27" iMac freezes

[Funkbefgh]

I work at a retail store and we are an Apple certified reseller. As such, we have floor demos of all current models. Funny thing, we've not yet received a fully functional 27" 2011 iMac to demo. We've gone through 2 dead-on-arrival units, both actually experiencing the same issue. Once loaded, they could not connect to the local wifi network, and after anywhere from 10 seconds to 20 minutes they would freeze, locking the entire computer until a hard reset was performed. Each had issues connecting to a network which every other demo we have ever had has connected to, and each continued to freeze, consistenly, after a hard drive wipe and OS re-install. Has anyone experienced this? The first call I made to AppleCare took a solid hour even AFTER the OS re-install to get a confirmed DoA, but the second model took 10 minutes, tops. Is that because it's getting more common or I'm just better at explaining why my computer won't work the second time? The second one actually had a grey screen with a power icon pop up that said a hard reset was required in several languages, which may have also helped my case.. but even then that was only one of about a dozen times it locked up on me..

 

[AppleNewton]

are they the 2011 3.4Ghz i7?
Do any of them have SSDs?

My 27" 2011 256GB SSD + 2TB 3.4GHz did a hard freeze (non Kernel panic) twice today.
I've speculated it could be either the SSD locking up which is a fairly known issue.
Or it could be the i7 CPU itself, as it seems its mainly the 27" i7-2600 3.4Ghz itself as it seems those are the only two variables i could really determine might the issues as they are the two newest types of hardware and most people I see online with freezing/crashing issues.

I also consult with an Authorized Repair center and pretty much agreed those two components could be the problem. the ram is fine.

So im a little weary of the new devices.

 

[Funkbefgh]

are they the 2011 3.4Ghz i7?
Do any of them have SSDs?

My 27" 2011 256GB SSD + 2TB 3.4GHz did a hard freeze (non Kernel panic) twice today.
I've speculated it could be either the SSD locking up which is a fairly known issue.
Or it could be the i7 CPU itself, as it seems its mainly the 27" i7-2600 3.4Ghz itself as it seems those are the only two variables i could really determine might the issues as they are the two newest types of hardware and most people I see online with freezing/crashing issues.

I also consult with an Authorized Repair center and pretty much agreed those two components could be the problem. the ram is fine.

So im a little weary of the new devices.

no, they were the 2.7GHz i5 models with standard 1TB hard drives. I have owned a 21.5" 2.8GHz i7 for a month now and never had an issue with it, just the 27" ones at work. you might say I'm a little worried about it.. but it's been smooth sailing so far *fingers crossed*

 

[AppleNewton]

hm, yeah i've heard alot of random remarks regarding lock-ups and overall stability issues with the current line-up of 27" iMacs.

Hoping a resolve will come down the pipe soon.

 

[ConsiderPhlebas]

hm, yeah i've heard alot of random remarks regarding lock-ups and overall stability issues with the current line-up of 27" iMacs.

Hoping a resolve will come down the pipe soon.

I have the 27" I7 3.4 and hope those problems are not wide spread. I have had it since mid May and so far have had no issues with it. I do not have the SSD however, just the ATA Serial 1 TB.

 

[AppleNewton]

I have the 27" I7 3.4 and hope those problems are not wide spread. I have had it since mid May and so far have had no issues with it. I do not have the SSD however, just the ATA Serial 1 TB.

Its been with some of the SSDs and the system dealing with various types or memory modules when maxed out to 16GB

 

[Funkbefgh]

today we received a replacement model and it has the same issue. 3 for 3? took it out of the box, set it up, turned it on and it wouldn't connect to the network.. tried renewing the DHCP but that didn't help, so we reset the machine. we had not installed anything on it, hell we hadn't changed any settings except in the network settings and about 20 seconds after the desktop came back up it locked up. hard reset and we played around with every thing BUT the network to see if we could get it to freeze, but it worked fine.. we had opened it late in the day and were almost off work so we left it without an internet connection figured we'd start fresh tomorrow morning and about 15 minutes later I came back and it was frozen asleep. nice. same specs as the last 2.

Its been with some of the SSDs and the system dealing with various types or memory modules when maxed out to 16GB

all 3 of the machines were stock 27" 2.7GHz i5s.. so it hasn't been the case for us

 

[AppleNewton]

today we received a replacement model and it has the same issue. 3 for 3? took it out of the box, set it up, turned it on and it wouldn't connect to the network.. tried renewing the DHCP but that didn't help, so we reset the machine. we had not installed anything on it, hell we hadn't changed any settings except in the network settings and about 20 seconds after the desktop came back up it locked up. hard reset and we played around with every thing BUT the network to see if we could get it to freeze, but it worked fine.. we had opened it late in the day and were almost off work so we left it without an internet connection figured we'd start fresh tomorrow morning and about 15 minutes later I came back and it was frozen asleep. nice. same specs as the last 2.



all 3 of the machines were stock 27" 2.7GHz i5s.. so it hasn't been the case for us

Well damn, perhaps its something deeper than just the SSD. Because there have been alot of Freezing/Lock-ups of late with the 2011 iMacs.
I'd be curious as to what all these issues are.

Because mine happened a day after receiving it and I didnt even install any applications or additional hardware. just as is as i wasnt able to configure it the same day I got it. initially shrugged it off as a fluke, restored the OS and same situation.

Any word back from Apple regarding resolutions to the lock-ups at all?

 

[Funkbefgh]

Well damn, perhaps its something deeper than just the SSD. Because there have been alot of Freezing/Lock-ups of late with the 2011 iMacs.
I'd be curious as to what all these issues are.

Because mine happened a day after receiving it and I didnt even install any applications or additional hardware. just as is as i wasnt able to configure it the same day I got it. initially shrugged it off as a fluke, restored the OS and same situation.

Any word back from Apple regarding resolutions to the lock-ups at all?

as a reseller they don't really keep in contact with us firsthand like that.. obviously I wouldn't be able to get so specific in a forum if I was in-the-know. from what I could tell on the first call they really seemed as confused as me, and spent a long time trying to fix my airport issue before conceding that the freezing was a larger problem for which I was passed to a higher up who couldn't help at all and gave me my DoA case # pretty quickly. the second call I believe I skipped addressing the airport issue and immediately told the tech I was having freezing issues and he offered me a DoA # without any speculation.. I don't know if the call for the new machine will be made tomorrow or after the weekend (my boss is convinced he can work through the airport issue and that will somehow help) so I may not even be the one to make it.. from what I can tell some sort of fatal miscommunication with the airport seems most likely on our units, which may be firmware up-dateable, but scouring the internet I've found a lot of people experiencing freezing without the airport connection issues.. which hints at a different problem altogether.

 

[AppleNewton]

hm, it could very well be an AirPort issue as this iMac is connected via AirPort but havent noticed any issues connecting to wifi from here.
and i usually keep it connected to screen sharing at the office to check on the system and has only froze up once using it.

but yeah I work with an AASP they only mentioned that there has beena known issue with freezing/locking SSDs that Apple does use in some machines and sounds like one of the cases with this rig.