Nothing like a new iMac... now with white screen of doom!

[janzaroo]

...with dead pixels. Great. I buy it, bring it home, turn it on... and it's got dead pixels. My dad called the apple store and the girl gave us the "it has to be more than one" line and laughed.

I think it was the same idiot girl who didn't understand a single question I asked about reprinting a receipt for my iPod that was stolen (for the insurance company), or the USB power issues on the power book I'm loaning that won't power my portable hard drive.

I had also replaced my iPod, and opened it on the way home to find it was CRACKED. At least that they replaced without a problem.

I've been trying to switch from PC to Mac this summer, and so far, really really not impressed. I like to think it's just the store here in Buffalo... but... meh...

It looks like two black specks at a normal distance, and my dad got a magnifying thing and says it's four. Ugh.

 

[Zwhaler]

You definitely should not have to live with four dead pixels. Go back to your Apple store (when the useless broad is not working) and ask nicely if you can have an exchange. Be polite but firm in your request, and they will gladly give you a replacement. Just go on about how you pay top dollar for an Apple product and you get a defective screen... they should listen.

 

[janzaroo]

You definitely should not have to live with four dead pixels. Go back to your Apple store (when the useless broad is not working) and ask nicely if you can have an exchange. Be polite but firm in your request, and they will gladly give you a replacement. Just go on about how you pay top dollar for an Apple product and you get a defective screen... they should listen.

Hopefully... hopefully things will work out. I'm afraid my dad will make a scene prematurely and kill our chances. God, this sucks.

Now I get to rebox my brand new iMac. Just what I wanted to do tonight.

 

[janzaroo]

I got another iMac. It was wonderful, I turned it on... played around... and wanted to install Windows with Boot Camp. I've been a PC person for 20 years. Everything I have is PC.

And now, I have nothing but a white screen. On my brand new iMac.

Okay... what the... I am not happy. I'm just gonna go buy a Dell if this can't be fixed easily... And I've looked around, and this doesn't seem to have an easy fix.

Stupid... lousy... argh. Jane and Macs do not mix well. It just boots to a white screen and stays there. I've pressed a bunch of key combinations, and the only thing that seemed to do anything was alt when the windows xp disk was in. It would give me a CD icon and an arrow. But after about 10 seconds, no matter what I choose, the arrow freezes on the screen, whether the windows disk is in or not...

Aaaargh...

 

[bonafide]

I got another iMac. It was wonderful, I turned it on... played around... and wanted to install Windows with Boot Camp. I've been a PC person for 20 years. Everything I have is PC.

This is your first mistake...

Call Apple and see if they can troubleshoot it with you.

 

[NarKEd]

pc's are what they are because of their OS. if you install windows on a mac it is no different than having a pc... even though you install both os's, a computer is as good as its weakest link.
what's next, people arguing: "I hate apple! I bought a mac, installed windows in it and now I have all these viruses..." you get the picture.

 

[Fender]

Did you get the white screen right off the first boot, or did you try and install Windows with Boot Camp? If it doesn't boot right off the bat, take it back for an exchange.

I remember when I got my original 24" iMac 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo there was a problem where the CD installation was working, but the screen would be completely black or completely white so you couldn't navigate setup.

 

[maclamb]

I got another iMac. It was wonderful, I turned it on... played around... and wanted to install Windows with Boot Camp. I've been a PC person for 20 years. Everything I have is PC.

And now, I have nothing but a white screen. On my brand new iMac.

Okay... what the... I am not happy. I'm just gonna go buy a Dell if this can't be fixed easily... And I've looked around, and this doesn't seem to have an easy fix.

Stupid... lousy... argh. Jane and Macs do not mix well. It just boots to a white screen and stays there. I've pressed a bunch of key combinations, and the only thing that seemed to do anything was alt when the windows xp disk was in. It would give me a CD icon and an arrow. But after about 10 seconds, no matter what I choose, the arrow freezes on the screen, whether the windows disk is in or not...

Aaaargh...

Seriously - consider VMWare or Parallels in stead of Bootcamp. Run Windows apps native On the Desktop w/o OS window.
Very nice apps. I use it for the windoze apps (like MS project) that M$ hasn't ported to mac.
Don't give up (yet).
If you are still having problems (and don't just wanta gripe) post here and we'll try to help.

 

[erandall38]

You definitely can get a new iMac. I also had a pixel problem. One, I repeat ONE stuck pixel. Not to big a deal, but that gets to you. And since you just forked out a few grand you should get a good computer. I called my Apple store and they said bring it in and you get a brand new one. Call your Apple store manager and NICELY tell him what has happened, they will replace it for free.
Honestly if you have any problems getting a new one PM I can help.

 

[iW00t]

And that is why I hate iMacs.

If I buy a $500 24" display from WorstBuy and it has a dead pixel... well tough. But at least it is only $500.

If I buy a $2400 24" iMac from Apple and it has a defective pixel? Dang, I am stuffed, because the screen is stuck onto the computer.

 

[janzaroo]

pc's are what they are because of their OS. if you install windows on a mac it is no different than having a pc... even though you install both os's, a computer is as good as its weakest link.
what's next, people arguing: "I hate apple! I bought a mac, installed windows in it and now I have all these viruses..." you get the picture.

Yes, yes, I know the Mac shpeal. I also know it won't be any different from owning a PC. Perfect! That's what I want! A PC and Mac in one! Which is why, after this is fixed or I get another iMac (third one's the charm!), I'll be getting parallels.

I'm going to try the apple support phone line on my lunch break first, and if there isn't any way I can do this at home, I'll go to the apple store again.

All I want to do is wipe the hard drive. There's nothing on there, I've only owned it for a few hours. It worked perfectly fine for the first two hours or so I had it on before installing boot camp, so it's not defective. It's just me.

It recognizes the Windows disk if I hold option. But when I click on it, it just freezes. It seems to freeze after about 10 seconds no matter what I do, even if I just swirl the mouse around. That's also the only time I get a cursor.

If I put any mac disks in, it just flashes a folder with a ? on it. This is also with holding option. No other key combinations do anything. I don't have any workable operating system on the computer, it won't boot from disk, so I figure I need to wipe everything and reinstall the Mac OS...

 

[mrgreen4242]

pc's are what they are because of their OS. if you install windows on a mac it is no different than having a pc... even though you install both os's, a computer is as good as its weakest link.
what's next, people arguing: "I hate apple! I bought a mac, installed windows in it and now I have all these viruses..." you get the picture.

That's kind of a silly thing to say. Sounds like she's having some sort of hardware problem and you're blaming Windows.

And that is why I hate iMacs.

If I buy a $500 24" display from WorstBuy and it has a dead pixel... well tough. But at least it is only $500.

If I buy a $2400 24" iMac from Apple and it has a defective pixel? Dang, I am stuffed, because the screen is stuck onto the computer.

Except that they clearly exchanged her system for a new one without any dead/stuck pixels. Another person in the thread got an exchange for ONE pixel. So, really, you're better off getting the iMac than a $500 display for <insert silly name for big box store here> since Apple will do this for you where as most of those places have 6 or 8 pixels, or 4 in a certain area type rule.

Back to the original problem, have you tried the hardware test CD yet? That will usually give you some answers about whether you have a hardware or software problem, etc.

 

[hologram]

Don't hold Option.

Put in the Mac Disk and reboot, but this time hold down the "C" key from the moment reboot starts. It will take a while, and your finger may get tired, but once you see spinning wheel you can let go and it should boot to your disk.

Then you can use Disk Utility from the menu to check your drive or reformat.

Good luck.

 

[janzaroo]

Don't hold Option.

Put in the Mac Disk and reboot, but this time hold down the "C" key from the moment reboot starts. It will take a while, and your finger may get tired, but once you see spinning wheel you can let go and it should boot to your disk.

Then you can use Disk Utility from the menu to check your drive or reformat.

Good luck.

Ahh, I tried that a few times, maybe I didn't hold it long enough. I'm at work now, but when I call apple support from home at lunch I'll probably be doing this while explaining my problem.

 

[RRK]

You may also try those key combinations that zap your pram and all that.

 

[hologram]

maybe I didn't hold it long enough.

That might be it. You have to hold it from the initial chime, past the white screen with the grey apple logo, until you see a spinning gear beneath the logo. Then you can release the key.

If that doesn't work, it's almost certainly a hardware problem, but iI doubt it. It really should work.

 

[janzaroo]

You may also try those key combinations that zap your pram and all that.

Already did that, held it for three dongs.

 

[janzaroo]

That might be it. You have to hold it from the initial chime, past the white screen with the grey apple logo, until you see a spinning gear beneath the logo. Then you can release the key.

If that doesn't work, it's almost certainly a hardware problem, but iI doubt it. It really should work.

Urgh, I don't get a grey apple logo... just... white screen...

I really don't see how this can be a hardware problem... brand new computer... bah...

 

[Lesser Evets]

I think it was the same idiot girl who didn't understand a single question I asked about reprinting a receipt for my iPod that was stolen...

Did she look a little familiar?

"I have 4 burned out pixels on my brand new iMac."
"beepbeep beep!~"

 

[janzaroo]

Did she look a little familiar?

"I have 4 burned out pixels on my brand new iMac."
"beepbeep beep!~"

Same vacant look, yes.

Beep beep beep? I don't get it. :\

 

[janzaroo]

Update:

Called apple care, they couldn't help me. Just told me to hold c while rebooting with the mac disk in. Didn't do anything. Just big white screen staring back at me...

So now I have an appointment at the genius bar. I'll update again when I get back... I have a feeling I'll just be getting my 3rd new iMac in that many days, though.

 

[mustang_dvs]

What happened when you ran BootCamp? Did you successfully install Windows? (And more importantly, did you print out the manual, as BootCamp suggested and did you use that as a guide for choosing the correct disk allocation inside the archaic Windows installation bootloader screen?)

Have you tried booting with [Command]-S or [Command]-V held down? If so, what did you see?

My guess is that you hosed the partition map of the boot drive by installing Windows in the wrong place.

Also, take a gander at this page, and follow some of these suggestions:
http://www.bombich.com/mactips/openfirmware.html

 

[maclamb]

other than idle curiosity, i can't imagine why you would need to boot to XP when Parallels and VMware will run native on the desktop - for the few programs that don't run on the mac.

 

[RRK]

"Resetting the SMC can resolve some computer issues such as not starting up, not displaying video, sleep issues, fan noise issues, and so forth. If your computer still exhibits these types of issues after you've restarted the computer, try resetting the SMC. To reset the SMC on an iMac (Early 2006), iMac (Mid 2006), iMac (Late 2006), or Mac mini (Early 2006):

1. From the Apple menu, choose Shut Down (or if the computer is not responding, hold the power button until it turns off).
2. Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord and any display cables.
3. Wait at least 15 seconds.
4. Plug the power cord back in, making sure the power button is not being pressed at the time. Then reconnect your keyboard and mouse to the computer.
5. Press the power button on the back to start up your computer.
"

 

[janzaroo]

Thanks for all the info... didn't get to try any that came after my previous post, though. I had it boxed up and brought it to the genius bar.

The guy did a lot of the same things I did, and that were suggested here, and got no where. Another genius was watching and said something about the firmware being messed up... and bios something or other... I'm not techy at all, I can't even repeat what he said. But the conclusion was that nothing would easily fix it, and so... I returned it and got my 3rd new iMac in 3 days.

I'm a pro at unboxing them now.

I'm trying to think of helpful or intelligent things to say for anyone else that might get this problem... but when I was there, it was pretty much doom and gloom. The other guy said to use an external thing to check my iMac, but that would just see what was there, not fix anything. So they didn't bother doing that.

I bought parallels while I was there... basically I had chosen Bootcamp because it's on the apple website, and it's free. This is my first mac ever, I know very very little about them other than CS2... and so far, Macs don't seem to like me, but that's too bad.