Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

WTF is happening with my 27" iMac?

0

0111587

Cancelled
Original poster
Apr 15, 2010
161
33
My mid 2011 27" iMac just started to freeze up randomly with black and white vertical stripes.
I have reset pram and no luck. iMac boots up and runs for few minutes then this happens. Any thougts whats wrong?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1635.jpg
    IMG_1635.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 386
Could this also be a failing drive where the machine is seeking data from the hard drive and data errors drive the screen to that point? I would guess GPU problem first, but if you have another drive you can swap at least you can verify it's NOT the drive before going after an expensive GPU problem.
 
Hehehe the "ghost" in the screen is me.
I took the RAM out and put another in, then I tried resetting SMC/PRAM.
No luck.

Then I tried to boot up from USB system disk and no luck.
Finally out of nowhere the computer booted, I repaired the disk permission and got it running for about 10 minutes then boom!
Went black/white stripes.

I tried to restart in Recovery mode but then the screen got blue.
I have the computer started twice out of fifty tries.
I think this is faulty GPU, you all agree on that?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1639.jpg
    IMG_1639.jpg
    181.5 KB · Views: 160
soomster said:
Hehehe the "ghost" in the screen is me.
I took the RAM out and put another in, then I tried resetting SMC/PRAM.
No luck.

Then I tried to boot up from USB system disk and no luck.
Finally out of nowhere the computer booted, I repaired the disk permission and got it running for about 10 minutes then boom!
Went black/white stripes.

I tried to restart in Recovery mode but then the screen got blue.
I have the computer started twice out of fifty tries.
I think this is faulty GPU, you all agree on that?
Click to expand...

Yes, or logic board. I hope it's under warrantee :eek:
 
Sure looks like a GPU/logic board issue, sorry to say.

Listening to the chirping of the HDD, does the startup sound otherwise "normal"? If so, do you have any possibility of connecting with any screen sharing/remote desktop -like solution?

RGDS,
 
soomster said:
Hehehe the "ghost" in the screen is me.
I took the RAM out and put another in, then I tried resetting SMC/PRAM.
No luck.

Then I tried to boot up from USB system disk and no luck.
Finally out of nowhere the computer booted, I repaired the disk permission and got it running for about 10 minutes then boom!
Went black/white stripes.

I tried to restart in Recovery mode but then the screen got blue.
I have the computer started twice out of fifty tries.
I think this is faulty GPU, you all agree on that?
Click to expand...

Had this same thing happen to me. Mid 2011 iMac. Started to come and go slowly. Never completely went though. Apple Store tried replacing power supply first, but had the problem back within hours. Apple Store was going to replace logic board next, but was told it could be anything. Never found out as my iMac had so many problems over the 19 mths. I owned it, that they just finally replaced it with a new iMac. Definitely make a Genius Bar appointment and take it into Apple Store if one is available to you. You may get your screen back and think all is okay, but it will go again and gradually get worse.
 
firedept said:
Had this same thing happen to me. Mid 2011 iMac. Started to come and go slowly. Never completely went though. Apple Store tried replacing power supply first, but had the problem back within hours. Apple Store was going to replace logic board next, but was told it could be anything. Never found out as my iMac had so many problems over the 19 mths. I owned it, that they just finally replaced it with a new iMac. Definitely make a Genius Bar appointment and take it into Apple Store if one is available to you. You may get your screen back and think all is okay, but it will go again and gradually get worse.
Click to expand...

Hi all, i had the same case also. Apple replaced the pwr supply, the logic board and the GPU....
But after 1 hr of usage, it came back again.
What should i do now? I have sent all respective videos and pics to apple support.
BTW, did they replaced the same model or the new model?
 
kamiru21 said:
Hi all, i had the same case also. Apple replaced the pwr supply, the logic board and the GPU....
But after 1 hr of usage, it came back again.
What should i do now? I have sent all respective videos and pics to apple support.
BTW, did they replaced the same model or the new model?
Click to expand...

Replaced with late 2012 model. I did have Applecare on the mid 2011 iMac. My 2011 was in the shop for a total of 5 weeks for repairs in a 19 mth. period. It had virtually everything in it replaced until I finally emailed Apple Head Office and they agreed that it should be replaced. It was a business machine that was unreliable and gave me concern. My new late 2012 iMac has not had any issues and I have had it since October I believe. My mid 2011 was the only Apple product I ever bought that I ever had a problem with. My best advice to you, is explain your situation logically to Apple and see what they will do for you. Even though the 2011 iMac was a lemon, Apple did everything it could to rectify the problem. I always found Apple to listen to me as long as I was calm and stated the facts clearly.
 
firedept said:
Replaced with late 2012 model. I did have Applecare on the mid 2011 iMac. My 2011 was in the shop for a total of 5 weeks for repairs in a 19 mth. period. It had virtually everything in it replaced until I finally emailed Apple Head Office and they agreed that it should be replaced. It was a business machine that was unreliable and gave me concern. My new late 2012 iMac has not had any issues and I have had it since October I believe. My mid 2011 was the only Apple product I ever bought that I ever had a problem with. My best advice to you, is explain your situation logically to Apple and see what they will do for you. Even though the 2011 iMac was a lemon, Apple did everything it could to rectify the problem. I always found Apple to listen to me as long as I was calm and stated the facts clearly.
Click to expand...

I totally agreed with ya. Apple really listened and tomorrow will be my second time to send back for repair.
I really hope that everything goes well.
 
I got the exact issue with my 2011 27" iMac. I got HDD error code after running hardware diagnostic check. Mine is still under AppleCare warranty, already booked an on-site service with apple support team. Let's see what they will do.
 
I also had so many problems with my old mid 2011 iMac. It was under AppleCare and in the end Apple would just replace the whole machine with the new 2012 iMac.

With that sais I think pre 2012 unibody iMac is a disaster machine. It will bring problems to you sooner or later.
If you have problems with it and you're still on warranty, I'd suggest ask for replacement whenever possible.

So far my 2012 iMac has been a much better and more reliable machine overall. Quite and runs cooler without hiccups while being faster too.
It's a pinnacle of iMac history I tell you :)
 
OTOH my 2011 machine has run beautifully with no problems at all. (actually I did have to swap the original at receipt because of yellow screen :rolleyes:)

Leaving that aside though a lemon is a lemon imo.

iSayuSay said:
I also had so many problems with my old mid 2011 iMac. It was under AppleCare and in the end Apple would just replace the whole machine with the new 2012 iMac.

With that sais I think pre 2012 unibody iMac is a disaster machine. It will bring problems to you sooner or later.
If you have problems with it and you're still on warranty, I'd suggest ask for replacement whenever possible.

So far my 2012 iMac has been a much better and more reliable machine overall. Quite and runs cooler without hiccups while being faster too.
It's a pinnacle of iMac history I tell you :)
Click to expand...
 
I have had the same concern twice, 2011 refurb

1. The day my warranty expired my screen had graphic artifacts and went to a blue screen. I took it in and under AppleCare they replaced the screen, logic board and video card.

2. About a month later I had the same problem, took it back in and they replaced the logic board, video card and hard drive.


AppleCare has paid for itself on my machine and I still have 1.5 years left on it
 
Fifteen20s said:
I have had the same concern twice, 2011 refurb

1. The day my warranty expired my screen had graphic artifacts and went to a blue screen. I took it in and under AppleCare they replaced the screen, logic board and video card.

2. About a month later I had the same problem, took it back in and they replaced the logic board, video card and hard drive.


AppleCare has paid for itself on my machine and I still have 1.5 years left on it
Click to expand...

Sure the AppleCare paid for itself in your case. But I've been there and the loss of time and energy of getting our iMac repaired is annoying. Those things alone is more valuable than money I've spent for the AppleCare.

I lost of total 4 weeks of the computer time for all the repair jobs alone.
I brought in the huge and heavy block of iMac myself for the repair like 5 or 6 times.

In the end, Apple replaced my whole damn machine, and looking back again I'd rather have a reliable machine instead of using AppleCare.
When your machine is problematic, it will keep being so :(
 
iSayuSay said:
Sure the AppleCare paid for itself in your case. But I've been there and the loss of time and energy of getting our iMac repaired is annoying. Those things alone is more valuable than money I've spent for the AppleCare.

I lost of total 4 weeks of the computer time for all the repair jobs alone.
I brought in the huge and heavy block of iMac myself for the repair like 5 or 6 times.

In the end, Apple replaced my whole damn machine, and looking back again I'd rather have a reliable machine instead of using AppleCare.
When your machine is problematic, it will keep being so :(
Click to expand...

Who really "cares" for a reliable machine? Apple? QC in China? You.....Only you....that's why you pay for the extended warranty and everybody stays "calm".....for how long?...


I am still wondering whether or not 21.5 inch iMac displays are better manufactured! I have not read serious complaints, why?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back