the past?

I find it odd to end up being a hardware issue when the machine was up and running all morning.

(To add, I don't even get warning beeps when the RAM tray is in the "out" position on attempted booting just as a little troubleshooting -- but the fan spins up.)

 

[Taz Mangus]

Not bad RAM. Issue persists with both Kingston HyperX installed by me (the 32 GB) as well as the stock 2x4 GB DIMMs.

Will give in and call Apple.
[doublepost=1498242241][/doublepost]Apple rep has nothing else to offer aside from SMC reset, NVRAM reset, and attempted booting into safe mode. When I don't even see the Apple logo, I don't know if I'm actually managing those things or not. I can just hear the fan spinning.

Black screen issue persists. He suggests taking it into an Apple store for repair which is a bit of a drive.

I can see from searching that this isn't exactly an isolated issue. Anyone have any other odd solutions or tricks that may have worked in the past?

I find it odd to end up being a hardware issue when the machine was up and running all morning.

(To add, I don't even get warning beeps when the RAM tray is in the "out" position on attempted booting just as a little troubleshooting -- but the fan spins up.)

When did you receive the computer? If it is within 14 days then return it for a full refund and purchase another new one.

 

[exi]

When did you receive the computer? If it is within 14 days then return it for a full refund and purchase another new one.

Less than a week even.

And again with the updates:

I don't understand why, but when I did my little RAM experiment as above, it's working again. I switched the stock DIMMs out and reinstalled my Kingston 2x16 GB set.

Lo and behold, I got booted to the Bitlocker password screen as I had last crashed out of Windows.

Reseating RAM? Did I have a loose DIMM? I don't know. The 2x16 GB set was recognized in both Windows and OS X.

I feel like it's waiting to happen again.

 

[exi]

No recurrence of any issues thus far in the last few days since last post. Unclear if it was that I had a loose DIMM on trials with both pairs of sticks as above or what.

Did boot to Apple's hardware diagnostics which reported no issues at one point in the last few days.

 

[Brookzy]

If it happens again just call and request an exchange before the 14 days is up. No point wasting time on this stuff on a brand new machine.