Intel Imac with bad logic board.

Yes indeed, sounds all too familiar! The ATI X1600 chip on the early MacBook Pro logic board, same scenario! A poor quality product, either poorly designed, using poor sub-standard components, poorly configured and/or poorly manufactured!

< Edited by Host >

Well I know the frustration; just a month ago I was in the same boat. 3.5 years out of warranty and the same frustration. A customer relations agent last week approved a replacement MBP and I just got it this week. It is possible. So keep at them, seriously. I got 5 or 6 rejections until just this week. So it is possible. Hope it helps.

These logic board failures are certainly a concern for prospective buyers (I've just ordered a 27" quad core - hopefully it'll be ok)- but it would be interesting to know what proportion if macs have these problems. While there are quite a few problem machines reported on this forum, Apple sold 2.6 million macs last year, so it still seems that the percentage of ones with problems might be very small.

Same thing..I bought my first Mac (I was a Windows user before) an intel core duo 20" iMac in mid 2007 and I was really happy until this October that the computer for no reason show me a complete white screen and nothing else. I took it to the techpeople (certified Apple support) and they diagnose a "logic board failure". I am really disapointed with Apple as it is incredible that such equipment fails, affter only 2 years of use.. Now the only option it seems to replace the logic board or to buy a new iMac which I am really reluctant now.. How can this happen to Apple? I had all electric system protections: regulator, surge suppresor and so.. It looks this is a common failure in this model, and Apple should do something about it..

I had replied to this thread earlier but my post was 'deleted'. So, i'll not say exactly what i said before but...

From all the activity in the Apple forums and other places (you can find useful links on my site, in my profile), regardless of how many units Apple may have sold, there is still a good number of people who have major problems with the quality of equipment that should last a lot longer than it has... I was told by an Apple tech' when i took my MacBook Pro in 'what did i expect after 3 years'... well, the same quality as my G3 iBook for a start, that is still running great after nearly 7 years! That's why we pay the big bucks right, Apple quality... I do think the newer Macs are better built than the early intel models but... how much reputation has been lost over the early intel failures, MacBook and iMac especially... who knows, things have a habit of circulating on the net for a very long time...

My Intel 24" iMac has also failed, diagnosed as a faulty logic board. I deliberately did not purchase the extended warranty as this is a desktop unit, that in 20 months of ownership has never been moved, dropped or transported anywhere.
Why, when you are led to believe you are purchasing a quality Apple product, that you pay a premium for, should a warranty ever enter your mind.

Anyhow, I’ve contacted Apple Customer Services, supervisors etc several times, however they are not, at this point willing to cover the cost of repair - £380.

I've explained that this is a premium product, with the equivalent cost far higher than a similar spec PC, and what i would say is a 'sealed' unit design, so is very difficult for me to repair.

I am hugely disappointed in their attitude to me, and their refusal to cover the repair costs. This is my first iMac, and although i did enjoy using this, the prohibitive cost of repair can't justify me spending my own money, when i can now purchase a relatively good spec desktop PC running Windows 7 for the same price!

Apple clearly needs to focus on quality over cost, and this has proved very expensive for me, and i am still without a computer…!

I will keep on trying to request Apple to cover the costs, however, i can see myself eventually "ripping" the hard disk out, transferring all my data across and then selling this useless lump of aluminium and glass on eBay for spares or maybe as a door-stop...??!!

Extremely disappointed, never again will i purchase any kind of Mac...Apple seriously need to listen, as it’s their customers that support them, not the other way round...!

I will post updates, and if anyone can offer any kind of assistance, then this will be greatly appreciated.

null

Message was edited by: AdamiMac2007

All my Mac laptops have been rock solid. All my iMacs have had problems including the brand new iMac 21.5 that arrived Wednesday and started having video problems Thursday. So I will always buy the extended warrantee on the iMacs.

This is more to do with the MacBook Pro issue than the iMac issue of the same spawn but... i can't believe i didn't find this site before... has some interesting reading... http://www.macbookrandomshutdown.com

My MacBook Pro (Pro?) wont stay running for more than 5-10 mins at a time now... doesn't even get a chance to go through the usual display anomalies, just black screens! Oh well...

this is very interesting. i bought my mac the beginning of 2007 and am having trouble and again it seems to be the graphics card - or so i think. but here is what happened -

nov 6th
Hi i had an event last night that really gave me a shock and was wondering if anyone had experience this same thing??? I had been working a good part of the day on some cartooning using Flash - (and if anyone knows how to use flash i would be happy to have lessons) - when suddenly my screen went psychedelic with the screen black and all the writing and anything else on the screen highlighted in flickering irridescent colours. I got such a fright - I used the start button to turn off the computer. everything was frozen. about half an hour or less later i turned it on again and the startup screen was a weird sepia colour and when it did start up the screen was a bright pink with vertical lines which then changed to all sorts of colours. i turned it off immediately again. I rang a club member who suggested I ring apple and see if they had any ideas. a few hours later I couldn't resist and i turned it on again. and it opened up OK - so I immediately did a backup - which took forever - and i noticed the time maching screen flickering - not sure if it always does I have never watched that screen before. anyway i went to bed and left it to do another backup - i wke about 4am turned it off - all was still Ok. This morning all still ok and i rang apple
the guy suggested a graphics card problem - which does sound like a possibility - but he'd never heard of this problem before. anyway he sent me an article about doing a hardware check which i will do in a minute. If anyone has any experience/ideas with this I would appreciate any information.

7nov
performed hardware test - no issues detected.

12 nov
well its happened again and now i dont panic i just read the screen though the weird colours and close down - i noticed the screen flicker when i touch the lid and was wondering if it possibly could be the screen itself. and the mac has this hot prickly to the fingers feel when its about to happen

do you think apple read this - they obviously have a problem
alaz

I had similar experiences with my mac - and here is the series of events-

nov 6
i had an event last night that really gave me a shock and was
wondering if anyone had experience this same thing??? I had been working a good part of the day on some cartooning using Flash - (and if anyone knows how to use flash i would be happy to have
lessons) - when suddenly my screen went psychedelic with the screen
black and all the writing and anything else on the screen highlighted
in flickering irridescent colours. I got such a fright - I used the
start button to turn off the computer. everything was frozen. about half an hour or less later i turned it on again and the startup screen was a weird sepia colour and when it did start up the screen
was a bright pink with vertical lines which then changed to all sorts
of colours. i turned it off immediately again. a few hours later I couldn't resist and i turned it on again. and it opened up OK - so I immediately did a backup - which took forever - and i noticed the time maching screen flickering - not sure if it always does I have never watched that screen before.

anyway i went to bed and left it to do another backup - i woke about
4am turned it off - all was still Ok.

This morning all still ok and i rang apple. the Apple help guy suggested a graphics card problem - which does sound like a possibility - but he'd never heard of this problem before.

nov 12
well its happened again and now i dont panic i just read the screen though the weird colours and close down - i noticed the screen flicker when i touch the lid and was wondering if it possibly could be the screen itself.
I do like the graphics card theory but the flickering is weird. and the mac has this hot prickly to the fingers feel when its about to happen - any more idea.

well any ideas welcome - it seems apple never read these discussions - the apple help guy had never heard of my problem - oh yea???
alaz

Out of 15x Intel-based iMac 20" (early 2008 models all purchased at the same time in Summer 2008), so far, I've had 1x go down within warranty due to overheated HDD... 1x go down due to failed video board, but required entire logic board replacing, and now, 3 months outside of warranty, I've had one suffer complete logic board failure. Repair price: £485 + labour. Brand new iMac with Educational Discount = £625. What would YOU do?

3x faulty units (allbeit differing faults, but 3x faulty units all the same) out of 15 = 20% failure rate, which I frankly find unacceptable.

We were toying with kitting our school out with quite a few more of these units, but not anymore. Our Music Dept will likely find that as time goes by they'll lose their suite of iMacs to the skip and end up back on PCs again, as quite frankly I'm not prepared to waste any more of what ultimately equates to the public's money on fitting suites with inherantly faulty hardware.

I'm not buying a lab full of Macs anymore (although I did back in the early 90's), but I consider the cost of the extended warrantee as part of the cost of the computer. For our personal use, I will not consider using a PC. Our homeowners association has a PC laptop and as co-secretaries, my wife and I are forced to use it. Aaarrrrgh! Why would anyone willingly do that to themselves?

Apple did replace my iMac, but because of the botched tech support and customer support, they refunded $100 for our troubles.

You should keep track of all the problems w/ your iMacs and throw it in Apple' face whenever you have a problem. Keep their feet to the fire!

This problem seems soooo wide spread. There are at least 16 threads just in these forums, some with up to 30 or more pages I believe. It is also discussed elsewhere on the net. I can't provide the links because my posts get deleted and I get banned. Do a search on these forums for "X1600 lines". Also Google "X1600 investigation". I have tried every fix for my 20" Core 2 Duo iMac but no go. You can't fix this with software patches or tweaks. It's a hardware problem which also affects the MacBooks with the same X1600 GPU.

FOR FOLK IN THE UK

Under the sale of goods act your product is covered for approx 6 years. In the first 6 months you are entitled to a replacement (a new one, not 2nd hand) or a full refund and the seller (Apple) need to be able to prove that the problem wasn't in existence from day 1, which obviously is very hard for them to do. After 6 months you still have the same protection for the remaining 5.5 years but you have to prove that the problem existed from day 1 (or very early on). The fact so many 2006 machines are having this problem would seem to suggest a manufacturing issue and point to a day 1 problem. Small claims court with a mass of names would probably do the trick.

This may seem like I am playing the system but the consumer goods act exists because of companies not playing fair with their customers (just like this).

The point I am making is that the warranty period etc that people are talking about is almost totally irrelevant, even if it is Apple T&C's. It isn't enforceable by UK Law. They are just trying their luck as 99% of people won't challenge it.

Good luck getting your problem solved.

That's great, but only helps retail end users... sadly it doesn't apply to educational establishments.