Apple Acknowledges iMac Freezing Issue, Fix In Works

[DMann]

Testing Hardware

One has to ask...Don't they test these things before they release them???

Actually they do extensive testing. However, sometimes hardware problems don't surface for several months, and do only while interacting with specific combinations of running software, permutations which would be difficult to replicate completely. I'm not attempting to apologize for this oversight, only stating that it is extremely challenging to foresee the entire spectrum of environments a system might operate in. That said, this glitch with the graphics card, however, should have been detected and dealt with before release, I agree.

 

[RevToTheRedline]

I hope hope hope they finally get the fan speed issue worked out in an upcoming patch.

My iMac is still running too hot. Fans aren't ramping up fast and high enough.

 

[djnewlin]

Why doesn't Apple offer in-home service like Dell?

Sadly, this is the most progress we have seen on this frustrating issue for months...

But I'll take it anyways

Now comes the waiting part... I *really* hope this is just a software/driver/firmware fix - I hate the idea of lugging my 24" iMac to the Apple Store. Ironically, whereas I love Apple's computers much more than my Dell PCs, I find Dell's in-home service clearly superior to Apple's (which requires you to carry your Mac in ).

Keeping fingers crossed...

Doug

 

[uNext]

if microsoft would be behind the imac
they will be getting ****ed on right now. (so long to fix this blah blah leave it to microsoft to slowly stick a freezing computer up their fanbase etc blah blah)
But since is apple behind it "apple is so cool to stay on top of things lol"
Come on seriously one thing we need to do as a community is to drop the double standard mentality we live by as mac users and accept the fact that
the apple we use to know is no longer.

Countless amount of people complain about apples laptops, their imacs, their
ipods their mediocre mac mini etc. Their quality level if compared to a chart would resemble the stock chart of the market crash of 87..Thats how low
their quality have dropped and any TRUE MAC FAN FOR 10+ YEARS CAN AGREE WITH ME.

You new 2-3 year "mac fanatics" unfotunetly will not get to experience
a true build quality machine. Those days are gone bye bye ever to return

 

[BrokenChairs]

hmm

Well it's good to know about this. I was planning to get an iMac after the Leopard release but reading about the freezing made me think twice. Hopefully it's done before Leopard

 

[tcoleman]

Actually, this is impressive -- Apple is actually addressing this issue at the start. When the G5 iMacs were shutting down due to overheating, the motherboard, logic board, and power supply replacements were done quietly. It's a good thing that this issue is being dealt with head on, and in turn will hopefully restore faith among Mac consumers concerned with quality control.

It's a lot easier to deploy software fixes than it is to replace hardware. In this case, it seems pretty clear that they think it's a software problem.

 

[DMann]

iMac Fix

My iMac C2E 24" was freezing every 15 min approx. last week, just after updating to "iMac software update 1.1".

I then ran all MainMenu scripts, Disk Warrior, Disk utility's repair disk (from the tiger installation disks), disabled all login items, and the issue seems to have dissapeared except for when I play any games like Command & Conquer.

Still waiting for the fix... Glad to see Apple is working on this...

Fix aught to roll out, at the very least, by Leopards\'s release:

http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2007/10/apple_software_fix_for_imac_freeze_coming_soo.html

 

[pavelbure]

n turn will hopefully restore faith among Mac consumers concerned with quality control.

agreed. lately i have been wondering if i made a good switch over to the mac. this bug is terrible. i had better stability on windows 98 that was running for 8hrs without a restart than i had on this 1.1 update.

hopefully this will fix the problem i have in imovie 06 i am getting weird graphic glitches on themes. go to "reflection - white" theme, click on the "open" theme, when title 1 appears near the end i get some sort of bar code looking thing instead of a title 1 reflection. if i type something in it goes away, only to reappear when i add it to my timeline. this is really irritating me. also occasionally when i add clips they will be all distorted. quicktime does the same thing.

 

[GoodWatch]

Actually they do extensive testing. However, sometimes hardware problems don't surface for several months, and do only while interacting with specific combinations of running software, permutations which would be difficult to replicate completely. I'm not attempting to apologize for this oversight, only stating that it is extremely challenging to foresee the entire spectrum of environments a system might operate in. That said, this glitch with the graphics card, however, should have been detected and dealt with before release, I agree.

There is another OS, the name of which will not be mentioned here, that has to deal with an almost infinite amount of possible soft- and hardware combinations, delivered by an almost equally infinite amount of manufacturers. In the light of your explanation, it is a miracle that it runs at all!

 

[Kinetic]

ours freezes most often using itunes. have to hard restart. does "later this month" just coincide with the last updates sent out before 10.5?

I thought it was just me! Mine freezes up about 3 out of 5 times using iTunes. Last night, I finally had enough and started trying to diagnosis it and then I found out others are having the same problem. I really do hope they fix it ASAP. Considering it's the begining of the month we potentially have a few weeks before we get a fix. Oh well, I guess I won't be using iTunes and that means no buying songs or movies until it's fixed.

It's a lot easier to deploy software fixes than it is to replace hardware...

Not to mention a lot cheaper to fix. My fear is that QC on hardware has been slipping and lord knows you can find rants on how long it takes Apple to respond to those now. As Apple grows and gets bigger and more costly to address, I hope their response doesn't take longer as well.

 

[TheRuggedLion]

if microsoft would be behind the imac
they will be getting ****ed on right now. (so long to fix this blah blah leave it to microsoft to slowly stick a freezing computer up their fanbase etc blah blah)
But since is apple behind it "apple is so cool to stay on top of things lol"
Come on seriously one thing we need to do as a community is to drop the double standard mentality we live by as mac users and accept the fact that
the apple we use to know is no longer.

Countless amount of people complain about apples laptops, their imacs, their
ipods their mediocre mac mini etc. Their quality level if compared to a chart would resemble the stock chart of the market crash of 87..Thats how low
their quality have dropped and any TRUE MAC FAN FOR 10+ YEARS CAN AGREE WITH ME.

You new 2-3 year "mac fanatics" unfotunetly will not get to experience
a true build quality machine. Those days are gone bye bye ever to return

So true. Honestly, being a fan of a sports team is something I can understand, but how is someone a fan of a computer company? The consumer should get the best product in their spending range, regardless of what major computer company makes it. I use to read about people sticking with AMD and refusing to buy Intel when the Core 2 Duos came out... Why?
The Core 2 Duo beat the AMD X2 in every test, at slower clock speeds, and overclocked like mad. I seriously want to know why? If someone could give me a few good reasons of why they are fanbois of certain hardware companies, I would appreciate it. I'm not trying to be a smart ass or be sarcastic, I'm just curious.

 

[flopticalcube]

Does anyone have any evidence as to how widespread the problem is? I mean aside from the anecdotal "you see posts everywhere" type thing.

 

[tschur]

Reading the most recent posts over at Apple Discussions, there's some evidence that the offending driver might be from the Keyboard Software 1.1 update, not iMac Software Update 1.1.

 

[pavelbure]

Reading the most recent posts over at Apple Discussions, there's some evidence that the offending driver might be from the Keyboard Software 1.1 update, not iMac Software Update 1.1.

maybe this weekend i will load os x into another partition and try that out there.

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

Fess up and apologize. Now that's a company I can RESPECT!

is

 

[72930]

Fess up and apologize. Now that's a company I can RESPECT!

is

Its not cool when you have the problem and they're denying it...like I did with the Macbook random shutdown...

 

[CBAviator]

I am glad a new update is on its way. Lately, my iMac has been freezing while using Aperture. Hopefully the new update will solve the problem. And yes, I have enough memory haha.

 

[AJsAWiz]

Boot Camp on my white iMac C2D takes about 10 seconds after pressing "return" before anything happens. This started after the firmware upgrade.

Sorry to hear that. Perhaps a call to Applecare may resolve your issue.
Before your most recent problem occurred were you pleased with the performance of Boot Camp?

 

[Stridder44]

Fess up and apologize. Now that's a company I can RESPECT!

is

I'd respect them more if they'd hurry up and fix it already.

 

[DMann]

Leopard

I'd respect them more if they'd hurry up and fix it already.

Leopard might be the fix we've been waiting for....

 

[Marble]

Even though I plan to buy Leopard, a paid bug fix isn't acceptable. There will be another Tiger update in the near future. I expect the fix will either be included in that or in another "iMac Software Update."

 

[ReanimationLP]

Is it just me or is Apple QA taking a nosedive off of the WTF tree.

Problems with all the new iPods (well, except for the shuffle), problems with the iMacs, the overheating of the MB/MBPs, etc.

 

[tim99206]

Spent, or should I say wasted, another 1 1/2 hours w/ Apple's yellow short-bus crew this morning. Ghost fragments, random freezing, non-working firewire ports, and overheating continue to plague my machine. Was bounced between seven different employees, which I personally felt was done to test only my patience. "Aaron", a female tech specialist, was incredibly rude, yet didn't realize one of Apple's sales staff was on the line with me until he spoke up and demanded her name. I was then transfered to India (I think - or it could've been the local Kwik-E Mart) in which "Apu" justified my machine's failure because it is a "new model".

To top it off, after my latest crash, I get a pop-up box on my screen from Apple asking what I was doing prior to my machine crashing. I responded - "wondering why I spent $1700 on a piece of sh*t that doesn't work"

I'm taking it to my local Mac repair shop tomorrow, which after a short conversation, seems to be a common problem.

 

[Miharu]

That sucks. I got a crashing iMac (dozens of crashes per day) and it also isnt' nearly as silent as everyone else seems to have. But if the little patch comes soon, well it better as it's soon the end of October, I'll be content.

 

[imac2007]

End Of The Month

Well it is the end of the month and my imac still freezes up wish they would please help me fix this.I just purchased my imac on oct 12 my first mac ever I do not want to complain.