Intel Imac with bad logic board.

Really peeved here. Bought a new iMac 20" in Feb 2008 to replace a two yo mac mini that fired a logic board. So today, the iMac does the same thing. White screen, dead as a dodo. And just to add salt....4 weeks out of warranty! I'm losing my appetite for apples! So tomorrow I find our how friendly Apple are. My hopes are not high.

Update on my dead graphics card. Took it in to an Apple Store and learned that they would only have to replace the graphics card not the whole logic board. I have the 24" w/ NVIDIA GF 7600 GT, 256mb. Should take about a week and cost about $400 plus tax. I decided to have it repaired ($1k was my cut off point for a repair vs putting the money toward a new machine).

I do worry that there could be some underlying problem that resulted in early failure. The repair/replacement card only has a 3 month warranty.

I've just received my mac back from repair. (same logic board hu-rah) Guess what? it still turns itself off all on its own. Same dillema here. Been a mac owner since 99 ie a clamshell, imac g4 and an ibook g4. No such issues. I'am so tempted to unbox my g4 imac und upgrade that or sell this one and get a PC. oooooohhh its coming.

I too got a bit of trouble (imac 24" early 2008 model, bought in May) got visual artifacts, lines, displaced elements/colours. And now it even spits out all disks, doesn't matter wheter it's a cd (both, audio/cd-rom & blank) or a dvd (movies as well as blank disks)!

Same with my iMac Intel Core 2 Duo late 2006. Its a shame! Fortunately it still works sometimes for few hours But at minimum once a day it freezes or the display turns black.

Did it ever occur to any of you who have had problems to purchase an AppleCare extended warranty for$169 for an additional 2 years of protection when you bought your iMac? I have owned several Macs since 1984 and have had a few problems over that time but I always bought an extended warranty and have never had to pay for a repair. Apple computers and support are, on average, better than any others. Computers generally have a failure rate of about 10%.

I posted one but it doesn't show up. So, I'm posting again. (Is that censored by Apple?) My iMac 20" late 2006 also fried.

I have an objection to your statistics, Duo. As you mentioned, not all the people complaints here. If you google, Petition iMac issue, you will see more than 33, I found one site that 2270 people signed. This makes 0.2%. Is it not enough?

Then, how about those who replaced their iMac under warrenty. They won't complain. So if you consider them, the number will be a lot higher.

What makes me feel bad is, Apple keeps pretending this issue as "NEVER HEARD OF" issue. The failure is so high and THAT is exactly why Apple turned their face away from the TRUTH.

By the way, your number is wrong. It should be 0.0033% not 0.000033%.

I don't have apple care. Unfortunately!! For the next machine I will have!

Maybe here is a solution for our graphic problem...
I reduced the brightness of the screen to a midrange (on German keyboard press "F14" a few times). Since that, the iMac works. I am not shure whether it is a fix but maybe you want to give it a try...

Another possible alternative to the expensive logic board:
I contacted a guy who fixed my iBook G3 when there were some very similar complaints. He knows about the iMac issue and told me that in 50% of all engines he checked, there was a dry joint (solderless connection) to the video card - possible to fix. The other 50% were dead video chips, impossible to replace.

Good luck, specially with the reduced brightness...

I'm sorry, but with respect, how much of the above did you read before you raced to make that comment? Because had you read a bit more (a) you would have realized it had occurred to a great many, (b) you would have known that people were already stretching themselves on the initial purchase and (c) most importantly, that your comment is/was entirely beside the point.

In my humble opinion, Apple has violated the expressed warranty of merchantability. That's not the written warranty, but rather the expectation that after spending two grand on a computer, it won't fizz out fifteen months later. A fair expectation for a consumer to have. In regard to the 2006 iMacs, the numbers here and across the web reporting these problems is telling of a significant flaw, a failure of Apple and not the stupidity or lack of foresight of its customers.

Message was edited by: particle_ac (changed users to customers)

I think your comment is beside my point. It was not the target to say "everything ist allright, no problem", but to find and communicate a little help. Sorry if you are not open enough to try.

You are right! Apple has to react on all these complaints. I hope that something happens and they would do something for their customers. It's a shame!!!

I just called applecare, and they were not denying that their were official repairs for the HORIZONTAL lines issues, but totally denying that our horizontal lines, crashes, and graphics anomalies on the late 2006 imacs were even acknowledged as being related.

He was very rude and totally condescending and unprofessional (senior technician).

I think people should be willing to tackle Apple over problems like these, especially when they occur shortly after the expiry of the standard warranty. In the UK at least, there's plenty of case law to support the view that manufacturers owe a duty of care to consumers that extends beyond the official warranty period. This certainly applies to goods like consumer electronics, which should have a working life well beyond 12 months. One person got Sony to agree to repair their 5 year old television FOC because the part that failed was designed to last at least 10 years.

I personally have always found Apple tech support very helpful, so I'm sorry to hear that's not always the case. They replaced a 2 year old Mighty Mouse FOC for me because it certainly should have lasted longer than that. I think people should persist with their discussions with Apple, explaining firmly but politely that they can't use a 12 month warranty as a means of avoiding responsibility, especially when a major component like a logic board fails.

i have the same problem with a late 2006 20" 2.16ghz imac.

- imac randomly powers off, even when nothing cpu intensive is running.
- sometimes when watching a video, the video picture freezes, but the sound continues playing. and while i can still move the mouse cursor around, mouse clicks and keyboard input are unresponsive. a hard reboot is necessary at this point.
- extended apple hardware test reports no problems.
- no issues with permissions or any other hard disk problems.

it's most likely a logic board issue. i'm just waiting until apple announces an official recall before i take it in.

I have an Imac 17" G5, and the logic board failed, and of course my apple care ran out! The sad thing is that apple wants almost $900.00 for a replacement part????? I can think of NO other reason to charge that much for a part, when I can get a whole new machine for a hundred bucks more, then APPLE is SCREWING me!
Another sad thing thing is that despite the computer's age, it had very few hours on it (it was a spare office machine). I wish I had let it run more so that it would have failed while still under apple care. So I hit ebay to find a part and HALF the 17" Imacs are sold as broken/parts because of BAD LOGIC BOARDS! It seems that the logic board is the first/only thing to fail, and the most EXPENSIVE to fix. you would think apple would throw us a bone and at least give us access to an inexpensive part, but no!

I have an old Apple Mac SE that STILL works, with 10 times the hours on it (keep in mind that machine is 20 years old). What happened to Apple?

Hi My name is Eric and I'm a Mac, but seriously reconsidering PC (or maybe a hackintosh)!

I might agree, but if you look on ebay (not a real scientific study, I know), you will find a MUCH higher percent of Imacs are being sold as broken/repair because of "bad Logic Board" Compared to perfectly working units then the .000033% (I would guess-timate closer to 10.000000%) you have indicated here. The fact the EVEY non-working Imac listed on ebay is dead because of a bad logic board, would indicate the there is indeed a problem here.

I would also submit that the fact that there is ANY support board regarding a common issue, no matter how small, would indicate a that there is a problem.

And to add to that, charging $900 for ANY single part inside of a $1200 all in one computer is obscene!

There was a time when companies would attempt to do the right thing, especial when customers paid a premium for QUALITY! I guess those days are gone, and apple is no better then ANY other company? If so, why would I still continue purchase Apple products??

Logic board $900
Power supply $110
LCD screen $500
Super drive $300
Hard Drive $100
Total $1910.00 FOR A $1200.00 machine? (Not to mention the shell, stand, memory, keyboard and mouse, etc.)

Has apple become a "Poser" company???? What would happen if Vista (MS windows) ever got their act together???