GaBeech

Q: Late 2006 iMac, Lines, Kernel Panic, Freeze, Reboot, Restart, Serial W8 ?

Hello,

Let me start by explaining the method I am initially going to adopt in my search for answers;

•All of the keywords and more that would not fit in the title space, relate to my problem.
•I think the *iMac Serial* holds the key to mine and possibly a lot of other peoples search for answers.
•My second post will explain what I know about the Serial and the information it provides.
•I have a strong feeling that a lot of people who have the same or similar problems to me will have a Serial that begins with at least W8.
•I believe that a lot of affected machines will of been produced between 2006 & 2008, yet not confined to that window in time.
•So, to round up, I am looking for people who have had/are having the same/similar problems to the ones listed below.

•Small graphical glitches; Thin lines in random areas on the desktop, growing in number and intensity over time.
•Graphical glitches on, in and around Finder windows. Again, growing in number and intensity over time.
•Horizontal lines across entire screen. Again, growing in number and intensity over time.
•The odd Software Crash/System Freeze. (Which does not happen very often on the iMac we've grown to love)
•More frequent Software Crashes/System Freeze's. (Maybe it's all that freeware and plugins I've been playing with)
•Kernel Panic's, never had one before... it was a new one on me.
•Frequent Kernel Panics.
•System Freeze, recovering after being put to sleep and then woken.
•System Freeze, unrecoverable. Hard reset required.
•Exactly the same behavior after a full reinstall of OSX.
•Exactly the same behavior after wiping system drive with zero's, then a full reinstall of OSX.
•Exactly the same behavior after wiping system drive with zero's, then a full reinstall with a previous version of OSX.
•System Freeze requiring hard reset on nearly every occasion Time Machine was accessed.
•Shut iMac down completely, never to respond to Power Button being pressed again, even after trying to reset the SMC.


The above is a simplified list of key events on a relatively short journey from Perfect Machine to, 'will not power up'.


If you or anyone you know has gone through anything similar, I would love you to join this topic.

Yours,
GaBeech

iMac (20-inch Late 2006) 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo ~ x1600 Graphics, Mac OS X (10.6.3), Serial Number: W87070ACVUV (Check My Biography To See What A Serial Means)

Posted on May 26, 2010 8:36 PM

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Q: Late 2006 iMac, Lines, Kernel Panic, Freeze, Reboot, Restart, Serial W8 ?

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  • by elice82@,

    elice82@ elice82@ Oct 15, 2010 1:58 PM in response to elmac
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 15, 2010 1:58 PM in response to elmac
    First we don't have a genius bar. We need to pay 80 euro before we are getting any anwsers.

    I did make an appointment but they can't find anything.

    My iMac is slow, hanging, ticking, dead pixels etc, hanging video's etc.
    I cannot sit with an expert to show it. Is not allowed.
    But why mmm do I find so many people with the same problem?

    Apple is saying that this problem doesn't exist (never heard of it).

    Because if they admit it, they need to solve it for everybody.
  • by milankovach,

    milankovach milankovach Oct 15, 2010 2:28 PM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2010 2:28 PM in response to GaBeech
    lol!!

    R C-R still wrote in this thread!

    I did not read it for some time and I see that R C-R is still like a broken record. R C-R, how much Apple pays you to water this problem?

    it is ridicules how you repeat again and again same thing.

    iMac from 2006 have problem. I have two of them and both have same issues and both stop to work, just like others in this thread, after 2.5 - 3.5 years!

    I do not have hope that Apple would react anyhow but for sure I spread news on all local forums about how Apple is crapy and how it does not respect their costumers.
  • by papa_freeman,

    papa_freeman papa_freeman Oct 17, 2010 2:55 PM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 17, 2010 2:55 PM in response to GaBeech
    Hi all---

    Just found this topic-- I'm in the same boat (W8642)

    Bought new iMac 24" in late 2006-against my better judgment, also bought the AppleCare-just before it went out of AC Warranty I was experiencing video 'issues' as stated by many here----I am pretty sure that I called in to AppleCare, but find no record of that call--

    Problem got worse-- now the iMac is nearly unusable-- constant crashes--all video card related

    I simply do not have the time to read over all the posts here--

    The only solution I have found is on YouTube-- where a video card replacement demo is posted--best price on the card I can find is $199--but with no guarantee of compatibility

    I am simply stunned that Apple will not take care of their rather fanatical and loyal customers-- I realize the corporate realities-- but they are running record profits-- stock prices up-- *** is the problem with them?

    Anyway, can anyone tell me if there is anything more that a lot of heat being generating in these forums (no pun intended)-- looking for a little light instead-- bottom line-- are we on our own on this?

    thanks-
  • by Stevenjj,

    Stevenjj Stevenjj Oct 19, 2010 6:17 PM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2010 6:17 PM in response to GaBeech
    Bought a Mac Pro when the imac started flaking out 0.5 years after warranty expired. Starting using the mac pro so much never got around to fixing the imac and used it occasionally. However now the imac is almost unusable. Constant ghosting and artifacts mostly horizontal lines then freezing. Weird thing is we can login via ssh remotely and reboot it via software. The only thing that seems to makes it work for a while is to shut it off for a while...and cool it down I guess? We have the darkest possible plain background and the display set to the dimmest possible to keep it as cool as can be but it doesn't seem to help. We have just scheduled an appointment at the Apple Store. Will let you know how it goes

    Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
    Type: Display
    Bus: PCIe
    PCIe Lane Width: x16
    VRAM (Total): 128 MB
    Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
    Device ID: 0x0395
    Revision ID: 0x00a1
    ROM Revision: 3022

    Model Name: iMac
    Model Identifier: iMac6,1
    Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
    Number Of Processors: 1
    Total Number Of Cores: 2
    L2 Cache: 4 MB
    Memory: 3 GB
    Bus Speed: 667 MHz
    Boot ROM Version: IM61.0093.B07
    SMC Version (system): 1.10f3
  • by Stevenjj,

    Stevenjj Stevenjj Oct 19, 2010 7:19 PM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2010 7:19 PM in response to GaBeech
    Serial # W8716XXXXXX
  • by Beddo,

    Beddo Beddo Oct 24, 2010 2:33 PM in response to Stevenjj
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Oct 24, 2010 2:33 PM in response to Stevenjj
    Mine is early 2008, same issue though.

    < Edited by Host >
  • by elice82@,

    elice82@ elice82@ Oct 21, 2010 3:22 PM in response to Beddo
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 21, 2010 3:22 PM in response to Beddo
    Do not post the whole serial number only the first five characters.
    Wich videocard / GPU do you have?
  • by brzkr,

    brzkr brzkr Oct 23, 2010 1:39 PM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 23, 2010 1:39 PM in response to GaBeech
    my imac with serial QP722xxxxxx has the same problem as shown in the youtube videos floating around (horizontal lines, freezing). when i took it in to the apple store, they claimed to have never seen this problem before. but oddly enough, when i told them my late 2006 macbook pro with the ATI X1600 (256MB VRAM) exhibits similar issues with horizontal lines and freezing, they told me i should bring it in as it "might be" covered under extended repair program. the serial for my MBP is W8644xxxxxx.

    i don't like how apple is handling this issue.
  • by macswe,

    macswe macswe Oct 23, 2010 11:39 PM in response to brzkr
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 23, 2010 11:39 PM in response to brzkr
    {quote:title=brzkr wrote:}
    my imac with serial QP722xxxxxx has the same problem... when i took it in to the apple store, they claimed to have never seen this problem before. but oddly enough, when i told them my late 2006 macbook pro with the ATI X1600 (256MB VRAM) exhibits similar issues with horizontal lines and freezing, they told me i should bring it in as it "might be" covered under extended repair program.{quote}


    I'm sure the tech did not mean to imply that he had never heard of this type of problem anywhere — he meant to convey that he had never heard of it in your particular model of iMac. Whether that is true or not is a different question, but in general the fact that one model of computer suffers from a certain hardware syndrome says nothing about the probability that an unrelated model will — especially when one is a laptop and the other isn't.
  • by the doner,

    the doner the doner Oct 27, 2010 11:16 AM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2010 11:16 AM in response to GaBeech
    Mine is early 2006, same horizontal lines and freezes when gpu intensive processing is involve. the problem started about 2,5 to 3 years after the purchase. It couldn't finish a dvd rip using handbrake. It use to freeze up every time quicktime was playing any videos. then I dusted all the vents. then it got better. I could finish rips using handbrake but had to leave the imac alone to finish its job otherwise there was a good chance it would freeze again. I got an appointment with genius bar tonight. I'll post back after to let you know.
    I've got lot's of screenshots and links to sites with imacs having those same problems just to see how the respond.
  • by Mark_Walker,

    Mark_Walker Mark_Walker Oct 27, 2010 1:23 PM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2010 1:23 PM in response to GaBeech
    Wow just had a scan over your posting and it makes for interesting reading.
    I've just taken my 27" imac to the apple store after it began acting a like you have described, ending in the machine powering down and not responding to the power button at all. The techs at Apple believe it's either the power supply or the logic board. My serial number starts with W8.
  • by the doner,

    the doner the doner Oct 27, 2010 7:05 PM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2010 7:05 PM in response to GaBeech
    the genius guy tested the machine with no sign of any trouble. he kept the machine at the store and they will test it over night. I'll wait for the diagnostic and post back later.
  • by the doner,

    the doner the doner Oct 28, 2010 1:47 PM in response to the doner
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 28, 2010 1:47 PM in response to the doner
    well turns out that the imac passed all the tests and everything seems to be normal. I guess I'll have to rip a dvd in the store to show the tech the horizontal lines and freeze up. until then...
  • by elice82@,

    elice82@ elice82@ Oct 28, 2010 3:20 PM in response to the doner
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 28, 2010 3:20 PM in response to the doner
    Do you believe that they will admit that there is something wrong with your iMac?

    I don't think so!
  • by Derick Clack,

    Derick Clack Derick Clack Oct 29, 2010 6:34 AM in response to GaBeech
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2010 6:34 AM in response to GaBeech
    Yep, I have a 2006 iMax 20" with the ATI Radeon X1600 and it crashes and hangs a LOT. Horizontal line appear accross the screen, graphic tearing and then it hangs. I cant believe that Apple wont fix this.
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