iMac 2 dead logic boards in 16 months

[Craven Morehead]

on 8 October 2016 I purchased a new 27” iMac. 4 months after purchase it wouldn’t boot. Took it into Apple store and they said the logic board was bad and replaced it. That was March 2017. Just recently I tried upgrading to high sierra from el cap. It fails 10+ times. I finally took it in on Monday 2 days ago with clear description of the issue. They called yesterday and said it was ready for pickup. I asked what the issue was and was told that it was a software issue and needed to be wiped and reinstalled. I said ok and picked it up. Upon startup I found all of my data on the machine. I looked and found they had not updated the system as I was told. In fact they did nothing. I called the store was told that the tech started it up and it booted so assumed it was fine. Did not even touch it. He then suggested I wipe it and if it didn’t work to bring it back last night. I wiped it and after restart it now was stuck on constant restart load 90% then restart. I took it back to Apple last night and was told they would again wipe it and do a clean install. I told the tech that I researched the restart issue and it came back as logic board. I asked if it could be logic and he said no. Said I could pick up this morning first thing.

Fast forward to today. No call so I called them. Was told that they were now seeing the same issues I described but were still in testing. At the end of the day I got a call back saying that they aren’t sure of the problem but acknowledge it exists and would do me the favor of replacing the logic board AGAIN for $550 my cost. I’m blown away this is apparently the new Apple.

Has anybody experienced this? If so what was your solution?

 

[flimpy]

I had a logic board failure in two of my MBA's (they were pretty old at the time), but not in iMac.

The 1-year warranty has ended and unless you have the Apple Care, you would have to eat the cost, unfortunately.

Do you use any kind of surge protector or just have your iMac plugged in directly to a wall outlet?

 

[iMacDonald]

They would do you the "favour" of replacing the motherboard at $550 your cost?
Why is that a favour? Does it normally cost even more?

I see in the Hardware Warranty terms the replacement part is only covered for 90 days or until your product warranty runs out.
That's a bit crap, also because it took them so long to diagnose the issue.

Not sure if this is related: I have seen weird restart behaviour on a new High Sierra install on a 2013 iMac just recently. As if it was in the middle of an update (think it was the Indian character update last week) that couldn't ever finish. It would constantly restart after an error with a confirm on the screen. It was caught in that loop until I clicked on the error screen on boot up and was able to select boot disk under file. I selected that and the iMac booted up fine after and after applying the long latest OS update (30 minutes on a spinner HDD) the machine seems fine.

 

[SaSaSushi]

I had a logic board fail in my first iMac in 2006. It failed about one month out of AppleCare and I ended up out of pocket for $550.

Not coincidentally, that was the last time I failed to buy AppleCare for any of my machines since and, while I never had another logic board failure in the three iMacs since then, I have had even more expensive LCD panels replaced for free for various problems along with other less expensive issues. Most recently the HDD in my Late 2013 iMac failed with about one month of AppleCare coverage left and Apple replaced it. About 8 months later when I went to sell that machine then out of AppleCare, that HDD Apple had replaced 8 months earlier failed.

That's the last iMac I will ever own with a HDD in it but that's another story.

Anyway, these things happen. AppleCare is always worth it for a Mac in my opinion (and experience).

 

[webbga]

I bought a new 2015 MAC at the end of 2016. I purchased Apple Care with it. Everything was fine until 9 months after purchase when I was watching Netflix one morning and the screen went black. I waited and it came back, but the icons were shaky and the apps were difficult to access. Support told me to reinstall Sierra which I did, but the problem reoccured.

The Apple Store had a wait time of a week so they told me to take it to an Apple Certified Repair Center. They replaced my Logic Board and everything was fine for a couple of weeks when the same problem occurred. I took it to Apple this time and they replaced the Logic Board again and a fan which they said was not working properly and failed diagnostics. Things have been fine since then and it makes me think that the fan was the problem from the start. I find it hard to believe the original Logic Board would fail so early and the replacement shortly thereafter.

 

[Rock54]

I purchased a 27" 2015 iMac June of '16. Died this St. Valentine day. Unfortunately I did not (but intended to) purchase Applecare as 4 weeks later my wife was diagnosed with cancer and it slipped my mind. Just light use and amateur photography using LR 6 and Skylum. In my case I was just sitting at the iMac (El Cap) and the screen went black system turned off. Tried restarting, unplugging etc but no power to system (using power strip and desk light still worked). Also unfortunately, I live about 4 1/2 hours (2 wintery mountain passes to cross) from the nearest Apple store. My choice was to take to local repair with 20 years experience with Apple and Linux systems. 2 boards bad and repair of $1500. Have thought of replacing with a new 27" iMac but this 2012 MB Pro (El Cap) still runs like a champ. I have no intent to upgrade the OS on this machine. Learned my lesson - to purchase Applecare next time.

 

[Craven Morehead]

I purchased a 27" 2015 iMac June of '16. Died this St. Valentine day. Unfortunately I did not (but intended to) purchase Applecare as 4 weeks later my wife was diagnosed with cancer and it slipped my mind. Just light use and amateur photography using LR 6 and Skylum. In my case I was just sitting at the iMac (El Cap) and the screen went black system turned off. Tried restarting, unplugging etc but no power to system (using power strip and desk light still worked). Also unfortunately, I live about 4 1/2 hours (2 wintery mountain passes to cross) from the nearest Apple store. My choice was to take to local repair with 20 years experience with Apple and Linux systems. 2 boards bad and repair of $1500. Have thought of replacing with a new 27" iMac but this 2012 MB Pro (El Cap) still runs like a champ. I have no intent to upgrade the OS on this machine. Learned my lesson - to purchase Applecare next time.

I think we likely have the same machine. Apple knows there is an issue with this machine but seem to deny it. I posted this exact msg in the forums on Apple.com and it was removed in minutes. I then changed the headline and it stayed up for less than 12 hours. Why was it removed? Nobody will answer. I gave up on Apple owning up and called visa. They double the warranty and will reimburse me for the repair. This has def changed my opinion on Apple. And not for the better.

 

[Craven Morehead]

Wanted to circle back on this with an update. Although it wasnt easy, I did get the machine back today. They not only replaced the logic board for the second time, but also the SSD. Although they told me they were charging me $550 just for the logic board, they ended up waving that and only charged me for the SSD which was considerably cheaper at $112 total. Apple did the right thing here, even though it was not easy to get there. If I had not raised hell, I would have been out $700 + labor. I will at least give them credit where credit is due.