Advice Needed

[MikeM87]

Hey guys,

Just purchased a 2011 iMac very happy indeed. One thing i have noticed is that when i have left this on for long periods a couple of times nothing in excess of 10 hours when shutting down the iMac it has informed me that i need to restart the machine by holding down the power button. It has done this twice so far out of countless times may i add. Is this a big problem like windows BSOD?

Thanks for any input. Also one thing that seems to have solved itself was when turning the iMac on there was no volume, it was not muted the only way i could figure out how to get volume was to plug a pair of headphones in and this then had volume when i took them out. This seems to of stoped after doing software updates.

Thanks for any advice guys!
__________________________________________
iMac 2011 2.5 i5 quad core
MacBook Pro 2010
iPad 32GB + 3G 2010
iPhone 16gb 2010

 

[stridemat]

Does it show this screen?

 

[MikeM87]

Does it show this screen?

Image

yes it does what does it mean?

 

[stridemat]

A kernel panic is an action taken by an operating system upon detecting an internal fatal error from which it cannot safely recover. The term is largely specific to Unix and Unix-like systems; for Microsoft Windows operating systems the equivalent term is "Bug check" (or, colloquially, "Blue Screen of Death").

A panic may occur as a result of a hardware failure or a bug in the operating system. In many cases, the operating system could continue operation after an error has occurred. However, the system is in an unstable state and rather than risking security breaches and data corruption, the operating system stops to prevent further damage and facilitate diagnosis of the error

As to the cause. Does it only happen when you power down the iMac?

 

[MikeM87]

As to the cause. Does it only happen when you power down the iMac?

ooo this does not sound good. Yeah its only happened twice i'll see if the problem persists i suppose if it does then i will have to take it back.

Anything which can cause this i have two external hard drives plugged in.

 

[stridemat]

Before taking it back, the first thing I would do is boot off the OS X disks that came with your iMac, Click Utilities and Verify and Repair permissions. This may sort out your problem. If it doesn't then it may be worth reinstalling OS X (don't forget to back up your files).

In my experience Kernel panics are generally caused by software and not hardware issues.

You could post the 'dump' form the panic here. Navigate to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports and paste the text into a post.

 

[MikeM87]

Before taking it back, the first thing I would do is boot off the OS X disks that came with your iMac, Click Utilities and Verify and Repair permissions. This may sort out your problem. If it doesn't then it may be worth reinstalling OS X (don't forget to back up your files).

In my experience Kernel panics are generally caused by software and not hardware issues.

You could post the 'dump' form the panic here. Navigate to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports and paste the test into a post.

Ok will do like i say i dont recieve it all the time i will try and leave it on as much as possible over the weekend and see if i get the problem.

Thanks for your help and i will post back with results later on