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iMac 3.06Ghz seems sluggish/graphical glitches.

N

neoelectronaut

Cancelled
Original poster
Dec 3, 2003
3,417
2,093
So I've got this new iMac, 2GB of Ram, 3.06Ghz, 1TB HDD, etc. And it just doesn't feel right. To begin with, every so often the mouse feels sluggish, almost as if someone has turned the tracking speed way down for about 10 seconds, then it goes back to normal.

In addition to that, every so often I'll have graphical glitches. For example, once I searched something in spotlight, but rather than the typical drop-down I got just a big white rectangle where the drop-down should have been.

Finally, WoW locks up after about 2 minutes of play, but that's an issue for the WoW board more than anything.

Edit: Example of the graphical glitch that just happened:

 
Well, blizzard introduced some nice mac specific bugs with 2.4.1 so you'll just have to wait for an update for that.

Is that weird box the glitch? What was it supposed to be in (photoshop)?

Edit: Run a hardware diagnostic and check the ram and the video card.
 
I don't know about the white rectangle, but I know that a bunch of users are having problems with WOW with their Macs. Lots of users complain (on the Blizzard forums), but all they get from Mods/GMs is that you need to clear add-ons, WTF folder and cache. If that doesn't help, they attribute the freezing to the Mac overheating and tell you to reinstall the game. They also recommend you to get SMC Fan Control to increase fan speeds to prevent it from overheating.

I, personally, don't recommend SMC Fan Control. Apple and Intel know the machine's limits. SMC was meant for those with Rev.A MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Now that most of the heat problems have disappeared, it's not necessary. Plus, I've heard of problems with SMC and how it alters the fan firmware and sometimes it's not able to revert to default.
 
Actually bliz admitted to having a problem, they just claim they fixed it in 2.4.2 (and they did for the most part). I'm thinking it might have something to do with spotlight and/or time machine but I haven't had time to test that out throughly.
 
NAG said:
Actually bliz admitted to having a problem, they just claim they fixed it in 2.4.2 (and they did for the most part). I'm thinking it might have something to do with spotlight and/or time machine but I haven't had time to test that out throughly.
Click to expand...

Weird! Hopefully the next patch will help me out because I still have some random freezing. I thought it was from some of the add-ons, so I removed them and it still happened. So I went and reinstalled OS X and WOW, and it still happened again. Luckily it happens once a day, so it doesn't bother me too much. I just wish it worked like before the patch was released, with no freezing.

As for the iMac mouse being sluggish, could it be wireless and that the battery is running out of juice? Also, have you tried repairing permissions in Disk Utility?
 
This can't be good.
 

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most likely

I think you most likely have MOBO issues. Leaning towards something wrong with the graphics card. I would call apple and do an exchange on your computer. This definitely does not sound software to me. Act stupid on the phone and say you can not see anything. Should allow them to give you a new computer without the wait.
 
I'm gonna give it a bit more time to see if it happens again. It may have been a fluke, as I was exporting from iMovie when it happened. I do find that the computer seems to lock up alot more than my previous eMac did.

But that's why I bought Applecare.
 
The screen problem could've just been iMovie. The locking up could've been the HDD failing. Do you have a 500GB HDD in the iMac? I have had a ton of Western Digital 500GB HDDs that fail fail fail. :(
 
Here it is again. After I got home today I woke the computer from sleep and got this:



I don't quite know how to report this because it's something that happens every now and then, and for no particular reason.
 
neoelectronaut said:
Here it is again. After I got home today I woke the computer from sleep and got this:



I don't quite know how to report this because it's something that happens every now and then, and for no particular reason.
Click to expand...

Wow.
Yeah, there is no since to wait as this is obviously a f'ed up computer.

Please, please, PLEASE tell me you have Apple Care?

If so, there won't be ANY problem replacing this.

And if it's still under your 14 day warranty, you don't really need a reason as to why you want a replacement.
You could just say you didn't like the way it smelled and they couldn't do anything about it. ;)
 
Chandler Adaway said:
Wow.
Yeah, there is no since to wait as this is obviously a f'ed up computer.

Please, please, PLEASE tell me you have Apple Care?

If so, there won't be ANY problem replacing this.

And if it's still under your 14 day warranty, you don't really need a reason as to why you want a replacement.
You could just say you didn't like the way it smelled and they couldn't do anything about it. ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I purchased Applecare. And I'm over my return policy being that I got it on the 20th of June.

Posted a similar thread on Apple's discussion board to see what their take on it is because I have to go through the hassle of boxing it up to ship off. Arg.
 
neoelectronaut said:
Yeah, I purchased Applecare. And I'm over my return policy being that I got it on the 20th of June.

Posted a similar thread on Apple's discussion board to see what their take on it is because I have to go through the hassle of boxing it up to ship off. Arg.
Click to expand...

That sucks.. :(
That's why I don't upgrade the systems.
I could easily just go into the apple store and leave with the same machine without any problems.
 
Yeah, OP, ship it away ASAP so that you will have your replacement ASAP, cuz that system is messed. Probably something in terms of the logic board/GPU.
 
MarkMS said:
I don't know about the white rectangle, but I know that a bunch of users are having problems with WOW with their Macs. Lots of users complain (on the Blizzard forums), but all they get from Mods/GMs is that you need to clear add-ons, WTF folder and cache. If that doesn't help, they attribute the freezing to the Mac overheating and tell you to reinstall the game. They also recommend you to get SMC Fan Control to increase fan speeds to prevent it from overheating.

I, personally, don't recommend SMC Fan Control. Apple and Intel know the machine's limits. SMC was meant for those with Rev.A MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Now that most of the heat problems have disappeared, it's not necessary. Plus, I've heard of problems with SMC and how it alters the fan firmware and sometimes it's not able to revert to default.
Click to expand...

Actually didnt they admit that the graphics cards are overheating and dying out early?
 
kabunaru said:
Some Nvidia cards are defective but I am not sure if your problem is related to this:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4483

Your iMac does use a laptop-class video card though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the nVidia defective notebook GPU deal is a huge story and if it affects the parts installed in iMacs it will end up causing MAJOR headaches for Apple in recalls and service. I've seen no concrete evidence of an Apple connection yet in news reports though. Time will tell...

The pictures the OP posted also remind me a lot of my 20" Core Duo iMac when the logic board failed. But in that case it got progressively worse and was not intermittent. At first the graphical glitches appeared and eventually it wouldn't boot at all.

That looks like an overheating GPU.
 
SaSaSushi said:
Yeah, the nVidia defective notebook GPU deal is a huge story and if it affects the parts installed in iMacs it will end up causing MAJOR headaches for Apple in recalls and service. I've seen no concrete evidence of an Apple connection yet in news reports though. Time will tell...

The pictures the OP posted also remind me a lot of my 20" Core Duo iMac when the logic board failed. But in that case it got progressively worse and was not intermittent. At first the graphical glitches appeared and eventually it wouldn't boot at all.

That looks like an overheating GPU.
Click to expand...

How can something be in sleep mode and then instantaneously overheat, though? That's what confusing me.

Also, if the logic board is shot wouldn't the computer not work at all?
 
neoelectronaut said:
How can something be in sleep mode and then instantaneously overheat, though? That's what confusing me.
Click to expand...

I suppose the answer to that is if it was defective.

Also, if the logic board is shot wouldn't the computer not work at all?
Click to expand...

In my case the logic board failure was progressive but once it reached the critical stage it was all over. As I said, at first I noticed graphical glitches. It wasn't as dramatic as your pictures in the beginning. There would be random horizontal lines on the screen and windows wouldn't draw properly. Eventually, the machine started locking up and I would see screens like yours with the artifacts. Finally, it wouldn't boot into OS X at all. Even stranger still, even when my logic board had reached the point where it could not boot OS X it would boot into my Windows Vista Boot Camp installation fine and dandy without the slightest graphical glitch. Not at all sure what that was all about.

One thing is for sure, you need to send that iMac back to Apple. Even if it is only happening occasionally that is absolutely unacceptable and definitely a sign of some hardware failure.
 
SaSaSushi said:
I suppose the answer to that is if it was defective.



In my case the logic board failure was progressive but once it reached the critical stage it was all over. As I said, at first I noticed graphical glitches. It wasn't as dramatic as your pictures in the beginning. There would be random horizontal lines on the screen and windows wouldn't draw properly. Eventually, the machine started locking up and I would see screens like yours with the artifacts. Finally, it wouldn't boot into OS X at all. Even stranger still, even when my logic board had reached the point where it could not boot OS X it would boot into my Windows Vista Boot Camp installation fine and dandy without the slightest graphical glitch. Not at all sure what that was all about.

One thing is for sure, you need to send that iMac back to Apple. Even if it is only happening occasionally that is absolutely unacceptable and definitely a sign of some hardware failure.
Click to expand...

Well, I'll wait a bit to see if it happens again to try to understand why it's happening. I need to be able to explain to the guy at Apple what exactly is happening other than "the screen turned into colors."
 
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