Intel Imac with bad logic board.

A ha!

Here is a related link, it happens on macbook pros, too.

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090320111948165

Another qualitative comment.

The correlation with Leopard install might not be a coincidence.

Does anybody know if the ATI display drivers were updated in Leopard? If that is the case, perhaps the folks at ATI b0rked the driver by introducing race conditions while trying to implement an optimization and hence unwittingly introduced video ram errors. Such a driver fault might still be correlated with the heat of the device as bit errors might be linked to hardware characteristics, who knows? The driver developer dudes were supposed to make sure that no such breakage happens...

To test this, one of the folks here must downgrade to Tiger and see if the problem persists. If that solves the artifact problem for good, then we should find a way to downgrade the drivers or the OS....

So, this isn't an iMac problem or Macbook pro problem, it's an ATI x1600 problem.

And if that is correct, thousands of computers must be affected.

Is this not a significant case for Apple to look into? Please!

Best,

Eray Ozkural

So after a year of shelving my big white iMac, it seems that this machine is just unreliable. It would be foolish to get it repaired at a cost higher than its current value. To the recycle bin this plastic disaster will go. I'll see you in he11, Apple.

I have had the same issue. 20in iMac 2.16 ATIx1600. Not far out of warranty. Starts shutting down, then lines appear (mostly horizontal). Sounds like a lot of people with the same issue. I reinstalled, updated OS finally took in to local Apple tech. After a day they call and said sounds like new logic board...buy a new computer from us. can you say conflict of interest? Anyway, I installed the fan control program and have been running for 2 hours now without much of a problem. Funny thing is it says my CPU heatsink temp is 32F (freezing)...so definitely not working. Maybe the fans just haven't been kicking on now the thing is fried. Seems like such a huge waste to not be able to salvage the DVD Drive, Hard Drive or Screen. What a waste.

I was just told today 7-18-09, at the Apple store that my logic board failed I purchased my iMac 24 inch on Sept. 15, 2007, for $1799.00 and now less than 2 years later, let me repeat that, 19 months later, it needs to be repaired for up to $750.00. I had taken it last month because my computer was shutting down without warning and I could not get it to turn back on. The computer would eventually come back on sometimes hours sometimes days later. Of course it seemed to work fine in the store although he held down the power button for a very long time to get it to turn on. The most recent event occurred because I put it into sleep mode because the screen and back of the computer were very hot and it did not come back on at all. So I took it in to the Apple store again and was told it was the logic board. I have purchased Apple since 1987. This is the first time this has happened. I may bail on Apple. I am VERY disappointed.

I've added SMC fan control, which seems to be cooling my white iMac for now. Just trying to buy some time while I decide what to do. May check out Windows 7 later this year, as I do NOT want a glossy screen.

I'm going to add my story to this pile. I have a MacBook Pro whose logic board died just after the year warranty expired last year. Like most other people here it cost me ~600 gbp (~$900) to replace. I have no idea why it failed, was offered no explanation, and obviously livid at it occurring within 2 months of the expired warranty.

If this wasn't bad enough I have just received my laptop back following a second failure, this time the graphics card - the nVidia 8900 gt model that according to an apple kb ( http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377) is a packaging problem with the chipset. This has resulted in logic board number three because of course, as stated previously, the graphics and the logic set are a single unit.

Now this second repair was free due to the known issue, and that's extremely welcome. But the problem I have now is that the new logic board is giving me back weird CPU temperature readings when under load. I would expect a gradual increase in temperature as things slowly heat up, but no, the CPU on the new logic board essentially leaps from a stable 51 degrees C under idle, up to just over 100 degrees within a matter of seconds.

The rate of change troubles me, the insane temperature troubles me (my last logic board cpu topped-out at roughly 75 degrees), the potential for another huge repair bill troubles me, basically I've become a troubled man, and my Mac just shouldn't be having that effect on me.

I would love Apple to give some kind of come back to these issues. I really really don't want to have to start thinking about Windows 7 as a viable alternative...

Well, here is another iMac early 2007 with, suspected, fried logic board. I had a couple of kernel panics late june, and al just wen downhill ever since. first they told me it was the HD (no, it was not, they had to reimburse the price) then the data cable (no), then RAM (no), then the power board (no) and finally the superdrive (everything works fine but when the superdrive is hooked, the iMac just keeps restaring). Now they finally got it (so they said) it is the logic board (USD.900) Three months after warranty!!. I had to buy a new iMac (early 2009) and now faced with repairing the one year old one for, pretty much the same price as the new one. I hope Apple will look into the issue.

I am in the same boat - bought my Intel iMac 20" Feb 2008 and after 18 months, over a period of 3 weeks, the number 5 on my wireless keyboard dies, the upper part of my screen darkens, and the computer keeps on freezing. I bring it to the service center here in HK, and after 2 days, i get a quotation for HKD 14,950 - thats USD 2,000! of this amount, USD1,500 is for replacement of the logic board. imagine my horror at this and my anger at Apple. As many of you have mentioned, I did not also get the extened apple care because aside from being very expensive, I was under the belief that Apple products were superior in quality. thats how they market themselves, right? so after much thinking, my husband and i bite the bullet and buy our first mac. and then this happens! after talking to customer care and marketing and getting the same message - since i did not get apple care extended warranty, they cannot mnake an exception and i have to pay to have it fixed -- i just got so frustrated. i cannot imagine how something that supposedly is top-of-the-line can be such a lousy product! and icant believe the cost of the repair / replacement! are they out o f their minds? its even cheaper for me to buy a new unit! what does apple think? that they can continue doing this and that they will become the market leader? i dont think so. i feel so abused and taken for a ride here - the repair center said he gives my mac a year before it completely dies if i dont change the logic board. and if i do, i jsut have to pray that it doesnt die on me again.

i plan to complain to whoever i can - the consumer board - whatever it takes. but for those who say that the people experiencing these problems are justa small percentage -- well i hope you fall flat on your face when it happens to you, which i know will be soon.

Here's another story! 🙂 You may have seen my other thread but I thought I would add my story to this one because it seems like it may be logic board related now. I have a late 2007 20"iMac. About a month ago I was using my tv as an extend desktop through the mini dv. All of a sudden the screen on the iMac goes white but the screen on the tv is still fine. The computer runs fine. I open up my system profiler and it says everything is fine. I took it to a Apple store (Mall of Millenia Orlando Fl) and they told me it was the LCD panel and that would be $700 some dollars to fix. I didn't believe them because the screen is still lighting up, just no picture. The guy went into the back and then came back and said it could be the optical flex cable which would only be 13 dollars plus labor but they had a long turn around time so he gave me the work authorization form to take to one of the other stores in the area. After a bunch of phone calls, driving, and bull crap finally someone at the Apple store in the Altamonte Mall works on it and says it wasn't the optical flex cable but that they were going to do diagnostics and scans overnight to find what the problem was. In the morning they said nothing came up on the scan and that maybe it was the cable connecting the LCD panel to the board. They switched it out and nothing. So now they are saying it's the LCD panel again and it's $700 to fix it. I told them no.

So I bought an LCD from a iMac that was having other issues. I installed it myself which was easy and it's the same problem. So it wasn't the LCD panel like the Apple store said it was. If they did it they probably would have said it was the logic board after that even though the computer works fine with and external monitor...thankfully.

So as of now I still have a functioning computer but it's not 100%

I had a G3 imac for 8 years before this and never had problems with it and this new imac is just over a year old.

I think Apple is gaining a lot of what was mentioned as the "I hate Vista" people but the problem is they are losing the people who have been loyal to them for awhile because of the reputation they used to have as reliable computers which they are no longer. Unfortunately they have been another big company that doesn't care about it's products unless you pay for that apple care.

To me the whole point of paying extra for a mac was because they were more reliable and had less problems than PC's but it's not that we. You pay extra because it says "Apple" and then have to pay more on top of that to get the apple care.

it is now Aug 1 and it is a saturday. and it is impossible to call the Apple Support number in Hong Kong becuase they only operate on weekdays! now thats really something! and when i tried going to the US site, i have to pay USD199 to talk to an Apple Expert, since my iMac is out of warranty!

I dont know how Apple can have loyal customers if their customer service *****! I dont care if i didnt get the Apple care in the first place. i already paid a premium to buy a mac because supposedly, macs are of superior quality, right? so why do i have to shell out USD 200 for extended care? a superior machine is supposed to die after 18 months???

Apple is screwing us!

I too, have joined this unfortunate group. It started with my girlfriend's imac (intel 20" core duo) not being able to shutdown so I held the power button and after a few seconds, it turned off and, upon restarting it, found a grey screen and no boot up. I have had the computer for three years, 5 months; From my past experience, I chose not to buy applecare and I guessed right. I certainly will not pay for a logic board replacement at $900. My girlfriend is not impressed; I spent $1800 on the imac and the warranty did not seem necessary. Even with the warranty it would have been 5 months expired.

I work in a small creative ad agency art department and have ordered nearly 20 Apples over the last 8 years. My older computers are given to family or sold at low prices to friends whenever I upgrade. Past problems have included bad ram, failed harddrives, or monitors going out and the repairs were always reasonable. $900 for a logic board is too much for an imac repair - it makes more sense to buy a new computer.

I hope Apple is listening to these concerns and problems that their customers are having. I'm always telling friends and family how great apple products are. I can accept some issues with a computer but to have such a major failure in such a short a span of time is NOT acceptable. Within my family I know the tangerine Imac G3, eMac G4 and ibook G4 are still running - no repairs ever needed.

Ultimately, I had the hard drive removed from my imac and sold the rest for $120 in late july 2009.

sounds like i have stepped into something...or maybe more like smells like i stepped into something i will regret. i have offered to work on a 2006 20" iMac for a customer. he mentioned that he had taken his machine to another repair service that told him that his motherboard or video was dying and causing his machine freeze-ups. i had never heard of this, since usually a bad motherboard will either work or not, with little in between. i figured it was an over-heating issue, since usually a hot processor or hard drive will cause freezing, and can usually be easily fixed. if using a software fan speed program will be a temporary fix, i am going to have to tell this guy about what a lemon he has. i hate making my customers unhappy.....unfortunately, it doesn't sound like Apple has such worries.

_*Short version:*_

20 inch intel iMac purchased in May of 2008, 15 months old, 3 months out of warranty, failed monitor, estimated repair cost of $800.

_*Long Version:*_

My wife and I bought the 20 inch iMac in May of last year. I'm big on Apple Care and usually get it with all of our purchases.

This time, to offset the computer purchase we opted to wait a bit for apple care. We figured we have a year to buy it, so we would wait.

Unfortunately we forgot to get the apple care, and we only remembered just last week when the monitor on the iMac died.

The computer suddenly was booting to a white screen. I tried resetting the power management, resetting PRAM, no help. Booting to safe mode or to a disk was of no help as the screen stayed white.

Next thing I did was to attempt logging into my wifes computer from my power mac using leopard screen sharing. I figured if I could log in and see her desktop this would rule out a logic board failure.

Sure enough I was able to see my wifes desktop from my power mac when in screen sharing mode. I did a permissions repair and verified the hard drive and still no luck.

We took the machine into an apple store where the tech connected a second display, which worked, and verified that indeed the iMacs monitor had failed. He then told us the the repair would cost around $800.00.

So, now we have a 15 month old, $1200.00 computer that is 3 months out of warranty and will now cost us $800 to repair.

The tech suggested we run it with an external display, which is exactly what we are going to do.

Obviously we are not going to spend over half of what we paid total for the machine, 1 year and 3 months ago, on a repair. It will be cheaper to just buy a monitor - and we'll get a better quality monitor as well.

Believe me, I know we should have gotten Apple Care, I really do - unfortunately we forgot. I also know that we will be able to run it with a secondary monitor (until something else fails) - but this is not the point.

The point is, having paid $1200.00 for what is supposed to be a quality computer I expect it to last more than 15 months.

I do not think that is at all unreasonable.

Apple Care is supposed to provide extra coverage, it is not supposed to be a necessity.

Between 2 imacs, a powerbook, a power mac, a cinema display, a macbook (that is on it's second battery failure) and 2 ipods my wife and I have DEFINITELY spent close to, if not more than 10 thousand dollars with Apple over the last 8 years.

I've been the stereotypical apple "fanboy" since I switched 8 years ago. Never rude or cocky, but always one to tout Apple's superior quality whenever I had the chance, recommending them to friends, family and acquaintances whether in person or on the net, urging people to switch where I could and even convincing quite a few of them along the way.

That will no longer be the case. I could not possibly, in light of the problems with the iMac and the problems with our Macbook battery (separate issue) in good conscience, recommend that anyone ever buy one of these computers.

My next planned purchase would have been a Mac Pro tower sometime next year to replace my aging G5. I never thought I would say this, but I've been reading good things about windows 7.

The only thing that trips me up is the thought of having to re-purchase my Adobe licenses for the windows OS (as far as I know adobe will not switch them for free).

But, when I stop and think about it, I can realistically custom build a smoking i7 (or equivalent chip) system and still have enough money left over for a decent 30" display and also enough to re-purchase my Adobe licenses (educational) for windows.

So really, when I consider that, and in light of what we've gone through with our last 2 purchases from apple, I ask myself why on earth would I consider dropping $2500.00 on a new mac pro in a years time?

I can find no compelling answer, other than the Mac OS, which I love, and Coda, which is a mac only application that I love.

But you know what, I really am pretty sure that I'd get over it just fine.

I'm making a last ditch effort to customer support tomorrow over the phone and I am writing one letter.

I want my wife's machine repaired free of charge and I want the faulty battery on our macbook replaced free of charge. If this does not happen, and I have little hope that it will, I am finished with this company and will never purchase another product from them again - not even an iPod.

I'm angry, yes, but more than anything I feel extremely disappointed and let down by a brand that I have had absolute faith in and loyalty to.

I am mostly certain you can switch the Adobe licenses.

Sorry for your issues. Besides my LB issues I detailed above, I bought a 17" iMac who's monitor went, though that was in warranty.